Imagine you’ve just created the best marketing content ever; thought out, well-written, interesting, engaging, direct, and precise, delivering a clear message that you’re convinced will have value and impact. Then you realize there’s one more issue: the message you’ve created, the ad that contains it, ultimately needs to reach its destination and meet your target audience. If it doesn’t reach them, it’s akin to the philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest with no one around; did it make a sound?
Often, the most critical component for success in an ad campaign is effective targeting. No matter how focused, precise, interesting, and action-oriented your message is, it won’t yield results if it doesn’t reach your target audience.
By accurately monitoring your customer base through LinkedIn, you can tailor your ad targeting strategy to reach your ideal audience.
Like any tool, learning how to use LinkedIn’s targeting effectively can feel intimidating at first. That’s why it’s highly recommended to read these five key tips that will help you understand the platform better and make your advertising strategies much more efficient.
Targeting potential customers on LinkedIn can be uniquely valuable due to two key strengths this advertising environment offers: LinkedIn allows you to reach a high-quality, lead-rich, precise audience. When you advertise on LinkedIn, you can reach millions of people, and with the right targeting techniques, you can connect with decision-makers and influencers at the highest levels.
Professional Connection:
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn caters to professionals who come to the platform to advance their personal career goals or promote the business they own or work for. This is an audience open to relevant business-related messages.
Here are five key tips to help you target your audience more effectively:
Start with a broader target audience, then narrow it down
The risk of targeting too narrow at the beginning is that you won’t gain enough feedback and data from the audience, which is necessary to gather information and optimize your campaign later. The recommendation is to start with a scope of at least 50,000 users, and then gradually filter down to reach a more specific and exclusive audience based on the segments that respond best to your content. By targeting a broader audience, you might confirm your assumptions or be exposed to some surprises.
A/B Ad Testing
Running multiple campaigns simultaneously with small variations in the ad style can provide valuable insights. It’s recommended to run several ads with a similar style but with minor changes. For example, you could run a campaign targeting relevant industries and specific key roles, and another campaign targeting relevant industries and employees with seniority. Compare the results of the campaigns and see which performs better. Apply the insights in the future.
Target the entire ‘procurement committee’
This is a crucial nuance for successful targeting in the modern world of B2B marketing. Committees have grown and become more diverse over the years, with influential employees coming from different departments within the organization. Sometimes it’s important to involve a wide variety of roles within the organization. Even if your end client is an IT specialist, for example, it can be beneficial to target those in finance, legal, or procurement roles to reach everyone with influence in the company.
Personalized (differentiated) content based on your target audience
Even a well-executed targeting strategy can fail if you deliver the same content to everyone. Consider whether the value you offer your client is the same for all the roles you’re targeting. Certain content may be relevant for those in procurement, while other content may resonate better with those in legal roles. When you create content that speaks directly to the specific audience you’re targeting, you’re already ahead!
Retain and reuse winning audiences
Identifying your ideal audience is a process that often involves trial and error. But once you reach a point where you’ve identified your ideal target audience, you can save and reuse these audiences to replicate and build on their success. This saves a lot of time in the future, as you won’t need to start from scratch when launching new campaigns—you can recycle and shape what worked before.