Google’s Adwords have been working hard to allow for very specific targeting recently. I’ve been impressed with the number of small Canadian towns that show up in it’s targeting settings, as I set up campaigns for local companies. To be even more specific, they now have added targeting by postal code to the type of targeting you can do.
Most people may not find this interesting, and may just think that ‘why not just target by city?’, but the real benefit of this is to partner PPC ads with physical admail. You know, those flyers, postcards, etc that you get in the mail? Those, if unaddressed, are normally sent out in groups based on postal codes. Most cities have known general demographic areas, where the majority of people living there are categorized together. For example, where I live in Brights Grove, is know to be a more ‘senior’ area. So marketing companies target certain postal codes with physical mailers.
Where the new targeting with adwords comes in, is that if I have a mailer going out that promotes a paintball company, and I’m targeting certain postal codes with my mailer, then it makes sense for me to keep the branding/messaging targeted to those people. If they see an ad online for a product/service/brand that they also just saw in the mail, then it strengthens the marketing.
I wouldn’t use this targeting for most campaigns, but when we are going for mail-based specific areas, then I really see this as an easy advantage for using Adwords.