Many situations demand the precision of defining a distinct target audience in the advertising channel. However, narrowing the focus within targeting is merely the first step.
To truly enhance engagement from that target audience (which is the goal, after all!), advertisers must also take care to create tailored offers, tailored ad copy, customized landing pages, and a completely optimized end-to-end experience.
And you won’t just be checking a best practice box. You’ll be on your way to generating some really great results.
The Background
At Waybetter, our strategies to drive and shape enrollment for our partners are never static. But, rather very flexible to campaign metrics, the institution’s application activity, and industry trends.
So, when it was discovered that a partner was down 25% in applications and site traffic in California from the previous year, we quickly answered the call.
The Solution
California is a high-applicant and high-yielding state for this university, so having a solid core of applicants from there was imperative to their yield and overall success. To address this, we built a new campaign targeting California residents, leveraging our partner’s well-thought-out offer to match any California institution’s in-state tuition rate for California residents. This message and offer, unique to our segmented audience, was communicated clearly through ad copy and ad landing pages.
Within the first 30 days of this campaign running, the deficit of applications from California had been cut in half and was trending in the right direction. The CTR was an 800+% increase, and the engagement rate was 25% stronger than the standard application campaign.
The Gist
Competition for attention is fierce in the digital marketing landscape. To drive engagement and clicks and foster long-term brand loyalty, you need to be able to segment your audience with surgical precision and ensure the same level of precision is applied to the content.
Don’t just segment because you can; segment because it will provide a better experience for your audience.
Before moving forward with segmentation, think about the end-user experience as a flow chart and answer this one simple question.
Will the offer, messaging, and digital experience speak to the segment differently than if they weren’t segmented? Do I have an “offer” unique to them?
If the answer is yes, then go for it! If not, then take a step back and think about how to refine the segmentation to answer question one.