Explore the power of ‘less is more’ in marketing with our latest post on MarketingProfs, where Allie Haupt, Innovation Lead, delves into the concept of subtractive innovation. Learn how rethinking strategies, like Dyson’s bagless vacuum breakthrough, can lead to streamlined processes, enhanced efficiency, and better outcomes. She covers four key steps to adopt a subtractive mindset, encouraging marketers to pause, evaluate, and focus on what’s essential for success. Read now to transform your approach and discover the benefits of simplifying to amplify results.
Month: January 2024
Using Integrated Media to Position Financial Services Company As Industry Thought Leader
Brief
Coegi’s financial services client wanted to use content marketing to establish themselves as a marketplace leader by growing brand presence alongside a competitive landscape and providing value to financial professionals and consumers through retirement planning content that educates, supports, and inspires action.Â
To accomplish this, Coegi and the financial services firm strategized to establish a B2B2C content strategy focused on reaching both financial professionals and retirement-aged consumers through partnerships with well-known publications.
Highlights
17.8
Million Impressions
188,000
Clicks
110,000
Total Engagements
Challenge
The brand leverages a B2B2C model. While the majority of their objectives focus on targeting financial audiences, it is also important to increase brand awareness with consumers to aid in the sale of their products.
Their primary national advertising objectives are twofold:
- Brand Awareness – Increasing awareness of the corporate brand across consumer, financial professional, and prospective retail audiences.Â
- Extending their brand promise and messaging into the B2B space
- Thought Leadership – Establishing brand recognition and trust among financial professionals and consumersÂ
The brand had an opportunity to increase brand awareness with consumers. The data showed that unless they were already customers, consumers were less familiar with the brand. The consumers that did know the financial services firm believed their key differentiators were their ability to grow their investment and provide competitive fees. But there were bigger issues at hand:
- Consumers were still learning about annuities in general and, therefore, were difficult to convert into purchasers
- Financial professionals were not frequently recommending annuities, including the client’s
Solution
Partnering with the brand, we focused on the following key areas to help gain market share:
- Helping change financial professionals’ perspectives about the value of annuitiesÂ
- Positioning the brand as a trusted leader in the annuity space
- Explaining how the brand’s solutions can provide value within a sound financial plan and, in turn, how it will help the financial professional grow their business
Based on the brand’s content calendar, the teams assembled a smart strategy to show Coegi would use content marketing partnerships and advertising to help raise their market share by slightly over 1%:
- In a traditional advertising driven industry, we would lean harder into digital channels to keep up with innovation, connect with users, and build a data-driven strategy that would differentiate them from competitors.
- We would focus these dollars to more cost efficient and effective channels that align to a digitally-minded consumer.
- We would work alongside established publishers to continue to build its digital presence and opportunity via a content strategy that would solidify their position as an industry thought leader.
Choosing digital content partnerships required an exercise of evaluating: audience, content quality, distribution, reach and value. This analysis pointed to these front runners: Kiplinger, Investment News, Bloomberg and Barron’s. The goal was to maximize reach with large publications (Barron’s & Bloomberg) while maximizing engagement with niche publications (Investment News & Kiplinger), authentically aligning the publisher’s editorial content with the brand’s subject matter experts.Â
Results
Across four publishers and twelve pieces of content, the campaign generated a total of 17.8 million impressions, 188,000 clicks, and 110,000 total engagements from October – December 2022. Niche publications like Investment News and Kiplinger had the highest engagement rates, both publications reaching an average time on page of over 4:00, while larger publications like Bloomberg and Barron’s garnered the largest reach, with 10M and 15.4M unique views respectively. Consumers resonated with a more indirect approach to annuities by tying content to timely, relevant topics such as women and the recession, while financial professionals resonated with a more direct approach. Coegi extended content reach across platforms by layering programmatic and social campaigns, accounting for 28% of overall impressions.
The Kiplinger content piece “How to Get Retirement Income You Can Count on for Life” had the highest page views (24,516) and longest average time on page (4:39), indicating the importance of applying statistical research in a relevant, easy-to-digest format. Investment News podcasts garnered an average of over 1,000 downloads, on par with their engagement benchmark for Retirement Repair Shop, and “Demographics & the Coming Retirement Crisis” had the most downloads with a final count of 2,184, exceeding the benchmark by 118%.Â
Bloomberg exceeded their contracted content impressions by 26%, and shorter, snackable content performed better on publications with high reach and numerous sponsored placements. The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s content “Psychology of Retirement Planning” program delivered 43,000 page views, exceeding the page view goal by almost 40%, while “Retirement Uncertainty” resonated with financial professionals and high net worth individuals, resulting in strong engagement as users spent 40% more time than average.
Key Takeaways
Through data-driven media and targeting recommendations, relevant content partnerships, and innovative thinking, this campaign was able to reach the target audiences in authentic environments by providing educational and informative content. This success was driven in part by tailoring content to different audiences and platforms, and applying statistical research in a relevant, easy-to-digest format. As the partnership between Coegi and the financial services brand continues, we will no doubt continue to see impressive results and strive to keep finding innovative solutions to enhance the traditional financial services advertising model.
The Drum – 4 Questions to Help Build Your 2024 Marketing Budget
Elise Stieferman from Coegi presents four principles to guide marketers in determining their 2024 marketing budget. Addressing the perennial question of how much revenue to reinvest in marketing, she acknowledges the complexities of planning a new year’s strategy amid heightened goals, market pressures, and competition, and emphasizes the importance of aligning with CEOs and CFOs on budget allocations for achieving these objectives.
CTV + Live Streaming – What You Need to Know
With the rise of cord-cutting and the 2023 Hollywood strikes delaying content creation, tapping into live-streaming CTV inventory has piqued marketers’ interest with its ability to reach a highly engaged audience. Live-streaming offers brands a valuable space to programmatically connect with consumers at scale to drive awareness goals with the added benefit of flexibility that is not found in traditional linear TV buys. If you’ve been on the fence about testing live streaming in your marketing initiative, you likely have many questions regarding how to efficiently and effectively leverage this inventory.
For this Live Streaming Q&A article, we met with two CTV experts – Stephen Eidelman, Director of Inventory Development at The Trade Desk, and Joel Schaffner, Manager of Programmatic Operations at Coegi. They answered key questions to help inform your planning and activation of live streaming inventory to achieve your brand goals.
Why should advertisers incorporate live-streaming CTV into their strategic plan?
Joel: Incorporating live streaming CTV into a strategic plan is a great way to reach a new set of users at a slightly different angle. The live-streaming viewer is typically more engaged since they’re watching content in real-time, instead of having something on in the background that they can go back and watch later.
Stephen: Similar to the reason they have been historically coveted properties in linear TV advertising, live sports are highly sought after because they draw large audiences that are attentive and emotionally engaged – up through the very last second. Not only does streaming account for more than 30% of live sports viewership, but we’ve also seen advertisers reach audiences that are completely unique compared to audiences in linear live sports and non-live sports streaming, meaning the only way to connect with that audience is by buying on live streaming sports.Â
What has been a key driver of the increase in interest and investment in live streaming?
Stephen: Viewership patterns have shifted, so much so that the majority of Americans are expected to be watching live sports via digital channels by next year. At the same time, top-tier broadcasters like NBC and Disney have continued to shift more of their highly valued properties to be distributed exclusively on streaming apps (i.e. Peacock & ESPN+). Some of the most sought-after content is only available on streaming, and you saw that this year with NFL games exclusively on ESPN+ or Peacock. Fans are a more passionate audience than regular viewers, and they can’t miss a game!
Joel: I think a couple of things have been key drivers in the growing interest of live streaming. For one, the pandemic accelerated the trend of people cord-cutting and shifting to streaming services, making live streaming an avenue to reach a larger, more highly engaged audience. Another thing is that live streaming inventory is much more accessible now, so marketers can seamlessly integrate it into their plans to test and compare performance with other streaming inventory.
How can marketers measure the impact of live-streaming CTV on brand goals?
Joel: Reach is a primary KPI for CTV in general, but especially for live streaming inventory since it is often seen as a mass reach play. With our partner, The Trade Desk, we can measure the quality of reach by comparing the users the CTV campaign reached to the seed audience, such as site visitors, sales data, and CRM lists. This measures the quality of our reach and helps us optimize media spending toward users that drive brand goals. We can also track offline actions, enabling conversion attribution to a user exposed to our brands’ live-streaming ads.Â
Stephen: This is the beauty of live sports in streaming, you can achieve the same goals, and measure the same impact in live sports as you do in the rest of streaming. Whether it’s awareness, incremental reach, or outcome impact, all the targeting and measurement available in streaming is available in CTV.Â
What is the impact on user engagement running in live streaming compared to standard CTV?
Joel: Standard CTV user engagement is valuable since media is reaching an entire household on the biggest screen, but live streaming takes this engagement to another level. The real-time factor of live-streaming content means that the audience is more engaged as they set time aside from their day to watch this specific event.Â
Stephen: Live sports engagement is highly concentrated because the viewership patterns are usually in a set period of time, either a few minutes or several hours if they’re binging sports all day. The spikes in traffic are larger, so live sports can generate a larger audience reach much faster compared to other genres.
What are some best practices marketers should know for live streaming?
Stephen: Start broader and build your campaigns across all sports and leagues since there are live sports with big audiences all year round. You can also gain flexibility by getting into live sports programmatically without being tied to larger commitments or spending thresholds that are often required of traditional TV advertising. The growth of streaming allows for more and more types of sports to be aired, meaning more opportunities for advertisers as more diehard fans watch live sports via streaming.Â
Joel: Some best practices marketers should consider when planning and executing campaigns on live streaming are to:Â
- Plan in advance
- Plan for higher CPMs than standard CTV due to the high demand of live-streaming content, andÂ
- Invest in high-quality and meaningful creatives since these ads will be seen on a big screen with highly engaged viewers
Are there any potential challenges to be aware of when leveraging live streaming?
Stephen: Live sports are unpredictable, and no two campaigns in live sports will be the same. That’s dependent on the sport, the teams involved, the time of day and so much more, so don’t expect that you can replicate the same recipe every live game. Aaron Rodgers getting injured in the first few minutes of the Jets season is a prime example of that – and also why advertisers need flexibility rather than being locked into deals for games that became far less appealing without start power. One thing to be conscious of is league sponsorships and other agreed upon contracts that may limit access to inventory. However, we see so much scale in live sports that advertisers should not be deterred – in fact, we’ve seen over one billion impressions of football-related content in a given weekend. Imagine all of the opportunities just in one weekend alone.
Joel: Of course, there are potential challenges to be aware of when leveraging live streaming but challenges is what makes the programmatic team at Coegi thrive! One obvious challenge can be the seasonality of live-streaming events which causes a high demand for the inventory. You can mitigate the shifts in demand by continuously monitoring the campaign’s bidding parameters and adjusting as needed in order to win in the ad auction.
What criteria should marketers consider when selecting live-streaming inventory?
Stephen: It’s important to approach live streaming with a balance of the marketing initiative’s overall goals (e.g. reach, frequency, outcomes) since regional and national live-streaming content are both available. By sticking to an audience strategy and testing across all live sports, for example, there is an opportunity for unconventional wisdom (sports co-viewing) and to find audiences when they are highly engaged and leaned in.
Joel: When selecting live streaming inventory, marketers should consider what type of event their ad will be viewed during – college sports, professional sports, awards shows, etc. It’s important to consider because each live event draws a different audience with various interests and purchase intents. Â
What audience targeting strategies should marketers utilize to effectively reach their core audience?
Joel: Always consider the geotargeting parameters as some regions may align more with the marketing goal. Demographics, such as age, are also important to broadly refine the core audience media intends to reach. When thinking of data-driven audience strategies, try to keep this fairly broad as live streaming inventory is competitive, and efficiently scaling can be a challenge if too many variables are layered on.
Stephen: Advertisers need to understand who their audience is in live sports if they want to provide the best ad experience and use a strategy rooted in precisely reaching the core audience when and where they are watching live sports. Building your strategy around strong, authenticated data so you can see that the avid baseball viewer is also a loyal grocery store shopper requires a cross-channel identifier like UID2. This is especially important since much of the rise in live sports viewership is also taking place on non-traditional TV devices, such as tablets and mobile phones, so you want to connect the dots across viewers and devices for the best ad experience.
And finally, what piece of advice would you give to markets to run a successful live-streaming CTV campaign?
Stephen: Getting in programmatically provides cost efficiency by offering flexibility, control, and access that otherwise would only be available from larger networks or league sponsorships. If a game is a blow out by halftime, you don’t risk wasting budget on the second half that likely had significantly less viewership. Consolidating live sports within your CTV planning will also give marketers better decisioning and frequency management with the line of sight into the rest of the marketing objectives.
Joel: As most live events are scheduled at least a year in advance, it’s never too early to start planning. However, I recommend planning at least one month in advance of the campaign’s intended launch date. One of the first things to consider during the planning period is what kind of live events to incorporate in the strategy in order to reach the right audience.Â
To learn more about broader CTV strategies, check out our other Q&A with The Trade Desk or take a deep dive with Connected TV Advertising Guide.
4 Digital Marketing Trends Sparking Strategic Growth in 2024
Welcome to the ever-evolving realm of digital marketing, where change is the only constant, and marketers sometimes feel like they’re surfing a wave that just won’t quit. As 2024 quickly approaches, it’s not enough to simply predict the next wave – marketing teams must master the art of riding it. Plan to seamlessly weave them into your strategies and create a digital ecosystem that resonates with your audience.Â
The Digital Marketing Revolution of 2023: Strategic Imperatives for Growth and Connection
As we gear up to embrace the trends that will define the upcoming year, it’s equally crucial to cast a retrospective glance at the lessons learned and trends witnessed in the past year; exploring the currents that have propelled us to this point and laying the groundwork for the strategic surf ahead.
Content Grounded in Research and Careful Planning
In 2023, content ceased to just exist – it delivered purpose. Meticulously crafted, research-backed content seized consumer attention, proving quality and relevance outshine brevity. Consumers devoured content across various formats, from extended TikTok videos to long-form articles, reaffirming that quality and relevance surpass brevity. The results are clear – dedicate resources to content that educates, entertains and supports customers.
Consumer Insights Unlock Growth
In 2023, first-party data emerged as the primary driver of marketing success. As Coegi’s President emphasized, harnessing consumer insights from owned properties unlocks substantial value. He even threw in a friendly reminder – having first-party data without a strategy is like having a toolbox without a plan. The time is now to get strategic, tap into the goldmine of consumer insights to personalize experiences. The growth implications are immense.
Retail Media Reshapes Strategy
The emergence of retail media took center stage as a primary driver for digital marketing campaigns. Only gaining substantial emphasis in the past two or three years, its trajectory transformed. 2023 marked its seismic rise from the experimental budget line to the backbone of consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketing campaigns.
We are at a pivotal juncture where it’s essential for brands to adopt omnichannel strategies, placing retail media at the forefront and shifting social media into a more supportive role. The strategic imperative is clear – retail media first.
Breakthrough Digital Marketing Trends Poised to Captivate Customers in 2024
AI is Revolutionizing Digital Marketing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved beyond a buzzword; it stands as a transformative force elevating your marketing success. Like a strategic genie, AI delivers hyper-personalization, automates rote tasks, and unlocks data-fueled consumer insights on demand.Â
With 80% of marketers witnessing a positive impact, it’s clear that AI has transitioned from being a nice-to-have to a must-have. It’s imperative to harness the power of AI immediately and integrate it deeply into your marketing strategies. With AI transforming the marketing field, it’s vital for marketing teams to focus on essential integration areas to maintain a competitive advantage in this dynamic market.
- Sentiment Analysis for Personalized Experiences: Implement sentiment analysis powered by generative AI into your marketing strategy to craft personalized customer experiences. Employ advanced algorithms to customize content and recommendations based on individual preferences, thereby enriching user engagement and satisfaction.
- Instant Service Bots: Embed smart AI chatbots to engage customers with responsive, personalized interactions, boosting satisfaction.
- Strategic Insights Arsenal: Unlock actionable intelligence by unleashing algorithms on unused data to sharpen targeting and segmentation.
- Automate Routine Tasks: Free up talent by using AI to eliminate repetitive tasks like email workflows and social media scheduling through automation. By automating these repetitive processes, your team can redirect their efforts toward high-impact, strategic initiatives, boosting overall productivity.
By activating AI across these four areas, you not only free your teams to focus on high-value strategies but also unlock the potential for more meaningful interactions with your audience. The result? Immediate opportunity to better serve customers and outpace the competition.Â
The First-Party Imperative: Winning Customer Intelligence to Fuel Growth
With the looming threat of cookies getting the boot in 2024, your first-party lists are about to become the MVPs of your marketing strategy. Far beyond lifeless lists, rich first-party data fortifies marketing strategies by enabling immersive personalization and forging enduring consumer bonds.
With consumers increasingly expecting hyper-relevant brand experiences, first-party data serves as rocket fuel – when artfully collected through value-driven relationships. This inside track on customer truth unlocks a multi-faceted competitive advantage. First, intimately understand your customers. Then, engage them in a relationship – not a transaction. With consumer trust earned, responsive audiences readily share information and preferences.Â
Activate a systematic first-party data blueprint using these five high-impact strategies to own your consumer connection:Â
- Optimized Website Forms: Ensure that your website features user-friendly forms that encourage visitors to willingly provide information. This could include newsletter sign-ups, account registrations, or surveys.
- Omnichannel Data Integration: Break data silos by connecting data collected from various touch points – website, social media, email interactions – to build a comprehensive customer profile. This integrated approach provides a more holistic view of your audience.
- Consistent Data Updates: Establish consistent triggers that encourage users to update their preferences regularly, keeping data current amid evolving consumer needs and preferences.
- Interactive Content Experiences: Compel users to self-identify through polls, assessments, calculators, and other diagnostic tools woven into the consumer journey.
- Incentivized Programs: Implement loyalty programs, discounts, or exclusive access in exchange for customers sharing their information. This not only encourages data collection but also fosters a sense of value for the customer.
The rewards are immense for brands centralizing first-party data – enhanced segmentation and targeting, future-proofed marketing strategies, and customer experiences driving satisfaction through relevance. Integrating first-party data into your digital marketing strategy is a strategic move that unlocks a wealth of insights and enhances your ability to connect with your audience on a personal level. Prioritize first-party data collection and usage. Your personalized approach will thank you later.Â
Retail Media Reshapes the Digital Landscape
Retail media has solidified its status as a disruptive marketing powerhouse. By engaging shoppers at the point of purchase, retail media delivers hyper-targeted ads without relying on unstable third-party data.
As consumers increasingly discover and purchase products through retailers, these platforms will reshape strategies. Insider Intelligence predicts a noteworthy surge of 28.6% in retail media ad spend for the year 2024, reaching a substantial total of close to $60 million. For marketing teams mapping out 2024 plans, retail media can no longer be an afterthought. Its trajectory as marketing’s predominant disruptor means integration must become a strategic pillar to lift visibility and results.
The time is now for you to lean into retail media’s unmatched ability to connect with high-intent users through relevant ads and premium placement. Integrating retail media into your 2024 strategy is a pivotal step toward enhancing visibility, engagement, and, ultimately, the success of your marketing initiatives. Here’s a few things to consider when planning your strategy.
- Strategic Platform Selection: Strategically identify and invest in dominant retail media platforms where your audiences are actively discovering and purchasing. Commit resources to owned properties with the most traction.Â
- Point-of-Purchase Activation: Engage shoppers with contextual messaging and offerings to breakthrough the clutter at that crucial instant at the digital shelf where decisions are made.
- Acknowledge Consumer Behavior: Continually realign efforts to acknowledge where consumers are demonstrating shopping behavior shifts. Tailor your strategy to align with these preferences.
- Strategic Adoption: Approach retail media as an urgent marketing imperative – not a tactical experiment – fusing it into the very fabric of 2024 plans to lift brand visibility and engagement.
- Utilize Direct Engagement: Harness retail media’s unparalleled avenues to deliver tailored brand messaging that resonates at the individual level based on each platform’s unique consumer DNA.
- Performance Optimization: Regularly measure and analyze the success of your retail media initiatives. Track metrics such as visibility, engagement, and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of your strategy.
In 2024, marketers are experiencing rapid growth and strengthening their brand’s distinct value by integrating retail media into their strategies.
The Social Commerce Boom
As consumers increasingly take to social platforms to discover and purchase products, social commerce has emerged as retail’s new normal..
With social media shopping revenue expected to surge to $1.2 billion by 2024, brands must prioritize integrated social commerce to effectively engage audiences. The numbers signal that the time has come for social platforms to transform from casual scrolling to frictionless buying destinations. Find several strategies below to embrace social commerce effectively in 2024:
- Optimize for Shoppable Posts: Break down barriers between discovery and purchase by enabling integrated product exploration and payment functionality for platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
- Influencer Commerce Alliances: Activate influential brand ambassadors to connect target consumers with products through embedded social commerce capabilities and exclusive offers.Â
- Exclusive Social Promotions: Drive urgency and action by giving social followers unique access to exclusive promotions and discounts available only on owned social properties.Â
- Performance Intelligence Infrastructure: Utilize analytics tools to track and analyze the performance of your social commerce efforts. Measure key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer acquisition costs to refine and optimize your strategy.
- Seamless Cross-Channel Integration: Ensure a seamless integration of social commerce with your overall multichannel strategy. Align your social media efforts with your website, email marketing, and other touchpoints for a cohesive customer experience.
By seamlessly intertwining social media and direct sales, marketers are not only streamlining the customer journey but also tapping into the rich tapestry of trust and engagement woven within social communities.
Key Takeaways for Your Marketing Strategy
The digital marketing landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift powered by disruptive technology and shifts in consumer behavior. As the course ahead is chartered, new frameworks must emerge across five pivotal domains – AI, first-party data, retail media, and social commerce.
Marketing leaders must be able to realign strategies, budgets and teams to activate these trends in order to gain a durable competitive advantage and build future-proofed growth models. Complacency poses grave risk. Effective leadership recognizes the need for bold and decisive action in response to changing circumstances, and with marketing currently experiencing a significant transformation, that moment is undeniably now.
The window of opportunity is immediate; build your vision and begin navigating uncharted waters armed with five navigational pillars able to elevate relevance, engagement and profitability in your decidedly digital future.
MediaPost – 5 Ways To Evaluate Brand Partnerships
Unlock the secrets to successful brand partnerships by harnessing the power of audience research, developing content that is relevant, and strategic execution for impactful marketing. This essential guide offers marketers a comprehensive roadmap to create meaningful, long-lasting customer relationships. Don’t miss out on these expert strategies to elevate your brand – click to read the full article now!
