Victor Wong, CEO at Thunder shows how marketers can replicate the creative optimization model frequently used in search and social for improving the results of display advertising
Creative optimization is no longer reserved for search and social. Thanks to emerging solutions such as creative management platforms (CMPs), programmatic creative tools, and dynamic creative optimization platforms (DCOs), display advertisers can leverage optimization best practices to drive better results for their campaigns.
CMPs and programmatic creative tools allow advertisers to quickly and simply create multiple versions of their creative, without sacrificing pixel perfection. You can also edit a single ad unit and propagate those changes across multiple ad sizes. DCOs afford similar capabilities via a data-driven automated solution. They require a greater initial investment, but are the most hands-off option.
In both search and social media advertising, you optimize creative on an ongoing basis to improve performance, noting the impact of changes big and small. The best-performing pay-per-click (PPC) and social campaigns deliver a relevant message to a specific audience that is tested, optimized, and refreshed throughout the campaign’s duration.
These new creative optimization technologies help you approach display campaigns in the same way, using data to inform creative choices and to more efficiently reach the right audience with the right message.
Here are some practical tips and tactics for using creative optimization to improve display advertising results, inspired by search and social best practices.
Message Relevancy
Display ads are typically more broadly targeted than PPC and social campaigns, which allow us to reach viewers with incredible precision, based on demographics, behaviors, and interests. But, we should still prioritize message relevancy as we craft our display creative. Consider your target groups. How do they differ? Do different aspects of your product or service appeal to them? Create audience profiles based on traits and preferences just as you do in search and social. Then, you can customize your ad based on each target group.
Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter ask you to identify the purpose of your campaign at its onset, and they use different ad formats for different objectives. For example, are you trying to drive clicks, grow your fan base, or promote app downloads? Your objective should influence your ad’s format and message – a point that is especially poignant as the display industry embraces more advanced ad formats, such as native and rich media.
It is also a best practice on search and social to fine-tune your ad based on the device it is running on. This makes sense, as you can expect different user behavior when someone is on their mobile phone as opposed to a desktop. Heed this advice as you devise your display strategy.
Scheduling & Sequencing
You work so hard to understand your audience, and it is easy to think of them as a single individual with a distinct, stagnant set of characteristics. But, timing influences behavior. It is common practice on Facebook to day-part your ads. Why not try this with display?
Let’s say you are promoting a restaurant. If you serve an ad asking viewers what they’d like to eat for dinner right after they’ve had lunch, it probably won’t be as successful as it would be a few hours later when your audience isn’t already full.
When we advertise on search and social, it is best practice to consider the audience’s journey down the marketing funnel and to strategize creative accordingly. Try this approach in display advertising by using creative optimization tools to sequence your ads.
For example, try running a brand awareness ad for a few weeks, then one about a key product benefit, then, finally, an offer. With this approach, you have primed your audience for that last call-to-action (CTA). They have an understanding about your value proposition and are thus more likely to be enticed by a promotion.
These techniques will help you craft effective creative. You can also use creative optimization tools to test your messages and further improve your campaign and your knowledge of your customers and prospects.
How to split test
In both search and social advertising, it is common to have variations of every ad, and to try out different elements, such as images, call-to-actions, colors, and title cases. Even subtle changes can yield very different results, and savvy advertisers use these findings to inform subsequent campaigns.
Now you can use creative optimization tools to split test your display ads, too, but it has to be approached intelligently. When testing, focus on one element at a time. Begin by asking, what are you trying to learn about your audience by testing this creative?
Testing something like a color choice can produce positive results, but this is your chance to learn more about your audience’s interests and trigger points. For example, do they prefer people to product? Which product benefit is most likely to ignite action? Define the questions you’d like answered, then design your split test to do so.
You’ll get the most from split testing when it’s done in the context of the medium, so don’t analyze creative in a vacuum. Ideally, you will consider your audience and the media as you assess your results.
Be aware of opportunity costs
Impressions aren’t free, and testing multiple versions of an ad can get expensive quickly, especially if you are using a dynamic creative optimization platform, as they make it easy to run multivariate tests comparing every little detail. Before you know it, you could have thousands of different ad versions, and you’ll have to buy a lot of media before you can glean anything that’s statistically significant.
Even if you are comparing just 10 versions of an ad, you must monitor opportunity costs. If two versions fare poorly, you could have saved money by substituting those versions with better-performing options. You have to ask yourself if the potential insights you’ll glean from the test justify the cost of the experiment.
Use your first-party data
In our quest for new customers, we often overlook first-party data and the leads we’ve already cultivated. Take a page from social media advertising and consider whether data from your CRM could be used in other ways.
Try marketing to people you have already formed a relationship with. For example, Facebook makes it simple to target an email list of your newsletter subscribers. You can nurture those leads, using specific marketing messages to deliver value and, hopefully, turn someone who is aware of your brand into a customer, fan, or full-fledged evangelist.
Manage your campaign on an ongoing basis
When you run social or search campaigns, you plan for dynamic management and make tweaks to improve performance based on your observations. Display advertising can now be approached similarly, as a continuous process. It is no longer a “fire and forget” method; rather, it becomes a conversation, an ongoing effort in which you make changes as necessary to drive results – results that can help you market more effectively, assuming you do something with what you’ve learned.
Creative optimization will help you discern what is and isn’t working, so you can stop serving ineffective messages and spend your budget more wisely.
