A new BIA/Kelsey White Paper sponsored by Manta examines how audience extension can be a powerful tool for B2B marketers that are trying to keep their customer acquisition costs manageable, a big challenge for those targeting small businesses in particular.
Audience extension is a data-driven targeting technique that enables a publisher to extend the reach and frequency of impressions for advertisers by finding sources of traffic outside the publisher’s direct domain. It also allows advertisers to reach new target audience sets and convert these prospects into customers at a much lower acquisition cost than if they purchased an audience of similar size directly. The strategy leverages existing data investments for maximum returns.
The report, “Audience Extension: A Path to Low Cost Customer Acquisition”, defines audience extension and frames it within the context of the challenges presented by targeting small businesses at scale. Breaking through to lower customer acquisition cost, along with reducing the cost of goods sold, is key to reaching the very small business customer. Most media companies with large deployed sales channels have focused on SMBs in the middle to top range of the pyramid (based on spend or revenue) because the cost of sales is too high to pursue very small businesses. This report, illustrated with examples from SMB-focused brands running Manta audience extension campaigns, suggests a viable model for acquiring those hard to reach long-tail SMBs.
Audience extension campaigns require careful set up to be effective. And, as Manta’s VP of Sales and Business Development Joey Glowacki notes in the report, even the best-designed campaigns require time to take effect. “This is not a light switch, it’s a dimmer switch,” Glowacki said.
Manta is one of the largest online resources dedicated to small business, delivering products, services and educational opportunities geared to help business owners become more competitive in their respective industries. The Manta directory’s millions of monthly visitors search its database for individual businesses, industry segments and geographic-specific listings.
BIA/Kelsey and Manta will explore how audience extension can help reduce customer acquisition costs in an upcoming webinar.
In the meantime, you can download the report for free.
