How Can We Maximize Ad Revenue Per Session For Publishers?
Marketing has seen a high rise in trends over the years and evolution has led to new ways of getting your product out in the market. Of all these, the internet has played a major role in bringing about these changes. The digital transition of marketing gave birth to digital marketing. But digital marketing isn’t all about creating content and channelling it on the available platforms. It has a major aspect that involves running ads and optimizing its own efficiency. This is called performance marketing. So before we proceed further let’s understand what performance marketing is.
What is performance marketing?
Performance marketing is the process of combining data-driven marketing campaigns with advertising platforms. Earlier it was nearly impossible to understand the performance of any campaign run but with the advent of performance marketing, one can not only measure the impact of your campaigns but can also use the data to optimize performance and get better results. Running advertisements is a very complicated process and there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account when executing these campaigns. So today we will look at some key factors which can help maximize the ad revenue per session for publishers.
How can publishers maximize revenue per ad session?
Content is king: One of the basic lessons that one needs to keep in mind while running an ad campaign is to create meaningful content. Even if the content is simple but lacks quality or value, it will not be able to penetrate the Market. To maximize the ad revenue per session, it is extremely important to create user-centric content that people relate to. This will increase retention and help build a loyal fan base. There are multiple types of content in long forms such as blogs and videos and there exists short-form content such as tweets and Instagram posts. A proper analysis of what engages the users and keeps them hooked to your website is extremely important. Once you’ve identified your best form of content, focusing ad budgets can help you get the best bang for your buck.
Sticky Ads: While it might sound like a vague idea with so many options available that offer better statistics and results, but, sticky Ads have been around for a long time and they are here to stay. After surveying and talking to hundreds of advertisers, it was concluded that despite all mediums, sticky Ads remain a favorite for many. Simply because of its easy accessibility and presence it gets a lot of users clicking it. While people believe that sticky Ads are not as effective as others, experts have a different opinion and believe that these ads drive a very high percentage of the website to your website.
Choosing the correct metrics: For any ad campaign to be successful, especially when it comes to running paid advertisements on digital platforms, it is extremely important to set a list of metrics that need to be focused on. The narrowed the list the better results one can expect. These metrics are a mix of quantitative as well as qualitative factors and by combining them together the campaign can be made efficient. Your major factors are dependent on some key points. The most important question to ask yourself when setting these standards is, “What is the goal of the campaign?” It is the most important point. Additionally, several other things should be noted down such as the challenges one might face while executing the plan, how can testing be done for the ad campaigns, and what is the scope for automating the process. Once you find answers to these questions, you can easily set goals and improve your ad campaigns.
Target audience: While we are setting our goals or end results or even setting the plan of action for the ad campaigns, the most essential component of the plan is the consumer. The target audience plays the main role in your campaigns and is also responsible for the strategy and execution. It is very important to understand the target audience and to create content based on the overall outlook and demographics of your audience. In the case of multiple types of audiences, a proper classification for each audience category can help you optimize performance and get the best results. Also, there are two categories of audiences, one that is active and the other one is passive. Identification of the active audience can help you capitalize on the same and help increase efficiency through better results.
Ad placement: For many advertisers, ad placement can be a tough task and needs a lot of time and thought before they can decide the same. But, the extra spent is worth it because ad placement is essential to getting the user’s attention, and no matter how good the creative if the ad placement is poor, you will not get the conversions you seek. The best way to get maximum impressions is to place ads based on user interaction with the page. This is possible using AXT and is an optimal way to make the most of your ad spends. Additionally, dynamic ads can help you get the user’s attention in long-form content such as blogs where there is a lot of text scrolling down. In such cases, the ads are displayed dynamically based on the time spent and length scrolled.
So, these are the five key factors that can make all the difference in the world when it comes to optimizing your ad spends. If you are looking to optimize your campaigns and get better returns on your investments get in touch with us today at Adscholars. We are a team of driven individuals and will help you get the best results in your desired advertising budget.
On His Hustle As An AdTech Entrepreneur, Industry Insights, And More: Interview With Digitalks Founder, Mohit Jain
Mohit Jain has been working in the AdTech space for over a decade in various capacities, the recent being the founder and chief consultant in his own venture- Digitalks in Dubai. He is passionate about data analytics, and particularly enthusiastic about the endless possibilities with the integration of technology and marketing. He has spent the last 15 years working focused on digital advertising & data and has worked with some of the biggest & brightest agency names in the MENA region.
Today he shares with us his thoughts and insights about not just the latest developments in AdTech, but also his hustle as an entrepreneur at Digitalks.
Mohit, firstly, tell us what made you take the leap from your already established career to starting your own venture, Digitalks?
I have just loved working with the agencies throughout my career span and that’s where I learnt the skills which made me whatever I am now but at some point, the work became quite repetitive, dealing with similar challenges over & over again, enormous work pressure and 14 – 16 hours working days was impacting work-life balance. On top of that, I wasn’t able to develop new skills to keep up with the pace of the industry. That’s when I decided to take this leap and take control. I am very glad I took this decision at the right time.
What unseen opportunities do you aim to tap with Digitalks?
I don’t know about unseen but I am trying to position Digitalks in between a world that sits between Marketing & IT i.e. Ad Tech. I think of us as “technical marketers” who understand how marketing communications succeed in the digital world and who can code at the same time and tie both worlds together with the help of data and that is why we call ourselves “Data Whisperers”.Speaking about AdTech, what recent developments are you most thrilled and concerned about? You can cite one example for each.
Frankly, I am more concerned about how advertisers make use of existing AdTech they have access to.Agencies are great in promising bells and whistles and sharing incredibly beautiful stories using words such as big data, artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning, etc but they fail miserably in fixing the foundations and most basic things in their AdTech. I’ll be very happy if they can simply just use Excel and Google Analytics properly to their full potential, to begin with.
How much importance or budget do today’s Advertisers give to data compared to their marketing budgets? Do they have separate budgets allocated for data alone (similar to marketing budgets)?
The true fact today is that the budgets for projects related to data come out from overall marketing budgets. Unfortunately there are not many advertisers who set budgets aside specifically for data specific work in the region we operate in but the situation is rapidly changing. Businesses seek more accountability and this can be only measured by data so things are already shifting. I believe that Covid-19 pandemic is going to further strengthen the budgets in this direction.
Is DMP mandatory for all the Advertisers who are spending their budgets across multiple platforms. Isn’t that a costly affair for small & mid-sized Advertisers?
DMP is an enterprise technology and definitely not for SMEs. In my opinion, DMP is a dying technology which is severely impacted by walled gardens from Google & Facebook, the war of browsers against cookies, GDPR & similar laws, and most importantly it is dying because DMP ad tech companies oversold & overcharged advertisers to a great extent and then they failed miserably in delivering the business results.Marketers often get confused between DMP & CDP. Can you please simply state the difference between them both and which one should the Advertisers pick first?
Both of these terms can be confusing for someone who doesn’t work with these platforms closely. The confusion is understandable as both technologies claim to collect, unify, segment and activate customer data across digital channels. In simple words, think of a DMP as a big database that collects addressable “cookies” of your prospects & customers and provides a capability to push this data to outside activation platforms so you can reach them with the right message wherever they are or use this data to personalize their experiences on your website or app. On the other hand, think of CDP as a “data pipe” to pass your own customer data to multiple places depending on the use cases such as when someone fills up a lead form on your website you want to send this data to your CRM, to your email marketing vendor, to your SMS vendor, Google’s & Facebook’s of your world so you can target these users online and then also trigger a workflow to your contact centre partner in India so they can schedule a call with your sales team.What’s your take on Google disabling the third-party cookies in Chrome? How is it going to affect the data industry of advertising?
It does mean the honeymoon is over for some companies and it is going to impact the audience sizes available in your DSP based on interest and affinity however as the biggest budgets are going to Google, Facebook, Amazon and new social channels such as Snap and TikTok – these guys have built their companies on data they own so I am sure nothing is going to change for them as they will figure out a way however for consumers it does mean more “privacy”. I think it was a very smart move from Google as they prepared themselves clearly to tackle this situation before they announced the change to the world. They gave themselves a 2 years deadline too. Cookies track consumers on the web but things would really change when this rule will be applied on mobile apps as well where cookies are not present and the glue is the device ID of the consumer which is a more powerful piece of data than a cookie. It would be interesting to see how the future will unfold on this front.Should Advertisers keep buying third-party data from DMPs for their campaigns on programmatic? Is it really worth spending those additional dollars on this data?
It depends on what is your objective. If you are a CPG advertiser looking for mass reach, then these 3rd party datasets can be useful but if you are a performance-driven advertiser then in my experience these 3rd party datasets don’t bring the results they seek. 3P data bought from a DMP or through a DSP is more or less the same but the data volumes of a DMP-based 3rd party data could be higher depending on how that segment was configured.Coming back to your company Digitalks, how do you plan to increase your verticals and business overall? Is there any expansion plan on cards?
We are a talent-driven business and expansion for us means bigger team sizes. A lot of companies prefer the “hire fast fire fast” approach but that is not my style.I am not too concerned about the business as there is too much work out there if you know what you are doing. In addition, I don’t want me or my team to end up working 18 hours a day.
What would you suggest to the young Digital Advertising professionals who are looking to build their career around data science? Is there any specific course or education that you would want to recommend to them to enhance their skills?
I think the first piece of advice I give to young professionals entering into the world of data is to understand where they want to start first. I see 3 very broad categories-- Folks who focus on data collection and who can code, build data pipes, build data lakes, work with APIs, etc
- Folks who can take this data and give it a shape in the form of a report, dashboard, analysis, etc
- Folks who can go beyond and use this data in machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistical modelling and beyond.
The last question- During this unprecedented Coronavirus phase, brands are becoming conservative about their marketing strategies and spends. How do you think this will affect the overall Digital advertising industry? Does data have a role to play here to help the marketers float through?
The need for measuring every dollar spent is always critical but now due to the CoronaVirus situation, this demand is at its peak. Data has played a great role and will continue to do so in bringing this clarity to advertisers. The advertising budgets were already shifting to online but I think CoronaVirus will work like jet fuel and will speed up the journey of all advertisers who were missing out and will also fuel more money coming to online channels from offline channels.More and more consumers will go online and as a result demand and supply both will increase however I think brands will be more driven to spend on performance campaigns than just branding campaigns. That right mix between branding & performance will make or break sense from a brand’s advertising budgets. Data will continue to proliferate and how advertisers make use of this data will be the only differentiator left between a successful brand vs average brand.
In The Absence of Third-party Cookies, Publishers Wants to Strengthen Relation with Advertisers
With the death of third-party data, publishers are in the prime position as holders of the first-party data on consumers, and they are hoping to have a strong relationship with advertisers. The big revolution in the digital world without third party cookies and the trackers within internet browsers that builds all of the digital advertising – was on top priority for all the attendees at the IAB three – day Annual Leadership Meeting in California.
In a panel discussion, Stephanie Layser, vice-president of advertising technology and operations at News Corp said, “A privacy-first identifier is really important and needed in our industry as a whole.” He further added that without this, the ‘cat-and-mouse’ game will continue, eventually not able to identify the users at all.
No third-party cookies mean there will be an ecosystem of walled gardens. Facebook and Google, publishers will start having their own end-to-end platforms and safeguard consumers’ data within their walled gardens. Publishers may concentrate on the first-party data obtained from their sites to build identifiers and exist within their closed ecosystems. Undoubtedly, publisher first-party data can become the dominant currency of the digital ad market.
Scott Messer, senior vice-president of media at Leaf Group said .“You store your information in [Facebook] and use their identifiers, but you don’t get the user identity back. He further added, “And that’s actually a sustainable model, minus the leaking.”
However, Facebook and Google, especially the latter can take advantage of identifiers that Chrome runs through its browser and so publishers need to give more insights than the basic audience data. Publishers need to present quality and privacy-compliant benefits of consented data to buyers for getting attention. Messer further said that the key to publishers gaining control is bringing people insight than pushing more audience or data.
For rebuilding digital advertising in the absence of third-party cookies, publishers need to act to make sure they have the systems, strategies, and processes in place – like organize their identity graphs, build consistent systems or definitions of audience segment to put insight to use. Also, it is essential for them to successfully integrate their direct customer relationship with advertisers’ data and campaign objectives.
The Vice President of Meredith, Chip Schenck said publishers and advertisers should work together to build products that go beyond financial objectives and advertisers learn more about end-users.
“Partnership is what do you have and what don’t you have, how can I fill the gaps that you have, and what are the things I need that you could help me with, beyond financial remuneration,” said Schenck on redefining partnership,
The absence of third party cookies can tighten the bond between the advertiser and publisher giving way to open exchanges. It acts as a catalyst to publishers who need to ensure that technology tools and business models are in place to be at the top of the ad ecosystem.
Facebook Will Shutter Activities For Mobile Web and In-Stream
Facebook on April 11, 2020, will shut down the Audience Network and no longer fill any requests to web and in-stream placements. Now, mobile marketers will face problems who administered ad campaigns through Audience Network. As per their blog post, Facebook will record data in its server for six months after April 11, granting access to active accounts.
The exact rationale behind this move is unknown but sources said the decision is a response to recent changes made by the browser companies to turn off cookies in the mobile web environment, plus protecting brand safety along with limitations on data sharing.
Ruben Schreurs, CEO of Ebiquity said,
“There’s not just a dotted line between Chrome’s third-party cookie ban and this – it’s a direct result of the movements by Safari and now Google.”
However, a Facebook spokesperson said,
“We’ve made this decision based on where we see growing demand from our partners, which is in other formats across mobile apps.”
In 2014, Facebook launched its Audience Network offering advertisers to extend its Facebook ad campaign to third-party apps. In 2016, it expanded its network to mobile websites which include big names like Tik-Tok, Tinder, and Pandora to name a few.
The financial impact of the shutdown is still unclear on Facebook advertising revenue but based on estimates, the mobile web arm represents a tiny part of Facebook’s overall $70.7 billion in revenue for the fiscal year that ended on 31st Dec 2019.
According to the Audience Network by Facebook website, it paid more than $1.5 billion to publishers and developers in 2018. A marketer called the closing of the Audience Network web arm a fair move and further said,
“The web part is the riskiest — brand safety, ad fraud, viewability concerns and also space where Google and others are so dominant.”
In 2015’s fourth quarter, the Audience Network had a $1b revenue run rate in ad spend when it was just catering to mobile apps and Facebook hasn’t provided any updated number since then. The revenue split between the Audience Network’s web and app arms is unclear but sources suggest apps segment contributed a higher proportion.
On Facebook’s full-year 2019’s earnings call, Facebook CFO Dave Wehner said,
“We are seeing headwinds in terms of targeting and measurement, but as I noted, the majority that impact lies in front of us.” He pointed to three main factors causing headwinds: global privacy regulations, Facebook’s own privacy settings such as the’ Off-Facebook activity tool’ and “product changes and future plans” announced by operating systems and browsers such as Apple and Google, which will limit Facebook ability to use signals received on third-party sites.
Facebook, four years ago shut Live Rail, a video ad exchange business it had acquired for $400 million to $500 million just two years prior, citing ad fraud and viewability issues. That same year, Facebook’s pullback in ad tech includes the closure of FBX, a desktop ad exchange built in-house. Later that year, Facebook started to shut down its Atlas ad-buying platform it had purchased from Microsoft in 2013. In early 2019, Facebook stops Audience Network’s connected TV service.
It is a fair bet for Facebook to get out of open programmatic and prefer owned-and-operated apps, where it can have a 100 percent margin for any ads sold compared to selling ads on other properties where it would have to enter into a revenue-sharing contract. Facebook properties are growing steadily and its app portfolio has been a front-runner in social networking and messaging. In Q4, users and revenue grew while ad prices remained stable showing people are spending more time with Facebook apps. By having a software development kit for gaming, dating, and music apps, Facebook can share its performance-advertiser demand with the titles where users spend most of their spare time on their mobile.
The open real-time bidding environment is under scrutiny from regulators in Europe where U.K’s data protection authority has called on ad tech companies to clean their act or face penalties under the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe. Therefore from a regulatory point of view, it makes sense for Facebook to limit its exposure to data leakage and Consent management issues as Audience Network might extend beyond its walled garden.
As of now, Facebook will continue to work with app publishers and remove mobile web publishers from Audience Network because growth is with apps, and so, a Facebook spokesperson said “focusing our resources there moving forward.”
Google Turning off Third-Party cookies From Chrome
The digital giant is confident to sustain the ad-supported world while turning the cookies archaic.
The company today announced its plans to phase out third parties cookies within two years from its popular Chrome browser. The move comes as digital advertising is seeing drastic changes in how ads are bought and sold. Other popular browsers like Apple’s Safari with 56% market share already have implemented similar measures to safeguard users’ details. This move doesn’t come as a surprise since Google’s announcement around privacy in Chrome, including ‘Privacy Sandbox’.
StatCounter data states that Google Chrome has a 69 percent market share on desktop and 40 percent on mobile. This aggressive timeline put the company on a track that will surely affect all facets of the ad industry.
Justin Schuh, Google’s director for Chrome engineering said, “This is our strategy to re-architect the standards of the web, to make it privacy-preserving by default.” He further adds users are demanding privacy and the web ecosystem needs to evolve with greater demands. Google’s team is also working on preventing fingerprinting among other things.
Cookies were once the base of targeting users through programmatic advertising, but with the use of ad blockers and users clearing the cookies hindered the effectiveness. The ad industry then found a new way ‘fingerprinting’. This involved using the information of the user’s browser coupled with the user’s unique browser settings to build a unique profile of the user without using cookies. The unique settings are the plug-ins, IP address, fonts, and extensions installed by the users. This information is used to create a profile of the user, which is used to target them with ads through programmatic without using cookies.
Impact on the publishers and ad industry
Starting this February, Google will implement techniques to limit cross-site tracking by imposing its new SameSite rules and third party cookies can only be accessed with an HTTPS connection. In the next two years, Google plans to completely remove third party cookies from Chrome which marks a significant change for the advertising industry and publishers who highly depend on marketers to track users across the web. Google’s answer to this is “privacy sandbox” which would allow advertisers to show relevant ads and allows users to share as little information about themselves and their browsing history as possible.
Google in its blog says it is confident that Privacy Sandbox “can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete.” however, industry players suggest this will only enhance Google’s strong plans.
At present, Chrome’s competitors are taking radical steps to block third-party cookies. It remains to be seen how this will turn out in the future as a lot of ideas are still in pipeline. It will be interesting to how the industry will take the change given Google’s own role in advertising. Google needs to get this right to keep the web ecosystem healthy.
These two global giants leverage Coronavirus to boost sales- A notable case study in rapid response marketing.
The ongoing spread of new coronavirus strain ( 2019nCoV) has been declared a global emergency by WHO and some companies whose products can help to prevent the spread are reaching out to consumers using rapid response marketing.
The outbreak of a new coronavirus from China is making headlines worldwide. Procter & Gamble’s Clorox, which makes cleaning products made a landing page discussing 2019-nCoV on its site. The page provides basic information about the disease and links Clorox products which can be used to disinfect the surfaces on which the virus might live, as their products demonstrate effectiveness against similar viruses. Clorox page claims ” per the EPA Emerging Pathogen Policy, these products can be used against 2019-nCoV when used as directed.”
Similarly, competitor Reckitt Benckiser owned Lysol also has a page on the site giving information about 2019-nCoV and linking its cleaning products used to disinfect the surfaces to prevent the spread of the virus.
SEO Effect:
Clorox or Lysol, none are linked to these pages from prominent locations on their site homepages or promoting on social media. This shows that clearly the page was designed keeping SEO in mind.
However, it is not possible to estimate the returns Clorox or Lysol will generate from these targeted pages but already are ranking high for searches related to ‘coronavirus’ or ‘disinfect coronavirus’.
Clorox and Lysol practices are worth considering for brands looking to use rapid-response marketing from event-driven opportunities.
Simple and Straight
Pages on 2019-nCoV are simple and straightforward with minimum efforts. This allowed the companies to publish pages quickly so they could get indexed and start appearing in the SERPS.
Take advantage of Primary Domain
Clorox and Lysol published their pages on the primary domain taking advantage of the domain Using existing sites is favorable initially instead of building microsites in rapid-response marketing.
High Authority Links
It is worth noting that both companies strategically are including high authority links such as the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Technically, this improves the utility of the page for visitors and makes it easier for them to have access to all important information from a trusted source where chances of misinformation are high.
Risks
Rapid Response marketing involves high risks. For example, Clorox and Lysol run a risk of providing inaccurate information or accused of taking advantage of the intense and serious situations to sell their products which might explain why they are not active on social media to address coronavirus.
Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) took over the hand Sanitizer company Purell regarding the health claims it made on its site and social media platforms. FDA does not allow hand sanitizer brands to make claims of prevention of disease and believed Purell was doing the same. Therefore, the parent company, GOJO had to take immediate action.
All health companies when selling products runs certain risks but companies using rapid-response marketing need to identify the associated risk beforehand and work them out.
7 Ways to Generate B2B Leads. P.S. LinkedIn Dips In Priority
Business to Business, known as B2B business is an online business between two companies and not between a company and an individual customer. The target audience is more concentrated and defined and needs to be reached out on a strategic basis.
So, to reach the B2B audience the company needs to establish continuous efforts towards quality lead generation online.
Your B2B strategy for lead generation should be arrived at after ascertaining which combination works the best for your company/product.
How to target B2B lead generation?
Here are 7 ways under three main categories Email, Social and Blog along with a powerful Landing Page that will help you generate effective B2B leads: –
- Emails
The number of e-mail users worldwide is 3.8 billion and is projected to reach 4.3 billion by the year 2022. 45% of B2B marketers credit email marketing as the most effective digital marketing channel.
Here are a few things to keep in mind to generate B2B leads with email marketing:
- Optimize email campaign for mobile devices
- Since CTA increases click by 371% and sales by 1617% (according to Wordstream) include Call-To-Action
- A well-curated industry-specific email with a powerful subject line scores a 39% higher chance of being opened
- Authenticity and reliability are higher when the sender includes complete address and contact details in the email. Also linking the logo in the contact details to the company website helps provides an extra link.
- Provide product lists and other useful information to create an interest in the buyer.
- At least send one or two follow-up emails to increase the chances of your email being read.
- Include the unsubscribe link to help improve your mailing list.
Facebook a social media platform with 1.5 billion users has been growing in importance, becoming an effective lead generation tool for B2B companies. Aim not for a direct sale but to connect with the audience through Lead Ads, by answering their queries and building your brand. Interesting 17% of Facebook users follow brands /companies. Facebooks Customized Audience targeting (people who are similar to your existing customers) further helps to increase the quality of the leads by 40%.
With 126 million users Twitter helps you to engage with the right people by using relevant hashtags or keywords. B2B business can also utilize Twitter Lead Gen Cards, to generate leads directly within a tweet. It provides the Twitter Name, his/her User name and his/her email address the card which can become a useful lead.
(Interestingly:
– It is said, in as little as six hours a week, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media.
– New platforms like Twitch are also garnering a place in the crowded B2B lead generation space. Twitch, (acquired by Amazon in 2014) is growing in brand advertising numbers on the streaming platform. It might be the right time to try their new in-game action ad formats.
- You Tube
Videos have become a much sought after tool whether for relaxation, information, entertainment, business or just about anything. Today 1.5 billion views per day on YouTube come from ‘Generation X’. YouTube is the world’s 2nd largest search engine and ranks 4th for the most valued social media platform (after Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) by B2B marketers. Almost 50% of B2B technology buyers are influenced to purchase a product or service after viewing the video. Is that not enough to get on the YouTube platform?
- Blogs
Blogs with actionable tips, problem-solving, improved ideas, technological improvements, and proven tips act most effectively as B2B lead generators. A high quality, well-researched blog with SEO keywords is a sure way to increasing page views and potential leads. As per statistics, today 81% of businesses believe blogs are crucial in generating leads
- White Papers
1 out of 2 B2B marketers has now started to use white papers to generate leads. Another form of Content, a white paper is a technical paper written by experts in their subject. Industry persons have begun to trust these White Papers since they are authoritative, help answer the reader’s query, make it easier to solve a problem, or simply nudge towards a decision. The trick lies in hiding the content behind a web form, so you’re able to capture contact information before the user accesses it.
- Landing Page
A B2B landing page is essentially known as a ‘Lead Capture Page’ is a digital handshake. The importance of a strategic landing page has risen with 68% of B2B businesses using this method to acquire leads. It is much more than the About Us/The Company Page. In fact, a well-designed landing page enjoys between a 5-15% conversion rate.
So for B2B Lead Generation, your landing page must,
- Block the exit
- Have a Form to fill with very basic information – Example ‘Fill your email for a free trial’.
- Provide what the visitor is searching for
Conclusion
As a Company, it is necessary to be present on different platforms and experiment to arrive at the best mix/ ways to acquire maximum B2B leads. A lead generation strategy is a continuous effort. ‘Lead generation’ further needs ‘Lead nurturing’ to transform the lead into a sale. Without lead generation, to begin with, there will be lesser customers and even fewer sales eventually. 85% of B2B marketers consider lead generation their #1 challenge, don’t be one of them.
Top 5 ads of 2019 that swept all the awards, and hearts.
A good commercial has the power to increase your brand value, new customers and generate sales. Catchy phrases, jingles, creative taglines and more can draw mass attention and become history when done right, bring the companies higher returns.
2019 saw some of the most interesting and brilliant concepts and with digital media growing, we are likely to see even more fantastic campaigns in 2020.
With digital and online consumption growing, Hubspot research states, “Turn your Customers into your biggest advocates and promoters.”
Image Credit: Hubspot
Still, wondering or creating a plan for your 2020 campaigns to reach the goal and get the ROI?
We have gathered a few of the best ads of 2019, take a look and get which may get you inspired for your next. It can be helpful to learn from these award-winning, revenue-generating campaigns and implement a few strategies or elements in your next ad campaign.
In the world full of competition and ads literally everywhere, let us delve into the details of the finest campaigns and embark on your creativity for 2020.
1. IKEA: Real Life Series
Image Credit: The Drum
A brilliant concept of cross-referencing and recreating the living rooms of iconic TV shows to capture the cultural imagination of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Unlike the U.S and U.K, where the brand has a strong presence and is a retail novelty, gaining mass attention and relevance in UAE is a little difficult.
The brand selected Publicis Spain to recreate the set of living rooms of the classics ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Friends’ and ‘Stranger Things’. The print ads show real furniture from the store’s inventory, modelled and edited using 3D software to give the real effect.
The project ‘Real Life Series’ is on IKEA’s social media and catalogues and even appears in stores in the Middle East. It has launched a website that offers exact iconic decorating pieces from the shows.
The tagline ‘For Real families’ highlights the diversity in Ikea’s products among the diverse population of the UAE. As per the press release, it aims to prove it can provide relevant solutions to all cultures.
2. Tetley -Now We’re Talking
A classic example of Rebranding and Brand Positioning.
To help the brand target a wider and more diverse audience, the tea brand decided to create a mire meaningful positioning, fresh identity and a creative campaign that would win the hearts and minds of the nation.
The concept of the ad campaign was developed on the premise of the emotional territory of ‘togetherness’ with a strategy around conversations flowing. The idea is Tetley Tea can get anyone talking even, an unlikely friendship of a dog and cat. As soon as the owners leave the house, the dog puts on the kettle. He and the cat enjoy a cup of Tetley over everyday conversations that people have on the sofa.
While the Tetley Folk represented the brand, the new brand assets cat and dog represent regular people and their conversations. The brand wants to remind us of this campaign that it feels good to have a face to face conversation over a cuppa.
The mission is to rebrand Tetley Tea more modern and for everyone by implementing an emotionally engaging idea that can connect everyone and anyone. As soon as the ad went on air, the brand’s social page was filled by the people with love for the furry twosome.
Here is a small selection of comments on the Sparks 44 website.
3. Casper, Sleep Puzzle
Image Credit: Adweek
Don’t be surprised if mattress brand Casper is a part of your subway commute. Confused? No trendy campaign or strategy to sell mattresses but PUZZLES at subways stations.
The answer to the above is SN +Booze -B =Snooze and F+Vest-V =is Fest. Snooze Fest. These puzzles with many more are strategically being placed in trams and stations. This has caught the attention of many bored, idle or tired travellers.
What makes this idea brilliant is the simplicity and curiosity of people. Casper encourages the audience to crack the puzzle and when searching for the answer, hover to the website for the right answer. This lands them in the market for a new mattress.
Another highlighting point is the placement and timing of ads. Who better to market than the people waiting around and searching for the answer. It might seem like a short span to grab attention but has a long term effect than any typical ad. It’s more fun and interactive where Casper is giving them a direct path to a quality product that solves sleep puzzles and sleep problems.
4. Wistia, Brandwagon
Wistia, a video software company launched its marketing show “Brandwagon” instead of parking their funds in different types of ads.
A glimpse of the show to give you an idea about it.
This video series shows interviews with Wistia’s experts and other companies as well about marketing campaigns and strategies. This content enables us to keep viewers on the Wistia’s website, display its marketing credibility and inform marketers about different techniques.
Video series is a long format compared to blog posts and there is a growing trend of online series. Many brands like Mailchimp and Uber have started their own series, talk shows, and documentaries. This binge-worthy content enables marketers to re-purpose episodes into micro-content.
Hubspot survey says, 83% of marketers prefer video as it gives them a good ROI and more than 50% of consumers want to see video content more than any other type of content from brands.
5. Microsoft, We all Win
In Microsoft’s emotional Super Bowl campaign, the mission is to show how Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller to help gamers with limited mobility.
When it came to the attention of Microsoft that people with limited mobility are having trouble pressing buttons or trouble holding the remote of video game controllers, the company built a controller with touchpads rather than buttons.
The Gold-Clio winning commercial shows how Microsoft interviewed children with missing limbs on their love for video games, troubles and difficulties with controllers due to their disabilities. Parents and children featured in the campaign and explained how gaming helps them to connect with friends in ways which they might not be able to do otherwise.
The most engaging part of the commercial is the contrast before and after Xbox Adaptive Controller and made a big change. Before the new controller, the kids thought that’s the way of life but the new technology and controller allows them to play games fairly.
An emotional and heartwarming campaign with in-depth content shows how Microsoft took time to develop a product that solved problems of a unique set of customers. It makes you feel that Microsoft as a brand truly takes care of its customers and takes extra effort to make a smooth experience with their products.
It has more than 29 million views and 25k likes on YouTube. It has the highest Unruly EQ score of 7.5.
Wrapping Up for 2020 Campaigns
The above list of campaigns shows the creativity of expert marketers that win attention with deep content. Brands have found a unique way to educate their customers or competitors with out-of-the-box thinking like puzzles or fun activities generating revenues.
Get ready to launch campaigns in 2020 as the stage is set for new ideas and thoughts.
A Case Study On Why Case Study Is The Start Of Epic Marketing.
The marketing landscape is wide and marketers are increasingly finding it difficult to create a foothold in the crowd. Companies big or small posts on social media, enhancing their website, blogging and promoting their content effectively to new prospects. With so much information available, it is challenging for a company to get people to read the content.
Well, to grab the eyeballs of the readers, marketers need to exhibit the value of the product and service and not do only talking. This means don’t just hype about your company or products but share real experiences of your customers with your products in the form of CASE STUDIES.
Case studies take time and money to create but the results can be tremendous.
Why are case studies so valuable?
Every business has its marketing materials like brochures or sales copy for promotion and sales. But is it sufficient to close sales? Well, not really!
Do you know case studies are more effective than any traditional sales collateral? Why? Here it is:
According to Ascend 2 survey, 60% of marketing influencers prefer case studies as the most trusted content type by the target audience.
Image Credit: Marketing Charts
Case studies tell stories about your product and company. It is under-optimized but wholly effective. As the saying goes, “ A picture speaks a thousand words”, the same logic applies to sales and marketing. You narrate stories of your brand, weave pictures and evoke emotions and logic.
People connect to stories and case study is an apt marketing tool to boost your conversions and increase your sales. When you release content which is a case study, you emphasize a particular problem that you solved using your product or service. They are simply testimonials for your brand.
Research by Content Marketing Institute, case studies are the second-most preferred B2B content marketing tool by marketers and are amongst the top 3 effective types of content used by B2B marketers. So, a well-crafted case study should highlight ‘this is exactly what we are looking for’ from a prospective target after looking or reading it.
Case studies are flexible and don’t have a single format to follow. You can choose any type to present your facts and observations:
- Video: An interactive format for a prospect where you interview a customer who shares their story.
- Blog Posts: Publish your written case story as a blog post.
- Ebooks: An Ebook for a lengthy written case story.
- Infographics: Time consuming but visually appealing to share the information in a precise manner. You can share it easily on social media.
- PDFs: A professional and easy-to-read format with detailed information and facts. You can e-mail it to your prospects.
Why your business needs case studies?
After a clear understanding of the value of case studies, let us comprehend the benefits of case studies for your business to increase website conversions and drive sales directly.
1. Brand positioning as Market Authority
Case studies are built on the premise of facts and statistics with actual conclusions. Therefore, documenting a case study with researched numbers and facts helps you to position your brand as authoritative in your industry.
It doesn’t matter if you are in a software service or pizza delivery business. What counts is the number of pizza baked and delivered or software downloaded as these facts and figures will help you to be the market leader in your industry. Publishing insightful case studies will help you to become a thought leader and first advantage mover in your niche.
For example, in the App Annie case study, it helped FDG Entertainment with the aggregation of data and have all their apps and ad platforms in a single dashboard. As a result, advertising revenue has grown its bottom line by 50% compared to the previous year.
A case study with a renowned brand uplifts your brand value as well.
2. Target Niche
By niche, we mean a specific target/ prospect. If your case study is well crafted, it will not be vague or general.
Companies may have a wide range of services and products. The general information about it might be suitable for your webpage to show the array of products or services but an effective case study should be specific and in line with the goal of your product offering catering to your target market.
Super Top Secret created a design and develop every new character for the gaming company Riot Games. It was a success with massive visitors on the site and millions of hits in a short span. A classic example where the company has a perfect sales pitch for the target prospects from the gaming industry.
3. Be prospect focused
Most companies focus only on their products and services, mission and vision, and achievements. It’s all about them like other companies and not their prospects.
However, the motive of case studies is to provide optimal solutions to your customer’s problems with your expertise, resources, and efforts. It answers your prospect’s question “ what can you do for me” before making any buying decision.
A well-crafted case study can reach different prospect or personas. For example, your company produces a conveyor system for a manufacturing company. The project is an overall success and you can write one case study that is relevant to the different people involved in the buying decision-making process of the equipment.
- Heads Operation Manager: the case study will focus on the seamless working of the equipment, connection with the existing ones, and easy maintenance.
- CFO: the case study will focus on the financial aspects including costing, productivity, feasibility, etc
- CEO: the case study will focus on how the equipment enabled the featured customer to have a competitive edge, improved productivity and technological upgrade.
In B2B marketing, there are several people involved (especially in high capital investment) looking for role-specific information to consider the options.
4. Social Media Proof
In this digital age, customers need more proof to be convinced.
In the early years, a sales copy would suffice to convince a customer to buy a product. If an ad said that this woolen sweater will keep you warmer than the competitors’, the customer would buy it on face value.
Today, times have changed with technological advancements and social media, customers have more access to find information about the product at a lightning speed before purchasing it.
As a result, peer reviews and product reviews are very important. 92% of online consumers read product reviews before making a purchase decision with the majority of shoppers reading product reviews between one and six (see the chart)
Image Credit: Bizrate Insights
5. Case studies independent of sales material for online and offline
You may have different sales materials like brochure, website, portfolio of clients, or samples depending upon the nature and type of business.
But your prospect is still unsure between you and your competitor? What to do next?
Present your case study. It can persuade the prospect and convert into a potential customer who wants to buy your product. Feature the case study on your website and other social media platforms to gather more eyeballs.
A key point to remember, after any sales meeting or follow up call send a pdf of your case study to the prospect and for a high-value deal, present it in person.
Maximize your sales conversion
Case studies are time-consuming and can take weeks or months to develop depending on the data, process, and format. It can be an expensive affair too.
Having said that, only creating and publishing data isn’t enough but for high returns and sales conversion, make sure that the readers enter your sales funnel to get converted into your customers.
Harvard Business Review has found in a study of 34 million interactions between buyer and content that case studies have an 83% completion rate- orders of magnitude higher than any type of marketing content. Therefore, case studies are remarkably an effective marketing tool and commonly used as a testimonial in B2B sales. Case studies act as a credibility builder for the brand.
12 Digital Marketing Trends Shaping Business In 2020 (with case studies)
The year 2020 is full of technological advancements – Artificial Intelligence, data-driven marketing, and much more. With new tools and technologies emerging every year, marketers can choose from a plethora of options across digital marketing to connect to a new audience and promote their products.
According to Emarketer’s survey, by 2020 digital ad spending will be 50% of total advertising. The statistics prove that there is a shift from the traditional medium of marketing to digital platforms.
In this digital era, it is easier to share information and connect than before with new tools and technologies every year. The digital transformation is affecting every business and marketers and to keep up with the competition, you have to keep up with the trends.
In this article, we have compiled the 12 most important digital marketing trends in 2020. Most companies are capitalizing on the trends and reaping the benefits with the right strategy and planning.
- Chatbots: Hiring an individual to communicate with your visitors can be expensive but chatbots save costs by answering questions quickly in real-time day or night. Here are some key findings:
- By 2022, chatbots will help businesses save $8 billion annually.
- By 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed by chatbots.
- Top benefits of chatbots are 24-hour service (64%), instant responses(55%) and answers to simple questions(55%).
Many renowned brands like Whole Foods Market, Staples, Mastercard, Pizza Hut and more are using chatbot technology successfully.
For example, you will get many makeup tutorials, product reviews on Kik if you chat with Sephora.
- Use of Private Messaging Apps: Companies are now shifting their focus on the integration of private messaging apps to improve overall customer experience. In 2018, we saw the launch of Apple Business Chat and WhatsApp Business API which provided businesses with tools to deliver customer support. Many companies are planning to monetize messaging apps. For example, Facebook will soon monetize WhatsApp with ads in the ‘Status’ tab followed by Messenger Ads.
- Content Marketing rules SEO: Google rolled out some major updates to its search algorithm. Google’s BERT update is designed to understand the natural language people use in their queries. What does BERT mean for you? If your website is poorly written or is unclear, your rankings may decrease. Therefore your content should be well-researched, clear and organized in a logical manner. In fact, statistics prove Content Marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x higher than other methods – Content Marketing Institute. This proves ‘Content is King’.
- Personalization: Say Good-Bye to generic ads. If you want to stand out amidst the competition, you need to personalize your marketing – personalized email, content, products and more. It is the future of digital marketing. Here are a few facts:
- 90 % of online advertisers will start using personalization by 2020 – Gartner
- 80 % are more likely to do business with a company if they offer personalized experiences
- Personalized, triggered emails based on behavior are 3x better than batch-and-blast emails.- Email Monks
It is an ultimate tool for increasing conversions and so marketers are leveraging it to improve their marketing efforts. The primary reason for personalized marketing is to reach out to your target audience by collecting their user data from surveys or studies and create more relevant campaigns based on their buying habits and behavior. Let us study the example of Cadbury who created a personalized video campaign based that matches Dairy Milk flavor based on their Facebook profile data. The campaign generated 65% click-through rates and a 33.6% conversion rate.
- Voice Search: ‘Hey Alexa, where is the Thai restaurant around me?” Siri and Alexa are now household names and positively responded by consumers. Over time, you will see more people using smartphones with voice assistants. Here’s why:
- The goal of Voice engine optimization (VEO) is to optimize your content to be on the top results in the user’s query. Therefore, use longer keywords and complete sentences, set a conversational tone and provide structured content. VEO is quickly advancing, so now the choice is up to you whether to join early adopters or be left behind.
- Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: By 2020, many are going to adapt to AI. It is the future of the digital industry. As the name suggests, it refers to robots or machines who can work like humans. Chatbots and Voice assistants are examples of AI. For example, Microsoft and Uber use Knightscope K5 robots to ‘patrol parking’, and prevent crime. The robots can read license plates, report activities and collect data to report to their owners.
- Social eCommerce: Social media is not only to chat, browse, and share but a complete marketplace with native shoppable features. Instagram takes lead-charge. 80% of young shoppers make impulsive buying decisions online which is why social eCommerce has vast potential. 70% of enthusiasts explore Instagram for trendy items. Brands have experienced success with Instagram’s shopping features and an increase in revenue. Instagram stories are equally popular with consumers with a high level of engagement. Even Pinterest allows a variety of shopping features and Snapchat enables select accounts to open a store within the app. Tik-Tok has added a new feature where it permits its users to add links to e-commerce sites to their profile biography. If you haven’t started then now it is a good time to start and make a mark for yourself.
- Video Content: A high resolution and quality video can catch eyeballs quickly. Here the numbers are speaking:
- 87% use video as their marketing tool.
- 83% of corporations claim that video content has increased their conversions.
- 65% of users visit the site and 39% call the seller after viewing.
Video content is the most effective tool to engage directly with the customers and attracts attention, increase web traffic, convert into leads and improve customer experience.
Some video marketing trends are:
- Live Video: Popular with a large number of businesses who use it for interviews, personalized stories, product demo or behind the scene glimpses.
- 1:1 Videos: Marketers create more personalized video messages rather than phone calls or emails.
- Video SEO: Youtube videos and other videos appear in the SERPS and so video optimization is becoming important.
- 360-degree video: This interactive marketing trend is on the rise. Take a look at the HongKong Airlines video
- Transparency: Research indicates that consumers demand easy to understand and transparent information from brands. 94% of consumers are likely to be loyal to the brand if they offer transparency. The enforcement of GDPR policy in 2018 ensured companies handle data privacy and transparency and if not complied can have a negative impact on the business.
- Augmented Reality v/s Virtual Reality: By 2022, 70% will be experimenting with immersive technologies – Gartner. VR gets everyone excited with its sci-fi ideas and noises, AR is much applicable from a marketing point of view. AR outperforms VR in market share. More companies are adopting technology to increase sales and customer experience.
Let’s understand the example of IKEA. It has its AR app ‘IKEA Place’ which allows you to test IKEA’s furniture virtually by taking a picture of your room on the phone.
- Headless Commerce: A new term coined in 2019 and Heads-on Shopping is the face of Headless Commerce. This empowers differently-abled people to make their purchases by simply nodding their heads. Using the latest iPhone X’s neural engine and AR kit, it converts the signals received from the front camera into 3D facing. Select, Add to the cart and Pay. Simple! Technically it involves the separation of front-end and backend of your site for uninterrupted content delivery, personalization, and modifications.
- Influencer Marketing: The most popular word of mouth marketing that focuses on influencers like celebrities, Instagram or YouTube personalities. Influencer Marketing is more relatable than corporate advertising.
- 63 % of consumers trust influencers’ opinions more than the brand than what the brand says about themselves.
- 58 % of consumers have bought a product in the past six months on influencer’s recommendations.
AI is affecting Influencer marketing as it is in the process to identify with the right influencer who has better engagement, few fake followers and can give good ROI. it is influencing influencers marketing in the following ways:
Wrapping up
2020, year of technological advancements -AI-powered devices, content revolution, audio, and visual forms. If you are operating a business, you should know the digital marketing trends and embrace the new tools and technologies to get an edge over competitors. Start personalizing your products, use social media to answer questions, implement voice and video search and maintain transparency. Change is an integral part of digital marketing and the only constant.