In today’s fast-paced marketing landscape, staying ahead means constantly innovating and refining your advertising strategies. A strong and effective media presence doesn’t just happen—it’s built on a deep understanding of your target audience. Think of it like baking a cake: without a recipe, you might end up with something edible, but it’s unlikely to be that perfect, light, and fluffy cake everyone loves. The same goes for your marketing efforts. If you don’t truly understand who your audience is, you could miss out on the best possible return on your ad spend.
By honing in on the right audience segments, you can unlock your brand’s full potential and drive results, as you are able to align your offering closer to their desires. For businesses looking to make the most of paid search, taking a detailed and nuanced approach to defining your target audience is key. Your product or service may appeal to a range of different consumers, each with their own specific needs and goals. A blanket approach to targeting might reach a lot of people, but it often falls flat with many that aren’t fully engaged—resulting in them quickly moving on to something else without that coveted conversion. This is where the power of precise targeting through audience segments comes into play.
What Are Audience Segments?
Audience segmentation refers to the grouping of individuals who have shared characteristics or behaviours. The creation of these segments at either campaign or ad group level, enables the the reach of individuals based on shared demographics, interests, habits, online activity or even how they’ve interacted previously with your business. The realm of segmentation on Google Ads is vast, with the ability to either observe or target.
Targeting vs Observation
In Google Ads, targeting is used to isolate placement of your ads to a specific audience, ensuring that your ads are only shown to users who meet the criteria you’ve set. This strategy etched on the premise of higher intent, often leads to attracting the right visitors to site, which in turn drives click-through-rate and ultimately drive conversions- making your ads more profitable. Observation, on the other hand, eliminates the isolation provided by targeting and allows you to monitor how certain audiences, demographics, or placements perform without restricting your ad delivery to those groups.
Why Should You Observe?
Those looking to get the most from Paid Media may be eager to start targeting as soon as a campaign or ad group is launched. However, it’s crucial to first build the data that justifies your targeting strategy. This is where the power of observation comes into play. Although this approach may be more costly in the short term, over time, it will provide a more detailed understanding of your audiences. This insight enables you to identify the best types of people to target based on solid data. The beauty of this method is that the data speaks for itself, revealing parameters you might not have originally considered. With this information, you can then build targeted campaigns or ad groups designed to drive performance.
Practical Application
Let’s think about this in a practical sense, pretend you’re a charity looking to get more donations. As most businesses combat, you have a limited budget and simply want to obtain the best return on Ad spend. Generally, anyone could be a potential donor, but you’re not confident in your target audience. So, implementing targeting instead of observation without solid evidence could lead to the isolation of inefficient audiences.
Let’s say this imaginary charity is focused on wildlife conservation, and you’re excited to launch a Google Ads campaign to raise donations. You might be tempted to dive straight into targeting what you think are your ideal donors—say, people who love animals. But without proper data, you could miss out on crucial insights. For instance, after running a generic campaign with an observation strategy, you might discover that while animal lovers clicked on your ads, they didn’t actually donate as much as another unexpected group—people who had the affinty with vegans & vegetarianism. If you had jumped straight into targeting only animal lovers, you might have overlooked this key segment, ultimately missing out on a significant portion of potential donations. Starting with observation allows you to gather real-world data, ensuring that when you do narrow down your targeting, you’re reaching the people who are most likely to contribute.
By rushing into targeted campaigns without first observing and understanding your audience, you risk pouring resources into a strategy that might not deliver the best results. Instead, by taking the time to gather data through an observation phase, you can discover the nuances of your audience’s behaviour. This informed approach not only helps in crafting more effective targeting strategies but also ensures that your campaign funds are spent wisely, reaching those who are truly passionate about supporting your mission. Starting with observation isn’t just a safe bet; it’s a smart strategy for long-term success.
Power of 1st Party Audiences
Google Ads offers a variety of audience options to enhance targeting strategies. The previously mentioned example illustrates the use of third-party audiences, which are sourced externally. These audiences tend to be broader and provide valuable characteristics for targeting larger and more diverse groups. In contrast, first-party audiences are derived from data collected directly by your company. This includes segments such as customer lists, website visitors, and email sign-ups. By leveraging first-party data, you can target audiences with a more tailored and specific approach, reflecting their direct interactions with your brand.
Despite its potential, many businesses discuss the value of first-party data without taking actionable steps to integrate it into their strategies. What sets first-party data from third is that it’s likely the only data your competitors don’t have access to, making it a unique asset in your marketing strategy. So don’t shy away from utilising data within CRM to understand & target your campaigns – as it can present a valuable opportunity.
One practical application of first-party data is in refining Google Ads campaigns. For instance, by creating custom audiences from your existing customer lists, you can strategically exclude these segments from brand search ads. This approach ensures that your ad spend is optimised for acquiring new customers rather than reaching those who are already familiar with your brand – and will more likely click on your brand regardless. Implementing such data-driven strategies not only enhances campaign efficiency but can also maximise your ROAS.
By combining both, you can leverage the precise and relevant insights from first-party data with the broader reach of third-party data. This synergy allows you to create more effective and targeted marketing campaigns, ensuring you reach not only your existing customers but also new potential customers who fit your desired profile. In short, using both types of data helps to fill in the gaps and ensures a more well-rounded and informed approach to audience targeting.
So How Do We Access & Observe These Audiences?
1. Use the Observation Setting
When creating or editing a campaign or ad group in Google Ads, you can choose between Targeting and Observation for your audiences.
- Targeting: Limits your ads to only be shown to the specific audiences you select.
- Observation: Shows your ads to a broader audience but allows you to monitor how specific audience segments perform within that broader group.
To set this up:
Go to the campaign or ad group where you want to observe audiences and press edit audience segments
- In the “Audiences” section, choose Observation rather than Targeting.
- Add the audience segments you want to observe, such as first-party audiences (like website visitors or customer lists) and third-party audiences (like affinity or in-market audiences).
2. Monitor Audience Performance
After setting up observation, you can start collecting data on how these audience segments perform. In your Google Ads dashboard:
- Navigate to the Audience tab within your campaign or ad group.
- Review performance metrics like impressions, clicks, conversion rates, and cost-per-conversion for each observed audience segment.
This data helps you understand which audiences are engaging with your ads and which are driving conversions.
3. Analyse and Refine Your Strategy
Based on the data collected during the observation period, you can make informed decisions on how to refine your targeting strategy. For example:
- If you notice that certain observed audiences have high conversion rates, you might choose to switch from observation to targeting for those segments, focusing your budget on the most effective groups.
- Conversely, if certain audiences underperform, you can choose to exclude them from future targeting to avoid wasting ad spend.
4. Adjust Bids for Observed Audiences
Even while using observation, you can set bid adjustments for specific audience segments based on their performance. For example:
- If an observed audience is performing well, you can increase your bid to show your ads more frequently to that segment.
- If another audience is not performing as well, you can decrease your bid or set a lower priority for that group.
5. Test and Iterate
The observation setting allows for ongoing testing and refinement. You can continue to observe different audience segments, tweak your bids, and adjust your targeting strategy based on real-time data. This iterative process ensures that your campaigns become more effective over time, as you better understand your audience’s behaviors and preferences.
By using the observation setting in Google Ads, you gain valuable insights into how different audiences interact with your ads, enabling you to optimise your targeting strategy based on data-driven decisions.
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, understanding your audience is crucial for success. The observation setting in Google Ads offers a powerful tool to gather insights before committing to a targeted approach. By observing first-party and third-party audiences, you can collect valuable data that reveals how different segments engage with your ads, allowing you to refine and optimise your campaigns with confidence. This approach not only ensures that your advertising budget is spent wisely but also helps you to reach the most relevant and engaged audience segments. Whether you’re a charity seeking donations or a business looking to drive a purchase, starting with observation is a strategic way to build a foundation of knowledge that can lead to long-term strategic positioning. In essence, observation is not just a preliminary step—it’s an investment in the accuracy and effectiveness of your entire marketing strategy.
