Competitive Conquest in Search and Display

Very broadly, programmatic digital marketing is automated, real-time bidding for advertising “inventory.” In this case inventory means the opportunity to show a digital ad to a specific type of viewer, under a particular context or location. It’s highly targeted and extremely effective.

But what makes programmatic even more targeted and effective? Showing that same ad to your competitors’ customers! Most people familiar with search engine marketing (SEM) are familiar with competitive conquest or using your competitors’ brand or product names as targeting keywords. When you do this, your ads will show up ahead of your competition in organic search results—or even before their ads—when people are searching for your competitors, their products or services online.

Now, apply this same tactic in your display advertising campaigns …

Layering “conquest targeting” data into your display campaign parameters so you reach an audience that has shown interest in your competitors through their past searches or online behavior is called audience targeting. As an example, if you sell Mercedes, you’ll want to reach people who have a high propensity for showing interest (by visiting a website or some other online behavior) in not only your product, but also BMW and Lexus. Make sense? Read on …

Placing your ad in the right context is also a form of competitive conquest called contextual targeting. With this method, you’re placing ads adjacent to content that mentions your competitors by name. It can be an efficient way to reach leads just as they are active and ready to engage with your company or product!

Finally, second-party data is a highly effective way to put your message in front of people currently looking for products or services similar to yours. This method uses data from companies such as Yelp or the travel aggregator and search engine Kayak. If you’re an airline, by using 2nd party data from Kayak, you can place your digital ad in front of people are in the act of booking a flight on another airline.

In any discussion of competitive conquest, we’d be remiss not to discuss paid social. With paid social you serve “ads” directly to people who have demonstrated specific interest in your competitors on a social media platform such as LinkedIn or Facebook.

For example, if you are a daycare, you want your paid social posts to reach newsfeeds of parents with infants or young children, in your geographic area, who have recently visited competitive daycare facilities’ Facebook pages. Paid social should be evaluated whenever you are searching to conquer your competitors with a digital sword.

Combined with retargeting, competitive conquest tactics can help you wring even more value out of your programmatic digital campaign. To learn more, give as a call here at SPI Collective.