Targeting: go wide or engage likely buyers?
CANNES: With the rise of programmatic ad buying, the capabilities of marketers targeting an audience of likely buyers have never been greater, but the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute maintains that segmentation, whether for creative or media planning, can limit a brand’s ability to grow.
At WARC’s How to be a smart targeter session in Cannes, the Institute’s Professor Rachel Kennedy and Dr. Rachel Beal argued that targeting should prioritise the buyers a brand hasn’t reached before. (WARC subscribers can access the report here: A dollar to spend? Three takes on targeting.)
Contrary to the view that marketers should target likely buyers is the institute’s finding that brand share bears very little relationship to the segments that brands may try to appeal to. Instead, Beal said, “we really see it as a size game”.
“As brands grow they bring new people into their brand who have not bought from them in the past. This has really important implications for your priorities as to who you need to target,” Prof. Kennedy noted.
“If you’re using targeting to get to people you haven’t got to in the past, fantastic. If you’re targeting at scale, the evidence supports that.” She continued: “If you’re using targeting in any way that’s limiting who you’re talking to … you are limiting your potential for growth.”
Read the full article on Warc.
