The emphasis on effective targeting of digital ad campaigns has led some marketers, and even entire organizations, to think that targeting an ad correctly to a specific audience is more than half the digital marketing battle.
Many marketing teams are putting vast effort into figuring out who they need to target and how to target them with all the tools they have at their disposal. But what they’re going to say to their target audiences once they have their attention, and how they’re going to direct them to an action, is often an afterthought.
This is a problem. These critical digital marketing decisions can’t be left to the last minute. To make effective use of increasingly tight budgets, capture an audience’s short attention span, and thrive amidst intense competition, you have to ensure that what you say, and the perception you create, truly resonate with your target audience.
So, if you’re noticing that your digital marketing efforts aren’t working as intended, but you aren’t sure why, it’s time to look beyond your targeting and focus on improving other aspects of your digital marketing efforts.
Ad Impressions But No Clicks Suggest a Major Messaging Mismatch
The digital marketing process is about cutting through a lot of noise to grab and maintain a potential buyer’s attention. If you lose that attention at any point in the process, you’ll have a difficult time getting it back. Therefore, your digital ads need not just a targeted message but one that gets your target audience to the next step of the process.
One indication that messaging in an ad isn’t working is if the ad is getting a lot of impressions but no clicks. This usually happens because messaging, positioning, content, or visuals are a mismatch for your audience. If people are seeing the ad and moving right along — or they’re glazing over it when scrolling — the content and visuals are not strong enough to get your target audience to commit to the next action.
High Bounce Rate Suggests an Awkward Landing
Another indication that messaging isn’t working is a high bounce rate.
Say you’ve successfully grabbed your audience’s attention, kept it, and convinced them of the value of clicking your ad. But your tracking statistics show a high bounce rate — people are hitting your landing page and leaving immediately.
Once again, this could be simply because your messaging, content, or visuals on the landing page aren’t quite the right fit for your audience. But it could also be another form of a mismatch. Your landing page might not be aligned with the messaging from your initial ad.
For example, let’s say you’re running an ad for a software subscription that offers a one-month free trial. Let’s also say that the messaging and visuals of the ad are crafted perfectly — tons of people in your target audience want that free trial now, or at least want to read more about the trial. But then suppose the landing page your audience lands on after clicking the ad prompts them to sign up for a demo. At best, they’re going to be confused. At worst, they’re going to think you tried to trick them.
No Landing Page Conversions Says Your Messaging Isn’t Addressing Problems
But what if your audience is clicking your ad, arriving at your landing page, and spending a promising amount of time on the page, only to click away and not interact further? No free trial, no demo booking, no wanting to talk to sales — nothing.
Typically, this is a sign that the audience feels that what you’re offering is not providing value. Visitors read through the ad and landing page content because there was potential value in your offering, but after more reading the audience wasn’t convinced the value was truly there.
It’s even possible to fumble the ball at this step in the most subtle of ways. Say you’re positioning a cloud solution and emphasizing the value of switching to the cloud. If most of your audience is already in the cloud and well aware of the merits of switching in general, you aren’t offering any additional value. In other words, your targeting is working but your messaging is not.
This audience is likely looking for particular information about the cloud, such as the merits of different cloud structures or how to evaluate cloud offerings, for example. In other words, your messaging around the cloud needs to address these pain points, rather than simply discussing the cloud in general, to provide the value your audience is actually looking for.
No Second Chance at a First Impression
The bottom line is that developing effective messaging for all digital marketing tactics has become even more important as targeting has gotten better.
By homing in on target audiences and audience segments, we’ve been able to speak to them more directly and cut through the competitive noise. And while in theory narrowing our audience means we’re talking to fewer people, in practice we’re actually speaking to more potential customers.
But if potential customers come away with the wrong perception, it’s highly unlikely they’ll give you the time of day again. That’s why it’s much more important that when you speak, you’re saying something that your customers are actually interested in hearing — something that provides value.
Ultimately, that means giving at least as much thought to what you want to say to your target audience as you do to who you should be speaking to. Spend the time and effort necessary to ensure:
- Your messages match the value your audience is seeking
- Your positioning convinces them you can help them overcome their challenges
- Wherever you direct a user to is consistent with what you’ve said before and is, for them, the next logical step along the process
