Well these are exciting and unfamiliar times.
On the one hand, we’re living in one of the most dynamic eras of digital marketing. Innovation is everywhere. New tools and channels are plentiful. AI!
On the other hand, expectations have never been higher, budgets are the opposite, and the pressure to deliver with limited resources is intense.
And for many of us fighting for every dollar, AI is a lifeline that can automate much of the busywork and help us move faster and more precisely.
Whether from lack of knowledge or outright mistrust, many marketers are stopping there. While automation use cases will always have their place, the real magic happens when you deploy AI at a more strategic level.
For example, using AI to hone how you define your targets so you reach them more efficiently and find net new audiences for more lift.
Why AI Goes Beyond Automation
It’s ok if automation is the first word that comes to mind when you think of AI. In our heads, I think we all instinctively link any new technology with helping marketers offload repetitive tasks, decisions, and optimizations that no human could keep up with.
That’s really just a product of us living in a rules-based automation world.
Besides, we’re humans. We can’t make these decisions and adjustments at scale. It's even crazier to think that we can do it daily.
So, yeah, that’s why rules-based and AI-driven automation have earned a starring roles in our playbooks.
In other words, rules-based automation is reactive, while AI-based is proactive. One waits for something to happen or go wrong (rules-based); the other makes the most of every day (AI-driven).
But automation is just the beginning. The real power of AI comes to the surface when you think about it as a second brain—one that can handle repetitive tasks, but also dynamically analyze vast amounts of data to identify trends, uncover opportunities, and deliver actionable, often hidden, insights.
And what does this mean for audience targeting? Well, everything. Because when AI becomes a strategic partner—and not just a button you press—it can help spot untapped audience segments, refine your targeting based on real-time behavior, and adapt strategies just as quickly as your market evolves.
Let’s break down the 4 tactical ways AI can help transform how you build, target, and refine your audiences.
1. Identify High-Intent Audiences
You know what people say about making assumptions, right? They’re dangerous and have a record of putting performance marketers in slightly awkward positions.
Assumptions like:
- Influencer marketing, user-generated content (UGC), and videos must work because everyone’s doing it.
- Someone downloaded an ebook, so they’re ready for a demo…right?
- We’re a CPG brand, so targeting sports fans before a big game is a guaranteed win.
Making assumptions is fine; it means you’re keeping tabs on what’s going on in the industry, and frankly none of us could get through the day if we assumed nothing. Imagine not being sure your office would be in the same place you left it. Madness.
But relying on assumptions alone to chart your audience targeting strategies? That’s dangerous because the best-performing audiences aren’t built on hunches or what’s making headlines; they’re built on real, behavioral, and intent-based signals.
That’s where the real ROI lives. When you know exactly who’s likely to take action, you can stop throwing budget at broad segments and zero in on one that can help move the needle.
How AI (and Pixis) Helps
Instead of hoping your assumptions are correct or surface-level insights unlock the performance you’re after, AI can identify high-intent audiences based on previous behaviors, intent signals, and real-time trends.
Another work friend, Chris Parrett, co-founder and CEO of Social Hustle, has pointed out to me that you can take audience building a step further by using data enrichment tools like Elevar.
“When I’ve launched Elevar with multiple nine-figure brands, we’ve seen a 15–20% lift in incremental return on ad spend (ROAS) within 24 hours,” he explains. “That’s the power of strong data enrichment, you can create really powerful audiences.”
And when you feed a smart AI model (like ours) good data, it can reveal unexpected interest-based audiences, such as "gaming" or "adventure and travel" for CPGs, or "baby items" for a luxury leather company.
Cue a smart quote from another smart colleague of mine…
Alvaro Martinez, RVP of Customer Success at Pixis, says this surprise can be uncomfortable: “It often happens when audiences that the system recommends go against a marketer’s view of their ideal buyer.”
2. Optimize Based on Feedback (But Keep the Human Oversight)
Historically, audience targeting followed a familiar cycle:
- Build audience
- Run campaign
- Learn
- Optimize
Those last two steps—learn and optimize—are where marketers often struggle. To do either well, marketers need to piece together fragmented and inconsistent data from multiple platforms, spot patterns, and make adjustments, sometimes long after the damage has already been done.
Marketers usually execute and optimize campaigns and audiences only when key performance indicators (KPIs) drop. But by then, it’s often too late.
So (you know this as well as I do) performance marketing is often a game of catch-up.
How AI (and Pixis) Helps
Pixis helps break the reactive loop with real-time access to all your most important performance data.
And because Pixis is platform-agnostic, the learnings don’t stay in siloes. Instead, the AI learns from what’s working on one platform and applies those learnings to others. The result? Dollars flow to where they drive the most impact, and you can uncover insights with a single prompt.
3. Scale Audiences with Predictive Targeting
Scaling campaigns and audiences used to be relatively straightforward. Increase your budget and hope conversions follow, or retarget recent website visitors until they convert.
But with audience expectations, privacy restrictions, and platform limitations all changing the game, scaling now requires a smarter and more intentional approach.
How AI (and Pixis) Helps
Instead of relying on general targeting parameters, Pixis uses machine learning to build models of users who look and behave like your best customers based on behaviors, past performance, and real outcomes.
Even better, it goes beyond lookalikes with micro-segmentation and real-time analysis of brand engagement to ensure only high-intent audiences see your ads.
Pixis analyzes historical performance and identifies patterns. So we can tell our customers, ‘Your best-performing audiences are interested in electronics, home decor, or luxury categories. Here’s where you’re winning and where there’s still room to grow.’”
The result? You can prioritize new audience segments rather than relying on the platform’s AI (like Meta and Google), which often targets a broad audience and then narrows down to a few specific geographies or demographics.
4. Pair Proven Audiences With Creative That Converts
Finding the perfect audience or untapped segment is a big win, but if you don’t pair that with messaging and creative that resonates, all that work is for naught. Remember: Targeting gets your ads in front of the right people, but it’s the ad itself that drives the conversion.
Despite that, Chris sees too many brands, especially those in D2C, chasing trends. “Most brands are over-indexing on video, influencers and UGC,” he shares. “And aren’t investing enough in static or dynamic product ads (DPAs) that have consistently proven themselves.”
This isn’t some passing oversight, either. It’s a blindspot that’s been growing over time. “A lot of marketers today are skipping over the foundational pieces,” he adds. “We’ve been so deep in the ‘influencer’ era that many newer marketers don’t even remember that static ads and DPAs used to be the backbone of performance marketing.”
How AI (and Pixis) Helps
The real unlock happens when you pair that with AI designed for creative, like Adroom, Pixis’ fully creative studio that generates high-quality, on-brand, performance-driven creative in seconds.
Even better, Adroom doesn’t just crank out content, it also analyzes audience trends and behaviors to dynamically adapt visuals and messaging to audiences, placements, and campaign goals, meaning that every creative is purpose-built to resonate with people most likely to convert.
Adapt or Fall Behind
The performance marketing world is constantly spinning (for better or worse), but there are three constants we can rely on:
- Price pressure
- Rising competition
- Increased complexity
Not exactly comforting constants, but here we are.
And while performance marketers are expected to juggle all three, the reality is that we’re only human. It’s impossible to crunch every number, track every signal, and optimize fast enough.
AI gives you a better way, helping you optimize everything you do, including how you build and refine your audiences—and it’s time to get on board.
Because if you’re stuck handling operational tasks every day like analyzing data and trying to predict what will happen next, you won’t have time to adapt and to focus on strategy.
The best marketers aren’t just using AI. They’re building with it. Where do you stand?
Want to learn more about how Pixis can help you refine your strategy, pinpoint valuable new audiences, and serve them more effective ads? Schedule a demo today.