Ace Hardware is one of those retail stores that knows how to target its audience effectively. It helps them increase local awareness, promote services (i.e., cutting, painting, and equipment rental), and even build community engagement. They use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest for different targeting strengths.

Audience Characteristics and Segmentation

There are plenty of audience members interested in Ace Hardware, including homeowners and DIY enthusiasts. This audience typically has an age range similar to that of people who live on their own, perhaps folks aged 25-65+. Their behaviors would consist of various types of home improvement ideas – searching for renovation tips or project idea-following are prime examples. Of course, gardeners, landscapers, contractors, and local community members are other targeted audiences who would likely be interested in this retail store’s content. 

Audience segmentation is something Ace Hardware typically performs well, using it to divide broad audiences into more meaningful groups so it can deliver important messages to each group. This helps them improve engagement and sales. For example, in April 2021, the retail store launched a campaign called “Someday,” which urges customers to get on top of long-term home projects, specifically painting. Instead of using generic ads, the brand and DIY influencers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok collaborated to create content addressing this issue. Segmentation was a key factor in the success of this campaign, in which they identified younger DIY enthusiasts and homeowners. They also worked together with influencers to get the content out to the aforementioned platforms that those groups use the most. That’s why they were successful with this campaign – because they understood who their audiences are and what motivates them to get projects done. 

Custom and Lookalike Audiences

If Ace Hardware wants to increase engagement, it could use Custom Audiences, which allow brands to target people who have already interacted with them. In this case, Ace can retarget website visitors, past purchasers, and/or people who have previously interacted with them through social media. If they focus on retargeting, they would see an increase in conversions. Let’s say they wanted to look at website visitors – if they retarget users who were on the website but didn’t complete a purchase, conversions would increase because they could send reminder ads to the users about their forgotten purchases. 

On the other hand, Ace Hardware could find new customers through Lookalike Audiences, a feature that platforms use to analyze existing audiences and identify users with similar characteristics, such as behaviors and demographics. They could apply this technique to high-value customers to identify new users with similar demographic and behavioral traits. One way they could do this is by looking at high-value purchasers – people who have spent the most money on products; customers who have made repeated purchases; etc. These customers demonstrate loyalty to the brand, and if social media platforms analyzed this group, they would identify users with similar purchasing behaviors or homeownership patterns, creating a lookalike audience that may be willing to convert. 

So, Ace Hardware clearly has the ability to perform a targeting strategy very well. They have different strengths on a variety of social media platforms. If they pursue Custom and Lookalike audiences, those different strengths will all be even stronger, and so will their well-known motto: “Ace is the Place with the Helpful Hardware Folks.”