What is Skills Audience Targeting?

Skills Audience Targeting is a strategy that focuses marketing efforts on individuals who possess specific skills.

This marketing growth tactic was born from the age of digital marketing where data about individual online behavior became easily available. As online advertising platforms began segmenting their users based on detailed demographics and behaviors, marketers recognized the opportunity and began creating advertising strategies targeting those specific groups, specifically based on their skills.

The main idea behind Skills Audience Targeting is not to plainly advertise to a broad audience, but instead, to curate your efforts towards people who have the proven, potential skills your product or service requires. Advertisers typically experiment with multiple diverse audiences as the effectiveness can vary greatly depending on how the advertising platform identifies and groups them together. From a "Traffic" viewpoint, this tactic works especially well. By targeting an audience with a specific skill set, you increase the chance that they'll be interested in your product or service, thereby escalating your website's traffic.

Examples of Skills Audience Targeting

  1. Software Developers: A company selling high-end developer tools targets their ads specifically towards individuals with proven programming skills.
  2. Cooks and Chefs: A meal kit delivery service focuses its online advertising on individuals who have demonstrated cooking skills in their online behavior.
  3. Fitness Enthusiasts: An athletic apparel company targets potential customers exhibiting sporting and fitness-related skills.
  4. Photographers: A store selling digital cameras and accessories targets ads to those who have shown photography skills.
  5. Musicians: A music software company targets their ads at individuals who are adept at playing musical instruments or producing music.

Marketing Tactics Similar to Skills Audience Targeting

  • Interest-Based Targeting: This method involves focusing marketing efforts on individuals who have shown interest in specific subjects or activities. This helps ensure the advertisement is relevant to the audience.
  • Behavioral Targeting: Involves throwing marketing efforts at the audience who show specific behavior patterns, like past purchases or browsing history, giving a hint about their interests and needs.
  • Demographic Targeting: Here, the audience segmentation is based on age, gender, income, education, and other demographic factors, to target specific products or services.
  • Geo-Targeting: This method allows advertisers to display their ads to customers based on their location. Products or services targeting local communities greatly benefit from this.

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