Ad platforms keep reducing what they let advertisers target directly, and browsers keep limiting tracking. The businesses that still target well are the ones that use their own data — first-party data — to tell platforms who their best customers are.
Types of first-party audiences
- Customer lists — emails or phone numbers of customers who consented, uploaded (hashed) to Google, Meta, LinkedIn or Microsoft.
- Website audiences — visitors to specific pages, such as pricing or quote pages.
- Engagement audiences — people who watched your videos, opened lead forms or engaged with your profiles.
- Converter audiences — people who became qualified leads or customers. The most valuable list you have.
Lookalikes and similar audiences
Platforms can find new people who resemble a seed audience. The quality of the seed decides the quality of the lookalike: a list of customers who bought and stayed beats a list of everyone who submitted a form. For lead generation, seed with billable or qualified leads, not raw leads.
Exclusions save money
Exclude existing customers from acquisition campaigns, exclude people who already converted from retargeting, and exclude audiences that never qualify (for example, employees, job seekers or out-of-area visitors). Exclusions are often the quickest win in an account.
B2B audiences
For B2B, combine first-party lists with platform targeting by job title, company size and industry — LinkedIn is strongest here. Upload target account lists (company names or domains) to run account-based campaigns at the companies your sales team wants to reach.
Consent and privacy
Only upload data you have the right to use for advertising. Your privacy notice should explain it, and in the UK and EU you need a lawful basis — often consent — for this use. Hash data before upload (platforms do this automatically in most tools) and remove people who opt out.
Keep audiences fresh
Audiences decay as people change jobs, move or lose interest. Refresh uploaded lists monthly, use rolling windows for website audiences (for example, the last 30 or 90 days), and rebuild lookalikes from recent converters.
Combine strong audiences with campaigns that pay for outcomes: see BFOUNT's live campaigns.