Phones, TVs & Speakers are getting “smart” . . . And so are the Advertisers using them!
We’re not quite keeping up with The Jetson’s, but Phones, TVs and Speakers are getting close to feeling like Orbit City. Smart Devices are becoming the norm and we’ve come to expect to be targeted with digital advertising. Our phones go everywhere with us and the popularity of Smart TVs and Smart Speakers in the home continues to grow. So, it’s smart to talk about utilizing those three products to reach the people that need your product or service. Smart Devices require smart strategies.
We call it MOBILE CONQUESTING, a simple yet comprehensive strategy to target specific people where they spend their time online. Using location-based demographics and behavioral targeting, these strategies reach consumers with display and video ads on their mobile and smart devices.
SMARTPHONES
Phones have come a long way from operator assisted switch board calls. Today we’ve got international calls, apps, internet access and computer capabilities all at our finger tips. That technology comes with the agreement to capture data on locations, interests and behaviors; information you can use to capture the right audience for your digital ads.
First, determine your target Geographic Area. Maybe you want to reach people in certain cities or a specific radius around your location. Now, take aim at a more specific target. You want to reach people that are actually interested in your product or service. Behavioral Targeting selects who sees your ad based on their:
- online behaviors – targeting people who have shown specific behaviors online (like searching for similar products or related activities) or are in a certain demographic and
- offline behaviors – targeting people by where they have been recently tracked with their phone such as a specific location, business, or brand name store.
That’s a great start that should yield results. However, MOBILE CONQUESTING has a lot of bells and whistles and offers additional strategies to target consumers based on even more specific information. Zero in on the bulls-eye by adding one or more of these custom strategies to your MOBILE CONQUESTING campaign.
Geo-Fencing, Geo-Retargeting, and Geo-Look A Like add location-based layers. A tight virtual fence is placed around a specific area and digital ads are served to smart devices while people are AT that specific location (Geo-Fencing), they continue to see ads AFTER they leave those locations (Geo-Retargeting) and follow those devices to find similar consumers in other locations like neighborhoods or a competitors business (Geo-Retargeting Lookalike).
MOBILE CONQUESTING is so responsive, it can even change based on the weather. A Weather Trigger. targets people within the geographic area and shows them your ads when a certain type of weather event or condition takes place or is forecasted to take place. Need to sell more convertibles or snow shovels? Think about the weather and use it to your digital advantage.
In 2020, we aren’t as “out and about” as we used to be. As we spend more time at home, Smart TVs and Smart Speakers are becoming common household staples. Binge-worthy shows, personalized playlists, podcasts for every hobby. How would we get along without them?! Smart advertisers are promoting their business where customers are spending their time . . . on smart devices.
SMART TV / OTT – OVER THE TOP ADS
As people seek innovative programming or ways to lower monthly bills, internet streaming is an often recommended option. It’s works in a similar manner to watching TV via a cable or broadcast connection, but in this case you are streaming content through an internet connected device like a Roku, Fire TV Stick, Smart TV’s and more. That leads to the opportunity for Over The Top (OTT) advertising. These :15 or :30 second ads appear within the streaming programming like commercials on traditional TV, but only to the audience with the characteristics you select.
If you have a database of households that you are interested in reaching, Address Targeting and Address Retargeting can serve ads to smart devices in their homes and continue to show them ads on mobile devices even when leave their home! If you have a list of current customers or past customers you want to reach with your ads, this is a great strategy to utilize.
The same two targeting strategies used on smart phones (Geographic, Behavioral) are used in OTT, but Artificial Intelligence is a recommended addition to improve focus and reach.
Artificial Intelligence works like your “Because You Watched” list on Netflix. The targeting is going to start out wide and get narrower as the machine learning algorithm gathers more data about preferences and interests. The ad impressions are then optimized to show on those particular types of websites and apps. The AI strategy examines a variety of user characteristics to serve specific ads across smart devices to the people most likely to be interested or inclined to take action.
SMART SPEAKERS – ONLINE AUDIO
If we’re not watching, we’re listening . . . and our devices are listening to us. It’s admittedly weird to think about that, but 27% of the U.S population now owns a smart speaker they enjoy using every day.
Using the same three strategies (Geographic, Behavioral, Artificial Intelligence), Online Audio Ads are served to online listeners consuming audio content across all types of devices, including smart speakers like Alexa. Similar to radio commercials – you are listening to your favorite station and it goes to a commercial break- the user is listening to music, podcasts, or even sporting events online and they are periodically interrupted with a :15 or :30 audio ad. The difference is these “commercials” are targeted at specific consumers based on their recent online behavior. Advertising across a variety of major online audio providers such as Spotify, Triton, TuneIn, iHeart,and SoundCloud will help narrow your message to the most responsive audience.
CONCLUSION
An important part of digital advertising is knowing if it’s working. You need to compare the cost to the results and adjust how you spend your advertising dollars accordingly. To track your return on investment, Moxii Marketing Solutions offers On-Site Visit Tracking: reports showing you how many people saw your digital ad, and then came into your location within a two week period. (We wish we could track online purchases too, but the tech’s just not there yet. Don’t worry, we’re confident your website analytics will show an uptick in traffic.)
While we may not have robot maids and hologram entertainment (yet!), smart devices are bringing us closer to that futuristic lifestyle. The future of your business may rely on how you advertise today.
