Tag: Blogs

The Impact of Content Marketing on Your Brand

Posted on by Breanna Woods

Now more than ever, consumers desire a more meaningful connection with the brands they follow. Your audiences crave behind the scenes videos covering meaningful origin and philanthropic stories, the colorful, entertaining brand voice on social media, and highly personalized written content that feels truly authentic. There is no better way to do that than investing in a content marketing strategy. From everyday people to celebrities to brands both large and small, everyone is realizing the power that content has over driving action along the customer journey. If your brand is not investing in thoughtful content today, read on to learn more about why every brand should be incorporating this into their marketing strategies.  

Why Content Marketing?

Whether you yourself are the brand or your business is the brand, content marketing is important to invest in – especially in the digital era where content is constantly consumed across multiple platforms for both personal and professional reasons. 

Here are some of the key reasons to believe in content marketing:

It’s lucrative

Content marketing can boost conversions leading to higher sales or traffic to your website, all the while signaling to google that the domain has high authority and increasing your rank in search engines. More content + more exposure = higher ROI. Invest in high quality content and your audience will invest in you.  

It’s a relationship builder

While content marketing may ultimately lead to higher sales, it shouldn’t be  about selling, but rather helping. By taking this approach, content marketing can help you increase loyalty thus building trust and creating a sense of community surrounding your brand. Make sure you are tailoring your content to your audience’s biggest questions and what they value. 

Your competitors are using it

97% of businesses use content marketing, and that includes 73% of marketers.. Don’t fall behind and let your competitors get the upper hand. Use multiple different types of content to be seen as a thought leader among similar brands and meet business goals at each stage of the customer journey. 

Choosing Your Content

The process of choosing which content types to lean towards looks a little different for every brand. There are a vast number of content types like social media posts, infographics, blogs, podcasts, videos, and paid content marketing with reputable publishers. It’s important to start by assessing what makes the most sense for your brand.

Take a look at the infographic below to begin aligning your content marketing goals with your overarching brand goals.

Defining Your audience

Your audience should play a large role in determining your content. Start by narrowing down your audience’s potential topics of interest and looking at which platforms your audience is conducting the most research or spending the most time engaging with. 

Developing your message strategy

It’s important to set content goals to measure how well your content is performing. This can help you decide which pieces of content or messaging themes are performing well to refine your strategic approach moving forward. 

Aligning brand goals with content formats

As you pinpoint your target audience and set content goals to develop a sound messaging strategy, you need to identify your brand goals. Pinpoint the primary KPIs you’re looking to measure to determine which types of content best serve your purpose. 

Overcoming Tricky Hurdles

While there are many reasons for brands to invest in content marketing, it is important to understand that there are a few hurdles to overcome to see the ROI brands desire. 

Benefits aren’t immediate

If you’re thinking about tapping into content marketing with expectations of immediate success such as high engagement and conversions, you need to temper your expectations. Building a content strategy is a time consuming period marked by trial and error. It takes great time and resources to discover what makes sense for your brand and for your audience in particular. Don’t rush the process. 

Maintaining originality

With 97% of businesses already using content marketing, it’s clear that the industry is highly competitive. This can make it difficult to differentiate your brand from your competitors. Your competitors are often creating similar types of content on the same platforms and channels, trying to capture the attention of the same types of consumers. Make sure you aren’t spending too much time trying to “keep up with the Joneses” and are instead focusing on creating content that creatively showcases how your brand can make the consumers’ lives better. Tap into your creative juices based on consumer insights to find ways to make your content standout.

A shortage of ideas

Constantly coming up with new content ideas can leave marketers feeling burned out. But while the instinct may be that new content is better and more exciting to your audience, it’s important to think smarter not harder. Find ways to revamp your existing content, and find ways to make it more valuable – both to your audience and Google.  

Overall, content marketing is a great investment for your brand. It’s lucrative, builds that connection you’re looking for with your audience, and allows you the space and opportunity to grow your brand like never before. So begin exploring content marketing efforts today – whether you’re handling in-house or outsourcing through a trusted partner.To learn more about content marketing, be sure to check out:

3 Ways AI is Shifting the Search Marketing Landscape

Posted on by Allie Haupt

With the rise of AI-powered technology, user search behavior is in a constant state of change. Voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, have transformed search queries into colloquial conversations. Google Lens has made visual searches a reality. ChatGPT has emerged as a new prompt-based search engine. All of these developments create new ways of searching and present a challenge to marketers to determine how to navigate the search landscape as user needs and preferences evolve.

The Continuous Evolution of Search Behavior

Voice Search

Speaking to technology as if we are conversing with a friend has become a natural instinct in this new tech age. Picture it. You’re driving to your parents’ house for dinner and notice you’re low on gas. What do you do? *raises phone to speak* “Hey Google, can you tell me where the nearest gas station is?” Voice assistants have created an easier, frictionless, and in this case, safer option for getting the information you’re seeking in lieu of physically typing your query into a search bar. More than 1 billion voice searches occur each month globally, which is predicted to continue to grow. 

How should marketers adapt?

In response to the longer, question-based queries that voice assistants have introduced, search teams must modify their approach to keep pace with changing search behavior. Since 27% of voice searches take place on mobile devices, it’s critical that marketers either maintain the mobile-friendliness of their brand’s site or create a microsite that is optimized for mobile devices. A mobile-optimized site will create a more seamless search experience for users who start their quest for information using a voice assistant. It’s also important to develop a content strategy on your brand’s site based on keywords related to your product and/or service offerings in order to rank higher on search results pages. Quality content increases the likelihood of being the trusted source selected to answer a user’s voice question.

The gas station example also alludes to the fact that voice searches are used frequently in a local context. Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) teams need to collaborate together to develop a local search strategy to ensure your brand is at the fingertips of a user’s inquiries regarding surrounding businesses and services. If applicable to your brand, maintaining a local-friendly site as well, including store locations and hours of operation, will help place your brand at the forefront of a local-based search. 

Visual Search

Advances in technology have made visual search another avenue for information seekers. Google Lens, which launched in 2017, is the predominant platform leading the way for visual search. To visually search, a user can either upload an image directly from their camera roll or capture a new picture in the Google app, and Google will analyze the image to provide relevant image and content results. For example, if you come across a plant on your morning walk that you want to know more about, you can take a photo and Google will provide relevant search results, such as the plant’s name, care instructions, or a shopping ad of a local nursery where you can purchase said plant.

Google shared that people use Lens for 12 billion visual searches per month, which is a 4x increase in just two years. With this kind of YoY growth, visual search most certainly needs to be a consideration when planning a brand’s search strategy.

How should marketers adapt?

Visual search makes product images the hero of the ad, so it’s key for marketers to focus on creative. Maintain your brand’s product catalogs, ensuring all offerings are up-to-date and highlighted with high-quality imagery. For example, if you’re promoting travel coffee mugs, having all color options available in the product catalog will provide a seamless search experience. If a user visually searches for a pink mug, the product ad will provide a link to purchase the pink mug that best fits their interests.

It’s also imperative to understand which visuals drive your audience to make that all important click to navigate to your brand’s website. Creative A/B tests should be a core component of your search strategy in order to nimbly optimize toward the highest performing images.

Generative AI

Let’s not forget about the elephant in the room – Generative AI. AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have emerged as a supplementary search engine. Currently, ChatGPT generates responses for 10 million searches per day compared to Google at 8.5 billion searches. While Google firmly maintains first position in the search volume leaderboard, ChatGPT search volume continues to grow, and therefore, must be proactively accounted for.

How should marketers adapt?

Generative AI chatbots are creating a rise in colloquial, prompt-based search queries which will flow over into conventional search engines. As a result, marketers should deploy new long-tail keywords to keep pace with these new search queries. In addition, these longer phrases will require a marketer to distill intent and provide relevant, concise information within the ad or evergreen website content to help keep engagement high. 

Generative AI can also be utilized as a research tool to inform your brand’s content strategy. Monitoring chat bot inquiries can help you understand what consumers are frequently searching for before purchasing a product or selecting a service. As general themes are identified, create content that proactively answers those questions and update it regularly based on changing inquiries.

AI is igniting rapid changes in the search landscape. The key to navigating these uncharted waters will be understanding the impacts to search behavior and the changes in consumers needs and preferences. Maintaining a nimble, test-and-learn approach will help marketers find the secret sauce to their ever-evolving search strategy.

Do’s and Don’ts of Using Generative AI for Creative

Posted on by Savannah Westbrock

Few innovations have so thoroughly dominated cultural obsession quite like Generative AI. In the past year, hundreds of companies have emerged offering their take on what this technology can do — in the marketing world this is either an easy button for more sales or the end of the world as we know it, depending on who you ask. And while in the programmatic buying world working alongside a machine-learning copilot is nothing new, many branding teams are currently having to build their playbooks largely from scratch when it comes to using AI for creative. 

With this in mind, we’ve identified broad tips for experimenting with the latest tech without accidentally landing your brand in hot water.

Do: Use generative tools to more tangibly express loose ideas

For those of us who can’t even draw convincing stick figures, generative AI can assist in communicating the general ideas in our heads. They can be useful for quickly storyboarding concepts, giving examples of dynamic or sequential messaging during high-level conversations, and communicating the style type a brand would be looking for from its internal teams or creative partners. In this way, generative AI can be used similarly to temp scores in film editing: a temporary placeholder meant to communicate the general tone-and-feel of the scene to help guide composers’ original work. 

Don’t: Launch a campaign with images pulled directly from AI products

Though we may be amazed with tools like DALL-E or other art generators, using generated art for profit is a tricky legal gray area. The current consensus is that AI-generated work is public domain, but this is being actively challenged. As companies like Getty Images and DeviantArt have asserted in lawsuits, these AI tools have been trained on others’ intellectual property — therefore calling into question who AI-artwork really “belongs” to. A collective of artists frustrated by use of their copyrighted works as training materials are trying to bait Disney into a lawsuit by prompting tools into generating versions of Mickey Mouse. 

AI for creative

With these legal questions in mind, if you’re still eager to leverage AI for improved efficiency, consider the straightforward yet cost-effective offers from Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+, and TikTok SPC. While their templated style isn’t likely to “wow” an art director, the performance perks are worth testing while we wait for these tools to roll out additional creative personalization offerings and for regulations to be standardized.   

Do: Experiment with AI-driven efficiency in the creative process

While generative AI tools aren’t sophisticated enough to produce something original for your brand, they can ease the burden of the more repetitive or menial tasks like resizing or touch-ups. As Adobe beta users have already learned, Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature should also tremendously aid artists in the process of generating backgrounds, removing objects, or refreshing existing branded content into something that will work in different environments. Features like Generative Fill also carry less risk than free generative tools as they were trained on Adobe’s own Stock photos, resting the fears of their new branded content looking remarkably like a Pixar cartoon. 

Don’t: Frame use of generative AI as your “big idea”

Many brands were likely inspired by the earned media coverage of Mint Mobile’s Chat-GPT Ad, which heavily leaned into the novelty of generative AI and echoed the general public’s excitement at its potential. While it may seem odd to imply something from less than six months ago is already passé, media coverage has since shifted away from novelty and toward critique and the moment has truly passed. Brands grabbing attention now are the ones complementing generative AI’s output with a strong human voice, like Burger King’s tongue-in-cheek response to McDonald’s “Answered by Chat-GPT” creative. 

AI for creative

Do: Implement guidelines for generative AI usage

The adage of “with great power comes great responsibility” most certainly applies to Generative AI as it can do a great deal of harm if left to its own devices. Before rolling out AI tools in your organization, it’s critical to first establish what purpose AI will serve and how it will be utilized. The question is not what AI is able to do, but what AI should do to improve efficiencies in your organization. Once use cases are established, work internally to create a set of guidelines and policies on how to responsibly engage with AI tools so that they are used for the right reasons.  

Don’t: Allow generative AI to operate on autopilot

It’s important to keep in mind that the core function of Generative AI is to produce an output in response to a user’s query, even if the tool doesn’t have the necessary or accurate information to do so. Generative AI tools are largely trained by the data that users feed it, which can be problematic as some data inputs are inaccurate, outdated, or biased. ChatGPT, even after a January 2023 platform update aimed to improve accuracy, still only has accurate data available up until September 2021. Bias results from training data as well. Tidio, a customer service software company, conducted a series of experiments to test the level of bias in AI. They asked one AI tool, StableDiffusion, to generate pictures of a doctor, and it wasn’t until the third try that the tool eventually produced an image of a female doctor. As a result, it’s critical to do your due diligence and both fact check and gut check the output of your AI query to ensure that it does not support the spreading of misinformation or hurtful biases. Treat Generative AI as your co-pilot that works in tandem with human logic and reasoning when producing assets.

Generative AI presents many opportunities to streamline efficiency and spark ideas, but there is still much to unfold as the technology continues to be developed and regulated. The do’s and don’ts above aim to be a general guide to follow, but each organization should proactively discuss how to best experiment with this growing technology — there is a lot of uncertainty, but you don’t want to be left behind as new industry norms  develop. For now, using these tools to better define your big ideas, drive better communication across teams, and improve the efficiency of more monotonous tasks is a great place to start. 

This space is moving quickly, so keep a pulse on the latest rollouts to understand what tools are available for your consideration. 

To learn more about AI, listen to this episode of The Loop Marketing Podcast:

Google Analytics 4: The Transition is Here

Posted on by Jacob Amann

Get ready for the imminent sunset of Universal Analytics. Starting July 1st, Universal Analytics will no longer process data. To ensure a smooth transition, it’s crucial to deploy and test Google Analytics 4 tags in place of your existing website analytics infrastructure. We understand that this task can be overwhelming, especially if you’re unsure where to begin. That’s why we’ve created a comprehensive checklist to guide you through the entire process:

Learn About GA4

Start by familiarizing yourself with Google Analytics 4. While it shares some similarities with Universal Analytics, there are significant differences in the user interface, event tracking, and conversions, as well as the modification or removal of certain metrics.

Google Resources: 

Introducing GA4

UA vs GA4

Review Your Tag Strategy

While it is not necessary to make fundamental changes to what you are tracking on your website, it is a good time to consider if what you are tracking in the Universal Analytics setup allows you to make informed business decisions. If not, update your strategy to track important events on your website, with a focus on collecting lead data for future re-messaging opportunities.

Migrate Existing Tags

Once you’ve updated your tag strategy, it’s time to delve into Google Tag Manager (GTM). Google Analytics 4 requires a configuration tag that should fire across all your pages. If Google hasn’t already guided you through creating a new configuration tag, simply create a new tag that fires on all pages. This configuration tag will typically replace your Universal Analytics Page View tag.

Migrating your existing Universal Analytics events to Google Analytics 4 is relatively straightforward. Inside Google Tag Manager, you can reuse existing triggers, but you’ll need to update your tag type to a GA4 Event tag.

The key difference between events in Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 is the structure. In Universal Analytics all events had a Category, Action, Label, and Value. In Google Analytics 4, simply name your events and pass additional event parameters as key-value pairs. Your ‘Event Name’ should be descriptive enough to identify an event – leave the nuances to event parameters. For instance, if you had a tag in Universal Analytics that tracked blog post views, it would have likely looked like the following: 

  • Event Action: Blog Event
  • Event Category: Blog Post View
  • Event Label: dynamically populated the title of the blog post 

In Google Analytics 4 this could be simplified to the event name “blog_post_view” with an event parameter of name with a value equal to the title of the blog post.

Compare Data

After your new tags are deployed, you should compare the Google Analytics 4 data to Universal Analytics data or another reference data source. There can be issues during your new tag deployment or overlooked settings that may need to be re-examined. For example, if you were using session de-duplication of goals in Universal Analytics, you may need to instead adjust your Google Analytics 4 firing rules in GTM to prevent duplicates as this feature of Universal Analytics has sunset. Being aware of the nuances in your data is vital.

Educate Teams

Now that your new Google Analytics 4 property is up and running, it’s essential to educate key stakeholders and teams within your organization about the data available in GA4. By providing them with the necessary knowledge and insights, you empower them to make informed decisions and maximize the benefits of the new analytics platform. Here are some steps you can take to educate your teams:

Organize Training Sessions:

Conduct training sessions or workshops to introduce your teams to Google Analytics 4. Cover the basics of the platform, including navigation, key features, and reporting capabilities. Provide hands-on demonstrations to help them understand how to access and interpret the data.

Highlight Differences:

Emphasize the key differences between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4. Explain the changes in terminology, event tracking, and reporting structure. Help your teams grasp the nuances and limitations of GA4 compared to the previous version, ensuring they are aware of any adjustments needed in their analysis processes.

Showcase New Features:

Highlight the enhanced features and functionalities of Google Analytics 4 that can benefit different teams within your organization. For example, show marketers how to leverage the advanced audience segmentation and user journey analysis capabilities. Demonstrate to product teams how GA4 can provide insights into user behavior and help optimize the user experience. Tailor the training to the specific needs and interests of each team.

The Ultimate TikTok Advertising Strategy Guide

Posted on by Nicole Mackenzie

Interested in TikTok advertising campaigns? That’s no surprise to us. When you consider the massive influence it has on purchasing decisions and behaviors or the incredible time spent on the platform each day, most brands should at least consider having some presence on TikTok.

After reigning as the most downloaded app globally for multiple years, TikTok’s global ad revenue is expected to reach $15 billion in 2023, per a WARC Media report – despite the legal privacy battles and active bans taking place. 

So, What Type of Brands Should Advertise on TikTok?

Beauty, clothing, and food and beverage brands are natural fits for TikTok. Users are able to directly see these products in use, in real time. This reduces the risk of physically investing in and trying out a new product, and builds consumer excitement around new offerings. 

Other industries – from healthcare to travel to sports to finance and technology – can also thrive on TikTok. Why? Because short-form video allows the user to go on a journey. They can visually see travel destinations first hand, view highlights from a sporting event, or hear directly how a product or service changed someone’s life for the better. That can be very persuasive.

At Coegi, we’ve also seen unprecedented success with higher education brands using TikTok to reach college students. You can view one of our case studies here.

Ultimately, TikTok advertising should be considered for nearly every brand. But be sure to check platform guidelines and restrictions, especially for regulated industries and sensitive audience groups.

The 8 Most Important Elements for a Successful TikTok Advertising Strategy

TikTok advertising provides a unique opportunity to engage with potential customers in a highly authentic way. However, strategies that have proven successful on other social platforms won’t necessarily shine on TikTok. It’s important to understand how to adapt your approach to messaging and content to cater to the platform. 

Use these eight key elements to craft a successful TikTok advertising strategy:

#1 – Define your purpose for advertising on TikTok

Enter TikTok with a clear understanding of why your brand is there. 

  • Know what you want to tell consumers
  • Understand what they value and are interested in
  • Learn what kind of messaging they are receptive to 

Without these things in mind, your message may be miscommunicated or lost (the TikTok algorithm can be unforgiving). 

#2 – Partner with relevant creators to build trust

Creators are a priceless resource when it comes to reaching your audience authentically on TikTok. Also, contrary to popular belief, influencer marketing can also drive lower-funnel results, be accessible for all budgets, and be useful for any industry vertical. Micro and nano influencers are especially important on TikTok to boost your brand affinity within niche sub-cultures. 

Some of the core benefits of partnering with TikTok creators include: 

  • Finding engaged followers in specific interest groups
  • Extending organic reach 
  • Learning from their individual platform expertise and trend knowledge
  • Highlighting native-appearing content creation

Check out Coegi’s influencer marketing guide for tips on finding the best creator partners for your brand. 

#3 – Keep creative content casual

Nothing turns users away from a TikTok ad quicker than disruptive ads that feel out of place and display a blatant lack of understanding of trends. The brands driving positive engagement on TikTok are creating sponsored content that looks and feels organic. This is why, per Statista, “Almost 15% of TikTok users struggle to distinguish between advertising and other content.” 

Following these tips from TikTok on  creating authentic branded content: 

  • Go lo-fi (avoid glossiness)
  • Shoot vertical and hi-res
  • Feature real people 
  • Use sound
  • Use TikTok-specific editing techniques
  • Have a narrative
  • Adopt category and vertical norms

In summary, design creatives to seamlessly fit into the ‘For You’ page – don’t be afraid to embrace trends, use humor, or insert your brand into the latest trending sounds or challenges. 

#4 – Encourage audience participation to build community

Authentic community participation is mandatory on TikTok. Brands that only post ads and are not effectively engaging with their audience are missing out on a key benefit of the platform. 

TikTok actively promotes the use of user-generated content (UGC) for brand/creator collaborations. In 2023, they added the ‘Branded Mission’ crowdsourcing platform which enables brands to request UGC submissions from creators to then select and use for TikTok ad campaigns. 

Lean into community-building on TikTok by: 

  • Devoting time to stay in touch with the platform and observe patterns and trends
  • Crafting genuine, on-brand replies to user comments, even looking to these comments to inspire future content 
  • Being approachable as possible to establish a brand rapport 

#5 – Test and learn to refine your TikTok advertising strategy

Dive into TikTok Business Analytics to track which type of content performs best. This is especially useful when trying new tactics or A/B testing messaging to determine what works and what doesn’t. Play around with the style, format, and timing of posts to see which combinations gain the most engagement. 

You should also use audience analytics to understand who your content is reaching. TikTok’s targeting parameters are relatively broad, so this data can provide a better view of who is actually seeing and engaging with your brand. 

#6 – Find your TikTok niche

TikTok’s algorithm is an infamous and mysterious formula that serves content to a user based on their interests and previous engagements. If an individual likes, shares and comments on videos about parenting and gardening, for instance, they’ll continue to see content around those topics of interest. 

TikTok suggests, “Embrace communities and their subcultures—that’s where true inspiration lives. 76% of users say they like it when brands are a part of special interest groups on TikTok.” There are endless sub-cultures such as “book tok”, “mom tok” and “gym tok” which brands can tap into. 

tiktok advertising strategy
Source: Social Media Today

Tailor your content to the niche interests of your target audience, down to the captions, sounds and hashtags.

#7 – Optimize for TikTok search

The ability to find quick, useful information through video, paired with TikTok’s algorithmic power to keep users in-app creates, makes TikTok the perfect search engine for the next generation. 

“40% of Gen-Z uses TikTok as a visual search engine.”

Leaning into the social search trend, TikTok expanded the description field to 2,000 characters to allow more in-depth, keyword-rich content. They are also linking keywords from user comments to search results for greater relevance. 

To find relevant keywords and in-app trends, explore the TikTok Keyword Insights Tool. Then, optimize your video descriptions, brand page, and hashtags around key search terms and queries.

Source: TikTok Keyword Insights Tool

Lean into TikTok Shops

E-commerce is booming on TikTok (just look at the top keywords from the insights tool). The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend sold out countless products through over 21B video views. 92% of global users take action after watching a video on the platform. Plus, users are 1.5x more likely to immediately buy a product after discovering it on TikTok versus other platforms.  

Explore three of TikTok’s primary ecommerce capabilities: 

  • Product Showcase – Shop directly from a brand or creator account and get access to products within the app
    • Collection Ads: Create a carousel of product cards for your In-Feed Ads featuring your top items. When a user taps, they’ll be brought to a more expansive shopping gallery to browse.
    • Product Links: Make organic videos shoppable with a link driving users to a checkout page of the featured product.
  • Shoppable Videos  – Shop directly from a shoppable in-feed video by tapping the product link & basket icon
    • Dynamic Showcase Ads: Tap into your audience’s interests based on their TikTok activity with dynamically generated video ads.
  • Live Shopping: Show off products in real-time during a TikTok Live and highlight the path to purchase.

Time to Create Your TikTok Advertising Strategy

Successful TikTok advertising can mean different things to each brand. Whether the goal is increased engagement, social buzz, or sales, following these tips will help you move in the right direction. Embrace creativity and innovation to reach your audience in a way that makes a lasting positive impression on the fastest growing social platform. 

Lastly, keep in mind that TikTok is continuously evolving and creating new revenue building opportunities for creators and brands. So, it is vital to keep up with new developments and tools as they are released.  

Looking for a social media agency partner to help set up your next TikTok campaign? Contact Coegi today for a discovery call. 

Understanding Audio Advertising

Posted on by Savannah Westbrock

Audio advertising – through podcasts, streaming platforms, and various radio formats – is in vogue. It’s essentially the mom jeans of digital media. But this time, it’s less about catchy jingles and more about authentic, engaging content. 

Coegi is enthusiastically leaning into this space, adding new programmatic audio capabilities and publisher-direct relationships to our repository of digital solutions., We connected Coegi’s Director of Innovation, Savannah Westbrock, to answer some key questions about the latest trends and technologies within audio advertising. 

What are the primary benefits of audio advertising?

The biggest advantage I see with audio advertising is the ability to meaningfully reach engaged audiences anywhere. Consumers spend an astonishing one-third of their media time with audio content. Over 424M individuals tune into podcasts worldwide – that’s over 20% of all internet users! And with 85% of audio listening being done on mobile devices, it’s a great way to reach users on the go and feed into a mobile-first marketing strategy. 

Podcast advertising becomes increasingly relevant for brands aiming to reach Gen Z. A 2023 report found that Gen Z listens to podcasts nearly as much as they watch streaming TV. Yet, audio advertising is still a largely untapped white space in the market for many brands. 

No matter your industry, marketing goals, or budget, explore how your brand can leverage the influencer status of podcasters to gain brand awareness and build authentic audience connections. Even if you are opting for programmatic audio, aligning your branded content with contextually relevant and interactive audio advertising content will increase authority and brand affinity. 

How has the world of audio advertising changed over the last 5 years? Did the pandemic impact audiences’ listening behaviors?

Despite expectations that audio would decline with the rise of hybrid office work and fewer commutes, time spent with audio during the lockdown stage of the pandemic seems to have grown at-home streaming audio listenership to levels not seen previously. 

In 2021, at-home audio streaming grew to surpass 90 minutes per day, with expectations to continue rising. Podcasts have been a major factor driving this growth, which could be related to the increase in individuals creating new podcasts from home.  

Podcasts are a unique audio advertising opportunity. How can brands do podcast advertising “right?”

This advice is going to be true of all media, but especially with podcasts: know your audience. Heavy podcast listeners usually have tight bonds with their favorites, especially those who subscribe to support their favorite creators. Ensure your audience matches the show, and then ensure the inventory itself is a strong fit for your strategy. 

What is the value of doing host-read audio advertising versus dynamic ad insertions (DAI)? Are there noticeable differences in use-case or performance expectations?

Host-read podcast ads have been the mainstay for many years due to historically limited programmatic audio ad formats as well as the benefits of a more organic ad experience. Programmatically inserting audio ads may turn listeners off of your brand if they feel irrelevant and disruptive. 

Collaborating with creators may be a better choice if your product or service has a very specific audience. In this case, the process will work much like influencer marketing. (For a full step-by-step process, view our Influencer Marketing Guide.)

However, if your product has broad enough audience appeal that the content of the show itself is less of a strategic concern, dynamic ad insertion remains a doable tactic. With programmatic audio and DAI, you also gain greater flexibility. You can swap out outdated ads with new ones, versus host-read ads which live in the podcast archives forever. Take timeliness into consideration as you weigh the pros and cons of these options. 

In what ways are host-read podcast ads similar to or different from influencer marketing?

The relationship between podcast marketing and influencer marketing is quickly becoming a squares-and-rectangles situation. Generally speaking, you can expect a strong recommendation from a podcaster to carry a perception of greater authenticity for your brand. 

The core difference is the content itself. With influencers, influencing purchases is the content, whereas podcasts cover every topic under the sun. A relevant recommendation from a trusted host is more akin to a testimonial than an influencer’s #sponsored post. 

How do you measure the impact of audio advertising?

Depending on your strategy, measurement will look very different. Programmatically-bought audio spots allow for most standard digital metrics like clicks (via companion banners) and inferred view-through conversions. 

But increasingly, strategists are viewing podcasts as a similar opportunity to influencer marketing. With this approach, pairing awareness KPIs, such as reach and lift, with referral codes or unique landing pages can be a stronger play.

For more benefits and tips, check out our 3 Reasons to Use Podcast Advertising blog. 

If you’re interested in running audio advertising campaigns with Coegi, contact us for a discovery call. 

Paid Search Strategy: Fundamentals Before AI

Posted on by Bill Dehlendorf

In 2023, paid search strategy conversations are being peppered with never-ending buzz around GPT and advanced automation. With the possibility of Google losing its lion’s share of the search market, along with rapid tech evolution taking center stage and reshaping SERPs, search marketers need to be diving in to understand and apply these trends headfirst. 

Right?

Well…yes and no. Being at the forefront of digital transformation is a must. However, this cannot be at the expense of abandoning tried and true best practices. 

We must embrace AI and emerging technology, while maintaining fundamental marketing tactics, in order to create a sophisticated, yet flexible paid search strategy that supports the business goals.

The Value of Going Back to Basics

Truth: AI algorithms will drive efficiency and conversions for your goals.

False: AI algorithm will drive the RIGHT efficiencies and conversions for your goals. 

If your efficiency is producing lower cost per clicks but lower quality website traffic, it’s no longer efficiency at all. Without proper inputs and guardrails, AI can begin optimizing to a keyword that is not driving results or the wrong conversion metric for your key business objective. This is why I encourage all performance media practitioners to be cautious about over relying on automation in your paid search strategy. 

So before you begin exploring the latest tech advances, make sure you master the three key fundamentals of paid search advertising:

  1. Measurement
  2. Research
  3. Optimization 

Paid Search Advertising Fundamentals

#1 – Measurement: What’s Working and Why?

Testing new paid search strategies and ad formats is all well and good, but those tests need to be strategically set up and measured to ensure they are feeding into your broader marketing strategy and business goals. Identify the leading indicators of success for your search campaign using both front-end and back-end tracking.  

The prevalence of zero-click search makes tracking front-end metrics more complicated, but also more important than ever. Find creative ways to monitor if your content is adding value and optimized to show up in featured snippets or other rich results? Complementing paid search efforts with organic SEO is key to success here. 

On the back-end, look at meaningful signals, such as time on site, path to purchase, and exposure-to-conversion frequency requirements. These insights will help you improve campaign effectiveness and refine the customer journey. 

Lastly, use search volume tools and in-platform forecasting to identify the budget required to reach your share of voice, impression and reach targets. 

Client Application: We consulted a large swimwear brand on their search strategy. With a list of over 46K target keywords, they faced a nearly impossible task to understand share of voice and make smart optimizations. We made these recommendations to streamline their search strategy: 

  • Consolidate spend to hours when people are most likely to be searching for swimwear
  • Group themed keywords together to better understand intentionality and select the best keyword + ad option to serve 
  • Create larger ad groups to allow machine-learning to learn faster and deliver better performance 

#2 – Research: Aligning the brand and the user

Now, with a strong foundation of measurement beneath our feet, we can craft a sound strategy by knowing the business inside and out. 

First, analyze the brand’s position in the marketplace. 

  • How much share of voice do you have for branded vs non-branded terms? 
  • How intensely is the competition spending in your core markets? 
  • What pricing/brand power exists for the category? 

Tip: If you already own the category, don’t waste money by overinvesting in branded search. 

Second, evaluate opportunities and highlight the unique value proposition for the brand’s products or services. Keyword research, competitive analysis and audience understanding should all play a role in the search ad copy and creative content. 

Tip: Incorporate your audience’s language in your search copy – use their lingo, not your own.

Third, support conversion-based ads with more educational content. Highlight thought leadership articles, how-to videos, landing pages and downloadables to prime your audience. Even within the shortened conversion window of performance media, relevant, high-authority content can play a large role in the user decision-making process (and your SERP ranking). 

Tip: Create your organic and paid search strategy in tandem to make this process seamless.

#3 – Optimization: Fueling the improvement loop

Searching for a surefire way to continually improve your paid search strategy? Look no further than an iterative test and lean process. There are numerous things you can test, just be sure to manipulate one variable at a time so you can understand which actions are impacting your outcomes. 

Here are a few common things we regularly test in our paid search strategies: 

  • Broad vs exact vs phrase match keyword targeting (in-market audiences vs new users) 
  • Google vs Bing
  • Various audience groups and layered targeting
  • Ad group and keyword variations 
  • Copy and creative pairings using dynamic ad insertion

Start by testing the most basic elements of your campaign. Make sure you’ve established statistical relevance, then adjust and refine as you go. This will establish a sound SEO taxonomy to expand upon. 

Timing also comes into play with paid search optimization. Consider the following tactics to stretch your search budget: 

  • Dayparting: Create a time window to run paid search campaigns based on when users are most likely to be searching. For example, your local Starbucks may only run search ads in the morning. Google Ad Scheduling offers insights into peak search hours. 
  • Day of Week: Select particular days to serve search ads based on audience behavior.  For instance, B2B brands commonly only run search on weekdays. 
  • Seasonality: If your business is impacted by seasons, holidays or major events, ebb and flow your budget accordingly to maximize efficiency. Read how Coegi leveraged seasonal search to drive year-end giving for a cryptocurrency brand. 

Next Steps: Amplify Your Performance With Technology

Technological advances will only continue to enhance the discovery experience. Creating a fundamentally sound search strategy with flexible options will allow for opportunities to scale and take advantage of these newer search trends and capabilities. 

Remember: AI won’t work for you unless you set it up for success with the right fundamentals of measurement (to the conversions that matter), research, and data-driven optimizations. 

For more best practices view our Paid Search 101 article.

Breaking Down The Barriers Between B2B and B2C Marketing

Posted on by Stephanie Dwyer

Bringing Humanity to the Core of Your Marketing Strategy

Digital transformation has definitively blurred the lines differentiating the traditionally siloed B2B and B2C marketing practices. It doesn’t matter if you’re purchasing products or services, for a business or as consumers — we’re all human.  By focusing our attention on what matters most, the people, it becomes clear that the concerns we have aren’t unique to B2B or B2C marketing; they’re mutually shared. 

Understanding that these two worlds converge allows marketers to identify and evaluate emerging technologies and trends from a lens of humanity, creating space to innovate and avoid false limitations of what qualifies as a B2B marketing strategy and what is more “appropriate” for B2C. 

Deloitte’s 2023 Global Marketing Trends Report offers a perfect roadmap to reframe our mindset and humanize B2B marketing.

  1. Answering economic instability with marketing investments
  2. Driving growth through internal sustainability efforts
  3. Using creativity as a force for growth
  4. Adopting rising marketing technologies 

Here’s how marketers can apply these four trends to create a human-to-human (H2H) strategy and bridge the gap between B2B and B2C marketing.  

Weathering Economic Uncertainty With H2H Marketing

We’re faced with the challenge of trying to plan without fully knowing what lies ahead amidst uncertain economic times. Value becomes more important than ever when times are tough. We need to find new ways to add or communicate value and meet human needs through personalized experiences. This is where smart use of data becomes your secret weapon, and is actually expected by three-quarters of consumers, according to McKinsey.

“Data will lead us to the points of contact with advertising [that] are increasingly personalized and more relevant” In other words, how can we make each touchpoint in an omnichannel marketing ecosystem feel authentic and personal? Once we pinpoint what drives the biggest impact and makes people feel valued, we can tailor solutions based on those preferences. Put this into practice by strategically investing in conversational marketing. While customers appreciate personal, human interaction, they don’t want to give up the convenience of automation. We can offer the best of both worlds by pairing a human-centric strategy with innovative technologies like targeted marketing, live chat and AI.

Trust, Sustainability and a Human-Centric Culture

In the wake of 2020, B2B and B2C marketers alike were faced with some of the most disruptive crises in recent history. Fast forward to 2023, and “trust, values, and integrity are at the forefront of what customers expect from businesses they shop with. Customers expect brands to demonstrate rich and solid values in 2023, prioritizing ethical, social, and environmental responsibilities.” 

Marketing leaders from both disciplines have a lot more riding on their shoulders with 88% of consumers awarding trust as their top value during times of change. And out of that pool, 78% of their purchasing decisions are influenced by businesses’ environmental practices. It’s no longer simply about growing revenue; it’s about growing your business responsibly. Having a true Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policy in place can not be an afterthought or a nice-to-have. It is pivotal for long-term growth.

Deloitte highlights three core strategies to build intentional ESG marketing practices:  

  • Implementing more sustainable internal marketing practices 
  • Making long-term commitments towards reducing the carbon footprint, and
  • Promoting more sustainable product and service offerings

The best way to take this on is to utilize one of the core tenets of the H2H approach: self-awareness. Taking the time to measure and evaluate your sustainability practices requires effort and forces you to take an honest look at your business practices as it relates to carbon output.   

Here are some great examples of eco-friendly practices that support this human-centric approach:

Driving future growth is dependent on a commitment to  sustainability— or at least, that’s what 55% of marketers are saying. Making a commitment to ESG programs opens the door for brands to mend broken relationships, form new connections, and nurture trust across audiences – both B2B and B2C. 

Creativity is the Main Character in Brands’ Growth Paths

49% of marketers believe the ability to integrate sophisticated analytical capabilities into marketing strategies is critical for long-term success. However, marketers must act on their analysis in a human way to maximize impact. 

Cristian Cabello, CMO of Derco, illustrated that ideology by saying, “Brands should blend data with human-centered methodologies to create a more complete picture of the customer, prevent mistakes an algorithm can’t always understand, and cultivate connections with the customer.” In other words, data is simply data if you fail to tell an emotionally compelling story with it. 

Research shows that people want to hear stories from brands and over half are more likely to buy products from brands whose stories they love. Messages built around a personal story are:

  • More memorable and easier to process 
  • Break away from corporate language and technical jargon 
  • Enable honesty and transparency with engaging analogies
  • Use authenticity to knock down barriers

As professional storytellers, B2B marketers should make content relatable and personable to build deeper connections with prospects and stakeholders. Consider using channels from the B2C playbook, like influencer marketing. Lean into this era of co-creation and explore new partnerships and platforms that will generate a stronger brand community. 

Adopting Rising Technologies with a Human Touch

We can’t help but pay attention to industry chatter around emerging trends and technologies. But, over-investing in something unproven can be unwise. Finding the balance between the hype and worthwhile investments could mean the difference between creating a competitive advantage or falling behind.

In the coming year, B2B marketers should consider:

  1. Taking advantage of AR/VR for experiential B2B marketing interactions: This strategy allows for data-driven decisioning and delivers on the growing expectations for more personalized and engaging consumer experiences. For example, Nestlé Purina Petcare has implemented 3D VR technology to assist retail partners with better in-store merchandising.
  2. Exploring the metaverse’s role in the customer experience: Data shows that those who fail to create a strategy to join the metaverse may lose the opportunity to become a leader in the space. 17% of US marketers are active participants, whereas 40% are laying the groundwork to expand engagement and experiences in the metaverse.
  3. Using blockchain technology to strengthen data privacy: Blockchain offers new possibilities to bolster privacy and give control back to consumers. For example, in the healthcare sector, blockchain technology can store, share and utilize data to communicate with patients without sharing data with a third party.

Customer expectations are shifting, and with them, the distinction between B2B and B2C marketing is collapsing. Taking this in stride by prioritizing a holistic human-to-human approach is a future-proof way to respond to the perpetual disruptions caused by digital transformation and technology. We can stop over-complicating things and opt to simplify our approach by bringing it back to what matters most: we’re all human. 

4 Steps to Scale Your Multiunit Enterprise Marketing Strategy in 2023

Posted on by Sean Cotton

Brand marketing advice is often over-simplified – directed towards growing one brand, one product or one service. Multiunit enterprise marketing requires more complex, yet streamlined, solutions to effectively scale and drive sustainable growth. 

Take a large pharmaceutical company, for example. They typically have multiple business units, each overseeing multiple brands. Not only that, but they often need to reach and persuade multiple audiences – healthcare providers, patients, key opinion leaders, sales reps, procurement managers and caregivers. Essentially, they’re having to consider everything, everywhere, all at once. 

Without an integrated marketing and measurement strategy to tie it all together, chaos may be the only thing to scale. 

The Solution: Plan an overarching brand ecosystem alongside business line campaigns

Building a holistic ecosystem is the foundational structure needed to establish a flexible multiunit marketing strategy. It creates cohesive messaging and creative alignment, appropriate governance for audience targeting, and allows business lines to cross-share learnings that break down silos and level up organizational goals.

How do you accomplish this balancing act? 

  • Set cascading goals for each business unit to establish unified commitment
  • Create sub-ecosystems surrounding each core audience for authentic engagement
  • Optimize the user experience, paying close attention to the B2B2C relationship (if relevant)
  • Build a unified measurement framework to clearly articulate KPIs and desired business outcomes

Let’s break down these four key components for scaling multiunit enterprise marketing in more detail. 

#1 – Plan holistically using cascading goals for each business unit

Each business line has a unique agenda. This is inevitable. But, when you plan overarching and business line campaigns simultaneously, you can feed each agenda into a cohesive brand strategy. This upfront rigor in strategic planning will allow long-term flexibility. 

Start by establishing clear roles and responsibilities to delineate how each business unit contributes to the primary business and marketing objectives. We’ve found the best way to accomplish this is by using the cascading pyramid method of goal setting. 

Cascading goals are “first established at the highest level of the organization. Then, supporting goals are created for every department and team.” Those supporting goals are broken down into KPIs and then specific tasks or initiatives, getting more granular as you move towards the bottom of the pyramid.

Cascading Goal Pyramid

From a media planning perspective, you can assign each business unit unique OKRs and KPIs that contribute to topline goals. This is particularly important to account for the element of real-time spend optimization. When you align on KPIs early in planning, you can select channels with both business objectives and AI-driven optimization in mind. 

Client Example: Coegi works with a regional bank client with multiple business units: consumer banking, commercial banking and home equity. We have a unique audience-targeting strategy for each line of business using behavior-based indicators to ensure we’re reaching a qualified audience. However, every unit shares one core goal: growing new customers. As such, all media KPIs ladder up to that goal and drive the business in a cohesive and clear direction. 

#2 – Create ecosystems surrounding each core audience group

Take an audience-centric approach to media planning by using data and research to gain a deep understanding of core audience behaviors and values. This foundation will inform media and messaging decisions that reduce wasted impressions and build more authentic relationships.  

Apply this knowledge to build and nurture a marketing ecosystem surrounding each unit’s unique audience(s). For example, Coegi worked with BODYARMOR to expand and differentiate the brand in the crowded sports drink marketplace. They were looking to identify and reach new audiences for three distinct product lines: BODYARMOR Original, Lyte (sugar-free) and Edge (caffeinated). 

We created microtargeted audiences for each line, including: Blue Collar Workers, Grocery Gatekeepers, Veterans, Teenage Athletes and Health-Focused Adults. For each audience, we built a custom media plan and recommended messaging strategy – creating an ecosystem of organic touchpoints in their day-to-day lives. Read the full BODYARMOR case study here for more details. 

#3 – Optimize the B2B2C experience

Oftentimes, multiunit enterprises need to reach both professional and consumer audiences – requiring marketers to take a B2B2C approach. These brands need a marketing strategy that facilitates a conversation between the business and the end consumer, meeting them where they are in their level of awareness and knowledge. 

The business customer typically requires more brand-building content. Focus on ways to drive brand recall, establish a unique value proposition (UVP), and communicate benefits to their lives. VP of Marketing at Notion, Kate Rojas, quotes, “In a true B2B2C business model, your partners must be viewed as a true business partner and not just a channel to sell more products…” 

In the spirit of partnership, create a mutually beneficial system. For instance, if you are a financial brand communicating with advisors, sell them the offering that provides the quickest conversion or highest value reward. Then, use that inertia to help them cross-sell using your entire portfolio. This will benefit their bottomline while helping you establish loyal consumers who are invested in multiple offerings. 

Consumers, on the other hand, typically require more basic education about the category itself and the value it offers. This is especially true for more complex and regulated industries, such as finance, IT and healthcare. 

Client Example: Coegi uses a B2B2C content marketing strategy focused on driving brand awareness for our client, Athene, a leading retirement services company. Their end customers often need general education on the importance of retirement annuities. Financial advisors need more technical content about the brand’s benefits. Knowing this, we tailor content to their unique needs within one intertwined strategy so that the B2B and B2C units work together in support of the brand’s goal.

#4 – Build a comprehensive, cross-unit measurement framework

Even with unique campaigns by brand, product, or division, it’s critical to share and apply key takeaways. Insight sharing across units helps avoid a siloed view and allows the business as a whole to optimize more efficiently. 

This is also imperative for flexible budget allocation. When all units are part of an integrated strategy, budget can be allocated to the strongest performing lines, as determined by a test-and-learn approach. 

For specifics on how to create a unified measurement framework, view our 5 Step Guide to Measuring Marketing ROI. 

Read our Measurement Guide here

Create Your Multiunit Enterprise Marketing Strategy

An HBR article states, “multiunit organizations must ensure some degree of customization even as they pursue standardization. They must respond to the distinctive features of local and regional markets to achieve the best results.” 

So, while a nuanced approach for each unit, market, or even location is necessary, brands need to maintain some level of standardization for efficiency and scalability. By planning business line campaigns within this holistic strategic framework, you can ensure appropriate top-line budget allocation for each effort and avoid evaluating any one line in a vacuum.

5 Essential Influencer Marketing Tips

Posted on by Coegi

It’s hard to overestimate the power of a strong influencer endorsement. Trusted creators are powerhouses for building brand equity in a non-invasive way. 

They make word of mouth marketing scalable and efficient, when done well. However, many brands fail to reap the full benefits creators can offer. 

Why? 

  • Influencer marketing is often siloed or disjointed from overall business objectives and media strategy. 
  • Content performance can be difficult to quantitatively measure. 
  • And, with seemingly unlimited choices, it can be hard to identify the best influencers for your brand. 

But with the right building blocks,you can overcome these challenges. Here are our top five influencer marketing tips we apply to maximize our clients’ investments at  Coegi.

5 Essential Influencer Marketing Tips

1. Align influencer selection with business goals

First, define the business objective. What are you hoping to achieve with influencer marketing? Do you want to generate mass reach? Build market share within a specific niche? Or, are conversions, sales or leads the desired outcome?

After defining the goals, you can determine the mix of creators necessary to achieve those objectives: 

  • Mega influencers (1M+ followers): Ideal for driving mass awareness through celebrities or other large personalities. 
  • Macro Influencers (<1M followers): Reach engaged followerships in a more authentic way than mega.
  • Micro influencers (<50K followers): Ideal for driving consideration and conversions from more curated, but scalable, audiences. 
  • Nano influencers (<10K followers): Ideal for building brand community through long-term partnerships and driving action within niche interest segments.

Remember – bigger following does not always equal better results. Higher follower counts and millions of impressions comes a higher price tag and a less precise audience. Timing is another consideration, as larger-scale creators often have longer lead times due to heavier editorial calendars. 

Learn more on how to choose the best influencers for your brand from one of Coegi’s account supervisors and influencer marketing connoisseur, Natalie Carson:

How to Choose the Best Influencer for Your Brand

2. Find influencers that resonate with your brand style

Selecting the right size of creator for your goals and budget is important. But, finding the perfect creator match goes beyond surface-level numbers. 

  • Does your brand tone match the influencer’s personal brand voice? 
  • Is your product or service offering aligned with their follower interests? 
  • Does their content style and visual aesthetic complement your brand image? 

Finding creators that already fit your general brand standards will make the partnership process more streamlined and the content creation more genuine. 

But the real magic happens when a creator becomes an ambassador who truly knows and advocates for your brand over months or even years. You can nurture these relationships through evergreen discount codes and affiliate links, which will incentivize the creator while helping you track actions taken by their followers. 

3. Prioritize creators with strong follower communities

Users are becoming more perceptive to blatant advertising and ingenuine messaging. Take stock of how strong the creator’s rapport is with their followers. Do they truly influence their audience? This is especially important when attempting to reach Gen-Z consumers, who are hyper aware of sponsored content. 

Smaller creators tend to drive higher conversion rates due to having greater trust and engagement with their followers. Regardless of size, creators that organically align with your brand and are true advocates (ie. they actually use your product!) will be much more likely to influence purchase decisions.  

Lastly, be sure to thoroughly vet creators and avoid those with significant amounts of bot traffic or paid-for followers. These can inflate engagement and follower numbers but are useless for building your brand. 

4. Don’t treat influencer marketing as an “add on” to your media strategy

Influencer should be woven into a holistic marketing strategy, not treated as a separate tactic or handled by a random third-party. Consolidating your paid media and influencer marketing within one digital media agency offers three core benefits:

  • Measurement and Accountability – By integrating influencer with digital media, you can measure influencer campaign success using the same performance lens as other channels. 
  • Cross-Channel Budget Fluidity –  Centralization empowers marketers to move budget with agility where performance indicates – whether across channels or within creative rotations. For instance, through smart contract negotiation, a viral influencer post can be turned into a paid campaign from the creator’s handle or amplified by the brand. 
  • Seamless Audience Targeting – Media agencies can upload first-party data segments used across other channels to understand which influencers your audience already engages with and synchronize targeting to reduce media waste. 

Sharing cross-channel learnings and insights will make the overall media ecosystem stronger and allow for a more holistic, data-driven approach. 

5. Let your creators create

Good creators are storytellers and social media experts. They have their thumb on the pulse of social media trends. They understand the algorithms. And they know how to communicate with their audiences. 

90% of consumers view micro influencers as credible, believable & knowledgeable. 

Empower these partners to have an authentic voice when speaking on behalf of your brand – not a scripted actor. We’ve all sat through cringeworthy scripted ad reads on YouTube and raised eyebrows at ill-fitting product endorsements on Instagram or TikTok. And I’m betting you didn’t end up using those particular affiliate codes. 

You will see stronger results if you allow creators to communicate with their followers in a way that comes naturally. Simply let them create content, not ads. You can’t build brand authenticity without allowing your creators to be authentic with their audiences. 

View our Practitioner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing for more tips plus a step-by-step process on how to launch an effective influencer marketing strategy. 

The Practitioner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing
Coegi Partners

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