Key Takeaways:
- Most audiences describe who someone is. Few capture whether that person is ready to decide right now, and that window closes fast.
- Custom Engaged Audiences are built from people actively engaging with a specific topic, so your impressions reach consumers who are already in market.
- You can describe an audience in plain language, see its size and trend in minutes, and activate it the same day, which cuts time to insight and time to launch.
- Every audience comes with insight into values, motivations, and media habits, so brands and agencies can tailor the message as well as the targeting.
- One audience can split into distinct segments, extend through lookalike modeling, or layer with first-party data, so the build keeps paying off after launch.
You’ve got everything you need: A target audience that looks right, a lookalike model that fits, and a segment that’s reasonably sized. But then you run the campaign, and it brings back results that, while good, reveal that a lot of the people you targeted aren’t thinking about your category at all.
There’s a short window in which customers who fit the profile you’re looking for are actually in-market to decide, and a lot of revenue is lost trying to find it. The secret to keeping it open is all about timing.
Why Standard Audiences Miss the Window of Intent
Standard audiences say a lot about who a consumer is, what they buy, and whether they resemble your existing customers. What they don’t reveal is what that person is paying attention to this week.
You’re likely already aware that consumer intent moves quickly. Somebody researching a major purchase, comparing brands, or thinking about a switch is only open to persuasion for a limited time, and that might vary depending on what kind of person they are and the size of the decision. Some people prefer to spend a long time researching before deciding, for instance, while others come into market knowing what they want and make a choice quickly, almost before brands and their agency partners can act.
All of these people have one thing in common, though. Before that “open to persuasion” period, they’re not listening. And after it’s done, they’re no longer paying attention because they’ve decided.
Brands have continued to struggle to meet consumers who are in this window, and the high acquisition costs that come along with the challenge of finding high-intent consumers eat up revenue. For agencies, it’s crucial to demonstrate an ability to close that window because it affects whether brands choose to renew their contract or move on to a competitor.
How You Can Reach In-Market Customers, Lower CAC, and Grow LTV
With Resonate Custom Engaged Audiences, you can find the people engaging on any topic right now and build a high-intent audience in minutes. Every audience comes with insight into their values and motivations, so you target real interest with the right message to win more of them.
Here’s what that means for brands: Your spend lands on people who are already in- market, and you pay less to win and keep them. The result is lower CAC and higher revenue.
Here’s what it means for agencies: Not only will your clients’ campaigns have better performance and margins, but you’ll bring an edge only your agency can pitch to client retention meetings.
What Are the Benefits of Custom Engaged Audiences for Marketers?
Custom Engaged Audiences is built to solve four specific problems marketing teams repeatedly run into:
Recency: Convert the intent that’s already in motion
Because everyone in the Custom Engaged Audience is actively engaging with the topic, your impressions reach people who are ready to decide while the window is still open.
Speed: Build an active-intent audience as fast as you name it
All you have to do is describe the audience in plain language. Resonate Cortex, our agentic marketing solution, shows you the audience’s size and trend in minutes. Best of all, it’s ready to activate the same day, so you reduce time–to–insight. For brands, this means lower CAC, and for agencies, it means turning a client’s question into a live audience in a single working session.
And with a same-day build, brands and agencies can react to a competitor’s launch, a seasonal shift, or one of those hot new consumer trends that seems to come out of nowhere.
Precision: Know what moves them and where to find them
See what each audience values, where they spend time, and what they’re likely to do next. With this information, you can build niche audiences, reach the people engaging with your or your clients’ competitors, and turn spend into more revenue.
As a bonus, these insights also feed content, which has become a huge part of many brands’ budgets. If you know what an audience values and can better keep up with what they’re currently interested in, you can capitalize on opportunities to create relevant content that captures their attention better.
Reach: Get more from every audience you build
Each audience you build doesn’t have to be a one-time deliverable. A single build can be used to achieve multiple goals and support several campaigns. You can:
- Split each one into distinct segments for sharper ROAS
- Improve reach with lookalike modeling
- Layer in your data and other insights for better personalization and LTV
How to Put Custom Engaged Audiences to Work
Wondering how to get started with Custom Engaged Audiences? Here are a few use cases to give you some ideas:
- Capture a moment that’s already happening. When a topic related to your category is gaining attention, build an audience around it while engagement is high. Time is on your side with Custom Engaged Audiences, since the audience is ready the same day.
- Go after consumers who are engaging with your competitors. Build an audience around the people engaging with a competitor’s topic or product category. These consumers are already comparing options, which makes them a strong fit for a conversion-focused message.
- Test niche topics. Topics that are too narrow for standard demographic segments often work well as engaged audiences. A small, highly relevant audience can outperform a large, loosely relevant one.
- Split before you spend. Use the automatic segmentation to divide a broad audience into distinct groups, then match creative to each group’s values instead of running one message across the whole audience.
- Pair with first-party data. Layering an engaged audience with your own customer data supports personalization, which helps both acquisition and retention.
Ready to Reach Customers While the Decision Window is Open?
Custom Engaged Audiences are built on Resonate’s predictive consumer intelligence, the same foundation that lets you see what an audience values and what it is likely to do next.
The result is an audience that is active now and understood in depth, so your spend reaches people ready to decide and your message reflects the values that move them to buy. Brands get lower acquisition costs and higher lifetime value without spending more, and agencies get a competitive edge to grow existing relationships and win new clients.
See how Custom Engaged Audiences can turn current engagement into an in-market audience for your next campaign. Schedule a consultation with a data expert today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Custom Engaged Audience?
A Custom Engaged Audience is an in-market audience built from people who are actively engaging with a topic you choose. You describe the topic in plain language, and Resonate’s agentic marketing solution, Cortex, builds a high-intent audience from the individuals engaging with it right now.
How is it different from a demographic or lookalike audience?
Demographic and lookalike audiences are based on attributes or resemblance to existing customers. A Custom Engaged Audience is based on current engagement with a specific topic, so everyone in it is actively involved with the subject you care about.
How fast can I build one?
You can describe the audience in plain language, see its size and trend in minutes, and activate it the same day.
Can I build an audience around a competitor?
Yes. You can reach people who are engaging with your competitors, which gives you a way to speak to consumers who are already weighing their options.
Does the audience include insight into who these people are?
Yes. Every audience comes with insight into its values and motivations, where its members spend time, and what they are likely to do next, so you can shape both targeting and messaging.
What can I do with an audience after I build it?
You can split it automatically into distinct segments for sharper ROAS, extend its reach with lookalike modeling, or layer it with your own data and other insights for better personalization and lifetime value.
