Measurement is the key to successful paid digital media campaigns. We will get to know your business, ask the right questions, and determine your business objectives. Once we have had an open discussion with the necessary stakeholders, we will work with your team to create digital goals. For example, if you are a realtor looking to develop your brand and drive new client leads, we would suggest having video views, form fills, listing views and visits to the contact page as on site engagement goals. Goals are subjective to each and every organization, therefore give us a shout if you would like to chat. Ask for Drew!!

2. Track On Site Activity and Re-engage

Tracking engagement, post click, post site visit, and post view is an integral part of paid media success. Our team of experts focuses on tracking on site engagement, and serving contextual content to users based on the level of engagement. For example, if your business is focused on Financial Management, and a user visited the Mutual Funds section of your website, we would suggest remarketing to usesr who have expressed interest in Mutual Funds and serve “paid digital media” that focuses on the benefits of Mutual Funds and how they may be able to help the users RRSP and Tax Planning.

3. Provide Weekly Reports to Analyze Effectiveness

Paid digital media can be somewhat overwhelming. That said, based on your goals we will align reports to meet your needs and simplify communication. Our mandate is to provide reports with purpose and highlight key performance indicators. For example, within the weekly report, we may notice that your click through rates increased during the month of May. This could be attributed to other forms of marketing or a seasonal spike in brand awareness. We will spot the necessary trends and highlight them for analysis.

4. Load Balance Paid Digital Media Investment’s based on Performance

We like to look at a paid media strategy as an “Investment Portfolio”.  Similar to Investment Portfolio’s, paid digital media portfolio’s also require load balancing. We always suggest “test and learn” strategies. For example, if we originally went to market with a Video and Display advertising campaign, but noticed that video completion rates were low and based on “goal analysis” your team was not seeing a strong ROI, we would analyze the numbers and load balance your digital investment portfolio to best suit your goals.

For more information, feel free to give us a call 905.802.9141 or send us an email Drewt@reverbstrategy.com. Ask for Drew, he would love to chat.

The Facebook custom audience tool is an excellent way to reach existing customers and obtain a greater share of wallet. Using the customer file allows organizations to upload their existing customer email database, and match the existing database up to Facebook users. Therefore only serving Facebook advertising to users who are already part of your existing membership. This allows organizations to upsell an create awareness of new promotions that apply only to existing members.

It’s easier to sell to current customers than to look for new ones, so strengthen your existing connections by using Custom Audiences. We’ll compare your data with ours to help you find the people you know on Facebook.

2. Increase Awareness of Business Banking by using the “Targeting by Company” function within the LinkedIn Advertising platform, and Retargeting/Nurturing via Facebook. 

LinkedIn is an excellent advertising platform. It allows business to business organizations to use very granular targeting strategies. In regards to credit unions, we can help work with your team to create a list of businesses, and only serve advertising to a white list of organizations. In this particular case we would suggest creating awareness and beginning the funnel via LinkedIn, and offering some sort of content that businesses may be interested in. For Example, “3 Reasons Why Credit Union XYZ can Save Your Business XYZ Dollars a Month”. We would place a Facebook Retargeting pixel on the piece of content, and ask for action via a Facebook Retargeting campaign. Therefore filling your funnel with a qualified audience.

3. Drive Scale and Awareness via Programmatic Display.

Programmatic Display allows Credit Union’s to hone in on a specific audience, at an affordable rate. That said, the ad units are not as engaging as social advertising, therefore it is imperative to have a tactical tracking strategy. Based on previous knowledge, we have found that display media has a high rate of viewthrough’s. A viewthrough is when someone has seen an impression, but did not click the ad unit. Therefore the user saw the ad unit, but visited the site via a different means such as search or direct traffic. The aforementioned solutions are excellent for banking products with competitive rates.

About Reverb Strategy

We are driven by results and love the outdoors. Reverb Strategy helps simplify the complex digital ecosystem by helping organizations plan and execute integrated digital strategies. We use a client first approach to help build the proper foundation for paid, earned and owned media.

Paid Installs Increase Organic Installs 

Do brands get free mass exposure for TV commercials, billboards and radio ads? No, they don’t. In certain situations, when creative is great, brands may receive residual exposure through “earned” media, but generally mass media is “paid”. So why do brands create apps and let them sit in the app stores with little awareness? Most likely because paid installs were not a priority during the marketing planning phase, and budget was not allocated to mobile acquisition, or the marketing team was dreaming about “word of mouth” success. Paid installs are imperative for brands that are competing for mobile real estate on smartphone home screen’s, because paid installs actually increase organic installs. Sure, there are ways to have a successful app without paid media, but generally the apps that do have organic success, are not branded content (Periscope, Whatsapp, Snapchat). In most app categories there is a correlation between organic installs and paid installs. So put your “testing” boots on, get to work and see if paid installs help organic growth.

Installing an SDK, Allows for Better Measurement of CPC/CPM/CPV Campaigns

All media vendors who allow their clients to buy on a “cost per install” require the installation of a Software Developers Kit (SDK). Mobile applications differ from websites, because they live on peoples personal devices, therefore apps require different tracking methods, than web based tracking. Certain SDK’s allow marketing teams to determine the cost per install of publishers who are bought on a CPC/CPM/CPV. This is important for mobile marketing teams, because they can determine where inefficiencies are coming from, and optimize their campaigns based on performance. Certain media vendors (cough cough Connected Interactive) allow brands to buy on a cost per install, eliminating the risk of wasting clicks, impressions or video views.

In-Game Advertising Offers a Unique Opportunity

Gaming has become a major part of “time spent” via mobile, and brands have yet to fully capitalize. Mobile and Social games allow advertisers to deliver messaging using a value exchange, therefore giving the users digital currency, in exchange for a brand action. User’s are rewarded with “points”, for downloading an app, which allows them to progress within the gameplay i.e. buying parts for a car to improve the top speed, within a racing game. It is very important to practice due diligence when using the in-game value exchange because it can result in low post download engagements rate, if used incorrectly. Click here to speak with an in-game expert.

Silo’s Are Bad

Never allocate your dollars to one publisher. We use multiple publishers to achieve our client objectives. Generally we use a blend of in-game and in-app media. Anecdotally, we have found that using one publisher does not allow our customers to obtain the reach necessary to improve app store optimization and organic installs. In order to obtain organic acquisition it is imperative to quickly obtain mass reach and acquisitions, therefore resulting in higher organic conversions, due to more visibility within the app stores.

In Conclusion

Paid install campaigns require a METHODOLOGY and every app is different. If an application has a strong user on boarding experience, and app store rating, the cost per install is significantly less, than an app that has poor user ratings and has a bad on boarding process. It is important to work with an organization that you trust, when implementing a paid install campaign. Always make sure to test and learn.

1. Target a Radius around an Event or Trade Show – 3 Hyper Local Targeting Tactics

Have you ever wanted to attend an event or trade show, in order to gain some traction for your brand, but did not have the budget to buy a booth and the time to generate marketing materials? Forget the expensive print materials and run a hyper local marketing campaign around an event or trade show. This can be done fairly cost efficiently. Also, a hyper-local mobile campaign can be a beautiful addition to a booth at a trade show. Either way, make sure the call to action is compelling and provides something that is contextual to the event.

THOUGHT STARTER: An amazing event or trade show is on the other side of the country but you still would like to leverage the contextual audience, without having a booth at the event of trade show.

Run a mobile banners campaign, within a 5km radius, therefore you can still hit the audience who may be staying in hotels. Make sure the call to action is a white paper, contest, giveaway or the destination URL has some engaging content. It will be difficult to get mass inventory so use the radius as a contextual targeting tool, rather than a mass reach tool.

THOUGHT STARTER: A consumer packaged goods brand has a booth at trade show or event…

If you are a consumer packaged goods brand, and you are doing giveaways at a “Food and Drink” show, create a 2km radius around the event and run 320×50, 300×50 and 480×320 ad units, which raise awareness about your booth, and the give-aways that your team is providing. i.e. “Come see us at Booth 329, for a free sample etc.”

2. Target a Radius Around a Competitor’s Location – 3 Hyper Local Targeting Tactics

Brand’s are always competing for customers, therefore the competitive landscape calls for unique and tactical marketing strategies. Targeting a radius around a competitors location is fairly straight forward, but may take some time and resources, so be prepared.

THOUGHT STARTER: A quick serve restaurant is looking to get more people in store and obtain some market share going into a seasonal period, which is very competitive.

Determine the postal codes, and longitude/latitude of your competitors locations. Select a specific market with about 10-20 locations. Create a 5km radius around those locations and deliver mobile advertising that has a coupon call to action. You cannot go wrong with a “buy one get one” “free x with x” etc. Just make sure you are ready for the in-store coupon redemption.

3. Target Affluent Areas of a City or Market – 3 Hyper Local Targeting Tactics

Everyone knows the affluent areas in their neighbourhood. How do you reach those markets? Direct mail? Hyper-local marketing offers a more measurable and engaging opportunity than direct mail, and the opportunity to deliver media rich advertising, with lead generation that is immediate.

THOUGHT STARTER: A premium import automotive brand is looking to target affluent areas of Canada, and increase test drives at their dealer locations.

Determine 10-20 affluent markets in Canada, and create a 10km radius around those markets. Deliver mobile messaging that is focused on “scheduling a test drive” and “finding the closest dealer”.

Conclusion

If done correctly, hyper local marketing is a very powerful tool, but it must be done with a specific goal in mind, and with a tactical approach. Make sure you source a vendor who is able to obtain the proper reach for your brand. It is important to work with a partner who is able to use an aggregate marketing approach and leverage the power of multiple ad networks, in order to achieve results.

Newsflash! Mobile and tablets are a huge part of consumer behaviour and digital marketing. If your brands owned media is not device agnostic, stop reading this article and start planning. Owned media that is not mobile or tablet friendly, seriously hinders paid media innovation.

Create Quality Content – Digital Marketing to do List 2015

Content creation(not orange) is the new black. Keep in mind, quality content is crucial. If your team is creating mediocre content with spelling mistakes and bad headlines, or you were just saying in your head “I do not have time to write content” stop what you are doing and read this article http://bit.ly/1AkXiaK . Content is the foundation of a beautiful paid, owned, and earned strategy.

RTB/Programmatic – Digital Marketing to do List 2015

You have probably heard a lot about RTB and Programmatic in 2014 (Every conference I go to is talking about viewable ad units). Quit talking about it and execute a strategy that is viewable, and has a combination of traditional, rising star, media rich and large format ad units. Also, think about layering 3rd party data on top of your campaigns. An example of 3rd party data would be to use a “data provider”, which focuses on consumers with automative purchase intent, and target consumers with insurance messaging. Content creation adds an additional layer to RTB/Programmatic because retargeting pixels can be place on page and people who visit “created content” can be passively retargeted. The aforementioned is in Lehman’s terms, for more info fly me a note drew@playmoneymedia.com

In-app Display and Video – Digital Marketing to do List 2015

In-app display and video differentiates from RTB/Programmatic, because in-app offers a more immersive user experience(other things as well, drop me a note). In-app media allows brands to build ad units that have an “app style” feel and offer a high level of engagement. Keep in mind apps are software, not browser based web pages. “In-app” should be a specific focus, rather than blending the strategy in with RTB/Programmatic

In-Game Media – Digital Marketing to do List 2015

In game media offers a unique and fun way to reach a mass audience. Users are immersed in the user experience, and are engaged by video, interstitials and media rich ad units. According to eMarketer, mobile gaming has experienced 97% growth from 2010 to 2013, and is expected to another 16.4 percent by the end of 2014. Social gaming has had 53% growth from 2010 to 2013, and is expected to grow 5.6% by end of 2014.

Native Advertising – Digital Marketing to do List 2015

Create content and use native advertising! That is all lol, read a great article here.http://bit.ly/1r3CFOz

Author Profile – Drew Thachuk

Drew has worked with companies ranging from an NFC technology start up to a Blackberry Elite Alliance member. He was part of a start-up team, which was selected to attend the Web Summit in Dublin, Ireland . Currently, he works withPMM Inc. , an organization that leverages social/mobile gaming, mobile in-app advertising and digital marketing tactics to deliver engaging solutions for their clients. Play Money Media’s specialties include, user acquisition, mobile rich display, in-game engagements and HD mobile video.

It is imperative to cater the call to action to the type of campaign. Yes, this may seem rudimentary, but due to the amount of fragmentation within the digital landscape, it can be time consuming for a large scale digital campaign. For example, if your team is executing a mobile in-app campaign, and the KPI is to obtain downloads of an Android and iOS mobile app, catering the CTA is extremely important. Rather than giving the user an option to select “Download on Android” or “Download on iOS”, target by operating system and cater the message specifically to Android or iOS users .Therefore streamlining the path to download, only giving the user the CTA to the operating system their device is running.

2. Are We Over Extending Ourselves with Social Media Management? – Digital Strategy Questions

The social media landscape is constantly changing. Just because Snapchat is the new trend at the moment, does not mean that your social team should be allocating time and resources towards managing a Snapchat account. New social networks are often less measurable. Therefore do a small test, on emerging social networks, but be risk averse by analyzing data and determining if new networks are a fit for your brand. Rather than be a jack of all trades, create a primary and a secondary focus and stick to “The Plan”.

3. Do We Need to Put More Emphasis on Acquisition? – Digital Strategy Questions

“There is a seemingly insatiable appetite for downloading and using mobile applications, or apps, that has created a huge opportunity for their development. The total number of new apps that get introduced is over 2,300 each day and over 70,000 each month” (source, ICTC). Therefore acquisition and getting people to actually use applications is difficult. Paid app acquisition should definitely be on the radar for 2015. Not only are apps an excellent opportunity for brands, email marketing also offers a way to reach people who are interested in your brand. Personally, I only subscribe to online stores that I enjoy purchasing items from and do not feel that their messaging is “spammy”, and I actually buy things based on email marketing promotions that are sent to my inbox. Market your email acquisition the proper way and it will help increase sales and brand loyalty. Mobile is also a big part of email acquisition, according to Marketing Land “nearly half of all email opens are happening on smartphones. Another 17 percent are happening on tablets and the remaining 34 percent are happening on PCs”. Mobile based acquisition campaigns should not be ignored, when bolstering your email marketing list.

Author Profile – Drew Thachuk Drew has worked with companies ranging from an NFC technology start up to a Blackberry Elite Alliance member. He was part of a start-up team, which was selected to attend the Web Summit in Dublin, Ireland . Currently, he works withPMM Inc. , an organization that leverages social/mobile gaming, mobile in-app advertising and digital marketing tactics to deliver engaging solutions for their clients. Play Money Media’s specialties include, user acquisition, mobile rich display, in-game engagements and HD mobile video.

Mobile Advertising Technique #1 – Hyper-Local Targeting

Targeting is the most powerful aspect of interactive advertising. Mobile has changed the eco-system and created something called “Hyper-Local Targeting”. Why is it so powerful? The best way to explain the power of hyper local targeting is by providing an example.

Case: A quick serve restaurant is looking to raise awareness about their lunch and dinner promotions that are occurring during the spring/summer months and they are looking to source mobile advertising to promote their offers.

Here’s what I would suggest: I would have the marketing department provide the postal codes or zip codes of all of their locations. From the zip codes/postal codes,  the ad ops team would create a 20km radius around each location. Within that 20k radius, videos ads, banner ads, and in-game ads would be served to people within a network of mobile apps and would run for 6 months.

Things to consider: When using hyper targeting, it is important to note that click-through objectives, impressions, completed video views and other KPI’s are very targeted…hence the name “hyper targeting” haha. Therefore unlike other forms of interactive media, mass reach is sometimes difficult to achieve because the audience is so finely targeted. That being said, mass reach is still capable through things like concerts, events and metropolitan locations.

If your interested in learning more, give me a call 905-802-9141 or drop me an email drew@playmoneymedia.com

Mobile Advertising Technique #2 – Incentive Based Action

Everyone loves incentives. Most mobile games are supported by tokens or virtual currency, I.e. Get 100 points to move to level 10. Therefore users/players are very focused and driven to get to the next level. Mobile game developers have incorporated offer walls, which help them support their games, through advertising. How do offer walls work? The game developer has an “offers” section and advertisers provide incentives for users/players to receive digital currency. For example an advertiser might offer 10 tokens, in exchange for the user to watch their 15 or 30 second spot. The advertiser is billed on a cost per completed view, cost per acquisition basis, as well as other cost per actions.

Case: A bricks and mortar retailer has developed a free mobile app for Android and iPhone, with in-app mobile commerce integration. After months of being in the app stores, under 10,000 people have downloaded the app and in-app sales are mediocre. They want to increase users and get more people interacting with their m-commerce app. They also want people to download their app so they can increase their email list and direct marketing capabilities through push messaging.

Here’s What I would suggest: Use an offer wall methodology, by offering players in-game incentives or virtual currencies in-exchange for downloading the app. Offer walls will increase downloads of the app because it is free, and it will allow the brick and mortar retailer to generate m-commerce revenue and direct marketing opportunities. This is very valuable, because in the future they can incorporate hyper-local targeting within their own free mobile app.

Things to consider: Make sure your mobile app is ready for the traffic, because these campaigns generate immediate results. Talk to your IT team and make sure you are ready for the influx. Also, an SDK will need to be incorporated to allow for tracking and KPI’s to be measured. Sometimes for media professionals this can be hard to understand, but it is important to note that mobile apps are software, they are not webpages. Therefore tracking downloads involves a different approach.

If your interested in learning more, give me a call 905-802-9141 or drop me an email drew@playmoneymedia.com

Mobile Advertising Technique #3 – Interactive End Cards and Call to Actions

If you have a smartphone or smart device you have probably downloaded a location finder app that geo-locates based on your current location or a picture app that provides image overlays. The beautiful thing about mobile advertising is that these feature are now accessible upon completion of an advertisement within a mobile app. Therefore marketers can have a interactive call to action at the end of their ads. Interactive end cards are something that was non-existent 2-3 years ago and has taken the advertising world by storm.

Case: A premium provincial or state grocery chain hired a boutique style advertising agency to create an amazing broadcast advertisement. They ran the spot during the Christmas season, and it was very successful, but it has collected dust and hasn’t been used in 6 months. The brand wants to distribute the content in a cost efficient manner, because they do not have the budget for broadcast media.

Here’s What I would Suggest: Non-Interruptive or Interruptive video is very powerful within mobile devices. Non-Interruptive video has a call to action within an app, like a banner or button and if the user clicks on the ad, a video will play. Interruptive video is when a user is within a mobile app, such as Fox Sports or Draw Something, and they move on to the next article or level and a video plays during the screen transition. I would suggest geo-targeting around locations,using both non-interruptive and interruptive video with a location finder at the end of the video completion. This provides users with a unique call to action and allows the for an A/B split between interruptive and non-interruptive to determine which medium is best suited for their brand.

Things to Consider: Interactive end cards and call to actions will sometimes have a button at the end of the video, these buttons can sometimes be standardized by the developer and non-customizable.

If your interested in learning more, give me a call 905-802-9141 or drop me an email drew@playmoneymedia.com

Step One – Native Advertising in a Content Driven Ecosystem

Take a look at media allocation and determine where your inefficiencies are (cough,cough traditional media…well…depending on your target), eliminate those inefficient mediums and allocate the dollars toward an agency, a freelancer or hire an expert that is focused on creating content that matters to your target audience.

Step Two – Native Advertising in a Content Driven Ecosystem

Set-up a self hosted blog via a sub domain or if the campaign is large enough via its own domain. Start creating content and sharing that content via social media channels, therefore if a consumer comes across your brand via social media, they have content to view. It is important to have a foundation prior to implementing a native advertising experience because when the campaign is implemented the bounce rate will be much lower and time on site will be higher, leading to increased brand exposure. IMPORTANT: If you are going to set up a self hosted blog and your long term goal is to drive large amounts of traffic to that blog, make sure you do not “cheap out” on hosting by using a shared hosting service. Spend the extra money and purchase a dedicated hosting service which offers speedy load times, it will help SEO and keep your readers happy, especially when viewing via mobile devices. Fly my friend Ray Rajan from Cloud I.T. Canada an email if you need dedicated hosting and use the promo code REVERB.

Note: Even though native advertising is embedded into content, the ultimate goal should be to drive traffic to your blog, social media pages etc, hence the name of the article. Leveraging Native Advertising for Lead Generation is a whole new article.