Dive Brief:
- Google's AdWords has updated its targeting options to let marketers use phone numbers and mailing addresses when trying to reach desired consumers, Ad Age reported.
- The new features let marketers better serve ads to specific people for more personalized targeting. Previously, AdWords' targeting was limited to anonymized email data coupled with broad demographic information, which frustrated marketers looking for a more precise approach.
- Leveraging phone numbers or addresses is a common practice in marketing, but Google's delay to embrace these tactics was likely due to heavy privacy concerns by regulators, Ad Age said.
Dive Insight:
AdWords' latest move could lead to even more marketing spend coming Google's way, as marketers will appreciate an expanded toolkit that allows for more granular targeting, which results in consumers seeing ads and other marketing content that's more relevant to them. The move might also open opportunities for smaller marketers that don't necessarily have massive data sets or budgets for such granular targeting independently.
To address lingering concerns about privacy, the update comes with some restrictions. Google's terms and conditions say marketers can only use their data to create targeted audience groups, but not third-party data they bought elsewhere, according to Ad Age.
Along with the AdWords updates, Google has this year introduced a slew of advertising capabilities that have piqued brands' interest. In May, it announced a beta test of a measurement tool designed to let marketers track campaign success across devices and channels using machine learning, and in October, it expanded that Google Attribution tool to hundreds of advertisers and rolled out a new search format that lets brands group together a selection of related products to boost discoverability among online shoppers.
