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Targeting

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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

What is it?

Targeting allows you to place your ad in front of the right people and the right websites. We are targeting people and websites because they might have an interest in us, or there might be an alignment between the website and our brand itself.

The two types of targeting, and these are key differences.

Audience targeting

This is targeting people because they fit a certain profile. That can be they have a certain interest in things, or they’re in the market for something, or they’re being retargeted. We are targeting people in this instance.

Contextual targeting

This is based on the keywords that are included in the site, or indeed the type of site that we’d like to target. That’s called topic targeting. So, if a website’s sole focus is cars, we might find that under the automobile section of topics. Or if a website’s sole focus is health, we might find it under the health and lifestyle topics option. So again, we’re not targeting people in this instance, we’re targeting the type of sites and the content that is on those sites.

It's very important to distinguish between audience and contextual targeting.

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Cathal Melinn

Cathal Melinn is a digital strategist, lecturer, and trainer. He has over 15 years’ experience in eCommerce, social media, affiliate marketing, data analytics, and all things digital. He worked at Yahoo! Search in 2005 as a Senior Search Strategist for the UK Financial Services vertical. He moved to the world of agency in 2010 as Head of Search and Online Media. Cathal’s previous clients include Apple, Vodafone, Expedia, Virgin, Universal Music Group, Amazon, Compare the Market, and HSBC.

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    ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

    Display Advertising
    Cathal Melinn
    Skills Expert

    This module introduces the key concepts involved in display advertising. It covers the advantages of different types of display platforms and demonstrates how to set up a display advertising campaign. It also explores the key considerations for targeting and bidding in a display advertising campaign, and how to report on and optimize campaign performance.

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