World Wide Web Media… emphasis on World
What happens to your media plan when your target is defined as African Americans who lived in Ghana prior to 2004? There are plenty of web sites that reach Latinos, but how do you efficiently deliver a message just to U.S. Peruvians? And what is the best approach for marketing to U.S. immigrants from Pakistan?
When these questions came across our collective desks earlier this year, we decided to employ the hyper-targeting capabilities and “long tail” of global online media. Essentially, we needed to target foreign-born and second-generation Americans with messaging specific to their country of origin.
As with any campaign, the first step is identifying and understanding the target. This is all the more important when developing media strategies for a target that may have a very different set of behaviors and values than the general market.
Who are they? What do they do? Where do they live? What is their relationship with their home country and how do they keep in touch? What do they want to know about your brand and what language do they want to hear it in?
Understanding a target’s rich cultural identity exponentially increases the value of the plan and the impact of the message. Adding on the knowledge of their evolving relation to your brand and product lift the program to a new level, generating great results. In other words, it is well worth the effort.
Out of this grows a media strategy that reaches very niche targets without wasting impressions. We have found the most effective tactic is to identify websites that are based in-country, will allow the advertising to be geotargeted to U.S. visitors only and get enough U.S. traffic to support the campaign.
Cultural barriers – from language to business practices – arise when reaching out and negotiating with international publishers; patience, persistence, and clarity of communication are required. Google Translator helps, too.
One area that needs special attention is measurement. Expectations need to be aligned with the capabilities of the in-country publishers. Online advertising processes are not always as advanced as in the U.S. especially when it comes to adserving and metrics tracking. Sometimes the most advanced metrics will not be available for all sites.
Metrics for measurement of campaign success must be defined and agreed to at the onset of planning and sites evaluated based upon their ability to meet tracking expectations.
Working on these campaigns, can make your browser cookies look like a passport – we’ve been stamped in Nigeria, Pakistan, China , the Philippines, to Argentina and back to New York – in just a few months. If anyone is monitoring Sharpe Partners’ online activity we are not a front operation for an international spy ring. (If only).
Got any comments about the hyper-targeting capabilities and “long tail” of global online media? Please feel free to have your say below.
