For years, digital advertising has followed the same pattern: run a campaign, target an audience, track performance, report on ROI, then rinse and repeat.
So, what’s wrong with that?
It’s a lost opportunity, says Theo Visser, head of sales at Flow.
“The truth is, performance often improves the longer you engage your audience. You gain more insight. Meta and Google’s algorithms get smarter. Your messaging gets sharper. Your spend becomes more efficient.”
Yet, most advertisers start from scratch with every campaign. And when a campaign ends, the insights often disappear with it. Brands are left back at square one, guessing how to reach their ideal customer.
“This short-term approach doesn’t just waste time and budget,” says Visser, “it wastes a far more valuable opportunity: the chance to build out a long-term audience strategy and grow your retargeting pool.”
Why always-on audience targeting matters
The good news? There’s a far more sustainable, scalable approach: always-on targeting through high-intent, first party data audience segments. These are dynamic audiences you can plug into your campaigns at any time – not just during peak seasons or for particular campaigns – to help build a robust audience targeting and retargeting strategy.
So, where do you find these audiences?
You can start with your own first-party data, tap into data from other businesses through a data marketplace like Flow, or – most effectively – combine the two. Layering audiences in this way creates a powerful and precise targeting strategy.
“For example, many brands use our marketplace to try different audiences from different sectors, depending on their campaign objectives,” says Visser. “This gives them plug-and-play access to a range of first-party audience segments based on real behaviours and signals of intent – not guesswork. It’s all about flexibility and control, while tapping into targeting that actually works.”
And this kind of targeting does work, with commerce media pulling spend away from the traditional giants, and retailers and platforms increasingly using their own first-party data to offer advertisers precision access to consumers. “Brands are simply realising that their budget goes further when their targeting is sharper.”
From rented reach to recurring results
To truly shift from short-term campaign mode to raising your Customer Lifetime (LTV) metrics in the long run, brands need more than just tools – they need a mindset change.
Rayhaan Williams, head of digital marketing at eComplete, says the first step is classifying campaigns by objective.
“You need to separate evergreen activity from tactical promotions, and understand how each campaign contributes to your overall audience pool.” He recommends tagging audiences and campaign categories consistently and tracking user journeys across the funnel – not just when they convert.
This isn’t just another round of targeting based on age, gender, or broad demographics. It’s precision targeting, driven by real user intent. In fact, it isn’t about just targeting – but also learning.
“When you build an audience strategy that evolves over time, you start to uncover powerful insights: what channels drive the most valuable customers, how long it takes new leads to convert, and where your biggest drop-offs happen.”
Ideally, what brands need is continuous access to fresh, relevant audiences, so whether they are running a brand awareness push, a new product launch or a conversion campaign, they’ll have a relevant, high-intent audience, as well as the ability to learn and refine as they go.
What brands can do now
- Stop thinking short term. Using custom audiences isn’t one-and-done. Consistent engagement and iteration pays off.
- Map your campaign categories. Different campaigns need different strategies, and should all feed into a bigger audience picture. Align your different campaign types to specific audiences.
- Tap into data marketplaces. Platforms like Flow give you access to robust, high-intent audiences that you can slice, dice and layer to create fully-customised segments that align with your exact targeting goals.
- Glean from every campaign. Consider measurables like churn, return rates, and time to purchase to better understand the consumers you most want to reach.
- Invest in a robust retargeting pool. When you run campaigns like this, you start to build a very valuable retargeting audience based on real insights and results. Leverage this knowledge to make your next strategic move.
Looking ahead: A smarter, more agile future
So where does digital advertising go next? According to Visser, we’re entering a more dynamic and decentralised era.
“AI is already changing how people search and navigate online. Big platforms like Meta and Google know this – they’re adapting fast to stay relevant. But at the same time, commerce media is rising, offering brands better ROI and more precise targeting.”
In this changing landscape, it’s never been more important – or more possible – to deliver a user experience that’s truly relevant and personalised. And how do you do that? By meeting your customer at the right time and place, with a message that’s meaningful to them.
The best first step? Know your ideal audience, says Visser.
“At Flow, we spend time upfront helping brands define who they want to reach. Then we match that to segments in our marketplace – optimised for size, relevance and cost. From there, everything becomes more efficient.”
“We do this because we know the future of targeting lies not just in using first-party data audiences for once-off campaigns, but in building long-term, first-party data audience strategies. Brands that want to stay competitive need to start experimenting now!”
