Yes Ms. DRTV Advertiser! YOU CAN BOOST SALES WITH AUDIENCES THAT HAVE AN INTENT TO PURCHASE (ITP)
Care to target your ads only to people who are ready and willing to buy?
You can do it with DR Smart Pixel and a host of custom audiences. In this article, I’ll teach you how to use them both to get more sales.
ITP audiences aren’t new. They’ve been around since 2013 for display and YouTube ads. We highly recommend them for YouTube and display advertising.
However, ITP Custom Audiences gained quite a bit of attention in 2018 when Google announced that it was extending in-market audiences to search campaigns.
Turns out, Google proved what smart marketers had known for years: using Big Data to compile a custom audience of Real People with a strong propensity to buy based on their browser history and similarity to prior buyers is a good thing.
What's new is that ITP Custom Audiences do NOT have to be picked over by your competition and do not haved to be defined by the big platforms with their walled gardens--often selling in a black box.
Now you can create your very own custom audience and push your offer directly to Google|Facebook|LinkedIn|Snap| Pinterest but targeted and timed by Google search history.
Let's take a step back...ITP Custom Audiences will determine who to target with cheap digital ads by looking at a person’s search history and grouping them into a custom audience with high Intent to Purchase. Cool. Two layers of refinement: Related Keyword Search and ITP. But this time you own your own 1st data and don't have to rent from Google. And now it's cross platform.
It’s time for direct response marketers to connect their channel silos and develop a unified picture of their customers.
EXAMPLE
Let's say you buy Life Insurance policies of seniors (like Coventry Direct).
If Google sees that somebody is searching for “sell my life insurance policy,” that’s a pretty strong indication that the person is ready to get bids on their $100K life insurance policy.
Of course, you could always run an AdWords ad that targets that “sell my life insurance policy,” keyword string. However, you can’t target search history with keywords. That’s how in-market audiences stand out and provide better targeting. A second layer of refinement to ONLY that list of targets, but showing up in search on Google. No more needle in a haystack with expensive clicks. Instead, it's a tiny pile of needles that costs a whole lot less.
Do ITP Audiences Work?
Do ITP Custom Audiences work for advertisers who use them? The reviews are mixed. Based on my own experience, yes. However, you really need a niche audience with the right intent, a good ad, some compelling copy and landing page, plus a good offer.
Think of it this way:
Would you rather advertise in general market to 1,000,000 TV viewers who might own a life insurance policy ($1335 a sale) or the 150 or so that are ready to sell this month ($150 a sale)
If you read around the web, some marketers have seen significant returns. Others don’t have much success. It's all in how you use the tools.
As we’ve seen, though, there are strategists who underestimate the extent of the competition when they’re using ITP Custom Audiences. As a result, they get outbid by industry peers. The second problem is their peers are using just Google or Facebook data. Why not open up to the entire World Wide Web?
There does seem to be a broader consensus that ITP Custom Audiences are ideal for retargeting.
If you’re unfamiliar with retargeting, it’s a way to reach people who’ve already connected with your brand. Usually, those folks visited your website and didn’t make a purchase.
Fortunately, AdWords and Facebook offers retargeting--which you've probably tried independently. Even better: you can use retargeting with your own DR Smart Pixel and never be limited by one platform pixel. (And don't forget DR Smart Pixel eliminates bot traffic cutting down 35-40% of your retargeting cancer) This is your data, baby!
If you opt for retargeting strategy, you’re getting a four-fer. You’re reaching people who’ve already expressed an interest in your brand and they’ve recently shown an interest in purchasing what you’re selling because they've likely visitored your site. They are familiar with your brand and likely they've already encountered your offline creatives like DRTV, XM satellite radio, FSIs or other general market advertising.
Put those four ad strategies together with DR Smart Pixel and ITP Custom Audiences and well: you’ve got the potential for an outstanding conversion rate and a high ROI.
Based on our own marketing, and marketing for top clients, I can tell you our results have been excellent.