Audience and targeting

Targeting best practices

Sometimes, finding your audience can be tricky business. However, there are simple ways to set up display campaigns so your network will do the heavy lifting for you.

 

 

1)  Start with a broad target
One of the biggest mistakes advertisers make when setting up a campaign is targeting too narrowly. If you’re reaching too small an audience, you won’t get the results you need; and what results you do get won’t be replicable across multiple websites or at a larger scale.
 
Starting with a broad target lets you discover where your ad performs best, and who responds the most favorably.  Sometimes, the results will surprise you. After you’ve had some time to evaluate your results, you can always narrow your focus later. (For more information on how to evaluate your campaign, visit our reporting page.)
 
2)  Stick with one targeting tactic
Once you have identified who you want to target, you’ll need to choose what type of targeting to employ: inventory-based or user-based. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to choose either inventory or user targeting to maximize performance and scale. Using both can be redundant and limit performance.
 
Additionally, since user targeting comes in many different flavors, you should stick with one type. For example, if you’re targeting an audience behavior on Ad.com, you should only consider adding other audience behaviors.
 
3) Make a competitive bid
Give your ad a fighting chance. If you underbid, you may not get access to the best inventory for your campaign, which will decrease your campaign’s performance.
 
4) Use multiple creative sizes
Once your targeting is locked down, be sure to use multiple creative sizes, so your ad gets access to as many available spots as possible. It’s best to apply at least one banner per size to maximize delivery.
 
The most successful campaigns on networks take advantage of these basic principles, putting all our tools and insights to work for optimal results. We hope you’ll do the same.

 

Share