The Overlooked Middle Ground: Why Consideration Matters

For years, the marketing world has largely prioritized awareness at the top of the funnel and conversions at the bottom. But what about the crucial middle ground? The “consideration phase” — where potential customers actively compare options, research brands, and form preferences – is often the key to unlocking significant growth. TikTok’s recent push on Brand Consideration underscores the importance of this often-neglected stage.

Did you know? Studies show that a consumer often needs multiple touchpoints with a brand before making a purchase. The consideration phase is where those touchpoints truly make an impact.

TikTok’s Secret Weapon: Brand Consideration Unveiled

TikTok’s “Brand Consideration” campaign objective is designed to help brands identify and engage users who are already actively exploring their options. This is a significant shift, moving beyond mere impressions and clicks to target users who are showing real intent through actions such as searching, commenting, sharing, and engaging with product cards.

The platform leverages its own internal data, tracking user behaviors within its ecosystem, including content shares, in-app searches, and more. This provides a unique advantage, allowing brands to build highly targeted audience segments that reflect genuine interest.

Data-Driven Advantage: Real-World Results

Early results are promising. For instance, a leading beauty brand in Indonesia saw a 10% increase in new consideration audiences and a 46% lower CPCo (Cost Per Consideration) by focusing on Brand Consideration. In Thailand, another brand saw a 22.5% lower CPCo and 18.5% increased efficiency in consideration audience acquisition.

Pro Tip: Track your own campaign performance in real-time using TikTok Market Scope, and benchmark your results against industry standards. This will help you optimize your strategy and identify new opportunities. Explore the latest insights and analytics from TikTok Market Scope for a deeper understanding of what works in your industry.

What’s Driving the Change? Shifting Consumer Behavior

Today’s consumers rarely convert after just one interaction. They research, watch reviews, and compare options. This means marketers need to adapt. The pressure is on to maximize the effectiveness of every advertising dollar, achieve consistent results, and maintain efficiency.

Brand Consideration aims to address these challenges by helping brands target high-intent users, lower costs, and achieve stronger overall results. Google also recognizes the importance of the consideration phase as critical for customer decisions.

Future Trends: What to Expect

1. Hyper-Personalization

Expect increasingly sophisticated audience segmentation and hyper-personalized creative content that resonates with users at the consideration stage. TikTok’s ability to track in-platform behaviors will lead to even more granular targeting.

2. Creative Innovation

Brands will need to focus on producing high-quality, engaging content specifically designed to address customer questions and build brand affinity. Tools like TikTok Symphony will become increasingly important.

3. Creator Collaboration

The power of authentic storytelling through creator partnerships will continue to grow. Engaging with creators allows brands to reach highly targeted audiences and build trust and credibility.

4. Full-Funnel Measurement

Marketers will shift to focus on full-funnel measurement, moving beyond simple metrics and using data to attribute value at all stages of the customer journey. Tools like TikTok Market Scope will become integral.

5. Increased Focus on CPCo

With budgets tightening and the need for greater ROI, Cost Per Consideration (CPCo) will become a core metric. Brand Consideration will enable marketers to drive greater efficiency by engaging high-intent audiences.

Unlocking the Full-Funnel Advantage

With its focus on the often-overlooked consideration phase, TikTok’s Brand Consideration is not just a campaign objective but a strategic shift. By leveraging its full ecosystem, including Market Scope, creative tools, and the Creator Marketplace, TikTok is offering an efficient way for brands to drive deeper engagement and maximize impact. This approach helps to build brand relevance upstream and boost conversion efficiency downstream. This is where the real advantage lies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Brand Consideration campaign objective?

It’s a new objective on TikTok that helps brands identify and engage users who are already exploring their options, such as searching, commenting, or engaging with product cards.

How does it benefit marketers?

It allows marketers to target high-intent users, lower costs per consideration, and achieve more efficient and effective full-funnel marketing results.

How do I get started?

Brand Consideration is available within TikTok Ads Manager for advertisers enrolled in TikTok Market Scope. Reach out to your TikTok client partner for more details.