Blast Your Brand: Google Ads Strategies for Industry-Wide Impact

Audience building is one of the most powerful and underutilised tools in Google Ads. By strategically targeting the right people, you can create low-cost, high-volume Google Ad campaigns that bring prospects to your website and keep them engaged with your brand.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to create audiences using Google Analytics and Google Ads, identify key interest areas, and utilise creative tactics to maximise engagement and conversions.

Remarketing lists are a cornerstone of effective audience targeting. These lists focus on users who have already visited your website, giving you a chance to re-engage them. Using Google Analytics, you can create highly targeted remarketing audiences by identifying users who interact with high-value pages on your site.

Examples:

• Case Studies & Testimonials Pages: Visitors here are likely researching your credibility.
• Warranty or FAQ Pages: These users may be evaluating your products or services.

To refine these lists further, combine filters such as time spent on the site or the number of pages visited. For instance, only include users who spend more than two minutes on key pages or view at least three pages per session. This approach ensures you’re focusing on genuinely interested prospects.

The Audience Manager in Google Ads is a hidden gem that offers unmatched customisation for prospecting. Here, you can create custom segments tailored to your business goals, ensuring you’re targeting the right people.

Default Audience Options:

• Interest-Based Audiences: People with specific interests relevant to your offering.
• Search-Based Audiences: Users searching for specific terms related to your business.
• Websites They Browse: Add competitors' websites to create an audience of users visiting similar businesses.
• Apps They Use: Identify apps related to your industry to refine your targeting further.

To help you get started, here are four proven audience ideas we’ve used successfully with our clients:

1. Competitor Targeting
   List your competitors' websites and add them to a custom segment. This way, you can serve ads to users actively visiting these sites, ensuring your business remains top of mind.
2. Search Intent Targeting
   Using Google’s Keyword Planner, find high-intent keywords related to your services. Build an audience of users searching for these terms to capture interest at the right moment.
3. Persona-Driven Audiences
   Identify websites your ideal customers frequent. For instance, trade bodies, industry blogs, or supplier sites often attract your target persona. Create an audience to target these specific websites.
4. Event-Based Audiences
   Exhibition websites are a goldmine. Create a list of industry-specific exhibitions, find their websites, and use them as a custom audience source. This approach allows you to reach people planning to attend or researching these events.

Getting users to your site is just the beginning. By tracking engaged visitors - those who spend time on high-value pages - you can segment them into remarketing lists for follow-up campaigns. These lists can then be used to deliver tailored offers, content, or ads that keep your brand in their minds.

Additionally, tools like Google Tag Manager allow you to track specific actions, such as form fills or brochure downloads, further refining your audience for higher ROI.

The beauty of these tactics lies in their adaptability. Whether you’re targeting new audiences with Google Ads or re-engaging past visitors through remarketing, the goal is the same: to focus on high-value prospects and maximise your ad spend. By combining creativity with data, you’ll unlock opportunities your competitors might be overlooking.

Audience building is about more than just targeting anyone who might click. It’s about finding the right people at the right time. By leveraging remarketing, custom segments, and creative audience ideas, you can create impactful campaigns that resonate with your target market. Start with your website data, experiment with Google Ads’ tools, and refine your audiences over time to ensure long-term success.

1. What is the difference between remarketing and prospecting?
Remarketing targets users who have already visited your website, whereas prospecting focuses on attracting new audiences who haven’t interacted with your brand yet.

2. How do I know which audience will perform best?
Test different audiences through A/B campaigns and monitor key metrics like click-through rates, conversions, and cost per acquisition.

3. Can I combine multiple audience types in one campaign?
Yes, combining audiences (e.g., search intent with interest-based audiences) allows for even more precise targeting.

4. Are these strategies budget-friendly?
Absolutely! Remarketing is typically low-cost, and creative prospecting strategies like competitor targeting ensure you maximise your budget by focusing on relevant users.

By applying these strategies, you can unlock the full potential of audience building, turning insights into actions that deliver results.