Apr 21, 2021 5:00 AM PT A recent study of eBay ads found that digital brand search ad effectiveness is overestimated up to 4,100 percent. A similar analysis of Facebook ads yielded a number of 4,000 percent. If those high figures make you wonder if you are wasting far too much of your company's advertising dollars on targeting the wrong audience, Dr. Jorge Barraza, professor of applied psychology at the University of Southern California, can offer you some solace on doing precisely that. He agrees with current research findings that many digital advertisers spend too much on targeting an already loyal customer base rather than tapping into new streams. But take comfort. He has a plan to help advertisers reach consumers that would not normally buy their products.