Personalized marketing is no longer a luxury for CPG brands; it’s a necessity. Yet for many mid-market brands, creating audiences for personalized outreach feels like navigating uncharted territory. Even eager, innovative, resource-savvy marketers might still rely heavily on awareness campaigns with little insight into who their true audience is. But here’s the thing—building owned audiences holds the secret to unlocking conversions, retargeting effectively, and saving big on third-party data costs.
We’ll walk you through cost-effective strategies to build personalized audiences, leverage first-party data, and execute impactful campaigns.
Why building owned audiences matters for CPG brands
Relying on Retail Media Networks (RMNs) or spending on third-party data providers isn’t always a sustainable approach, especially for brands on a budget. By building owned audiences, you create a cost-effective system for personalized marketing that:
- Reduces dependency on external data providers.
- Provides actionable insights into your audience’s behaviors and preferences.
- Strengthens retargeting and creates lookalike opportunities.
- Sets your brand up for long-term success by capturing valuable first-party data.
It's time to shift your focus from broad awareness campaigns to nurturing audiences throughout the funnel.
Key strategies to build and own your audiences
1. Leverage existing tools to capture first-party data
First-party data is the gold standard for personalizing outreach. Start by harnessing the tools you may already have to collect valuable customer insights.
- Rebates and promotions: Offer digital rebates or discounts that require email or phone number submission for followup outreach.
- Newsletter sign-ups: Use engaging CTAs to capture email addresses from customers visiting your website or social media pages.
- Chatbots: Integrate chatbots into your website or Landing Pages to collect user information while offering real-time support.
- Data collection: Use consumer acquisition platforms like WeStock to gather ideas of what consumers are actively seeking, helping you find high-interest audiences.
- Shoppable tool signals: Your where-to-buy and shoppable media tools can help collect shopper touchpoint data, allowing you to build owned audiences and retarget accordingly. With built-in geolocation, you can showcase in-stock items available near your interested consumers, enabling hyper-personalized marketing opportunities.
These methods not only help you capture data but also build trust by offering tangible value in exchange for information. The best lookalike audiences you can create are based on “purchase” data, but for CPG brands, these can be tough to build because it’s so hard to get session-level sales data from retailers. With access to confirmed purchase data, you can fire pixel events to create custom lookalike audiences, strengthening your mid-to-low funnel motions.
2. Build lookalike audiences for consumer acquisition
Once you’ve collected initial data, segment your audience based on behaviors, demographics, or retail preferences. For example, create segments like:
- High-intent shoppers: Visitors who clicked your where-to-buy locator or engaged with your social media but haven’t yet purchased.
- Loyal customers: Individuals who’ve made multiple purchases or left positive reviews.
- First-time trial users: Those who redeemed a promotion or engaged with a trial offer.
Use these segments to build lookalike audiences for targeting across platforms like Meta, Google, or programmatic advertising. Lookalikes allow you to target shoppers with similar traits, behaviors, and purchase patterns.
Pear tip: If you run shoppable, where-to-buy ads like Pear Connect, you can further integrate with your ad platforms and take advantage of their machine learning optimizations.
3. Retarget with behavior-driven campaigns
Consumers who have interacted with your brand are already primed for conversion. Use retargeting tactics to guide them through the consideration and purchase stages of the funnel.
- Dynamic shoppable ads: Showcase products that users viewed or added to their cart but didn’t purchase. Shoppable ads increase the likelihood of driving impulse purchases, making them a powerful tool for boosting conversions.
- Exclusive offers: Target visitors who clicked on your retail partners, brand, or shoppable links with limited-time promo codes to motivate action.
- Custom messaging: Use insights from click-level data to craft personalized messages tailored to specific behaviors (Like: “Still interested in our Colombian roast? Here’s 15% off your purchase!”).
4. Take an omnichannel approach
Mid-market brands must diversify their presence across digital and physical channels to expand their reach.
- Social ads: Invest in high-performing platforms like Instagram and TikTok to reach younger, mobile-first audiences. Blend awareness campaigns with retargeting ads to create a full-cycle strategy.
- Email campaigns: Engage your growing first-party audiences with nurture sequences that educate, entertain, and offer exclusive deals. It typically takes 5 to 7 touchpoints before a shopper decides to buy from a new CPG brand.
- Retail partnerships: Use adaptive retail tools to create purchase paths directly linked to retailer click events or retailer visit rates, integrating in-store and online traffic sources.
5. Create a mid-funnel retargeting strategy
Many CPG marketers focus exclusively on top-of-funnel (awareness) or bottom-of-funnel (purchase) marketing. But personalizing your approach at the mid-funnel stage can be a game-changer. This is where your lookalikes, high-intent shoppers, and first-time buyers are waiting to be nurtured.
- Use storytelling content like testimonials or behind-the-scenes videos to build emotional connections. Focus on what unique problem your brand solves in the market.
- Highlight product benefits and comparisons to help buyers in the consideration phase make informed decisions.
- Incentivize trials through promotions, samples, or exclusive bundles for first-time buyers.
6. Optimize your shopper journey
Once you’ve captured an audience, ensure nothing stands in their way toward converting.
- Simplify purchase experiences with tools like Shoppable Product Detail Pages (PDPs) and Landing Pages.
- Target users searching similar products on social media with where-to-buy ads and optimize further using your ad platform’s machine learning capabilities.
- Use email surveys or post-purchase feedback tools to understand friction points and refine your process continuously.
The financial payoff of owned audiences
By investing in building and leveraging owned audiences, mid-market CPG brands can significantly reduce reliance on costly third-party data. Here’s an example of how the results stack up:
- First-party data reduces wasted spend by targeting audiences who are genuinely interested in your product.
- Click-level insights allow you to double down on high-performing strategies, saving you unnecessary spend on underperforming campaigns.
- Improved personalization increases conversion rates, average order values (AOV), and customer lifetime value (CLTV).
Instead of perpetually funneling funds into awareness campaigns, brands like yours can nurture a growing pool of engaged, repeat customers.
Make personalized marketing work for your brand
You don’t need a Fortune 500 budget to win in personalized CPG marketing. By owning your data, segmenting audiences smartly, and engaging customers at the right moments, your mid-market brand can achieve remarkable results.
Still not sure how or where to start? Get expert support to tap into strategies tailored to your unique audience and goals. Together, we’ll help you land and expand at retail in ways the competition can’t.
Begin building your audience today and set the foundation for brand growth!
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