At this point, it’s not really a secret that a content-focused digital strategy is essential. I’m not talking “you must write 300 blog posts a month” type of content. That’s old school. You need to craft content that your audience will consume, and better yet, distribute. However, this begs the question that you already know what your audience wants.
Well then. It’s good thing you have a great relationship with your PPC team, right? No? You should. They’re practically sitting on a treasure trove of data that can tell you who your audience is, what they like, what they care about, and even what scares them.
Enter: retargeting! No matter if you love it or hate it, it works. You are probably doing it. Assuming you’re like the rest of the web world, you’re most likely running it on AdWords. You’ve likely ignored placement reports for the most part; but who cares about those, right? It’s my audience. They can go where they want, no need to scrub anything out.
Stop ignoring it! You can use that delightfully stalkalicious data to make other marketing plans.
I pulled a re-marketing placement report for an account in the bridal space and isolated the top 50 domains by impression. Here’s what we found and how we can use it to appeal to the audience.
Caveat: I’m a dude. I will probably never wear a wedding dress. Take these ideas with a grain of salt.
They fear (or love) the weather
Weather.com, wunderground.com, and accuweather.com were all in the top 20. Okay, these are usually high up in the placement charts but rarely are they all in the tops. It makes sense I suppose; there’s no bigger fear for a bride-to-be than a rainy wedding day. So write a post or guide on how to deal with the weather! Perhaps a guide on how to brighten a cloudy wedding, or a post on keeping your hair, makeup, and dress perfect during a storm.
The audience loves Hollywood. A lot.
People, Us Weekly, TMZ, and E! were all in the top 50 and all drove significant conversion volume. How about the top 10 celebrity weddings of all time? Maybe best celebrity couples with a perfect life, or inspirational wedding ideas from the movies. Use celebrity to inspire creativity; you’ll be able to push the content out not only to bridal sites but to celebrity sites as well.
They may have just started shopping.
They’re still planning. Or maybe they haven’t started yet. WeddingBee, Rustic Wedding Chic, and Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses were all in the top 50. There’s a looong path to conversion for wedding dresses; a strong drip-email program with new/progressive content could go a long way in getting the audience tied to the brand.
They’re young. Like, in college.
This client’s audience was hitting sites like Cracked, The Onion, and SparkNotes; some of my favorite places from college! They may be far, far, far away from getting married, so a series of relationship posts, guides to living with your significant other or “how to tell if he’s the one” type guides could hook a customer for life. Just be careful that you don’t become Cosmo.
They need a place to live post-marriage. Or now.
Real estate sites came in droves. Realtor, Trulia, and Apartment Therapy were high on the list as well. Perhaps a post about the perfect house (or apartment) for newlyweds or maybe a list of items to include on a registry that you’ll actually use.
They go the same places as everyone else.
anonymous.google.com, YouTube, NYT. These will likely be the top three domains for every placement report you pull. Don’t ignore them. Dive on in to find what YouTube videos the audience is watching and what types of pages they’re viewing on NYT. Chances are you’ll find an influencer or two or a type of post that’ll resonate with your audience.
They’re dating...?
OKCupid and Plenty of Fish were in the top 50 placements as well. Yeesh.
This is just a sampling of the insights I got from looking at a blanket list of 50 placements for a single client. You could dig even further, build a basic re-marketing list for converters, and figure out what your customers like. Dive through top converting placements to figure out where you can push your content. I beg you! Harass your PPC guy or gal and ask them what they know about your audience before you go crafting crazy content.
Buy him (or her) a beer as well. PPC people love beer.
