Targeted marketing

Targeted marketing is marketing directed at a specific group of people, defined by who they are or how they behave, rather than broadcast to the widest possible audience. The principle is straightforward: a message that is relevant to the person who receives it is more likely to produce a result than a message that is relevant to nobody in particular.

Targeting is not the same as segmentation, and not the same as personalisation. Segmentation divides a customer base into groups. Targeting is the act of directing a campaign at a specific group. Personalisation goes further, adapting the message to individuals within that group. The three work together, but confusing them leads to poorly structured campaigns.

What is targeted marketing

Targeted marketing is the practice of selecting a defined audience for a marketing campaign based on specific criteria, rather than running the campaign to an undifferentiated mass audience.

The criteria can be demographic (age, gender, income, location), behavioural (past purchases, website visits, email engagement), psychographic (values, interests, attitudes), or contextual (time of day, device, content being consumed). The targeting decision determines who sees the campaign, which directly affects its relevance and its cost-efficiency.

Targeted marketing applies across channels: email campaigns sent to specific segments of a list, paid social ads served to defined audience groups, direct mail delivered to specific postcodes or household profiles, paid search ads triggered by specific search queries. The targeting mechanism differs by channel, but the underlying logic is the same.

Benefits of targeted marketing

The primary benefit of targeted marketing is efficiency. A campaign delivered to people who are likely to be interested in it produces more results per pound spent than a campaign delivered to people who are not.

The secondary benefit is relevance. A customer who receives communications about products and offers that are genuinely relevant to them is more likely to engage, more likely to purchase, and less likely to unsubscribe or opt out. Targeted marketing, when done well, is better for the recipient as well as better for the advertiser.

The measurable outcomes of better targeting: higher click-through rates on email, lower cost-per-acquisition on paid channels, higher conversion rates on landing pages, lower unsubscribe rates on CRM, and, over time, higher repeat purchase rates as customers receive communications that build rather than erode the relationship.

Types of targeted marketing

Demographic targeting. Targeting by age, gender, income, household composition, job title, or location. Demographic targeting is the most common starting point because the data is widely available and the segments are easy to define. The limitation is that demographics describe who someone is, not what they want or how they behave. Two people with identical demographic profiles can have very different purchase intentions.

Behavioural targeting. Targeting based on observed actions: past purchases, website behaviour, email engagement, app activity. Behavioural targeting is more predictive than demographic targeting because it is based on what people have actually done rather than who they are. A customer who has bought from your skincare range three times in six months is a better target for a new product launch in that category than someone in the same age bracket who has never purchased.

Geographic targeting. Targeting by physical location: country, region, city, postcode, or radius around a point. Useful for businesses with regional relevance, store-level campaigns, or customer bases that are geographically concentrated. Combined with address-level demographic data, geographic targeting becomes more precise: not just people within a radius, but people within a radius who match the profile of your best customers.

Psychographic targeting. Targeting by values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyle. Psychographic targeting is the hardest to validate because the data is typically inferred rather than observed. It is most useful as a layer on top of behavioural and demographic targeting, not as a primary targeting criterion.

Targeted marketing examples

Segment-specific email campaign. A fashion retailer sends a sale promotion to customers who have bought in the last 90 days and have an average order valueAverage order valueThe average amount spent per order: total revenue divided by number of orders. AOV thresholds are a common way to make value-based segments measurable, such as "customers in the top 20% by average order value".View in glossary above £80, rather than to their full email list. Open rate, click rate, and conversion are all higher than a broadcast send, because the offer is relevant to the recipient's demonstrated behaviour.

Lookalike audience on Meta. A DTCDirect to Consumer (DTC)Direct to Consumer (DTC) is a business model where a company sells its products or services straight to end customers, cutting out intermediaries like wholesalers, distributors, and third-party retailers. Traditionally, a manufacturer might sell to a distributor, who sells to a retailer, who sells to the consumer. A DTC brand skips those middle layers and owns the entire customer relationship, typically through its own e-commerce site, though it can also include brand-owned physical stores or subscription models. View in glossary brand uploads a seed list of their highest-lifetime-value customers and builds a lookalike audience. The paid social campaign targets this audience rather than a broad demographic group. Cost-per-acquisition is lower because the audience resembles people who have already proven they value the brand.

Geographic direct mail. A regional service business targets postcodes where their customer base is most concentrated, supplemented by adjacent postcodes that match the demographic profile of existing customers. Response rate exceeds their national average campaign because the targeting reflects real geographic demand rather than an even distribution.

Behavioural retargeting. A B2B software company targets visitors who have read their pricing page but not requested a demo with a follow-up paid campaign. The audience is smaller than a broad awareness campaign but converts at a higher rate because the targeting reflects demonstrated intent.