Solved: Targetting High Net Worth Individuals in Aberdeen (Data Inside)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance on this. Targeting high net worth individuals, especially in a specific location like Aberdeen, is a common challenge, and frankly, one that most advertisers get wrong. They waste a lot of money chasing a ghost because they approach it with the same mindset as selling a £50 product on Instagram.

The truth is, you can't just select "rich people" as an audience. The platforms are either guessing, or the data is junk. The solution isn't in finding a magic targeting button; it's in fundamentally shifting your approach from targeting a demographic to targeting a problem state experienced by a specific group of people whose behaviours and affiliations are proxies for wealth. I'll walk you through how I'd break this down.

We'll need to look at why direct targeting is a dead end...

First, let's get one thing straight. The idea that Facebook, Google, or even LinkedIn has a reliable, up-to-date list of "High Net Worth Individuals" is a fantasy. It's a marketing myth sold by the platforms to make their systems seem omniscient. Think about it logically: how would they get this data? Financial information is some of the most private data a person has. They aren't sharing their portfolio statements with Mark Zuckerberg.

What these platforms do have are signals and inferences. They might label someone as "likely to be in a higher income household" based on things like:

• -> The device they use (latest iPhone model).
• -> Their travel patterns (frequent international business class travel).
• -> The interests they show (pages for Rolex, private jets, fine art auctions).
• -> The postcode they live in.

The problem is that these are all weak, noisy signals. A junior employee might live in an affluent area because they rent a room in a shared house. Someone might follow the Ferrari page because they're an enthusiast, not an owner. Relying on these built-in audiences is like trying to fish with a giant net in the open ocean; you might catch what you want, but you'll mostly catch junk, and it'll cost you a fortune in fuel. I've audited so many accounts where the client was burning thousands on these generic "high income" audiences and getting nothing but low-quality leads, if any.

This is why you have to abandon the demographic approach. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't "Man, 50+, lives in Cults, earns £250k+". That tells you nothing useful. Your ICP needs to be a 'nightmare'. It's the specific, urgent, and expensive problem that keeps this person awake at night. For an oil executive in Aberdeen, the nightmare isn't 'needing financial advice'. It's the deep-seated fear that their entire family's wealth is tied to the volatile price of Brent Crude, and they have no strategy to de-risk it before retirement. It's the complexity of managing share options, bonuses, and international tax obligations that their local accountant just doesn't understand.

Once you define the nightmare, you stop looking for 'rich people' and start looking for people who are likely to be experiencing that specific pain. That's the mindset shift that unlocks effective targeting.

I'd say you need to build a proxy profile, not a demographic one...

So, if we can't target "wealth" directly, we build a target audience using layers of strong proxies. We're essentially building a profile of behaviours, interests, and professional credentials that, when combined, make it highly probable that we're reaching the right person. For Aberdeen, this is more straightforward than in a more diverse city like London, because the sources of wealth are more concentrated.

Here’s how we'd break down the proxies:

1. Location (The Foundation): This is your easiest and most powerful filter. We don't just target "Aberdeen." We specifically target the most affluent postcodes and surrounding areas. A quick bit of research points to places like Cults, Bieldside, Milltimber, and some of the wealthier parts of the West End. You can literally draw a radius around these specific areas. This is your first, non-negotiable layer.

2. Professional Proxies (The LinkedIn Goldmine): This is where LinkedIn becomes your most powerful tool. The data here is self-reported and professionally motivated, making it far more accurate than Meta's interest-based guesswork. We would layer the following:

• -> Industries: The obvious ones for Aberdeen are "Oil & Energy," "Financial Services," "Investment Management," and "Maritime."
• -> Seniority & Job Titles: This is absolutely critical. We would target by "Seniority" levels like "Owner," "Partner," "VP," "Director," and "C-Suite." We can also go after specific job titles like "CEO," "Managing Director," "Chief Financial Officer," "Partner," "Chairman," "Consultant Surgeon," or "Investment Banker."
• -> Company Size: You might want to target decision-makers at larger companies (500+ employees) as they are more likely to have complex financial needs and higher incomes.

By combining these (e.g., C-Suite executives in the Oil & Energy industry with 500+ employees located in the AB15 postcode area), you create a hyper-specific audience that is almost certainly comprised of HNWIs. I remember one B2B software campaign we ran where we were targeting senior decision makers; by getting this layering right, we were able to get qualified leads for just $22 each. Your cost will likely be higher due to the HNWI focus, but the principle is identical.

3. Interest & Behavioural Proxies (For Meta/Instagram): While LinkedIn is for professional targeting, Meta is for targeting the 'lifestyle' of wealth. This is less precise but can work for certain offers (e.g., luxury goods, exclusive experiences). Here, we layer the location targeting with interests like:

• -> Luxury Brands: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Sunseeker Yachts.
• -> Financial Publications: The Economist, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal.
• -> Activities: Interests in "Golf" (and specific exclusive clubs if possible), "Yachting," "Skiing," "Fine Wine," "Art Collecting."
• -> Behaviours: "Frequent International Travellers" or "Business Travellers."

You have to be careful here and not go too broad. Layering is key. For instance, someone living in Cults who is *also* interested in The Financial Times *and* Patek Philippe is a much stronger signal than any one of those interests on its own. It's about finding the intersection of multiple strong signals.

To help visualise this, here's a flowchart of how you'd structure this layering approach.

You'll need an offer that cuts through the noise...

Right, let's assume you've perfectly dialled in your targeting using the proxy method. You're now showing ads to Managing Directors in the Aberdeen oil sector. This is where 99% of campaigns still fail. Why? Because their offer is weak, generic, and disrespectful of the audience's time.

High net worth individuals, particularly busy executives, are the most marketed-to demographic on the planet. Their inboxes are graveyards of unsolicited pitches. Their time is their most valuable asset, and they guard it ruthlessly. A generic ad that says "Wealth Management Services in Aberdeen - Click Here!" will be ignored with the same disdain as a cold call. It has zero value and signals that you don't understand your audience at all.

Your offer must be an "aha!" moment. It needs to provide instant, tangible value and solve a small piece of their big 'nightmare' for free. It must be so compelling and relevant that they feel they would be at a disadvantage by *not* taking it.

Let's use the B2B SaaS "Before-After-Bridge" framework and adapt it.

• Before: Your AWS bill is 30% higher and you don't know why. Chaos.
• After: You open your cloud bill and smile. Clarity and control.
• Bridge: Our FinOps platform.

Now, for your HNWI client in Aberdeen:

• Before: Your entire net worth is tied to your company stock and the price of oil. You feel exposed and anxious about market volatility affecting your retirement.
• After: You have a diversified portfolio, structured to protect your capital and generate income regardless of what happens in the energy markets. You feel secure and in control of your family's future.
• Bridge: Our "Energy Executive Diversification Strategy."

See the difference? We're not selling "financial planning." We're selling a specific solution to a specific nightmare for a specific person. The messaging in your ad needs to reflect this. It needs to agitate the problem. For example:

"Is 80% of your net worth tied up in oil & gas? A single market shock could put your retirement plans at risk. We help Aberdeen-based executives build a 'second engine' for their wealth, diversifying away from energy sector volatility. Download our free briefing: 'The 3 Biggest Portfolio Risks for Oil & Gas Professionals in 2024'."

This ad works because it:

1. Names the audience ("Aberdeen-based executives").
2. Identifies the specific pain point (over-concentration in one sector).
3. Agitates the fear (risk to retirement).
4. Offers a specific, high-value, low-commitment solution (a free briefing).

The value of your offer is a combination of the time it saves, the money it could make or save, and the risk it reduces. A strong offer for this audience must score highly on at least two of these. Use this calculator to get a feel for how valuable your current offer might be perceived.

I'd say you need to budget for quality, not quantity...

This brings me to the final, and perhaps most important point: budget. If you go into this with a mindset of "how can I get the cheapest leads possible," you are doomed to fail. You are targeting the most valuable consumer/client demographic there is. Competition for their attention is fierce. Clicks and leads will be expensive. And that is perfectly fine.

The question you need to ask is not "What is my cost per lead?" but "How high a cost per lead can I profitably afford?" The answer lies in your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). You need to do this maths before you spend a single penny on ads.

Let's run a hypothetical calculation for a wealth management firm targeting HNWIs.

• Average Annual Revenue Per Account (ARPA): Let's say your average client pays you £15,000 per year in fees.
• Gross Margin %: After your costs, your profit margin is, say, 70%.
• Annual Churn Rate: You have strong relationships and only lose 5% of your clients each year.

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Annual Churn Rate

LTV = (£15,000 * 0.70) / 0.05

LTV = £10,500 / 0.05 = £210,000

In this scenario, a single client is worth £210,000 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is at least 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £70,000 to acquire a single new client and still have a fantastic business model.

Now let's work backwards. If your sales team (or you) can convert 1 in 10 qualified leads into a client, you can afford to pay up to £7,000 for a single qualified lead (£70,000 / 10).

Suddenly, a £300 lead from a LinkedIn campaign targeting a CEO in the oil sector doesn't seem expensive at all. It looks like an absolute bargain. This is the maths that underpins successful high-ticket advertising. It frees you from the tyranny of chasing cheap, low-quality clicks and allows you to focus on what really matters: acquiring high-value clients profitably. Don't be afraid to spend what's necessary to reach the right people with the right message. We've had software clients go from a £100 CPA down to £7 by getting their targeting and offer right, but even their initial £100 CPA was profitable because their LTV was so high. The optimisation was just cream on top.

So, this is the main advice I have for you:

This has been a lot of information, I know. It's a complex area and requires a very different approach to mainstream advertising. To make it more actionable, I've broken down my main recommendations into a step-by-step plan for you below.

This process is definitely more involved than a typical ad campaign, but for this particular audience, it's the only way to achieve consistent results without burning through your budget. It's about being strategic, disciplined, and above all, respectful of the person you're trying to reach.

Navigating this requires a deep understanding of platform nuances and a lot of experience in what works for high-ticket offers. The suggestions above are a solid starting point, but a successful campaign often comes down to the finer details of execution and ongoing optimisation.

If you'd like to go over your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can look at your offer and discuss a potential strategy. It might be helpful to have a second pair of expert eyes on it.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh