Month: January 2023

In a world where technology advances quickly and consumer habits change in the blink of an eye, advertisers are often tasked with creating new, exciting, fresh, and successful marketing strategies that remain effective in an ever-changing landscape.

So how do you, as an advertiser, stay on top of this massive demand for effective advertising strategies? The answer isn’t black-and-white, but it does start with the basics: information. Staying up-to-date on said tech improvements and consumer habits will inform advertising trends that will help your brand stay on top of the game.

For example, over the past few years, more consumers have forgone their cable subscriptions and embraced streaming options through CTV and OTT. In 2022, networks and tech companies alike seemed to fully embrace this wave of viewing habits as new ad-supported CTV platforms or tiers were released on what felt like a monthly bases. As an advertiser, it is up to you to make sure you know what these options are and when they are being released and then decide whether an investment in this channel is worthwhile and valuable for achieving your goals.

Think about it this way: Everyone, consumers and advertisers alike, can be overwhelmed by the growing number of CTV options. Fortunately, if you are in the know about which of these platforms are performing well and which have advertising opportunities,, you are already one step ahead of your competition. Simply staying informed will ensure you have your assets ready to make ads quickly for when CTV and OTT providers and platforms make advertising available.

The Future of CTV Advertising

While some advertisers were wary of switching their TV dollars from cable options to CTV and OTT platforms, these streaming services have added many great opportunities for advertisers. The following are just some of those benefits:

• Streaming services allow you to utilize data-driven audience targeting. This sets the stage for better engagement from your target audience.
• With data-driven audience targeting, you can see results more clearly. This allows you to allocate funds in a more precise way.
• CTV advertising is less expensive than traditional TV ads.
• Because consumers now have access to Netflix, YouTube, etc., right in their pockets, CTV advertising is more ubiquitous. This means there are and will be more opportunities to implement, test, and try numerous advertising campaigns.

Barriers to CTV Programmatic Advertising

While there is plenty to be excited about in the future of CTV advertising, there are also some hurdles to keep an eye on. For starters, the scale of the advertising campaigns can be massive and run across several platforms.

Without an omnichannel digital advertising parter, it will be difficult to seamlessly tie all the ads together, implement capping tactics, and ensure you aren’t overspending on the same audiences viewing content on different platforms. Because each platform works in isolation, it’s a bit more challenging to see how the ads are performing when you must parse them out through the different platforms they’re on.

How to Reap the Benefits of CTV Advertising

So with all the opportunities and hurdles, how can you maximize CTV outcomes to meet your specific business needs? Let’s take a look:

1. Know your audience.

As mentioned, the number of CTV platforms and options feels like it’s constantly growing. To effectively target an audience on CTV, you will need to clearly understand who your target audience is and what content they’re likely to be interested in.

One way to do this is to use audience data and insights to inform your targeting strategy. This can include information such as age, gender, location, and interests, which can help you identify which channels, programs, and websites are likely to be most popular among your target audience.

This information will help you decide on targeting tools and also inform which channels and platforms you should prioritize investing in. There is no sense in doing the work to be on the newest platform if your audience isn’t even using it.

2. Use targeting tools.

Once you understand who your target audience is and what content they enjoy, the next step is to determine which targeting tools and techniques you will use to reach them on CTV platforms. Additionally, you must incorporate CTV into your overall strategy by retargeting users across display and other channels who have previously engaged with your brand.

While there are numerous targeting and data options to consider, here are some of the most common and effective:

• Automatic content recognition (ACR):Content is categorized and segmented by algorithms to extract audio and still images.
• First-party:This allows the mapping of users to the household level and complete onboarding of your CRM list.
• Demo or interest: This is automatically mapped to the household level and allows you to see audiences from many different providers.
• TV contextual: Content data is gathered from the publisher. This allows you to target by content language, rating, length, show name, and more.
• User activity:Audiences are mapped to the correct household where activity can be both online and offline. The partner provides user-level.
• Unique targeting: This includes linear TV capabilities and real-time audience targeting.

 3. Be creative and compelling.

It’s important to create compelling and relevant ads that will capture the attention of your target audience. Compelling ads will include high-quality visuals, engaging copy, and strong calls to action to encourage users to take the next steps.

As more consumers get involved with CTV, they will become ad-adverse. This means that unique advertising strategies, messages, and visuals will be essential to continue gaining interest. Consider the following three examples of unique formats:

• DIRECTV pause ads.
• Press “select” on your device’s remote to expand the interactive ad.
• QR codes.

Creating unique advertising campaigns is one of the most important things you can do. Even if you reach your target audience, what good does it do if they have no interest in what you are selling? Be compelling, be creative, and stand out from the crowd.

Now Is the Time to Invest in CTV Advertising

Navigating the growing world of CTV advertising can be challenging, but with a good plan and a good partner, you can stay on top of the game and ahead of your competition.

If you’re interested in learning more about CTV advertising or are ready to get started today, learn more about Digilant’s Advanced TV solutions here or contact our team today!

In today’s economic landscape, advertisers have their work cut out for them. They must balance the pressure of a projected economic downturn while also ensuring their spot in the marketplace remains solid.

These can be overwhelming demands and, as such, require a balance of using strategic tactics while making the best use of your digital advertising budgets to ensure success.

How Does Inflation Impact Businesses?

As inflation rises, consumers become more cautious with spending and are less likely to make discretionary purchases. This makes reaching and persuading consumers more difficult, as they might be more focused on saving money and less receptive to advertising messages.

Let’s add another factor: Consumer habits are quickly changing. As an advertiser, you might feel comfortable investing in traditional forms of media. Yet as consumers move toward newer channels like digital audio and CTV, you must make a choice: continue depending on these channels knowing there might be a smaller, less engaged audience or shift your media budget and test the waters of these new emerging channels.

4 Steps for Effective Digital Advertising

Fortunately, there are ways to get the most out of all these scenarios. Here are four steps to prepare your brand for strategic pivots and bake unforeseen circumstances into your digital advertising budget.

1. Assess the current state of your marketing efforts.

Now is a good time for your brand to check in on strategy and reflect on where you fall within the market. While the start of the year is always a good time for planning and new projects, remember that frequent check-ins throughout the year will ensure you’re meeting your goals and spending media dollars wisely.

Start by answering the following questions:

• What is our current impact on the market?
• What is our value proposition as consumers face a more difficult decision regarding where they spend their money?
• What is our value add in comparison to our competitors?
• Where are we losing consumers in the sales funnel?
• What stories or ad types move the needle with consumers?
• Where can we shift ad spending to target these successes?
• What will be most important to ensure success through the end of the year?

After all, understanding who your target audience is and what they are looking for can help you create more effective and relevant ads.

2. Focus on value and relevance.

After answering the above questions, you’ll have a clear understanding of who your audience is and what they prioritize from the brands they make purchases from. This will be a great help in creating ads that clearly demonstrate value to your target audience. This might entail ads that highlight the benefits of your product or service or a short case study of how you can help them solve a problem or meet a need.

Above all, fight the urge to cut your branding budget. Some advertisers look to pivot their strategy away from brand building and toward performance channels. However, general brand awareness ads can have a great impact on performance, as they fuel awareness, consideration, and reach — all things the brand needs to achieve sustainable growth vs. short-term customer acquisition.

3. Be flexible and adaptable.

Given the economic outlook for 2023, marketers will likely reduce ad spending in the new year. As media costs rise, you must make tough advertising decisions on where to get the most profit and sway through digital advertising innovation.

Remember, the economic climate can change quickly. As such, you must regularly monitor and analyze the performance of your ads and adjust as needed to ensure they are effective. Fortunately, implementing strong marketing analytics at the start of your campaigns can help you quickly pivot your advertising budget away from areas that aren’t working well and toward tactics or channels that are.

 4. Optimize for mobile.

As mentioned above, when budgets are tighter, ensuring you reach your audience as effectively as possible is a huge priority. More and more consumers are using their smartphones to access the internet, so you must optimize your ads for mobile devices. This optimization can include using responsive design and mobile-friendly ad formats to ensure your ads look good and perform well on mobile devices.

When it comes to the mobile experience, testing is critical. Testing and utilizing analytics tools will ensure a seamless user experience and give you confidence when deciding where to dial up or dial back advertising spending.

Take Your Advertising Strategies to the Next Level With Digilant

Economic uncertainty doesn’t mean that advertisers can’t take a risk. It simply means you need to know what you do well to continue doing so. Then, make data-driven, strategic decisions to invest in new opportunities. In the face of economic uncertainty, rooting your decisions in strategy and data will allow your company to weather economic storms and be prepared for success in the coming year.

At Digilant, we’re here to provide you with the tools, resources, and know-how to make it happen. Contact our team of experts today to learn more about how digital advertising innovation can help your business.

2022 was an excellent year for connected TV (CTV) as more consumers switched their viewing habits from cable to connected platforms. In 2014, only 50% of households in the U.S. were using connected platforms. By 2018, that figure had grown to 74%, and today it’s 87% — a vast majority and proof that CTV is the place for advertisers to be.

As viewers have switched, providers and networks have followed. What was once an environment of one of two options is now flooded with streaming platforms and OTT devices. In an environment packed with streaming-first (Netflix) and nearly every TV network launching a streaming platform, the opportunity to reach consumers through ad-supported CTV content gets more and more interesting.

Consequently, ad spending is increasingly in line with viewership. In 2021, advertisers spent an estimated $14 billion on CTV advertising alone. As an advertiser, you know the numbers don’t lie. If you’re not already gearing up to focus more on CTV in the coming year, now is the time to start.

What Connected TV Advertising Trends Mean for Brands

In years past, CTV once had a unique barrier of entry that caused many advertisers to consider it an unapproachable channel for successful marketing efforts. Because streaming giants such as Netflix and HBO Max only had premium tiers without ads, the platfrom did not inherently lend itself to advertising.

Fortunately, with the advent of ad-supported tiers and more streaming platforms entering the game, advertisers now have a wealth of options to choose from when considering advertising on CTV. Rather than relying on the limited means CTV once had for advertising, you now have the ability to create advertising strategies for some of the biggest names in streaming. In doing so, you also have the opportunity to reach a wider audience than ever before, all thanks to the recent CTV trend of ad-supported tiers.

How to Break Into Ad-Supported CTV Tiers

With all of these new options and opportunities for advertising success, you might still be unsure how to begin. As an advertiser, you know how important it is to understand these trends and put your content where viewers are. Yet many have questions about getting started with advertising on CTV, such as:

• How do I scale ads to reach as many viewers as possible?
• How does ad buying actually work?
• Do I have to buy CTV ads by platform and individual provider?
• Are there specific networks to be on the lookout for?
• What is the cost of entry?
• Are there any monthly minimums?

Fortunately, we have answers to your CTV questions and solutions for advertising blind spots you might be facing. Despite how ubiquitous connected TV is becoming, your business might face challenges when first obtaining placement on these newer tiers. You might even fall into the trap of using only a single platform or network. This is why educating yourself on the many facets of CTV is so important. As a creative and strategist, you must learn how to get your message across via different platforms and make the most of running specific advertisements on ad-supported CTV platforms.

Learning how CTV ad targeting works is also crucial. As noted, everyone is streaming television, but one of the key differentiators and benefits of streaming vs. linear is the ability to reach your specific audience with targeted data rather than casting a wide net on all tiers. While new technology is constantly entering the market as CTV becomes more popular, every advertiser must use targeting practices that best suit their goals, audience, and budget.

Different types of targeting are available, but you should spend more time and energy on contextual targeting vs. audience targeting.

Audience targeting:

With audience targeting, brands can obtain first-party data from the publisher or the advertiser and target with third-party data from prebuilt audience segments. You can then target audiences based in categories built from:

• Deterministic “connected life” data (including viewership and mobile app usage data).
• Machine learning capabilities to enhance existing audience segments.
• Curated segments from an advertiser’s first-party data and preferred partner data sets.
• Third-party audiences that can be enhanced with Samsung’s proprietary data or scaled through Samsung technology.

Contextual targeting:

With contextual targeting, brands target ads according to inventory or content, thematically, by location, or alongside a particular title.

How to Get a Placement on CTV’s Ad-Supported Tiers

As the data shows, advertising on connected TV is a surefire way to reach the majority of viewers. However, you must understand how CTV works and avoid any potential pitfalls to ensure your ad-supported content finds success. The following three steps will help you on your journey:

1.Start by exploring platforms.

As an advertiser, it’s essential to determine your audience’s viewing preferences. This will guide which platforms or channels you want to prioritize. With platforms in mind, this information will impact which ad networks you ultimately forge partnerships with. Understanding which networks have access to your brand’s ideal type of content is an essential investment for advertisers.

You can choose between popular networks like The Trade Desk, a demand-side platform for ad buyers looking to buy ads programmatically, or Alphabet, which has expanded alongside the growth of YouTube TV and hosts a growing library of professional and amateur content.

2. Invest in different ad creative.

Gone are the day of only relying on 15- and 30-second, pre-roll, midroll, post-roll, and traditional ad spots. Brands can now consider a variety of creative formats, such as:

• Display ads.
• Video ads.
• Pop-ups.

Advertising on connected TV gives your brand different creative opportunities that it might not have encountered before. Depending on which platforms you invest in, you’ll be exposed to new ad types and designs. And because consumers are viewing content on different devices, there is the ability to get your ad in front of them in unique ways.

3. Layer on advanced targeting.

While choosing certain channels or networks, you will naturally place your ad in front of a general audience that might align with your brand. But you can further make your ads stand out to the right viewer.

You can benefit from the additional audience targeting available via connected TV to ensure your message gets in front of the best possible viewer for your brand. Consider some of the targeting attributes from earlier, like contextual targeting and audience targeting. Explore various targeting modes to get the most out of this advanced form of cross-channel advertising.

Now Is the Time to Invest in the Ad-Supported CTV World

If you’re ready to connect with customers in new ways, with fresh designs and formats, and on the channels where they are increasingly spending their time, contact our team today.

Find out more about how Digilant works with brands to understand the emerging world of connected TV and help you capitalize on its opportunities for ad-supported streaming.

The curiosity surrounding automatic content recognition technology (ACR) is surging — advertisers are thirsting for more data, better targeting, and top-notch reporting. ACR technology, which uses audio and video fingerprints to identify and recognize television content, is poised to provide solutions. But if you choose to leverage this powerful new tool, how can you ensure you’re getting the most out of your ACR campaigns?

 

What Is Automatic Content Recognition?

 

As an advertiser, you can use ACR data to leverage data from streaming/CTV content to better understand and target your audiences in a way we haven’t yet been able to do with linear TV data. ACR data is about more than just viewership. Not only can you gauge the highest video completion rates from each network and the top current programming on these networks, but you can also gain audience insights such as app ownership rates, device activity, and the digital interests of each user.

 

For example, Samsung smart TVs come with ACR measurement capabilities that can gauge viewership. Additionally, their ad retargeting allows companies to reach out to viewers who either spotted or missed their television ads by targeting them through mobile, tablet, or computer screens and over-the-top (OTT) streaming services.

 

How Does ACR Data Work? 

1. Unboxing and consent

ACR launches when someone turns on a Wi-Fi-powered device for the first time and then selects to opt in to audio/video data collection during initial setup.

 

2. Fragment analysis 

Once the user opts in to data collection, the device provider can analyze small fragments of images or sounds from the content they consume over time.

 

3. Content matching 

ACR processes these tiny samples, uploads them to cloud storage, and then cross-references and matches them to existing data.

 

4. Personalized targeting 

As an advertiser, you can link devices together to better reach consumers with the ads they’ll be most interested in. This includes classifying consumers by a variety of characteristics, including their location, language, apps used, TV commercial exposure, device brands and models used, the TV and internet services they subscribe to, and even the games they play.

 

For example, our partnership with Samsung allows us to craft and utilize example audience segments to better target our advertising, such as our Samsung affinity audiences, which are made up of deterministic “connected life” data, such as viewership and mobile app usage.

 

Long-Term Benefits of ACR Data

 

With ACR, you can:

 

Target specific programs and channels.

By analyzing ACR data, you can identify the TV shows and channels that are most popular among your target audience, aiming for specific programs and channels and increasing the likelihood that the right people will see your ads.

 

Measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

ACR data can be used to track the TV shows and channels that users watch, which can provide insights into the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. This can help advertisers determine which programs and channels deliver the best results and optimize their campaigns accordingly.

 

Provide more personalized and relevant ads.

By knowing what TV shows and channels users are watching, advertisers can tailor their ads to be more relevant to the user’s interests and preferences. This can make the ads more engaging, effective, and helpful for advertisers looking to build stronger relationships with their customers.

 

3 Ways ACR Measurement Technology Can Increase ROI

 

Overall, ACR technology offers a more holistic ACR measurement of campaigns, helping you better understand audience reach and engagement across linear, CTV, mobile, and desktop campaigns in a single report. But ACR has other benefits to boost ROI, too. With ACR measurement capabilities, you can do the following:

 

1. Track ads more effectively.

As an advertiser, you’re always looking for more effective ways to measure how your ads are performing. While tracking has come a long way, you don’t have much insight into performance unless you know for certain that the user played and watched the ad. Without this information, you don’t have holistic metrics, and that could lead to inflated data on impressions, completion rates, plays, and more.

 

ACR technology offers a solution to this problem because it recognizes exactly which content users are playing. This capability ultimately gives you a clearer picture of ad delivery and engagement, allowing you to make more effective advertising decisions.

 

2. Connect your efforts across linear and digital.

One of the biggest benefits of ACR technology is that it measures across all forms of content that users view on an ACR-enabled TV, both streaming and linear.

 

You can use this data to understand any overlap between people who watch traditional vs. streaming ads. The data can also help you cap the frequency with which your ad appears so you don’t overspend on the same consumers.

 

3. Understand the full impact of ads on your audience.

The data you obtain from ACR technology can build profiles of your audience based on the content they view. These profiles can then be tied to an IP address, an email address, or even a street address and used in tandem with other forms of data and existing profiles — such as demographic groups, income levels, or behavioral data — to create an even more holistic view of your audiences.

 

After all, the more information you have about your audience, the better you can understand their customer journey and which ads are resulting in sales.

 

Ready to Get Started With ACR?

 

ACR campaigns can be a powerful tool for advertisers, offering valuable insights into target audiences and allowing the targeting of specific programs and channels. By leveraging ACR technology, you can have a better understanding of the impact your ads have on your audience, leading to improved ROI and stronger relationships with your customers.

 

If you’re ready to dive into ACR campaigns, reach out to our team at Digilant for help getting started. We will provide the necessary information to build a strategy that is unique to your business, niche, and goals.

The past several years have accelerated the already speedy transformation of digital media. Ten years ago, digital media was primarily consumed on a desktop or laptop. Today, digital media is almost everywhere we look, with phones, tablets, laptops, connected TV, digital audio, and smart speakers. Consumers spend more time online than ever before, and new digital channels are constantly emerging to reach them better.

This continuous digital transformation means that as a marketer, you have an extraordinary amount of data available when measuring digital marketing effectiveness. It is reported that at least 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day. While most marketers agree that there can never be too much data, the complexity of the data has become one of the top challenges when determining how to accurately measure digital marketing ROI.

With all of that in mind, it is safe to say that the digital media transformation has led and is continuing to lead the way for a data and analytics transformation. But as so many digital marketing trends are born and new opportunities are created every day, are you keeping up with the changing tides?

Understanding New Opportunities

Each new digital marketing channel brings new digital marketing metrics, new data, and different analytical practices to understand the success of these campaigns. Maintaining the tools, personnel, and technology required for this ever-changing landscape can be daunting. As a result, some advertisers avoid incorporating these new channels altogether, while others face confusion or apprehension.

Many advertisers analyze new data through the lens of old data, but most new digital marketing channels cannot be compared 1:1 with traditional channels. Instead, you must view the overall performance and impact of your digital marketing campaign metrics with a new mindset — one that considers the differences in KPI benchmarks. For example:

• CTV measures household views rather than individual views.
• DOOH measures foot traffic rather than CTR.
• Podcasts measure referral traffic rather than downloads (audience size).

Additionally, some advertisers assume that CTV, DOOH, and digital audio can only be used for awareness campaigns. In reality, these channels can support conversion- and consideration-based KPIs as well. Here are some tips for success to help you make the most of these new channels:

• Direct consumers to a landing page by including a QR code in DOOH advertisements.
• Track conversion metrics to DOOH ads through foot traffic and sales life studies.
• Incorporate “shake me” units into digital audio advertisements, which direct consumers to a landing page when they shake their phones during an ad placement.
• Utilize ACR technology to retarget consumers on thier mobile devices who already saw a CTV advertisement.

How to Accurately Measure Digital Marketing Metrics

Impressions, clicks, views, video completion rates, etc., are the backbone of digital advertising and continue to hold great value. However, with the vast amount of media consumers take in — including ads — simply getting and maintaining a consumer’s attention can be just as valuable. Quantifying that a consumer saw an ad and paid attention to it is an essential metric to ensure your digital marketing strategies are performing successfully.

In an environment where advertisers have to balance traditional metrics, consumer attention, and new emerging channels, we’ve outlined three tips to help take your KPI benchmarking, analytics, and data-tracking capabilities to the next level:

1.Consider benchmarks and goals.

Considering varying capabilities and KPI benchmarks is the first step, but knowing how to measure success and strategize new campaigns within these new channels is key.

New digital marketing channels offer insight into consumer behavior beyond traditional digital marketing methods. As such, there are more opportunities to utilize new metrics to reach a target audience. For example, you can now dig into digital marketing data that showcases which types of content your audience is most engaged with. This will further help you create a content strategy that continues to engage consumer interest and boost brand visibility.

2. Focus on specific measurements.

It is important to remember that new channels will continue to enter the digital landscape and that consumer behaviors will continue to evolve. As such, you shouldn’t completely shift your analytics strategy; instead, you should broaden the scope to focus on metrics where measurement is consistent: return on ad spend, cost per lead, and cost per acquisition.

• Return on ad spend:Revenue generated by the ad divided by the cost of the ad. This will help you visualize the amount of revenue generated from advertisements and which advertising campaigns are successful.
• Cost per lead:Total marketing spend divided by total new leads. This metric can help you determine how much money you need to spend to generate new customers.
• Cost per acquisition:Total marketing spend divided by total revenue. This measurement is similar to CPL in that it provides data to help you determine how much money you need to spend on advertising to promote purchases or other desired actions.

3. Perform regular data analysis.

A good data tracker should always be transparent and omnipresent. However, as an advertiser, it’s beneficial to return to the data monthly and check in on overall progress toward your chosen KPIs.

Day-to-day data collection can get confusing and convoluted, especially when you have multiple campaigns. Maintaining a regular check-in schedule is essential to ensure you have a complete understanding of which advertising efforts are working well and which campaigns need improvements.

Ready to Take the First Step?

To understand the influx of data and get the clearest ROI picture, you must have omnichannel data and analytics practices connecting all digital media channels. This requires having the tools and team in place to both analyze unique data points from every channel and act quickly to implement data sets and keep consumers moving through the funnel.

At Digilant, we’re here to help. Our team of experts knows the importance of measuring digital marketing KPIs, and we can help you determine the most beneficial metrics for your brand, too.

Connect with our team if you’re ready to begin measuring the effectiveness of your digital marketing.

Omnichannel and integrated marketing strategies are often pitted against each other. But in the case of integrated marketing vs. omnichannel marketing, the distinction isn’t necessarily helpful or accurate. Sometimes it only leads to confusion as brands attempt to create excellent consumer experiences with varying marketing strategies.

What’s the Difference Between an Omnichannel and Integrated Marketing Strategy?

There is one key difference between these two strategies. Integrated marketing focuses on seamless customer communication, while omnichannel marketing focuses on creating a seamless customer journey. Simply put, it’s the difference between communication and implementation.

The goals of these marketing strategies can be slightly different, too. The objectives of an integrated marketing strategy are to increase brand recognition, maintain brand consistency, and garner new and existing customer trust. Meanwhile, the goals of an omnichannel strategy might be to personalize the customer experience and move customers down the funnel with more speed and fewer snags.

However, both strategies have evolved drastically since they first arrived.

Omnichannel marketing, first introduced in 2010, began as a way of connecting brick-and-mortar and desktop experiences. Now, it describes how consumers use all their connected devices alongside traditional channels to shop and experience brands in the digital age.

Integrated marketing has a more extensive history, beginning in 1989 when it was first introduced as “integrated marketing communications” to streamline efforts across several promotional channels. It began with traditional forms of advertising, such as PR and direct mail, but continues to expand into digital advertising channels today.

While they’ve had unique histories, and both forms are effective in isolation, advertisers are beginning to see that these two strategies could be even more powerful when used together.

When to Combine Omnichannel and Integrated Marketing

Not only can these two strategies be used together, but they should. Integrated marketing strategies layered on top of omnichannel strategies can elevate your campaign messaging. A combined approach balances the personalization and targeting of omnichannel with the brand consistency and trustworthiness of integrated marketing.

However, teams must ensure they understand why they’re combining strategies. Some of the errors advertisers make when trying to implement dual strategies include:

• Not connecting the dots.Both strategies require data to be obtained and utilized across many channels. This can be challenging as consumers continue diversifying their digital habits, but it is essential for developing a 360-degree view of a consumer.
• Not having enough content.Customers expect a world of content personalized for them across every channel. When implementing these strategies, advertisers need to match consumers’ interests.
• Isolating offline and online channels.When offline and online channels are measured in isolation, advertisers don’t get a holistic view of the customer journey. They can’t tell which channels can be best attributed to sales, conversions, or another metric.
• Losing steam.Marketing initiatives like these are significant undertakings and require tremendous time and resources, even once your strategy is up and running. Complacency can kill a promising start.
• Ignoring results by channel.Marketers can get sucked into singular campaigns; instead, they need to look holistically at ROI and how campaigns perform across channels, devices, and audience segments.

How to Create an Integrated Marketing Plan Across Channels

You don’t have to think about your marketing strategies as mutually exclusive paths. Instead, you can access the benefits of omnichannel marketing while creating a seamless, cohesive, and integrated strategy across digital channels. The following tips are great places to get started.

1. Establish clear goals.

While your ultimate marketing goal is likely sales, your brand needs to establish more manageable and targeted goals that support this overarching mission. Do you want to establish yourself as a leader in a particular area? Increase brand awareness among a certain audience or region? Boost the profile of a new product launch?

If these are your key goals, what subgoals will support their success? With goals come benchmarks, and with benchmarks, you can track and measure progress so you can stay on track toward your goals no matter what combination of strategies you’re using.

2. Encourage collaboration, not competition.

Using a combination of integrated and omnichannel marketing strategies has an inevitable impact on how your team works. You might have members of your team who are used to working in isolation, but working collaboratively is vital when you’re learning how to build an integrated marketing plan. It’s the only way you can ensure your messaging is consistent throughout and working to support team goals.

Each channel will still have an individually important role, but the overall collaboration of initiatives is what success will be benchmarked against.

3. Develop a balance of consistency and newness.

While an integrated marketing approach works to create a cohesive message across channels, cohesive doesn’t necessarily mean repetitive. The same message over and over again might turn customers away from your brand. So be ready to invest time in unique, targeted ads that fit your brand and the channels they’re being served on. Ensure these created assets are set up to be adaptable as you test and try new formats and new messaging on various channels.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

At Digilant, we know that true success comes from a combination of sources. Omnichannel and integrated marketing strategies have unique benefits that require marketers to understand their subtleties and how audiences relate to the content they’re seeing. However, when used together, you can unlock very powerful consumer experiences.

To learn more about which marketing strategy is right for your business’s needs, contact our team of experts today. We’d be happy to work with you to find the combination of strategies that will put your company on the path to success.

From content creation to implementation, AI continues to prove itself a practical resource that has a place in almost any marketing strategy. The next step is implementing AI into your contextual advertising strategies.

Before the introduction of AI in contextual advertising, most marketers had to rely on keyword or topic targeting strategies. Advertisers chose from keywords identified by the publisher that described the content or broad topics correlating to the page’s topic that could relate to a brand’s campaign. Both options were risky, with the possibility of an incorrect analysis, double-meaning words, homophones and homographs, and a lack of trust that the ideal target audience would be reached.

AI became the critical tool contextual advertising was missing — a tool that provided a deeper understanding of a page’s intent and purpose. It also allowed advertisers to glean more knowledge about vital webpage elements like videos, images, and audio.

What Is the Value of Contextual Advertising?

Contextual advertising curated with AI targeting can create an ad experience that is relevant to the consumer and, therefore, an experience that supports campaign KPIs. Here’s why:

• Contextual advertising is privacy-centric.Two truths exist in the marketing world: Consumers want personalized shopping experiences, but they don’t want to feel like the internet (or any omnichannel marketing platform) is stalking them. These facts have left advertisers trying to generate a more natural aspect to the overall ad experience for consumers. Fortunately, contextual ads don’t require third-party cookies to place relevant ads in front of consumers. This means that personalization is possible without an undesirable invasion of privacy.
• Contextual advertising is relevant.Because this type of targeting eliminates the need for third-party cookies and consumer data, effective contextual targeting strategies can create a natural and relevant advertising experiencefor audiences. Consumers won’t question why an ad for cookware is placed within their favorite food bloggers’ site or why Warby Parker is advertising in The New York Times because these placements naturally makes sense. An advertising experience that makes sense results in less ad fatigue and more engagement, thus supporting KPIs.
• Contextual advertising is cost-effective. AI-driven contextual advertising is relatively affordable and easy to get started with. While it isn’t as niche as behavioral-based targeting, it is still an impactful tool that allows advertisers to reach a broadly targeted audience in a relevant environment. That connection, paired with high-quality creative and enticing messaging, can support KPIs by driving more website visits.

How to Create an Effective AI-Driven Contextual Advertising Strategy

There are a few steps you have to take to get the most out of implementing AI into your contextual advertising strategy. The following are the best ways to begin:

1. Understand what success means.

Before building a contextual advertising campaign, advertisers should determine what will ensure the campaign’s success. Is it being made to increase brand awareness? Drive consumers down the funnel? Increase conversions? Or something else?

Establishing this critical information will help you choose which ad types are the best investment for the specific contextual ad campaign. Additionally, setting clear objectives will ultimately determine clear indicators for success.

2. Diversify tactics and strategies.

Look beyond display ads.

Effective advertising never sticks to just one channel, which remains true for contextual ads. Advertisers implementing AI-driven contextual targeting strategies should be willing to look beyond display and consider search, social, audio, and video to reach consumers throughout the entire buying journey.

Because the most significant benefit of contextual ads is the ability to provide a relevant and natural advertising experience for the consumer, advertisers should set a frequency cap when diversifying contextual ads so the ad placement maintains that natural effect.

Find your audience and niche.

Diversifying can go beyond tactics to consider keywords and user intent when deciding where to place ads. When it comes to keywords, companies with larger pockets will easily outbid for keywords with a high search volume. It’s essential to carve out a niche for an ideal target audience and still consider using keywords with a smaller search volume. A smaller search volume with the right target audience is a highly effective strategy for contextual ads.

Consider intent to drive consumer action.

Lastly, advertisers should diversify by considering user intent. Consumers who are viewing review sites are most likely further into the buying journey than the average consumer. As such, ads may have a higher chance of being clicked on by a user who’s actively in that buying mindset.

3. Think of the big picture.

As with any advertising effort, the best way to create a lasting and positive effect is by asking, “What happens next?”

Utilizing AI-driven targeting in contextual advertising will create more relevant advertising experiences and opportunities for consumers to connect with your brand. But what happens after that connection? Preparing for the target audience’s next step with fast, easy-to-navigate landing pages, personalized user experiences, and a valuable product is the most important component of any digital campaign.

Incorporate Targeted Contextual Ads Into Your Omnichannel Strategy

While AI-driven contextual advertising has many benefits, it should always be used in collaboration with other strategies. As an advertiser, it’s essential to consider how contextual ads work within your complete strategy. Can first- or zero-party data be collected for email drip campaigns? Can ads be retargeted on social media? As with every tactic, it’s important to look at each section as one piece of the puzzle rather than the whole picture.

At Digilant, we’re here to help you find the advertising strategy that works for you. Connect with our team to learn more about AI-driven contextual advertising and how your brand can use it for success.

Consumers expect a seamless brand experience across all channels. Fortunately, you can improve this experience by delivering personalized ads on traditional, legacy, and emerging channels.

 

Advertisements are a valuable asset in any marketer’s toolbox, allowing consumers to gain knowledge of a brand or product or find solutions to their pain points. However, understanding your consumers’ entire customer journey and where they spend time online is essential to create a comprehensive but not overwhelming omnichannel advertising strategy.

 

Many consumers find viewing the same ads in the same place over and over to be bothersome and annoying. Statistics show that more than 69% of U.S. adults think that ads on streaming services are extremely repetitive, while more than 79% report being bothered by this. An integrated digital advertising strategy connects all advertising channels to ensure consumers are reached but not bothered during their viewing.

 

In 2022, advertisers need to engage in effective practices to ensure consumer satisfaction. And considering the uptick in consumers spending more time streaming TV and using social and audio platforms like Spotify and TikTok, now is the time to test out emerging channels if your business hasn’t begun to do so already.

 

Maximizing New Channels

 

Digital marketing has evolved in the past decade, with consumers using legacy channels such as radio and cable TV less and less. We’re seeing consumers even moving away from “older” social platforms like Facebook. This evolution is primarily due to the emergence of new digital channels. Think Spotify rather than radio, Hulu rather than cable TV, and TikTok rather than Facebook. All of these newer channels offer unique advertising experiences that advertisers should be eager to engage with to expand traditional advertising forms.

 

Utilizing integrated marketing best practices will ensure you can advertise your brand on multiple channels and reach the widest audience possible. Given the major shift in the number of consumers using online social and audio platforms, it only makes sense to incorporate effective advertisements in these locations.

 

Optimizing for Today’s Consumers

 

Many advertisers are excited about these emerging channels and the opportunities to get their message in front of consumers in new and engaging formats. Some have begun to dip their toes into these practices with test budgets.

 

If you’re in this bucket, have found success, and are ready to make these emerging channels a mainstay of your digital advertising strategy, you’re an “optimizer.”

 

Optimizers have already taken a few steps into emerging channels, but they know they need to be more strategic and purposeful to optimize their investments. By understanding how to best work as an optimizer, you can ensure your marketing campaigns run as efficiently as possible.

If you’re an optimizer, you already have successful advertising campaigns under your belt but often find yourself looking for ways to amplify your business further and generate consumer recognition. You have tested several methods to find which works best for your business. But you are always looking to streamline processes, identify and eliminate redundant efforts, and increase the efficiency of the overall process. Much of the time, you understand that this comes from implanting new tools, channels, and tactics into your strategy, so you’re always on the lookout for the next best thing and ways to, unsurprisingly, optimize your current strategy.

 

Steps Optimizers Can Take for Success

 

As an optimizer, you have a lot on your plate and ambitious goals. Fortunately, we’ve outlined three simple things you can do to streamline your advertising process and set your marketing efforts up for success:

 

1. Make the most of emerging channels.

Creating advertisements specifically tailored for CTV, digital audio, podcasts, and DOOH is the first step toward marketing success in the digital age. As you continue to work within these platforms, you’ll reach a point where it is essential to shift these traditional “lean-back” channels into lean-forward channels.

 

This shift might look like utilizing QR codes for interaction with CTV or DOOH ads or implementing unique ad formats that inspire action from an audience. It’s essential to stay informed about the latest channels and platform developments so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to improve the experience for your customers and shift your investments in these channels from awareness tactics to conversions.

 

2. Consider blended buys.

In the digital age, it’s important to look beyond direct publisher or channel-centric buys. Consider blended buys to drive cost efficiency down and to help optimize toward that ideal omnichannel strategy. This will help you reach your goals faster and more effectively.

 

3. Integrate cross-channel reporting.

Ensuring your advertising campaigns are tracked and reported across all channels and platforms will help guarantee you understand how your new media investments are paying off. With any new form of advertisement, you must track your digital marketing KPI benchmarks to see what is and is not working. You can additionally use this information to drive your return on investment.

 

Ready to Take the Next Step?

 

It’s an exciting time in digital marketing because of new opportunities and channels. However, advertisers often have to do more with fewer resources. So optimising what is working well will enable you to reach the largest audience most strategically.

 

Despite your best marketing efforts, some tasks are too big for optimizers alone. Seeking the help of an agile media partner would allow you to gain exclusive partnerships across the entire media landscape. Numerous factors contribute to media costs and performance. Fortunately, working with an agile media partner will ensure your marketing efforts are performing to the best of their ability, no matter the situation.

 

At Digilant, we work across a full suite of industry-leading vendors atop our analytics expertise and top-tier service to ensure our clients are equipped with the best media strategies and plans to reach their target audiences and goals. Download “The New Media Playbook for Advertisers” to see how these media strategies can work for your business in 2023.

 

Contact us if you’re ready to learn more about future-proof advertising solutions and get the most out of omnichannel marketing.