A few years ago, it was enough to have a high-quality banner from a brand or business, and that was considered advertising. In 2025, this is not enough: to make campaigns effective and profitable, it needs to be relevant. Users do not respond or react to “random” ads (which means that the budgets don’t pay back). That is why targeted advertising has emerged — a marketing tool that lets you configure displays so specific ads are shown to specific users. Those who are more likely to be interested and take the desired action. At Tech4you.io, we have prepared an article that will help you understand in detail what targeting advertising is, who it works best for, and the key stages of setting up and running targeted advertising.
Targeted advertising is
Targeting advertising (from the English target) is the personalized display of ads on social networks based on user data, including:
- Location (country, city, neighborhood/radius)
- Interests
- Demographic data (age, gender, marital status)
- Online behavior (various interactions with content)
Advertising platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, YouTube, TikTok) analyze dozens of user signals to deliver ads to people for whom they are likely to be most relevant. The goal is to identify “the right” audience as accurately as possible.
For example, targeting advertising can be set up so that ads are only shown to men from Odesa, aged 35 to 55, who have a child and are interested in football.
Targeted advertising analysis is an integral part of the process because it allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of targeting based on key metrics:
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- CTR (clicks/impressions)
- CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions)
- CPC/CPA (cost per click/action)
- Conversions
- ROAS (revenue/cost)
Launch of targeted advertising is effective for a wide range of businesses: from small shops to global brands.
How does targeting advertising work?
The Internet has over 5.56 billion users (≈ 68% of the world’s population). Some people like Adidas sneakers and running, some like AeroPress coffee, others are looking for apartments in the center of Kyiv.
Targeted advertising is the display of specific ads to those who are more likely to be interested in a product or service (strollers for new parents, sneakers for runners, suitcases for travelers).
Setting up and running targeted advertising consists of several stages.
- Defining the campaign objective (traffic, purchase, subscriptions) and selecting the placement/platform for display (Google, Meta, TikTok, YouTube).
- Creating a generalized profile of the target audience (for example, a woman, Lviv, 25-35 years old, short on time, shops via mobile).
- Configuring audience segment parameters (age, geo, gender, interests, devices).
- Creating creatives (copy, video, UGC, carousels), each with a clear call-to-action.
- Placement and launch of targeted advertising.
- Targeted advertising analysis: track CTR, CPM, CPC/CPA, conversions, ROAS.
An additional step may be retargeting. Read a detailed article from Tech4you.io about retargeting in Google Ads at the link: Read the article.
In which niches is it most effective to use targeting ads?
Niches where the targeting advertising opportunities are most effective:
- eCommerce, D2C (clothing, cosmetics, gadgets, decor)
- Local businesses (cosmetology, fitness, salons, cleaning)
- Online education, courses, webinars
- Personal branding
- Info products, coaching, experts
- Mobile apps
- B2B (services, agencies, manufacturing)
When targeted ads are a must-try:
- For quick testing of a new offer, creative, or audience segment
- Need to warm up before sales
- When there is a product catalog or UGC video (can be scaled using creatives)
Varieties of targeting
Targeting advertising is a set of methods that allow you to narrow down a broad audience to specific segments for maximum advertising effectiveness.
This can be done based on different parameters, which is why there are several types of targeting.
| Targeting type | Characteristics |
| Geotargeting | Based on users’ place of residence and location (country, city, district, “nearby” radius) |
| Socio-demographic | By age, gender, education, marital status, income of users |
| Interest-based | Based on user preferences and stable interactions on social networks (likes, subscriptions, views), as opposed to “behavioral” targeting, which relies on short-term actions |
| Behavioral | Based on user actions on the internet (website browsing, search queries, interaction with content, in-app activity) |
| Look-alike | Finding users similar to your leads and customers. |
Important: the most effective targeting advertising setup combines several types of targeted advertising. For example, retargeting users who have added a product to cart + look-alike audience. This is a classic e-commerce setup.
How to set up targeted advertising
The process of social media advertising setup takes place in stages:
- Research and analysis of the target audience, motivations, and pain points of users.
This can be done through surveys and questionnaires, as well as data analysis. This is a critical aspect of targeted advertising, as the effectiveness of the ads will largely depend on it.
- Structuring campaigns.
Creating separate audiences from different segments (e.g., 3-5) of the target audience and different placements.
- Define campaign goals.
For example, driving traffic to a website or application, increasing conversions (purchases, subscriptions, service requests, other target actions), and raise brand awareness.
- Choose the creative format and launch of targeted advertising.
Depending on the placement, different advertising formats will be effective. For example, for YouTube — video ads, for Stories and Reels — 9:16 videos, for Google — banners, for TikTok — UGC content.
Important: one idea — one creative. Each creative must have a clear call to action.
- Targeted advertising analytics.
Based on metrics: CTR (if you see <0.7%, the creative is not working), CPA, CPC, ROAS. It is worth turning off ineffective targeted advertising and scaling up the one that has good performance.
What makes targeted advertising truly effective
A few secrets that increase the targeting advertising opportunities’ effectiveness.
- A strong offer where value exceeds price
- Specifics in the offer and CTA
- Correct audience setup, segmentation
- Creatives that “hook” within 2 seconds
- Methodical optimization, when scaling decisions are based on numbers
- Reasonable frequency (no more than 5 impressions per day per user)
- Retargeting
Leave your request in the form below and Tech4you.io will help you with targeting advertising setup professionally from scratch and for results.