Latest / The Marketing Career Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Jobs, Skills, and Career Growth / How Marketers Master The Art of Contextual Relevance
Transcript
- Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, I want to ask you to consider supporting us directly. We deliberately don't run ads on these shows because we believe the advice should stand on its own merit. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, and it really does make a difference in keeping the tone focused on what matters. Thanks for helping us keep it this way. Lucas: Let's dive into today's anchor. We're looking at a shift happening right now in Q3 of twenty twenty six. Senior marketing leaders are quietly moving money away from pure demographic targeting and toward contextual relevance. It's not just a buzzword anymore. It's a structural change in how media buyers are allocating budget. Luna: I've seen some internal debates about this at my last company. People were worried it would be less precise than tracking individual users. Lucas: That was the prevailing fear three years ago. But look at the latest data from Procter & Gamble. They ran a controlled test across their beauty division. Instead of targeting women aged twenty five to thirty four who had previously visited competitor sites, they targeted the actual context of the content being consumed. So if someone was reading an article about sustainable skincare routines, the ad appeared there. If they were watching a video about fast fashion hauls, it didn't. The result was a twelve percent lift in conversion rate compared to the demographic baseline. Luna: Twelve percent is significant when you're dealing with high volume brands. Did they measure any downside in reach? Lucas: They actually saw a slight increase in total impressions too. The reason is that contextual targeting doesn't suffer from the same frequency caps as behavioral retargeting. When you rely on third-party cookies, you hit walls quickly. With context, you can serve relevant ads across different publishers because the signal is about the environment, not the individual. It feels more natural to the consumer. Luna: It also sidesteps so much of the privacy backlash we've been seeing all year. Consumers are tired of feeling tracked. Lucas: Exactly. And here is the part most marketers miss. Brand safety is no longer just about avoiding bad neighborhoods. It's about alignment. P&G found that their ads performed better when they appeared alongside content that matched the emotional tone of the product. A luxury soap shouldn't just appear on a clean page; it should appear on a page discussing self-care rituals. That subtle shift from identity to intent is where the efficiency gains are hiding. Luna: So how do we actually operationalize this? Most mid-level marketers don't have access to P&G level tools. Lucas: You start by auditing your current media plan. Look at your top ten performing placements. Are they placed based on who the user is, or what they are doing right now? If you're using a programmatic platform, check if you have access to category or keyword-based exclusions and inclusions. Even basic setups allow you to bid higher on pages containing specific keywords related to your value proposition. Luna: I feel like a lot of teams are still stuck on the cookie banner anxiety. They think losing that data means they're blind. Lucas: It feels like blindness, but it's actually clarity. When you strip away the noise of trying to profile every single user, you focus on the immediate need. Think about it this way. If I'm browsing a recipe site for gluten-free bread, I am in a specific mindset. I am looking for solutions. An ad for a local bakery offering gluten-free options is highly relevant regardless of my age or income bracket. The context tells you everything you need to know about my current intent. Luna: That makes sense. It's less about who I am and more about what I'm trying to accomplish in this moment. Lucas: Precisely. And this leads to a career skill that is becoming critical. Contextual fluency. Marketing leaders who can articulate why a campaign is tailored to a specific environment, rather than just a demographic slice, are getting promoted. They understand that trust is built through relevance, not intrusion. Luna: Do you see this affecting creative strategy too? Or is it mostly a media buying decision? Lucas: It absolutely affects creative. If you know the context, you can tailor the message. A car manufacturer running ads on financial news sites might emphasize financing rates and long-term value. On travel blogs, they might emphasize road trips and freedom. One product, two distinct messages driven by the container, not the customer profile. This requires closer collaboration between media buyers and creative directors. Luna: That silo breaking is always hard in practice. How do you get those teams to talk? Lucas: You tie them to the same KPI. If the media buyer is rewarded for engagement quality rather than just clicks, they share placement insights with creative. If the creative team sees that certain contexts drive deeper engagement, they adjust the hooks. It creates a feedback loop. At companies like Unilever, they've started joint workshops where media and creative review placement reports together. They identify which environments work best and then prototype new assets for those specific slots. Luna: That sounds like a much more agile approach than the old annual campaign planning cycle. Lucas: It is. And it allows for faster iteration. You don't have to wait for next quarter to pivot. If a specific publisher category underperforms, you can shift budget in real time. The technology stack supports this now more than ever. Native advertising platforms and advanced programmatic solutions offer granular contextual controls that didn't exist even eighteen months ago. Luna: What about smaller businesses though? Do they have to rely entirely on big agency tools? Lucas: Not at all. Social media platforms have built-in contextual features. Instagram and TikTok allow you to target based on hashtags and interests derived from content consumption. LinkedIn lets you target by industry publications or groups. These are all forms of contextual targeting. You just need to define your content categories clearly. List the ten topics your ideal customer engages with right now. Ensure your ads appear in feeds surrounding those topics. Luna: So it's less about complex software and more about clear definitions of relevance. Lucas: Exactly. Define relevance by topic, by sentiment, by situation. Then map your media spend to those definitions. It's simple logic, but it requires discipline. Most marketers default to demographic buckets because they are easy to set up. Contextual targeting requires you to understand your audience's behavior in the wild. Luna: I imagine that understanding comes from spending more time with actual customers, not just dashboards. Lucas: That is the secret sauce. Customer interviews reveal the contexts. Where do they hang out online? What problems are they solving when they arrive there? When you know the problem, you know the context. And when you know the context, you can place your message effectively. It brings us back to fundamental marketing principles, updated for a privacy-first world. Luna: It feels like we are circling back to basics but with better technology enabling it. Lucas: Yes. And the competitive advantage belongs to those who master this balance. Who can deliver personalized relevance without invading privacy. Who can build brand safety into performance metrics. This is the skill set that will define the next decade of marketing leadership. Luna: It's reassuring to see that the human element isn't disappearing, just shifting focus. Lucas: It is. Because context is inherently human. It's about shared experiences and immediate needs. Technology helps us find those moments at scale, but the insight comes from understanding people. That is the core of our job. To connect the right solution to the right moment. Luna: So the next step for listeners is to audit their own placements against these criteria. Lucas: Right. Start small. Pick one campaign. Analyze the top performing placements. Identify the common contextual threads. Then test a new asset tailored specifically to those threads. Measure the difference. You might be surprised by the lift. Luna: And if you find a gap, use that insight to inform future creative direction. Lucas: Exactly. It turns data into a narrative. Which is what good marketing is always about. Finding the story in the signals. Luna: I wonder if this contextual shift will eventually make traditional demographics obsolete in B2B marketing too. Lucas: It already is starting to. In B2B, role titles are becoming less predictive of intent than the content they engage with. A CFO reading about supply chain resilience is in a different context than a CFO reading about tax optimization. Tailoring the message to that specific editorial context drives higher engagement than generic role-based targeting. Luna: That specificity is going to separate the savvy agencies from the rest pretty quickly. Lucas: Without a doubt. And it rewards marketers who are curious about their clients' industries, not just their job descriptions. Luna: Curiosity is definitely a transferable skill in this landscape. Lucas: Always. As we wrap up, think about your current media mix. Are you betting on who people are, or what they are doing right now? The answer might change your results for the better. Luna: A good question to carry into the week. Let's see which context speaks loudest for you. Lucas: We'll leave you with that. Keep listening, keep questioning, and stay relevant.