Performance marketing is what your business makes of it. Implement a strategic performance marketing approach and you’ll bolster your ad spend for optimal financial efficiency. However, catalyzing measurable results by way of paid advertising is no small feat. Performance marketing requires the maximization of specific metrics such as leads and conversions rather than solely focusing on heightening brand awareness.
Here’s a quick look at how to make the most of your ad spend with performance marketing platforms.
Take Full Advantage of Targeted Advertising
Targeting your ads to certain members of the audience is central to performance marketing success. Eat the nominal cost of targeted advertising, be patient and your leads, conversions and sales will gradually increase. In short, targeted advertising occurs after defining the buyer personas most likely to need or desire your business’s value offering. Narrow the scope to these targeted individuals and you’ll maximize every dollar of your ad spend.
Present the Viewing Audience With Something New
Take a look at the latest TV viewership statistics and you’ll find the masses are malleable, meaning their tastes and habits are changing. Conventional cable TV is giving way to connected TV, or CTV for short. Provide the viewing audience with fresh commercials that present your value offering in an artful manner, continue to innovate in terms of your presentation and your viewing audience will be that much more engaged with your marketing content.
Maintain a laser-like focus on perfecting the initial 5-10 seconds of your ads. This initial part of the ad, referred to as the “hook”, grabs the viewer’s attention to transmit your message. If your ads will also air on social media, YouTube or other parts of the web, be mindful of the fact that plenty of web users consume video content with the sound off. Optimize your video content for viewers who have their volume off or turned down low, present your ads with visual pizazz and you’ll maximize your ad spend all the more.
Regularly Evaluate Your Ads
Resting on your laurels is a recipe for disaster. An advertising approach that delivered results last year or even the last financial quarter is not guaranteed to work in the moment. Conduct A/B testing of your ads to compare their individual results and move forward accordingly. Regularly monitor engagement statistics ranging from lead generation to conversion to get a sense of how effective the content truly is.
Continue to analyze targets for bidding as time progresses, evaluate your ads at specific intervals and you’ll have the data you need to ensure you make the most of your ad spend. Continue to tinker with biddable targets, keywords and key phrases until you find the optimal balance.
Ad evaluation has the potential to become lost in the shuffle of the work grind so be sure to establish calendar reminders to analyze advertising program metrics. Study search term information throughout your campaigns across the entirety of the year to bolster your return on investment.
At a bare minimum, your company’s performance marketing data should be analyzed at least once every financial quarter. However, if your performance marketing push is just starting to gain steam or if you own or manage a startup, don’t conduct reviews of advertising program metrics until you have a minimum of two to three weeks of data.
Take the Temperature of Your Target Audience
Developing a thorough and accurate understanding of your target audience is just as important as any other component of performance marketing. Analyze your target audience today, continue to study them in the ensuing months and years, tailor your advertising content accordingly and you’ll make meaningful inroads with these target clients.
As an example, creating a secondary social media account to follow your audience’s social media activity will provide invaluable insight into their likes, dislikes, needs, desires and other factors that influence purchasing behavior. Keep your finger on the pulse of organic trends that affect your target audience as well as your industry, capitalize on those trends with your own performance marketing campaigns and your ad spend won’t be in vain.
Ride the Wave of Video Marketing
Attention spans are dwindling thanks to the influx of on-demand entertainment delivered through dynamic technological innovation. Video marketing will likely continue to increase in prominence as video-obsessed millennials and zoomers enter the prime of their working careers and earn that much more discretionary income.
Seize the opportunity to connect with your target audience. Through CTV advertising, traditional commercials, embedded videos on social media and YouTube videos, you can reinforce your outreach through written content and SEO optimization. The cumulative result will boost your return on ad spend.