Small Ad Spends: Why Targeting Matters
Have you ever used a megaphone to announce to a stadium full of strangers details about your birthday party?
Well, if you’re not targeting the right demographic for your next big event promoted on Facebook, that’s essentially what you’re doing. As professional marketers, perhaps one of the best pieces of advice we can share with you is: not everyone cares about what you have to say or what you’re doing. We understand that sounds a bit harsh - but please, hear us out.
The good news that comes along with not everyone pandering to know about your next big event is: you don’t have to pay to tell them about it. Facebook, though ever-evolving, has made it easier than ever to promote your special offerings and events directly to the people who want to know about them. Psst! It doesn’t make any sense to tell Gloria from Pittsburgh about your brick and mortar Grand Opening celebration in St. Louis.
When one of our valued St.Louis-based restaurant and brewery clients, approached us with a super special coupon they’re offering their customers we knew exactly how we wanted to share the news. They kicked off this promotion with a finite amount of “tickets” on Eventbrite. This method allows easy click through for online promotion - and allows for the client to know exactly how many of these special coupons are out there in the world. Additionally - once a coupon is redeemed it’s done forever.
We love that this was the methodology they chose to get started - and paired with copy, creative, and a strategically targeted promotion, we knew this would be a hit. Since this special offering was a way to “thank” their existing customer base for their patronage, we knew it wouldn’t serve us well to spend a meager advertising budget to those who hadn’t visited their location or lived too far away for an easy trip. The goal of this special promotion made it pretty obvious who we’d target our ad to, the proof is in the pudding!
It was determined by the ownership team that Facebook and Instagram would be the sole platform for marketing this coupon. With a tiny marketing budget of just $50, and the goal of rewarding customers for loyalty, we determined that the target audience for this short-term ad would be fans and friends of fans, living within a 30-mile radius of the location. Having a meager budget of $50, we selected a daily ad spend of $10, running the promotion just five short days to get the word out.
The value of the coupon paired with this method of promotion packed a huge punch! We received 245 link clicks to the direct download, 463 paid post engagements, and made 9,279 impressions. Our client was thrilled with the turnaround and ROI on this promotion - and so were their customers!
Had we shared this promotion to all of St. Louis, or even just those in the area with an interest in craft beers and spirits, we would have increased our target audience and made our promotional dollars less impactful.
When your goals are outlined and you craft an effective strategy to execute them, you don’t always need a stout budget. Cheers to perfectly executed promotions!
