Tag: Blogs

Celebrating Progress: A Look at Coegi’s 2024 Achievements

Posted on by Coegi

As a strategic digital media partner, Coegi continually advances the frontiers of programmatic buying, authentic social media campaigns, and comprehensive digital channel optimization. We invest in creating thought leadership and maintaining strong ties with technology partners to stay at the cutting edge of digital trends and innovations. This commitment fosters a culture that celebrates client achievements and nurtures enduring relationships. 

A Whirlwind Start to 2024

The past six months at Coegi have been marked by a series of exciting accolades and strategic partnerships that have significantly enhanced our industry standing while serving as a testament to the strength of our team’s work ethic and expertise.

Achievements and Awards

We kicked off our streak of triumphs by securing a spot in AdExchanger’s Top 50 Programmatic Power Players for the third consecutive year, affirming our leadership in programmatic advertising. Adding to our celebration, Savannah Westbrock, Coegi’s Director of Innovation and Development, was honored as one of the Top Women in Media and Ad Tech in the “Up and Comers” category by AdExchanger and AdMonsters, highlighting our commitment to fostering talent within our ranks.

The spotlight continued with our groundbreaking collaboration with Moderna on the #SpikevaxPartner Community influencer marketing campaign. This groundbreaking campaign launched 550 posts, generating over 503 million impressions and a 484% increase in engagement rates, significantly boosting Spikevax’s market share from 37% to 48% and influencing 24% of all US vaccine conversions in fall 2023.

This campaign not only became a finalist in two categories at the Shorty Awards but also clinched a prestigious win for the 2024 Grand Indie awards, celebrating the most creative and effective independent agency campaigns globally. Furthermore, it triumphed at the 2023 MediaPost Planning & Buying Awards, winning in the Influencer Marketing Category. 

Lastly, we were proud to be honored by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of the “Fast 50,” highlighting the fastest growing companies in the region, as well as being included on the list of the largest marketing and advertising agencies for St. Louis.

Client and Company Partnerships

On the client partnership front, we proudly announced our collaboration with The Humane Society of the United States, aiming to amplify their animal welfare initiatives. We also deepened our relationship with Moderna by becoming their paid media partner for the Canadian market. This partnership is built on a solid two-year foundation with Moderna’s global commercial team and encompasses a comprehensive media strategy.

Our strategic alliances have also expanded to include joining forces with Meet The People. This new alliance with a network of innovative independent agencies promises to foster collaborative growth and bring fresh perspectives and resources to our clients, further enhancing our capabilities and impact in the digital marketing sphere.

The Transformative Impact of Recognition

The accolades Coegi has garnered have significantly bolstered our agency’s profile and enhanced our strategic positioning to the benefit of our clients. These awards attest to our ability to deliver cutting-edge solutions and results-driven campaigns that significantly impact our clients’ market presence and consumer engagement. This recognition not only confirms our effectiveness in current markets but also aligns with the broader industry analysis provided by key insights from industry experts.

According to Forrester’s ‘The Media Management Services Landscape, Q2 2024‘ report, Coegi is included among notable vendors and has an industry focus on retail, financial services, and pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. Coegi self-reported the extended use cases of communications strategy, media and ad operations, and martech and adtech implementation as the top use cases for which clients select us.

This recognition from Forrester cements for us our reputation as a versatile and strategic partner capable of navigating the complexities of the global media management market.

Looking Forward: Coegi’s Vision for the Future

As Coegi strides confidently into the future, our roadmap is clear and ambitious. Fueled by the success and recognition of the past six months, we are set to achieve even more as we continue to innovate and expand our impact within the digital marketing world.

Innovations and Collaborative Growth

  • Technological Advancements: Coegi is broadening its technological and engagement strategies to enhance overall performance and client relationships. We continue to harness AI and machine learning to transform content creation, streamline workflows, and optimize ad delivery. Additionally, we’re implementing universal ID solutions and enhancing our ecosystem with advanced cross-channel measurement and audience strategies through strategic technology partnerships.
  • Meet The People and Worldwide Partners Collaborations: These collaborations allow us to stay independent and maintain the unique culture of Coegi while amplifying our impact through access to a broader network of resources and expertise. By aligning with a network that shares our core values, we place people at the heart of every strategy, enhancing our client-centric approach and empowering our community-focused initiatives.
  • Award Submissions: We’re building on recent successes with several award submissions planned this year to highlight our ongoing excellence and innovation in digital marketing.

Coegi is not just adapting to changes but actively shaping the future of digital marketing. By balancing innovation with our commitment to clients and community, we are poised for a dynamic future. Thanks to our team for all their work in making the start of this year a success!

 

Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Search Engine Marketing

Posted on by Coegi

Search engine marketing (SEM) stands as a pillar in the realm of digital advertising, elevating a brand’s visibility by securing premier advertisement placements on search engine results pages (SERPs). This channel has become irreplaceable for many marketers in driving qualified website traffic by engaging users with relevant ads that match their specific search queries.

It’s evident that there is a growing importance of mobile and local SEM in brands’ media mix – specifically as a performance-driven channel. However, the way consumers are using search is evolving, as they turn to voice and visual search technologies to add convenience to their experiences. 

The incorporation of AI and advanced data analytics into SEM is also dramatically changing the landscape, requiring businesses to consistently evolve their search strategies to stay at the forefront of digital marketing innovation and best meet the consumer’s needs. 

Major Trends and Changes in SEM

SEM is constantly in flux, shaped by the continual advancements and updates in search engine algorithms. Understanding these shifts is essential for marketers looking to maintain a competitive advantage in digital advertising.

Search Algorithms and Their Impact on SEM

Major search engines like Google continuously strive to enhance user experiences, resulting in frequent and significant algorithm changes. Over the past year, Google has implemented several important updates:

  • April 2023: Replaced first-click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models with data-driven attribution to better align with evolving consumer behaviors.
  • May 2023: Introduction of AI-driven innovations at Google Marketing Live, refining both Search and Performance Max campaigns.
  • August 2023: Implementation of the Limited Ads Serving policy to improve ad clarity and build trust.
  • September 2023: The Helpful Content Update launches, focusing on seamless transitions from ads to landing pages that directly answer user queries and enhance the search experience. This highlights the need for marketers to develop content that resonates with the audience’s expectations and addresses their primary concerns about brands and their offerings.
  • October 2023: Introduction of search themes in Performance Max to refine ad targeting.
  • November 2023: Google shifts towards privacy-focused ad strategies, moving away from third-party cookies and instead emphasizing the use of first-party data and contextual targeting.
  • February 2024: Enhancement of AI-powered Search ads as well as the introduction of AR & VR features for shopping, aimed at improving ad engagement and consumer insights.

Each update underscores a shift towards more personalized, efficient, and privacy-conscious marketing strategies, challenging marketers to innovate within the constraints of enhanced user privacy and advanced technological capabilities.

The Rise of Mobile and Local SEM

In today’s digital ecosystem, mobile optimization and local search strategies are paramount. Mobile-friendly websites should balance aesthetics and usability, aiming for fast loading and easy navigation for users. For local businesses, the integration of location-based keywords and localized ad targeting into their SEM strategy is indispensable. This focus enhances visibility on SERPs, especially for searches with local interest, thereby connecting businesses with their highest-intent target audiences more effectively.

Voice and Visual Search Innovations

Voice and visual search technologies are reshaping the SEM strategies. Voice searches, powered by digital assistants and smart speakers, tend to feature longer, more conversational queries. This change means we need to use different keywords that match the brand or campaign’s main focus, like questions and phrases. 

Visual search, leveraging AI to allow image-based searching, enhances web interaction, particularly in shopping and information discovery. Integrating visual search into SEM strategies can significantly boost user engagement, conversion rates, and brand recognition while providing insightful consumer behavior data, making it a pivotal element for more successful and efficient marketing campaigns.

Adapting to the growing trends of voice and visual search requires websites to be user-friendly and equipped to provide accurate, easily accessible information. SEM practitioners must continually update their strategies to align with the evolving preferences and behaviors of their audience, ensuring their campaigns remain effective and relevant.

Effective SEM Strategies in Today’s Digital Marketing

Today, effective SEM strategies have become pivotal for standing out amidst intense competition. These strategies have evolved significantly, transitioning from outdated techniques to sophisticated approaches that prioritize user experience and content quality.

  • Content and Keyword Strategy Adaptations: The move away from keyword stuffing to strategies that focus on user intent and content quality reflects a significant shift in SEO and SEM practices. Originally, keyword stuffing aimed to improve SERP rankings but often led to poor user experiences. Today, search engines favor high-quality content that delivers on its promises, aligns with user behavior and intent, and satisfies users’ needs. This change is important because voice and visual searches are on the rise. Content must be engaging and specifically designed for natural language queries.
  • Leveraging Data and Analytics: Data analytics, powered by AI and machine learning, plays a crucial role in refining SEM strategies. Platforms like Google Ads employ these technologies to analyze large datasets, considering factors like user behavior, demographics, and past performance. These insights allow marketers to optimize their campaigns more effectively, adjusting bidding strategies in real time based on dynamic user behavior patterns.
  • Integrating SEM with Overarching Digital Marketing: For maximum impact, avoid thinking of SEM as a separate initiative and instead incorporate it within a broader digital marketing strategy, considering the intertwining of SEO, social media, and email marketing. This cohesive approach ensures that all channels work together towards a common goal, enhancing the overall effectiveness of the marketing efforts. 

Future of SEM and Staying Ahead

Rapid advancements in technology, such as AI and data privacy, are not only influencing but also redefining the future of SEM, necessitating that marketers integrate these elements into their strategies for sustained success.

  • Continuous Learning: As the SEM industry evolves, marketers must also evolve, adapting to changes to maintain a competitive edge and bringing a spirit of experimentation. 
  • Leveraging Campaigns for Experimentation: View campaigns as opportunities for testing and learning, diving deep into analytics to gather actionable insights.
  • Holistic Data Tracking: The cross-platform tracking capabilities of GA4 allow for a comprehensive understanding of marketing efforts across channels, facilitating more efficient budget allocation through detailed data attribution.
  • Industry Insights: Staying informed through industry publications and resources is vital for learning about the latest SEM developments.

Adopting ethical practices is crucial not only for building trust with consumers but also for ensuring long-term success and compliance with regulatory standards. 

Here are some key considerations:

  • Clear and Ethical Communication: Deploy honest, transparent advertising with high-quality, relevant content, adhering to ethical guidelines and responding to feedback to enhance trust, improve user experience, and provide value.
  • Safeguard Privacy and Ensure User Consent: Adhere to privacy laws and respect user preferences, providing clear options for data tracking and personalization consent.
  • Promote Equity and Inclusion: Ensure ad targeting is free from discriminatory practices and embraces inclusivity, catering to a diverse audience without exploiting vulnerabilities.
  • Sustainability Consideration: Prioritize sustainable SEM practices by optimizing resource use and minimizing digital waste, reflecting environmental responsibility.

Emphasizing a blend of technological innovation, adaptability, and stringent ethical standards lays out a strategic blueprint for thriving in SEM’s dynamic future.

How We Incorporate Innovation Into Our Clients’ Work

Posted on by Savannah Westbrock

At Coegi, innovation shapes every project we undertake, driving us to not just create new ideas but to also transform these ideas into valuable, tangible solutions for our clients. This approach to innovation— both the creation of fresh concepts and their successful application—is fundamental to our work. We advocate for a subtractive mindset alongside traditional “out-of-the-box” thinking, encouraging our team to enhance efficiency by removing unnecessary elements. 

Our approach emphasizes a culture where innovation means both introducing new ideas and thoughtfully streamlining, ensuring our solutions are both creative and efficient. By adopting this dual approach, we offer unique strategies that aren’t innovative for the sake of innovation, but are grounded in measurement to help global brands reach their business goals. 

Our Innovative Approach: Strategy + Culture

Our innovative approach is twofold, deeply intertwining agile methodologies with a robust cultural commitment to innovation to create dynamic, data-driven media strategies. This combination allows us to quickly develop, test and learn, and refine ideas, ensuring our campaigns effectively meet the rapidly changing needs of our clients. 

Our people and experiences have positioned us as trusted guides for global brands and agencies navigating the complexities of the media industry. We tackle major industry challenges head-on, from consumer privacy and advertising regulations to the integration of sustainability in ad tech and the deployment of AI tools. Our approachable leadership plays a pivotal role in breaking down silos, enabling seamless collaboration across departments and ensuring that innovation is a collective ambition.

Ultimately, fostering an innovation mindset has allowed us to transform innovation from a specialized discipline into a fundamental aspect of our organization. This equips us to not only address the immediate challenges of today’s media landscape, but also sets the foundation for enduring success and adaptability in an ever-changing industry.

Showcasing Innovation: Case Studies and Business Impact

Our success stories highlight how we creatively solve challenges with our clients, focusing on the teamwork and strategies that lead to innovative outcomes.

One standout example involves Coegi increasing vaccine consideration by 28% and driving an 88% lift in vaccine discussions for Moderna’s COVID-19 booster among multicultural consumers. By identifying a significant Spanish-speaking target demographic, Coegi crafted a campaign that leveraged authentic storytelling through micro and nano influencers, an approach that was largely underutilized for the pharmaceutical industry. These influencers, ranging from healthcare professionals to lifestyle bloggers, created relatable content in Spanish, addressing key questions about COVID-19 vaccination and establishing trust in Moderna’s product.

Another example highlights our work with a tourism client seeking to innovate around safety during the pandemic. Understanding the need to reassure travelers and promote safe travel experiences, we implemented a scoring model that assessed and communicated safety measures effectively. This initiative not only helped in restoring traveler confidence but also in promoting responsible tourism advertising practices during challenging times. 

The impact of our work is seen through our clients:

  • Our solutions are implemented with agility and a keen problem-solving approach, demonstrating our ability to navigate and overcome obstacles effectively.
  • Positive outcomes from these projects include both quantitative and qualitative business results.
  • These cases underscore our commitment to leveraging innovation for continuous improvement and client success.

 

The Future of Innovation in Our Workspace

Fostering a culture of innovation has been instrumental to our success thus far. As we look ahead to the future of innovation within Coegi’s workspace, it’s clear that the journey we’ve embarked upon is set to deepen and diversify. The essence of innovation, after all, is not just in conceiving new ideas but in effectively bringing them to life to solve real-world challenges. 

To streamline our focus and maximize our impact, we’re honing in on four key areas:

  • Investing in emerging technologies: Staying at the forefront of technological advancements to ensure our solutions remain innovative and relevant for our clients.
  • Fostering continuous learning: Creating opportunities for our team to grow their skills and knowledge, keeping us agile and informed.
  • Building strategic partnerships: Collaborating with a diverse range of agency and publisher partners to expand our perspectives and capabilities.
  • Exploring sustainability: Integrating eco-friendly practices into our projects, aligning with our commitment to making a positive impact on the world.

As we move forward, our vision for the future of innovation in our workspace is not just about maintaining our trajectory but about setting new benchmarks for what we can achieve. By focusing on these strategic areas, we aim to not only continue solving complex challenges for our clients but also to contribute positively to the broader industry and society. Innovation will always remain a journey—a path we navigate with purpose, determination, and an unwavering focus on creating value that transcends the ordinary.

 

5 Steps to Building a Stronger Customer Engagement Strategy Using Digital Marketing

Posted on by Coegi

Run-of-the-mill approaches to grabbing attention are no longer sufficient to win with today’s customers. Brand success depends on our ability to engage with our audience on a personal level, captivating them through unique and/or convenient offerings, and converting this brand preference into tangible outcomes within customer engagement. 

With Twilio’s 2023 The State of Customer Engagement Report showing 66% of consumers leaving brands that lack personalization, it’s clear that tailored experiences are essential to meet individual customer needs and sustain strong relationships.

Four Core Channels for Engaging Customers

To adeptly maneuver within this setting, there are four key areas to master:

  1. Social Media Engagement: Examine the entire landscape to select platforms that resonate strongly with your target audience, focusing on where engagement levels are highest. Experiment with different advertising tactics to discover which types of content generate the most interaction. It’s crucial to maintain a consistent approach across both paid and organic content, ensuring close collaboration throughout the process.
  2. Programmatic Demand-Side Platforms: The use of programmatic buying strategies on DSPs will optimize your digital advertising by placing ads in the most impactful locations across the internet. Focus on targeting the high-precision audience effectively and at the right moments to increase relevance and drive success from your campaigns.
  3. Search Marketing: To enhance customer engagement through search marketing, seamlessly blend targeted keyword optimization and dynamic content strategies across digital channels. By crafting compelling, SEO-optimized ad copy and content tailored to audience preferences, you can maximize outcomes on this performance-driven channel.. 
  4. Content Marketing: Consistently produce and share content that not only educates and entertains, but also addresses the audience’s needs and preferences. Diversify content formats across paid advertisements, social media posts, and organic blog content to capture a wider audience and foster interaction. Continuously analyze engagement metrics to refine your content strategy for better results.

The key to all of this – personalization. Utilize analytics tools, your CRM software, and/or dynamic creative optimization technology to create highly personalized experiences for their customers. This approach not only increases engagement, but also customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Implementing an Integrated Engagement Strategy

Mastering customer engagement requires weaving these tactics into a unified brand strategy. With 86% of consumers indicating that personalized experiences boost their brand loyalty, creating a marketing ecosystem can substantiate the importance of personalized engagement in enhancing customer loyalty. A well-integrated marketing ecosystem not only aligns with customer preferences for personalization but also strengthens brand loyalty by delivering cohesive and relevant experiences at every interaction.

Here are five essential next steps to transform your approach and achieve unparalleled success in customer engagement.

  1. Audit and map the customer journey: Begin by thoroughly reviewing your current customer journey to identify critical decision-making touchpoints. This will help in pinpointing where improvements or integrations can be made to enhance the overall experience.
  2. Define objectives and select tools: Clearly outline your engagement goals and choose digital marketing tactics that align with these objectives, ensuring they can work together seamlessly across channels.
  3. Develop a unified content plan: Create a cohesive plan that encompasses content marketing, social media engagement, email segmentation, and loyalty programs, ensuring each element supports the others for a unified customer experience.
  4. Analyze performance and gather feedback: Regularly monitor the effectiveness of your engagement strategies through metrics and customer feedback, using these insights to continuously refine your approach.
  5. Iterate and optimize strategically: Treat your engagement strategy as a work in progress, ready to be adjusted based on performance data and shifting customer needs, to maintain relevance and effectiveness over time.

Sealing the Deal

Mastering customer engagement in the digital age requires a strategic useof personalization, making the consumer feel that everything that they are seeing is relevant while still scaling across your audience. By harnessing the power of innovative digital marketing tools, businesses can create engaging, personalized experiences that resonate with customers and drive loyalty and growth. As you evaluate your current engagement strategies, consider how integrating these tactics can elevate your customer interactions and set your brand apart in a crowded digital landscape. Encourage your team to embrace these changes, leveraging the insights and tools available to create meaningful connections with your audience.

5 Ways to Maximize Programmatic Dollars Amidst Economic Uncertainty

Posted on by Allie Haupt

As economic uncertainty looms, marketing dollars matter now more than ever. However, this challenge presents an opportunity for brands to re-evaluate their programmatic marketing strategy and discover innovative approaches to maximize media investment. While it’s critical to continue on with proven marketing strategies that consistently deliver against business goals, refinement and experimentation is the name of the game within the programmatic ecosystem to position the brand for success and drive growth well beyond the downturn. 

Here are five tips to ensure your investment in programmatic channels is efficiently driving brand goals and positive ROI:

#1 – Prioritize high-value audiences

Advertising to a broad and undefined audience often results in reaching users who are unlikely to convert. An important first step of media planning is gaining a deep understanding of the audience you are trying to reach and what motivates them. 

  • Conduct Audience Analysis: Utilize data-driven research tools, analyze existing customer data, and review past campaign performance. This approach helps identify users demonstrating interest and intent, setting the stage for a highly targeted audience strategy. 
  • Focus on Likely Converters: Prioritize your programmatic media spend toward audiences with a high propensity to convert. This strategy reduces ad waste and ensures your media budget is invested in segments most likely to generate significant impact.
  • Balance Your Retargeting Efforts: While retargeting can yield strong results, it’s crucial to balance your investment in this area. Over-relying on retargeting can lead to spending unnecessarily on users who would likely have converted anyway, and will be a recipe for disaster with third-party cookie deprecation. Diversify your approach to capture new potential customers without neglecting those close to conversion.

#2 – Eliminate inventory inefficiencies 

One of the benefits of activating programmatically is accessing inventory across the entire open web, enabling efficient reach and scale. However, not all inventory is created equal and investing in poor quality placements may inhibit ROI goals. Platform algorithms use ad engagement metrics, such as clicks or video completions, to assess the quality of an inventory source. However, it lacks human logic by not considering the user’s intention with the engagement, such as accidentally clicking on an ad. Therefore, it’s critical to incorporate supply path optimization (SPO) into your media approach to have a granular understanding of where your ad dollars are being spent and how it contributes to the overall campaign’s success. SPO analysis highlights which inventory sources drive the most efficient conversions, informing optimizations of media spend toward the most valuable placements. This translates into a campaign that uses each ad dollar effectively to maximize ROI.

#3 – Leverage AI for operational efficiencies

In times of economic uncertainty, every resource counts. To maximize the impact of your media investments, AI can augment your team’s capabilities and streamline operations enabling you to do more with less. AI-powered solutions, like dynamic creative optimization (DCO), reduces the human hours needed to manually develop and assign each creative since DCO automatically generates and assigns the most effective creative variation in real-time. Delivering highly personalized and performance-driven creative can improve engagement and messaging resonance for each individual user, leading to overall stronger media results.

It’s critical to roll out AI to your teams with a focus on responsible usage and governance. The upfront investment of AI training and policy development will set your team up for success. 

#4 – Optimize user frequency 

Frequency metrics tend to be overlooked due to focusing on metrics that ladder up to business goals, like ROI. However, it’s important to actively monitor frequency to ensure media spend is not resulting in wasted impressions. Oversaturating users with brand messaging can lead to ad fatigue or a poor user experience potentially creating negative brand associations. High user frequency can also indicate media dollars are being spent on reaching users who have already performed the desired action.

Utilize frequency as an optimization lever to ensure your media dollars are efficiently invested in creating valuable brand engagement and driving results. Every brand’s customer journey is unique, so there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to optimal frequency. Consider the steps and length of the audience’s journey to set realistic goals. Then, continually monitor the frequency compared to performance and utilize conversion path analysis to hone in on the optimal level of brand interaction with your audience. 

#5 – Embrace omnichannel strategies

Users interact with brands across multiple touchpoints throughout their journey, including traditional and digital channels. To maximize the impact of your media investment, develop an omnichannel approach tailored to your audience that provides a holistic and streamlined brand experience. 

  • Research Your Audience’s Behaviors: Assess which channels highly index with your audience’s behaviors and preferences to align media with how users consume content. 
  • Optimize Channel Mix: Strategically select the channels that ladder up to the overall marketing and brand goals. For example, if your audience has an affinity for video and the goal is to increase brand awareness, leveraging a high reach channel, such as Connected TV (CTV), is an efficient way to capture attention. 
  • Develop an Integrated Strategy: Once the optimal channel mix has been identified, create a strategy that maximizes the strengths of each channel to amplify a consistent brand message.

As marketing leaders navigate economic challenges, leaning into innovative and data-driven approaches will ensure every media dollar invested efficiently contributes to brand and marketing goals. Through continuous campaign optimizations aimed at reducing impression waste to prioritize investment on the audiences that matter most, brands will be well positioned for continued growth.

The Green Influence: How Social Media Stars are Steering Sustainable Commerce

Posted on by Coegi

Sustainable commerce has grown to include more than just eco-friendly products on store shelves in the digital commerce world. It’s about creating a movement – a lifestyle that reduces environmental impact and promotes ethical practices, focusing on changing consumer habits and business models for a healthier planet. 

A significant force behind this movement? Social media influencers. Influencers have emerged as pivotal figures steering the movement towards a more sustainable world, leveraging their significant sway over public opinion and consumer behavior. 

Critics initially accused influencer marketing of promoting over-consumption during the 2010s, yet a notable shift has quickly followed. Brands and influencers are increasingly using their platform and follower relationships to promote eco-friendly commerce practices, proving themselves to be essential allies in the quest for environmental sustainability.

The Responsibility of Influencers in Promoting Sustainability

With 46% of consumers demanding brands to lead in sustainability efforts, there’s a clear call for brand accountability in environmental initiatives. But how can influencers help a brand succeed in reshaping their marketing efforts?

  • Visibility and Awareness: Influencers are a secret weapon in sustainability marketing, driving personalized awareness that goes beyond the impressions of traditional advertising. By showcasing sustainable lifestyle choices, influencers not only promote products but also inspire a shift in consumer behavior towards more environmentally responsible actions.
  • Authenticity and Trust: Consumers are more likely to trust and emulate the green practices of influencers they follow, especially when those influencers share their authentic experiences and the tangible benefits of their eco-friendly choices. This trust fosters a deeper connection between consumers and sustainable brands, bridging the gap between awareness and action.
  • Engagement and Community Building: Influencers excel in creating communities centered around shared interests and values. Their platforms become forums for discussing sustainability, exchanging tips, and encouraging eco-friendly practices. Shopify highlights how influencers can really connect with their audience, turning casual watchers into engaged supporters of the eco-friendly movement.

Navigating Challenges and Shaping the Future of Sustainable Commerce

Addressing the challenges in sustainable commerce and influencer marketing requires a multifaceted approach, requiring a shared responsibility from both consumers and the brands themselves:

  • Combat Greenwashing: Brands should ensure all claims are backed by credible certifications and clear, accessible evidence of their sustainability efforts. Transparency in marketing and product labeling will help build consumer trust.
  • Bridge the Digital Divide: Increase accessibility by offering diverse, inclusive content and solutions that cater to various demographics and technological access levels. This could involve optimizing content for low-bandwidth environments or leveraging different platforms to reach a broader audience.
  • Maintain Authenticity: Brands should prioritize partnerships with influencers that align with their values and are passionate about sustainability. Brands and influencers alike should maintain transparency regarding their sponsored content and openly share the criteria guiding their partnership selections.
  • Educate and Engage: Both brands and influencers can play a role in educating consumers about sustainability. This includes sharing information on the importance of sustainable practices and how individual choices can make a difference.

The role of marketers in harnessing the power of social media influencers for promoting sustainable commerce is more vital than ever. As consumers increasingly prioritize ethical and environmentally-friendly practices, marketers have the opportunity to steer their brands towards greater sustainability. By supporting and amplifying their message, we can all be part of the solution, driving forward the movement for a more sustainable and ethical world. This approach not only meets consumer demand but also builds lasting brand loyalty and trust. Dive deeper into the world of ethical marketing by exploring our white paper on Simple Strategies for Sustainable Marketing. Download now and take a step towards driving the movement for a more ethical and sustainable world.

How Search Engine Insights Fuel Growth Marketing

Posted on by Allie Haupt

Most think of search as purely an activation channel that captures demand and defends the brand’s presence on the SERP, but it’s actually an intent-driven data goldmine. Search can be leveraged as the eyes and ears for a brand to gain insights on audience motivations and pinpoint their stage in the conversion journey. These insights should be translated into holistic channel mix planning, media measurement, and competitive research to build an informed growth marketing strategy.

The big picture

Picture it: All of your brand’s digital (and even traditional) media gets completely turned off for a month. What do you think would happen to demand? The brand’s search volume would likely take a noticeable hit since search effectiveness diminishes without the push of brand messaging from efficient reach channels like streaming TV or social media. Similar to social listening, search serves as a behavioral listening tool that captures consumer engagement with brands throughout their conversion journey. For example, if someone sees a connected TV (CTV) ad that piques their interest and addresses a current need, the logical next step is searching for the brand to learn more and potentially convert. This scenario highlights the critical relationship between paid media channels and brand demand – as advertising amplifies a brand’s offering across channels, consumer demand grows. By using search lift as a KPI, we can analyze demand pre and post marketing initiatives to understand the directional impact on total sales.

Why it matters

Using search analysis as a key indicator of consumer demand lays a foundation for a growth marketing strategy. First, it can identify untapped opportunities and whitespace to better align media investment and messaging based on seasonality and emerging keyword trends. For example, if a financial brand consistently observes search demand peaks during tax planning season, they can heavy up their digital presence with a branded search investment that will effectively capture consumer demand and drive them to convert. 

Analyzing search lift after a media initiative launches can also help uncover how the channel mix and messaging strategy impacted brand awareness and interest, informing future channel investment. Non-clickable environments, such as CTV, can be challenging to showcase the impact on driving conversions, but using search demand provides directional insight into a holistic view of your marketing efforts.

Applying search insights to maximize your marketing ROI:

  • Real-time optimization: Analyzing search trends offers a cookieless measurement and attribution solution that not only measures the impact of paid media on driving brand awareness and purchase intent, but also informs real-time campaign optimizations. Examining branded search lift, the increase in search volume of branded or related keywords, after a marketing initiative launch can inform campaign optimizations, including:
    • Audience targeting refinement to maximize reach and allocate media spend toward the highest performing segments to drive ROI
    • Messaging strategy optimization based on consumer searches, dynamically tailoring the messaging to align with their preferences and needs
    • Marketing budget reallocation to channels driving the most effective search lift 
  • Competitive intelligence: Search trends can give you a peek behind your competitor’s curtain to learn what initiatives they are amplifying or what audiences they are reaching. By analyzing the peaks and valleys of competitor search trends, you can identify whitespace to capture the attention of potential customers who are actively searching for a related product or service. Get started by:
    • Analyzing competitor messaging strategies to identify ways to differentiate your brand and highlight the value of your offering
    • Increase media investment during the valleys of a competitor’s search trends to capitalize on the lower competition efficiently, grow share of voice, and gain a spot on audiences’ consideration sets
    • Develop a targeting strategy aimed to engage with movable audiences who have been exposed to your competitor but aren’t yet loyalists
  • Demand forecasts:  Search demand insights can be leveraged far beyond marketing strategy development and execution – it can also inform broader business implications, such as:
    • Supply chain logistics – ensure efficient operations with production and staffing levels based on consumer search demand
    • Seasonality indicators – uncover your customer’s most important needs and preferences to inform your brand’s messaging strategy to engage them with relevant content

The application of search engine insights goes way beyond SEM channel activation – it’s a treasure trove of intent-based data that should be used at every stage of marketing strategy development and execution to effectively align with consumer demand and preferences.

Navigating Privacy Regulations In The Dynamic Pharma Landscape

Posted on by Jacob Amann

From the patchwork of stringent state laws to the nuances of consent in patient data usage, explore the critical elements that organizations must adeptly navigate privacy regulations to ensure ethical and legal adherence in this dynamic pharma landscape.

State of Privacy Regulations in the United States

Data privacy laws, especially those related to healthcare, are subject to frequent changes at both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a key regulation governing patient data privacy. However, there may be additional federal laws, state laws, and other enforceable guidelines that impact healthcare marketing. Staying updated with these changes is important not only for following the law but also for maintaining top-level privacy and trust in healthcare.

Divergence at Federal and State Levels

Within the federal landscape, HIPAA serves as a fundamental regulation, offering baseline protections for Protected Health Information (PHI). However, beyond HIPAA, various factors contribute to the evolving regulatory environment. The CARES Act, with its temporary modifications to HIPAA, introduces additional considerations for handling health data during emergencies. The FTC continues to play a crucial role in enforcement, ensuring that entities adhere to privacy standards.

On the state level, the regulatory landscape introduces a patchwork of stricter laws that organizations must consider. States like California, with the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Colorado with the Colorado Privacy Act, and Virginia with the Consumer Data Protection Act, have implemented comprehensive privacy laws. These state laws grant patients various rights over their data, necessitating organizations to establish robust opt-out and data deletion processes to comply with diverse state-level requirements. The existence of these stricter state laws adds complexity for entities operating across multiple jurisdictions, requiring them to adapt their practices to align with varying privacy standards.

Difference in Patient and Provider Marketing

Patient marketing operates under more stringent restrictions due to the involvement of sensitive health data. The use of PHI necessitates careful handling and compliance with privacy regulations. Organizations engaging in patient marketing must establish clear opt-in and opt-out mechanisms, allowing individuals to express their preferences regarding the use of their health information. Transparency about how data is utilized becomes paramount, ensuring that patients are informed about the purposes for which their information is being used. This transparency not only aligns with regulatory requirements but also builds trust with patients, a critical factor in healthcare marketing.

In contrast, marketing efforts directed at healthcare providers may have less stringent regulatory requirements concerning patient data. However, ethical considerations and data security measures remain crucial. While there may be more flexibility in the approach to provider marketing, organizations must uphold ethical standards to maintain trust within the healthcare ecosystem.

Compliance Strategies

Principle of Clear and Informed Consent

The essence of clear and informed consent is embodied in four key attributes:

  • Freely given: No coercion or undue pressure.
  • Specific: Clear explanation of data usage and sharing.
  • Granular: Allow patients to choose what data is used and shared.
  • Revocable: Easy opt-out mechanisms.

Opt-In Methods and Opt-Out Mechanisms

Opt-in and Opt-out methods are pivotal in healthcare marketing, offering an ethical way to engage individuals by obtaining their explicit consent prior to using their information for marketing purposes. 

Opt-in Methods:

  • Require obtaining explicit consent before using information for marketing.
  • Align with clear and informed consent principles.
  • Allow individuals to express willingness to receive promotional materials or participate in initiatives.

Opt-out Mechanisms:

  • Important to protect sensitive health information.
  • Essential for effective consent management.
  • Crucial for adhering to privacy regulations.
  • Important for nurturing trust among stakeholders

Role of Consent Management Platforms (CMPs)

CMPs are valuable tools for pharma brands, enabling them to specify the exact purposes for which patient data will be used, particularly in remarketing efforts. This level of granularity in consent management not only aids in regulatory compliance but also plays a significant role in fostering patient trust.

Managing Third-Party Data Aggregation

While leveraging data is essential for targeted marketing efforts, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, where Personal Health Information (PHI) is involved, it is crucial for pharma brands to exercise caution when considering third-party data aggregation. Sharing PHI requires explicit authorization and adherence to strict data security measures to protect patient privacy. A notable challenge in the realm of third-party data aggregation for pharma brands is the inherent difficulty in auditing external service providers thoroughly. As a general principle, pharma brands should exercise prudence and consider the potential risks associated with incorporating third-party data into their marketing strategies. 

Ultimately, these efforts converge on a singular goal: to uphold the highest standards of patient privacy and trust. As the legal and ethical landscape continues to evolve, staying informed and adaptable is not just a regulatory requirement but a cornerstone of building lasting relationships in the dynamic world of healthcare marketing.

How AI is Transforming Contextual Targeting

Posted on by Savannah Westbrock

AI is revolutionizing the way ads are matched with online content, transforming contextual targeting from basic keyword matching to a sophisticated understanding of user intent and content relevance. This evolution highlights the shift towards more dynamic, personalized advertising strategies that leverage AI to enhance privacy and precision in reaching audiences.

Executive Summary:

  • At the onset of contextual targeting, the human-led analysis of keywords was mired with campaign scaling issues and imprecise targeting due to the lack of semantic signals resulting in engagement with users in an irrelevant context. (source)
  • With advancements in AI technology, namely natural language processing, contextual targeting has become a precise and privacy-centric targeting solution.
  • Identity deprecation has driven users to not only want, but expect personalized brand engagement. Contextual targeting can create a tailored one-to-one experience by seamlessly integrating brand messaging with the content users are actively engaging with.
  • Contextual 2.0 enables content analysis beyond text-based signals – AI can now efficiently analyze the content and context of video, audio, and images, and metadata in real-time. Advancements in natural language processing improve the accuracy of contextual targeting through improvements in sentiment, semantics, and theme analysis.
  • The future of contextual will see continuous improvements in semantic analysis accuracy and unprecedented scalability, especially as marketers increasingly incorporate contextual targeting as a core element of their brand strategies amidst cookie deprecation.

LinkedIn is Removing Lookalike Audiences: What Marketers Need to Know

Posted on by Coegi

Starting February 29, 2024, you will no longer be able to create new lookalike audiences or refresh and edit current lookalike audiences. Lookalike audiences were designed to help expand audience reach by targeting individuals with similar characteristics to the base audience. Active lookalike audiences will continue to deliver as they appear until the end of February. After 30 days, if a lookalike audience is not active in a campaign, it will be archived.  

LinkedIn has launched predictive audiences, a new tool designed to enhance your campaign’s effectiveness by offering:

  • The ability to reach perfect-fit prospects by matching them with your existing customer base’s characteristics
  • AI-powered precision to identify high-intent buyers most likely to convert.
  • An effortless setup by simply combining your data with LinkedIn’s algorithm to automatically generate a custom audience tailored to your needs.
  • Lead generation gold: campaigns see a significant 21% reduction in cost-per-lead.

So what is the difference between the two? Lookalike audiences rely on historical data to mirror past behaviors of customers, assuming these behaviors will persist. In contrast, predictive audiences use AI to forecast future actions based on recent interactions, like website activity and email engagement, allowing for more tailored and anticipatory campaign personalization. This forward-looking approach enhances the experience by accurately predicting customer interests and potential actions. 

Practical Use

Predictive audiences can be created within the audience tab, found in the same location as lookalike audiences. After you name your audience you’ll be able to choose the source. All predictive audience sources require a minimum number of 300 members. Lastly, you’ll choose the location and size of the audience.

Options for expanding LinkedIn audiences in the future:

  • Predictive Audiences – expand your campaign’s reach by creating an audience that mirrors the traits of your existing data source who are more likely to convert.
    • Create a more targeted audience with minimal data sources, focusing exclusively on LinkedIn-specific inputs such as lead gen forms, contact lists, or conversions through the Insight Tag.
  • Audience Expansion: Target groups that share key characteristics with your primary audience, broadening your reach while maintaining relevance.
    • Attributes specifically excluded from your target audience will not be included in audience expansion.
    • When creating the campaign’s targeting, the audience count will not include members from audience expansion.
    • Audience expansion is not available when predictive audiences are selected.
  • LinkedIn Audience Network – deliver ads beyond the LinkedIn feed to members on third-party apps and sites.
    • The same targeting parameters, bid type, and budget created for your campaign applies.
    • This is only available for the following ad formats: single image, carousel, document, and video ads.

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