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Know your audience, build your business

Keep it simple. It’s an adage we use a lot in the advertising industry, and for good reason. No matter how convoluted modern marketing strategies may seem, advertising success has continued to follow a relatively simple equation: Audience x frequency x message = results Figure out who you need to reach, how many times, and with what message (creative) and you have a proven formula for advertising (notice we did not say marketing) success. No part of the equation is more valuable than another. All factors are equal parts to credit (or to blame) for any profitable advertising strategy. In this blog post, we will concentrate on the first factor: audience. There’s no doubt that digital advertising has opened up a whole new level of audience targeting. Instead of throwing your message at a wall and hoping it sticks with the right people, you can now only reach the people most likely to use your product or service thanks to a few algorithms and a lot of big data. Look, nothing can beat digital when it comes to targeting. Want to reach soccer moms in one zip code between 5-10 pm on weeknights? Done (for the right CPM). The problem, however, is that everyone wants a piece of the behavioral marketing game, and messages often get diluted in the ever-more-clouded world of online advertising. So, we offer some simple words of advice as you navigate the dynamic world of marketing strategy: Your audience is not a trend. Think past the medium, and meet your audience where they are… regardless of trends. If your audience loves the look and feel of the printed page, meet them there. If your audience loves the interactivity and instant gratification of digital mediums, meet them there. Don’t try to define your audience with your advertising, define your advertising with your audience.