It was not that long ago that media plans were completed in January and finalized at the big “upfronts” where agencies were wined and dined by the networks and all of the advertising inventory was reserved for the year. While we do sometimes miss those lavish dinners, events and swag, we as digital marketers revel at the opportunities to manage flexible media campaigns.
Successful advertisers aren’t just using one channel, but instead utilizing multiple channels to have a more encompassing marketing strategy. With great flexibility comes great responsibility; in other words, marketers now need to have a better understanding of when to shift within and across different platforms to maximize the yield from their digital media budgets.
To Shift Or Not To Shift
While digital markets pride themselves on being “fast moving” and maintaining “fluid budgets,” a major trait of a successful marketer is understanding when not to switch. They understand the importance of patience, and they do so in a number of ways.
First, they make sure they are basing their decisions on facts driven by data that have had time to aggregate and reveal truths. Before turning off any specific publisher, they ask themselves, “Has the ad had enough time to sit and gather the amount of data necessary to analyze its effectiveness?” “Was the poor performance due to Facebook or Google or did we have a sub-optimal landing page or conversion flow?”
Successful marketers also understand that they have to look at more granular data. Instead of asking whether the campaign was successful or not, they ask which aspects of the campaign were successful and which were not. This means that they don’t just compare data across different channels, but rather analyze the data within each channel.
When looking at data within channels, you should take into consideration whether the execution was effective. There are a few areas you should look at ad copy, audience target, placement of the ad within the platform, landing page effectiveness, and tracking and attribution (introducer assists versus last click conversions).
Apply these criteria and which direction to shift will present itself with clarity. For one pharma client, we started campaigns focused on Google with a small test of Facebook. The Facebook test performed so well that we shifted 90% of the budget there to capitalize on the opportunity.
Some marketers, however, will have a negative experience with a platform and forever write it off. Had they looked further into the data, they may have realized it was their execution and not, in fact, the platform that was causing the ad to be unsuccessful. If every advertiser had written off Facebook after testing their initial (and half-baked) ad platform, there would be billions of dollars in missed opportunity.
One client, for instance, asked us to shift their investment out of Facebook after it produced wretched results. The client reasonably felt Google and other channels would produce better. Our experience and a review of the data suggested the client had rightly picked Facebook. We saw that a few small shifts in targeting along with ad adjustments should transform the results. With the client's permission, we made the shifts and it's now their top performing ad.
When you begin to look into shifting from one channel to another, you should keep in mind that in the past, shifting on the display side meant shifting vendors (e.g. turning off Yahoo and going with Collective). Testing one network after another was the norm. However, with the digital world upon us, it is no longer true that when one channel isn’t working, it means you have to try a new one.
Making The Switch
First, make sure you have exhausted every option for shifting within that channel. With programmatic buying, you have a lot more control over the minor shifts (e.g. shifting audience, targeting, the time of targeting, or creative). Work on adjusting each aspect within the channel before switching altogether. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
- Be patient: If you do switch, remember that successful campaigns iterate over time. You cannot expect to gain traction immediately when shifting into a new channel. It is going to take time to gather data and realize which factors of your execution are working and not working. From there, you will have to make a few minor shifts within that channel to find your sweet spot.
- Budget flexibly: When it comes time to shift channels, you have to be flexible with your budget. Make sure you stay malleable enough to adjust for new trends in the media buying world.
- Stick with multiple channels: Always know your audience doesn’t live on one platform; therefore, neither should your content. A lot of advertisers just focus on a couple of channels. But even if one platform has a higher propensity, your content has to reach across different channels. It is completely plausible to have a presence across multiple platforms and then just direct more focus on certain channels depending on their effectiveness.
Wrapping It Up
These days, it is imperative that you understand the art of shifting. This first involves understanding the varying degrees to which you can shift your sponsored content. Many times, upon a complete analysis of the data, the shift will be a simple adjustment to the audience you are targeting. However, when the execution is right and you are still not seeing the desired results, it might be time to look into shifting channels.
Keep in mind, however, that while it is fine to no longer direct a large portion of your efforts toward one channel, it is important to have a wide reach across multiple platforms. Just because one platform was not as effective as you might have hoped, that doesn’t mean you should altogether ignore its existence.
