Targeting in advertising is one of the most important concepts to understand. It basically means showing your ads to the right people, rather than just as many people as possible.
That means defining your ‘buyer persona’ who is most likely to buy from you, and then showing them the ads.
To give an example, imagine that you have a wedding dress shop that is located in Santa Monica, USA.
Chances are, that you want to show your products to women who are currently engaged, living in that area (seeing as you really need to try on a wedding dress before you buy one).
The dresses are quite expensive, so you probably want to aim at people with big disposable incomes. And they are all plus sizes. Plus they are Disney-themed.
So, if your ad is showing to skinny, broke, married men, who hate Disney, living in France... then you’re not going to get many purchases.
And the money you spent on those ads is wasted.
That’s where targeting comes in: trying to market only to the right people. Problem is, that even an engaged, wealthy, woman, in Santa Monica, may not ensure you get a purchase.
Some women might have their dresses made for them, inherit them from their Mothers, or perhaps not want a traditional wedding dress at all. That’s still wasted money.
Or they may simply not have shared their relationship status with Facebook.
So instead, the best way to ensure you show your dresses to the right people, is to show them to people who are looking at wedding dresses. Better yet, show them to people looking at your wedding dresses!
