An Audience First Approach: Putting the Personality Back into Marketing

Author: Annmarie Gatti, Head of Marketing, Premion.

The end of cookie-based targeting is a transformative moment for advertisers. As digital marketers adjust to the concept of limited targetability for web and mobile, some may adopt contextual targeting as the way forward in the cookieless world. Others will rethink their media mix strategies and increase their ad spend on Connected TV (CTV) — a cookieless environment where advanced precision targeting is still possible.

For us marketers, targeting and relevancy still matter, perhaps now more than ever, as consumers have seemingly endless choices when it comes to purchasing products and services.

While CTV provides the ability to target contextually as in traditional TV, it also allows for precision data-driven targeting by specific consumer segments. For example, a car dealership can reach potential car buyers by targeting auto-intenders. Perfect match. Slam dunk. But what if an advertiser’s desired audience is more nuanced, or more robust, than just people that fall into one segment? 

As marketers, we live and breathe by the definition of our audiences — who they are, how they think, what makes them tick — their personalities. At Premion, we believe that viewers are as dynamic as the content they watch, and people are more dynamic than just a segment or two. So why not leverage the treasure trove of data to build audiences, in other words, targetable personas, that will resonate with your brand? And, why not reach those audiences in their preferred content?

That’s why we created a suite of Audience First targeting packages. Our approach is two-fold. First and foremost, we hand-picked audience segments from multiple data providers to build advanced consumer audience personas based on — not only direct interests — but also adjacent interests and behaviors that align with those audience personas. Think fitness fanatics, outdoor adventurers, and young professionals. For example, our Audience First Fitness Fanatics package reaches consumers who are, not only interested in fitness and exercise, but also interested in similar areas that align with a healthy lifestyle, such as low-fat cooking or buying vitamins online. As another example, our Millennial Minded package includes adjacent interests like early adopters of new technology, someone who uses food delivery apps and coffee enthusiasts.  Secondly, we reach those audience personas no matter what they’re watching.

With this Audience First approach, we are unlocking additional, relevant layers of targeting that can capture potential customers missed by a narrower targeting approach. And, when you really think about it, if you’re targeting an audience with lifestyles and personalities that closely align with your brand, you’ll have a better chance of, not only gaining a sale, but also gaining a loyal consumer.

As marketers grapple with, as some say, the ‘cookie apocalypse’, the time is now for re-evaluating the strategies for understanding and reaching audiences — and for reaping the benefits of CTV/OTT advertising, which combines digital’s pre-cookieless targeting and measurement capabilities with the big screen TV experience.

To learn more about Premion’s Audience-First offering, let’s have a conversation.

Read us on MediaPost here.