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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.

Social Commerce & The Future of Social Shopping

Posted on by Coegi

The big picture: The concept of social commerce took root during the early days of eCommerce. But it was the mobile revolution, plus the meteoric rise of social media titans like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, that enabled this approach to truly disrupt digital shopping.  

Social commerce focuses on convenience and relationship-building, tapping into unplanned discovery moments as consumers scroll through inspirational content. Watching real people interact with products helps shoppers understand and visualize them better, building confidence around online purchases.

For marketers, this shift toward social platforms reflects new expectations set by Gen Z and millennial shoppers who increasingly make purchases directly via social apps. It is an opportunity to maximize reach and nurture lasting brand relationships by organically integrating into the customer journey. Platforms now orchestrate a seamless, trust-based shopping experience where inspiration can instantly lead to purchase.

Why it matters: Despite expectations that eCommerce will surpass 8 trillion dollars by 2027, consumers are becoming increasingly wary of how much of their personal data they share with online marketplaces and brands. Marketers may accidentally push these hesitant consumers further away by pushing hard-sell messaging to audiences who are still considering their product. These tactics are the online equivalent of the over-eager salesperson peppering you with corporate scripts about deals and asking you to open a store credit card when all you were looking to do was casually browse. They’re annoying. 

But casual browsing presents an excellent opportunity for brands to humanize their eCommerce messaging. This shift toward Social Commerce allows for the ease of purchase and speed of online shopping while giving consumers the chance to window shop again. 

How it works: The goal is to remove friction when interest strikes while also organically introducing additional products based on what originally caught their eye.

  • For example, when a consumer admires a product shown by an influencer they trust, social commerce allows them to seamlessly find that item or brand’s storefront to browse and buy. They will be able to find those glasses and discover a range of other items, enhancing their shopping experience. 

Done well, the experience guides consumers through an intuitive path to purchase via content they already enjoy. This allows brands to inspire consideration and visibility of products in authentic contexts rather than disruptive ads. Social commerce puts the shopper first – their organic journey dictates the path, not predetermined funnels.

How to start:

  • Ensure your brand has ‘virtual storefronts’ across online marketplaces and social media platforms, keeping in mind that the virtual aesthetic is just as important as physical store décor. 
  • Create natively social, shoppable content and tap influencers who have an authentic tie to your brand. Small influencers are essential: the recommendations of these content creators drive 86% of purchases — just as strong as recommendations from a trusted real-life friend. 
  • Explore how to repurpose authentic user-generated content (UGC) in your marketing materials. The goal is to facilitate organic community engagement and discovery around your brand versus hard-selling. 

The bottom line: The future of brand loyalty lies in shoppable communities, where shared values and experiences fuel organic amplification. Social content creates better browsing experiences, allowing consumers to discover items at their own pace before being hit with hard-sell messaging. Social Commerce provides an authentic, engaging discovery experience — adding the human touch back to your eComm strategies.

Say No to Lazy Data – How Everyone Can Be Part of the Solution

Posted on by Jacob Amann

What is Lazy Data?

Picture this: a chaotic jumble of inconsistent formats, messy categories, and a general disregard for order. Lazy data isn’t just data that prefers lounging on the couch to hitting the gym; it’s the unruly teenager of your business – wild, rebellious, and refuses to conform to a standard.

This laid-back attitude is the root of the problem – a lack of discipline that prevents your data from realizing its full potential. Lazy data isn’t a solitary problem; it triggers a domino effect. One inconsistent entry leads to confusion in reporting, which, in turn, affects decision-making.

Why Did Data Get Lazy?

In the early days of digital marketing, the ease of connecting systems with just a click led to a somewhat chaotic scenario. Imagine the digital landscape as the Wild West, with data flowing freely and connecting without much oversight. While convenient, this Wild West approach allowed lazy data to thrive, as there were minimal checks and balances. The ability to effortlessly connect systems created a false sense of accuracy, like linking two puzzle pieces together without ensuring they fit. 

Inconsistent data entry, neglecting updates, and failing to recognize the importance of standardized schemas have allowed lazy data to infiltrate our systems. The result? Confusion, inefficiency, and missed opportunities.

As privacy regulations tightened, especially in the wake of concerns surrounding user data, businesses realized they could no longer afford a laissez-faire attitude. The emergence of data clean rooms and the imperative for strict naming convention compliance, essential for enabling tools like marketing mix modeling, forced a reckoning. Lazy data, accustomed to a more carefree existence, suddenly found itself in an environment that demanded structure and order.

While the concept of standardized schemas might initially seem bureaucratic, they are, in fact, the essential foundation for ensuring data usability. Consider it as akin to a musical performance without a conductor; in such a scenario, each instrument plays its own tune, leading to dissonance.

How to Solve  

Data should not be viewed as isolated islands or individual pieces. Instead, envision your organization as a harmonious orchestra led by a master conductor. This fresh perspective brings forth a unified approach, ensuring that every fragment of data performs its role seamlessly.

View Your Business as a System: Don’t think of your business data in silos or individual platforms. Instead, adopt a holistic approach, viewing your organization as an interconnected system – an orchestra led by a master conductor. This perspective helps in creating a seamless flow of information and makes sure that every piece of data plays its part.

Embrace the Standard: Establish a standard data schema across your business. Think of it as giving your data a set of rules to live by – no more rebels without a cause – every piece of data should know its role and play it well.

Audit to Insure: Regular audits are the insurance policy for your data’s health. Ensure that the established standards are being followed and identify any areas that might need a little extra TLC. An audit is like a health checkup for your data – catch potential issues before they become major problems.

Mastering the Cookieless Future: Leverage Retail Data for Unmatched Customer Engagement

Posted on by Coegi

In the cookieless marketing era, the decline of third-party cookies opens new doors for marketers to leverage retail data, transforming marketing with personalized, engagement-driven messaging. This shift to analyzing customer behaviors and preferences via retail data not only enhances campaign effectiveness and loyalty but also fuels predictive analytics for strategic planning in product development and inventory. As traditional reliance on third-party cookies becomes obsolete, retail data stands out as a vital tool for building deeper customer relationships and driving business success

First-party retail data guides the way for gaining strong insights into customer behaviors and preferences, which are vital for enhancing personalization and developing tailored loyalty programs. Its use breaks through the limitations of traditional marketing, allowing businesses to understand customer segments more profoundly and anticipate future trends. This level of insight is critical for crafting effective, personalized marketing strategies, shifting the focus from mere transactional interactions to building lasting, data-driven customer relationships. In a cookieless future, leveraging retail data is key to staying ahead in areas like product development and inventory management, ensuring that brands not only adapt but thrive in the new marketing landscape.

The strategic utilization of retail data is crucial, going beyond merely recognizing its value. This is supported by a national survey from The Trade Desk Intelligence, which shows 91% of U.S. advertisers plan to maintain or increase their investment in retail data, to drive overall business success.

Unlocking the Power of Retail Data: How Enhanced Insights Lead to Personalized Marketing Triumphs

In today’s marketing world, retail data is crucial for creating highly personalized campaigns that truly understand customer desires and behaviors. It involves deep analysis of various data points, from purchasing habits to browsing patterns, offering a comprehensive view of customer preferences and behaviors.

This depth of insight allows for more than just tailored marketing messages; it enables behavioral and interest targeting. Marketers can segment audiences based on their actions, such as frequent purchases of a particular product category or regular browsing of certain content. Similarly, interest targeting becomes more refined through analyzing data points like search queries, product views, and content interactions. This approach ensures that marketing efforts are not just personalized but also highly relevant to each customer’s unique interests and behaviors, leading to more effective campaigns and a stronger connection with the audience.

This approach results in marketing that feels more like a personalized conversation than a generic broadcast. This tailored strategy leads to higher engagement and conversion rates, as customers encounter content that aligns closely with their individual experiences and needs, striking a chord that transcends mere attention-grabbing. This marks a fundamental shift in how marketers connect with their audience, paving the way for campaigns that are deeply personal and rooted in a thorough understanding of customer behavior.

Forecasting the Future: How Enhanced Predictive Analytics Shape Strategic Marketing and Decision-Making

Armed with a wealth of data like historical purchases and customer interactions, marketers are not just looking at what’s happening now. The spotlight is now on retail data, especially when it comes to predictive analytics. They’re using this data to power models that predict what customers might want next. It gives marketers a peek into future consumer trends and behaviors based on solid, data-driven insights from the past.

Marketers build predictive models on the concrete foundation of past customer data to anticipate shifts in consumer preferences and market dynamics. It’s about staying one step ahead in the game. Whether it’s product development or inventory management, predictive analytics provide invaluable foresight. Marketers can now predict emerging customer needs, ensuring that new products hit the mark and inventory levels are just right – no more guessing games.

Personalized marketing, empowered by predictive analytics, revolutionizes marketing by tailoring efforts to future customer needs, enhancing relevance and engagement. This strategy not only improves marketing effectiveness but also bolsters customer loyalty and guides SEO content strategies to align with future trends. Essentially, leveraging predictive analytics with first-party data equips marketers to create more impactful, forward-looking marketing strategies.

Data-Driven Bonds: Transforming Retail Data into Lasting Customer Loyalty and Trust

Retail data is driving the creation of deeper, more impactful customer relationships. ‘Data-Driven Bonds’ represents a strategic revolution, where retail data is not just supportive but central to forging enduring loyalty and trust with customers.

At the heart of this strategy is enhancing customer experiences through the insights gathered from first-party data, ranging from purchase history to direct feedback. This approach is more than just habit tracking; it’s a deep understanding of individual customer preferences, thereby establishing a foundation of trust and strengthening brand loyalty.

The strategy goes beyond traditional, one-size-fits-all loyalty programs to personalized experiences aligned with each customer’s unique needs. This personalization elevates loyalty programs from transactional tools to key components of the customer journey, enhancing repeat business and fostering long-term loyalty.

Embracing the Future: Navigating the Cookieless Landscape with Retail Data

Retail data opens up a treasure trove of opportunities for deeper customer insights, personalized experiences, and predictive analytics. This shift is a strategic evolution, positioning brands to not just understand but also anticipate customer needs, forging stronger, trust-based connections.

In this new era of marketing, customer-centric strategies define the approach, with personalization and predictive insights actively driving engagement and loyalty. As we navigate this cookieless landscape, leveraging first-party data is not just about adapting. Marketers need to transform every customer interaction into deeper engagement and lasting loyalty. The future of marketing lies in creating not just transactions, but meaningful relationships powered by data-driven insights.

Using Integrated Media to Position Financial Services Company As Industry Thought Leader

Posted on by Coegi

Brief

Coegi’s financial services client wanted to use content marketing to establish themselves as a marketplace leader by growing brand presence alongside a competitive landscape and providing value to financial professionals and consumers through retirement planning content that educates, supports, and inspires action. 

To accomplish this, Coegi and the financial services firm strategized to establish a B2B2C content strategy focused on reaching both financial professionals and retirement-aged consumers through partnerships with well-known publications.

Highlights

17.8
Million Impressions

188,000
Clicks

110,000
Total Engagements

Challenge

The brand leverages a B2B2C model. While the majority of their objectives focus on targeting financial audiences, it is also important to increase brand awareness with consumers to aid in the sale of their products.

Their primary national advertising objectives are twofold:

  1. Brand Awareness – Increasing awareness of the corporate brand across consumer, financial professional, and prospective retail audiences. 
    • Extending their brand promise and messaging into the B2B space
  2. Thought Leadership – Establishing brand recognition and trust among financial professionals and consumers 

The brand had an opportunity to increase brand awareness with consumers. The data showed that unless they were already customers, consumers were less familiar with the brand. The consumers that did know the financial services firm believed their key differentiators were their ability to grow their investment and provide competitive fees. But there were bigger issues at hand:

  1. Consumers were still learning about annuities in general and, therefore, were difficult to convert into purchasers
  2. Financial professionals were not frequently recommending annuities, including the client’s

Solution

Partnering with the brand, we focused on the following key areas to help gain market share:

  • Helping change financial professionals’ perspectives about the value of annuities 
  • Positioning the brand as a trusted leader in the annuity space
  • Explaining how the brand’s solutions can provide value within a sound financial plan and, in turn, how it will help the financial professional grow their business

Based on the brand’s content calendar, the teams assembled a smart strategy to show Coegi would use content marketing partnerships and advertising to help raise their market share by slightly over 1%:

  1. In a traditional advertising driven industry, we would lean harder into digital channels to keep up with innovation, connect with users, and build a data-driven strategy that would differentiate them from competitors.
  2. We would focus these dollars to more cost efficient and effective channels that align to a digitally-minded consumer.
  3. We would work alongside established publishers to continue to build its digital presence and opportunity via a content strategy that would solidify their position as an industry thought leader.

Choosing digital content partnerships required an exercise of evaluating: audience, content quality, distribution, reach and value. This analysis pointed to these front runners: Kiplinger, Investment News, Bloomberg and Barron’s. The goal was to maximize reach with large publications (Barron’s & Bloomberg) while maximizing engagement with niche publications (Investment News & Kiplinger), authentically aligning the publisher’s editorial content with the brand’s subject matter experts. 

Results

Across four publishers and twelve pieces of content, the campaign generated a total of 17.8 million impressions, 188,000 clicks, and 110,000 total engagements from October – December 2022. Niche publications like Investment News and Kiplinger had the highest engagement rates, both publications reaching an average time on page of over 4:00, while larger publications like Bloomberg and Barron’s garnered the largest reach, with 10M and 15.4M unique views respectively. Consumers resonated with a more indirect approach to annuities by tying content to timely, relevant topics such as women and the recession, while financial professionals resonated with a more direct approach. Coegi extended content reach across platforms by layering programmatic and social campaigns, accounting for 28% of overall impressions.

The Kiplinger content piece “How to Get Retirement Income You Can Count on for Life” had the highest page views (24,516) and longest average time on page (4:39), indicating the importance of applying statistical research in a relevant, easy-to-digest format. Investment News podcasts garnered an average of over 1,000 downloads, on par with their engagement benchmark for Retirement Repair Shop, and “Demographics & the Coming Retirement Crisis” had the most downloads with a final count of 2,184, exceeding the benchmark by 118%. 

Bloomberg exceeded their contracted content impressions by 26%, and shorter, snackable content performed better on publications with high reach and numerous sponsored placements. The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s content “Psychology of Retirement Planning” program delivered 43,000 page views, exceeding the page view goal by almost 40%, while “Retirement Uncertainty” resonated with financial professionals and high net worth individuals, resulting in strong engagement as users spent 40% more time than average.

Key Takeaways

Through data-driven media and targeting recommendations, relevant content partnerships, and innovative thinking, this campaign was able to reach the target audiences in authentic environments by providing educational and informative content. This success was driven in part by tailoring content to different audiences and platforms, and applying statistical research in a relevant, easy-to-digest format. As the partnership between Coegi and the financial services brand continues, we will no doubt continue to see impressive results and strive to keep finding innovative solutions to enhance the traditional financial services advertising model.

CTV + Live Streaming – What You Need to Know

Posted on by Allie Haupt

With the rise of cord-cutting and the 2023 Hollywood strikes delaying content creation, tapping into live-streaming CTV inventory has piqued marketers’ interest with its ability to reach a highly engaged audience. Live-streaming offers brands a valuable space to programmatically connect with consumers at scale to drive awareness goals with the added benefit of flexibility that is not found in traditional linear TV buys. If you’ve been on the fence about testing live streaming in your marketing initiative, you likely have many questions regarding how to efficiently and effectively leverage this inventory.

For this Live Streaming Q&A article, we met with two CTV experts – Stephen Eidelman, Director of Inventory Development at The Trade Desk, and Joel Schaffner, Manager of Programmatic Operations at Coegi. They answered key questions to help inform your planning and activation of live streaming inventory to achieve your brand goals.

Why should advertisers incorporate live-streaming CTV into their strategic plan?

Joel: Incorporating live streaming CTV into a strategic plan is a great way to reach a new set of users at a slightly different angle. The live-streaming viewer is typically more engaged since they’re watching content in real-time, instead of having something on in the background that they can go back and watch later.

Stephen: Similar to the reason they have been historically coveted properties in linear TV advertising, live sports are highly sought after because they draw large audiences that are attentive and emotionally engaged – up through the very last second.  Not only does streaming account for more than 30% of live sports viewership, but we’ve also seen advertisers reach audiences that are completely unique compared to audiences in linear live sports and non-live sports streaming, meaning the only way to connect with that audience is by buying on live streaming sports. 

What has been a key driver of the increase in interest and investment in live streaming?

Stephen: Viewership patterns have shifted, so much so that the majority of Americans are expected to be watching live sports via digital channels by next year. At the same time, top-tier broadcasters like NBC and Disney have continued to shift more of their highly valued properties to be distributed exclusively on streaming apps (i.e. Peacock & ESPN+). Some of the most sought-after content is only available on streaming, and you saw that this year with NFL games exclusively on ESPN+ or Peacock. Fans are a more passionate audience than regular viewers, and they can’t miss a game!

Joel: I think a couple of things have been key drivers in the growing interest of live streaming. For one, the pandemic accelerated the trend of people cord-cutting and shifting to streaming services, making live streaming an avenue to reach a larger, more highly engaged audience.  Another thing is that live streaming inventory is much more accessible now, so marketers can seamlessly integrate it into their plans to test and compare performance with other streaming inventory.

How can marketers measure the impact of live-streaming CTV on brand goals?

Joel: Reach is a primary KPI for CTV in general, but especially for live streaming inventory since it is often seen as a mass reach play. With our partner, The Trade Desk, we can measure the quality of reach by comparing the users the CTV campaign reached to the seed audience, such as site visitors, sales data, and CRM lists. This measures the quality of our reach and helps us optimize media spending toward users that drive brand goals. We can also track offline actions, enabling conversion attribution to a user exposed to our brands’ live-streaming ads. 

Stephen: This is the beauty of live sports in streaming, you can achieve the same goals, and measure the same impact in live sports as you do in the rest of streaming. Whether it’s awareness, incremental reach, or outcome impact, all the targeting and measurement available in streaming is available in CTV. 

What is the impact on user engagement running in live streaming compared to standard CTV?

Joel: Standard CTV user engagement is valuable since media is reaching an entire household on the biggest screen, but live streaming takes this engagement to another level. The real-time factor of live-streaming content means that the audience is more engaged as they set time aside from their day to watch this specific event. 

Stephen: Live sports engagement is highly concentrated because the viewership patterns are usually in a set period of time, either a few minutes or several hours if they’re binging sports all day. The spikes in traffic are larger, so live sports can generate a larger audience reach much faster compared to other genres.

What are some best practices marketers should know for live streaming?

Stephen: Start broader and build your campaigns across all sports and leagues since there are live sports with big audiences all year round. You can also gain flexibility by getting into live sports programmatically without being tied to larger commitments or spending thresholds that are often required of traditional TV advertising. The growth of streaming allows for more and more types of sports to be aired, meaning more opportunities for advertisers as more diehard fans watch live sports via streaming. 

Joel: Some best practices marketers should consider when planning and executing campaigns on live streaming are to: 

  • Plan in advance
  • Plan for higher CPMs than standard CTV due to the high demand of live-streaming content, and 
  • Invest in high-quality and meaningful creatives since these ads will be seen on a big screen with highly engaged viewers

Are there any potential challenges to be aware of when leveraging live streaming?

Stephen: Live sports are unpredictable, and no two campaigns in live sports will be the same. That’s dependent on the sport, the teams involved, the time of day and so much more, so don’t expect that you can replicate the same recipe every live game. Aaron Rodgers getting injured in the first few minutes of the Jets season is a prime example of that – and also why advertisers need flexibility rather than being locked into deals for games that became far less appealing without start power. One thing to be conscious of is league sponsorships and other agreed upon contracts that may limit access to inventory. However, we see so much scale in live sports that advertisers should not be deterred – in fact, we’ve seen over one billion impressions of football-related content in a given weekend. Imagine all of the opportunities just in one weekend alone.

Joel: Of course, there are potential challenges to be aware of when leveraging live streaming but challenges is what makes the programmatic team at Coegi thrive! One obvious challenge can be the seasonality of live-streaming events which causes a high demand for the inventory. You can mitigate the shifts in demand by continuously monitoring the campaign’s bidding parameters and adjusting as needed in order to win in the ad auction.

What criteria should marketers consider when selecting live-streaming inventory?

Stephen: It’s important to approach live streaming with a balance of the marketing initiative’s overall goals (e.g. reach, frequency, outcomes) since regional and national live-streaming content are both available. By sticking to an audience strategy and testing across all live sports, for example, there is an opportunity for unconventional wisdom (sports co-viewing) and to find audiences when they are highly engaged and leaned in.

Joel: When selecting live streaming inventory, marketers should consider what type of event their ad will be viewed during – college sports, professional sports, awards shows, etc. It’s important to consider because each live event draws a different audience with various interests and purchase intents.  

What audience targeting strategies should marketers utilize to effectively reach their core audience?

Joel: Always consider the geotargeting parameters as some regions may align more with the marketing goal. Demographics, such as age, are also important to broadly refine the core audience media intends to reach. When thinking of data-driven audience strategies, try to keep this fairly broad as live streaming inventory is competitive, and efficiently scaling can be a challenge if too many variables are layered on.

Stephen: Advertisers need to understand who their audience is in live sports if they want to provide the best ad experience and use a strategy rooted in precisely reaching the core audience when and where they are watching live sports. Building your strategy around strong, authenticated data so you can see that the avid baseball viewer is also a loyal grocery store shopper requires a cross-channel identifier like UID2. This is especially important since much of the rise in live sports viewership is also taking place on non-traditional TV devices, such as tablets and mobile phones, so you want to connect the dots across viewers and devices for the best ad experience.

And finally, what piece of advice would you give to markets to run a successful live-streaming CTV campaign?

Stephen: Getting in programmatically provides cost efficiency by offering flexibility, control, and access that otherwise would only be available from larger networks or league sponsorships. If a game is a blow out by halftime, you don’t risk wasting budget on the second half that likely had significantly less viewership. Consolidating live sports within your CTV planning will also give marketers better decisioning and frequency management with the line of sight into the rest of the marketing objectives.

Joel: As most live events are scheduled at least a year in advance, it’s never too early to start planning. However, I recommend planning at least one month in advance of the campaign’s intended launch date. One of the first things to consider during the planning period is what kind of live events to incorporate in the strategy in order to reach the right audience. 

To learn more about broader CTV strategies, check out our other Q&A with The Trade Desk or take a deep dive with Connected TV Advertising Guide.

 

4 Digital Marketing Trends Sparking Strategic Growth in 2024

Posted on by Coegi

Welcome to the ever-evolving realm of digital marketing, where change is the only constant, and marketers sometimes feel like they’re surfing a wave that just won’t quit. As 2024 quickly approaches, it’s not enough to simply predict the next wave – marketing teams must master the art of riding it. Plan to seamlessly weave them into your strategies and create a digital ecosystem that resonates with your audience. 

The Digital Marketing Revolution of 2023: Strategic Imperatives for Growth and Connection

As we gear up to embrace the trends that will define the upcoming year, it’s equally crucial to cast a retrospective glance at the lessons learned and trends witnessed in the past year; exploring the currents that have propelled us to this point and laying the groundwork for the strategic surf ahead.

Content Grounded in Research and Careful Planning

In 2023, content ceased to just exist – it delivered purpose. Meticulously crafted, research-backed content seized consumer attention, proving quality and relevance outshine brevity. Consumers devoured content across various formats, from extended TikTok videos to long-form articles, reaffirming that quality and relevance surpass brevity. The results are clear – dedicate resources to content that educates, entertains and supports customers.

Consumer Insights Unlock Growth

In 2023, first-party data emerged as the primary driver of marketing success. As Coegi’s President emphasized, harnessing consumer insights from owned properties unlocks substantial value. He even threw in a friendly reminder – having first-party data without a strategy is like having a toolbox without a plan. The time is now to get strategic, tap into the goldmine of consumer insights to personalize experiences. The growth implications are immense.

Retail Media Reshapes Strategy

The emergence of retail media took center stage as a primary driver for digital marketing campaigns. Only gaining substantial emphasis in the past two or three years, its trajectory transformed. 2023 marked its seismic rise from the experimental budget line to the backbone of consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketing campaigns.

We are at a pivotal juncture where it’s essential for brands to adopt omnichannel strategies, placing retail media at the forefront and shifting social media into a more supportive role. The strategic imperative is clear – retail media first.

Breakthrough Digital Marketing Trends Poised to Captivate Customers in 2024

AI is Revolutionizing Digital Marketing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved beyond a buzzword; it stands as a transformative force elevating your marketing success. Like a strategic genie, AI delivers hyper-personalization, automates rote tasks, and unlocks data-fueled consumer insights on demand. 

With 80% of marketers witnessing a positive impact, it’s clear that AI has transitioned from being a nice-to-have to a must-have. It’s imperative to harness the power of AI immediately and integrate it deeply into your marketing strategies. With AI transforming the marketing field, it’s vital for marketing teams to focus on essential integration areas to maintain a competitive advantage in this dynamic market.

  • Sentiment Analysis for Personalized Experiences: Implement sentiment analysis powered by generative AI into your marketing strategy to craft personalized customer experiences. Employ advanced algorithms to customize content and recommendations based on individual preferences, thereby enriching user engagement and satisfaction.
  • Instant Service Bots: Embed smart AI chatbots to engage customers with responsive, personalized interactions, boosting satisfaction.
  • Strategic Insights Arsenal: Unlock actionable intelligence by unleashing algorithms on unused data to sharpen targeting and segmentation.
  • Automate Routine Tasks: Free up talent by using AI to eliminate repetitive tasks like email workflows and social media scheduling through automation. By automating these repetitive processes, your team can redirect their efforts toward high-impact, strategic initiatives, boosting overall productivity.

By activating AI across these four areas, you not only free your teams to focus on high-value strategies but also unlock the potential for more meaningful interactions with your audience. The result? Immediate opportunity to better serve customers and outpace the competition. 

The First-Party Imperative: Winning Customer Intelligence to Fuel Growth

With the looming threat of cookies getting the boot in 2024, your first-party lists are about to become the MVPs of your marketing strategy. Far beyond lifeless lists, rich first-party data fortifies marketing strategies by enabling immersive personalization and forging enduring consumer bonds.

With consumers increasingly expecting hyper-relevant brand experiences, first-party data serves as rocket fuel – when artfully collected through value-driven relationships. This inside track on customer truth unlocks a multi-faceted competitive advantage. First, intimately understand your customers. Then, engage them in a relationship – not a transaction. With consumer trust earned, responsive audiences readily share information and preferences. 

Activate a systematic first-party data blueprint using these five high-impact strategies to own your consumer connection: 

  • Optimized Website Forms: Ensure that your website features user-friendly forms that encourage visitors to willingly provide information. This could include newsletter sign-ups, account registrations, or surveys.
  • Omnichannel Data Integration: Break data silos by connecting data collected from various touch points – website, social media, email interactions – to build a comprehensive customer profile. This integrated approach provides a more holistic view of your audience.
  • Consistent Data Updates: Establish consistent triggers that encourage users to update their preferences regularly, keeping data current amid evolving consumer needs and preferences.
  • Interactive Content Experiences: Compel users to self-identify through polls, assessments, calculators, and other diagnostic tools woven into the consumer journey.
  • Incentivized Programs: Implement loyalty programs, discounts, or exclusive access in exchange for customers sharing their information. This not only encourages data collection but also fosters a sense of value for the customer.

The rewards are immense for brands centralizing first-party data – enhanced segmentation and targeting, future-proofed marketing strategies, and customer experiences driving satisfaction through relevance. Integrating first-party data into your digital marketing strategy is a strategic move that unlocks a wealth of insights and enhances your ability to connect with your audience on a personal level. Prioritize first-party data collection and usage. Your personalized approach will thank you later. 

Retail Media Reshapes the Digital Landscape

Retail media has solidified its status as a disruptive marketing powerhouse. By engaging shoppers at the point of purchase, retail media delivers hyper-targeted ads without relying on unstable third-party data.

As consumers increasingly discover and purchase products through retailers, these platforms will reshape strategies. Insider Intelligence predicts a noteworthy surge of 28.6% in retail media ad spend for the year 2024, reaching a substantial total of close to $60 million. For marketing teams mapping out 2024 plans, retail media can no longer be an afterthought. Its trajectory as marketing’s predominant disruptor means integration must become a strategic pillar to lift visibility and results.

The time is now for you to lean into retail media’s unmatched ability to connect with high-intent users through relevant ads and premium placement. Integrating retail media into your 2024 strategy is a pivotal step toward enhancing visibility, engagement, and, ultimately, the success of your marketing initiatives. Here’s a few things to consider when planning your strategy.

  • Strategic Platform Selection: Strategically identify and invest in dominant retail media platforms where your audiences are actively discovering and purchasing. Commit resources to owned properties with the most traction. 
  • Point-of-Purchase Activation: Engage shoppers with contextual messaging and offerings to breakthrough the clutter at that crucial instant at the digital shelf where decisions are made.
  • Acknowledge Consumer Behavior: Continually realign efforts to acknowledge where consumers are demonstrating shopping behavior shifts. Tailor your strategy to align with these preferences.
  • Strategic Adoption: Approach retail media as an urgent marketing imperative – not a tactical experiment – fusing it into the very fabric of 2024 plans to lift brand visibility and engagement.
  • Utilize Direct Engagement: Harness retail media’s unparalleled avenues to deliver tailored brand messaging that resonates at the individual level based on each platform’s unique consumer DNA.
  • Performance Optimization: Regularly measure and analyze the success of your retail media initiatives. Track metrics such as visibility, engagement, and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of your strategy.

In 2024, marketers are experiencing rapid growth and strengthening their brand’s distinct value by integrating retail media into their strategies.

The Social Commerce Boom

As consumers increasingly take to social platforms to discover and purchase products, social commerce has emerged as retail’s new normal..

With social media shopping revenue expected to surge to $1.2 billion by 2024, brands must prioritize integrated social commerce to effectively engage audiences. The numbers signal that the time has come for social platforms to transform from casual scrolling to frictionless buying destinations. Find several strategies below to embrace social commerce effectively in 2024:

  • Optimize for Shoppable Posts: Break down barriers between discovery and purchase by enabling integrated product exploration and payment functionality for platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
  • Influencer Commerce Alliances: Activate influential brand ambassadors to connect target consumers with products through embedded social commerce capabilities and exclusive offers. 
  • Exclusive Social Promotions: Drive urgency and action by giving social followers unique access to exclusive promotions and discounts available only on owned social properties. 
  • Performance Intelligence Infrastructure: Utilize analytics tools to track and analyze the performance of your social commerce efforts. Measure key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer acquisition costs to refine and optimize your strategy.
  • Seamless Cross-Channel Integration: Ensure a seamless integration of social commerce with your overall multichannel strategy. Align your social media efforts with your website, email marketing, and other touchpoints for a cohesive customer experience.

By seamlessly intertwining social media and direct sales, marketers are not only streamlining the customer journey but also tapping into the rich tapestry of trust and engagement woven within social communities.

Key Takeaways for Your Marketing Strategy

The digital marketing landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift powered by disruptive technology and shifts in consumer behavior. As the course ahead is chartered, new frameworks must emerge across five pivotal domains – AI, first-party data, retail media, and social commerce.

Marketing leaders must be able to realign strategies, budgets and teams to activate these trends in order to gain a durable competitive advantage and build future-proofed growth models. Complacency poses grave risk. Effective leadership recognizes the need for bold and decisive action in response to changing circumstances, and with marketing currently experiencing a significant transformation, that moment is undeniably now.

The window of opportunity is immediate; build your vision and begin navigating uncharted waters armed with five navigational pillars able to elevate relevance, engagement and profitability in your decidedly digital future.

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