X Factor finished at the weekend.

I don’t watch it, but it’s been in my consciousness because it’s been all over the news.

And you know what else has been in my consciousness as a result? Just Eat.

They’re the show’s sponsors, which means they get a huge amount of coverage all the way through the show.

And although it’s “brand advertising”, it’ll work for them.

They’re targeting a demographic of people who are definitely ‘staying in’ on weekend evenings, and consequently are way more likely to order takeaway.

But what’s my point? Surely this sort of “brand advertising” is just too expensive for us SMEs?

Well, maybe in the past. But as Google’s influence has grown, so has their ability to target specific audiences in their rapidly expanding display network.

With that in mind, I thought I’d just run through three of the ways you can target specific groups online, without having to collect any of their data yourself:

“Custom affinity” audiences

With a custom affinity audience, you can reach an audience that has an affinity with a specific interest. Say you want to reach marathon runners, rather than a more broad audience of ‘sports fans’, you can do so.

“In-market” audiences

Whilst customer affinity audiences give you laser-targeting, what they don’t tell you is whether the person you’re advertising to is ‘in the market’ for what you sell.

But – unsurprisingly given the name – that’s exactly what you can do when you target an ‘in-market’ audience: reach out to people who are actively doing research on products like yours.

“Custom intent” audiences

These audiences go further – you actually reach out to people AS they’re making a purchase decision.

These three types of audiences are all examples of how the power of Google has changed the game.

“Brand advertising”, so often the preserve of the big brands like Just Eat, is now available to SMEs like you and me, and harnessed correctly, can help you achieve Champagne level results on lemonade money.

Get in touch if you’d like to know more.