Stop 06 · Paid Advertising (PPC)Topics · 6/12

Audience Targeting & Segmentation

In short

Showing a ladies' kurti ad to a 50-year-old man in Ludhiana wastes money. Targeting is choosing who sees your ad, and segmentation is splitting them so each group gets the right message.

Defining who sees your ads — demographics, interests, behaviors, custom audiences (uploaded lists), and lookalike audiences (people similar to your best customers) — precision here drives most campaign efficiency.

The blob in a white cap sorts steel tiffin boxes into neat rows on a wooden cart.

Think of it like this

The dabbawala's sorting codes

Mumbai's dabbawalas mark every tiffin with simple codes for station, building and floor. Thousands of lunches reach the right desk because they're sorted first. Good ad targeting sorts people before you send them anything.

Watch it happen

Ways to define who sees your ad

Audience

Demographics

Interests

Your data

Age, city

Fitness, cooking

Site visitors

Lookalikes

1/4Demographics: who people are, like 18 to 24 and living in Bengaluru.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Segment by need

Students and working parents may buy the same product for different reasons. Give each its own message.

Cold, warm, hot

Strangers, past visitors and cart abandoners need different ads and different offers.

Too narrow hurts

Tiny audiences get expensive and slow. Platforms often do better with room to find buyers.

Respect privacy

Use only data people agreed to share, and follow each platform's rules on sensitive topics.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Stacking ten interests to make the 'perfect' tiny audience.

Do this instead

Start broader, let the platform learn, and use your creative to call out the right people.

Oops

Showing the same ad to strangers and to people who left a full cart.

Do this instead

Strangers need an introduction. Cart abandoners need a nudge, like a reminder or free delivery.

Your mission

Write three audience segments

~20 min

Quick check

Who is usually the warmest audience for an online shoe store?

Go deeper

1Build a hypothetical audience targeting plan for a product, listing 3 specific segments.
2Learn the difference between a custom audience and a lookalike audience.
3Understand why overly narrow targeting can raise costs without proportionally improving results.