Hearing about new social networks, apps and advertising platforms is common. There is so much hype around them that we sometimes forget the importance of campaign planning.
So many times I have heard, “we have to run ads in networks A and B”, just because I heard it’s a popular place for advertising or a competitor is doing it. This doesn’t mean it will fit your purpose.
If you’re overwhelmed by the number of channels you manage and want to save time, stick around. I’ll share some solid frameworks to justify testing or not testing a new channel.
If you have a tight budget and have to focus on delivering results from day one, there isn’t much room to test specific channels, in many cases, can be a drain on your budget. However, staying ahead in channels you already know work for you and adopting advancements can undoubtedly give you an advantage. Get ahead by having a close partnership with media vendors that work and being able to beta test their newest products.
In any other circumstance, the approach I like to take is taking the due diligence to understand what your priorities are by answering the following questions:
- Is the new channel aligned to support your objectives?
- Business objectives – These are delivering on revenue – As simple as $
- Marketing objectives – These deliver on customers acquired – Number of customers or accounts.
- Media objectives – These deliver on media results – leads generated, website visits, brand awareness.
Different businesses will be at different stages and will follow different strategies but think of it as more essential as from top to bottom.
- Is the new channel a place where your target audience spends time?
- Aligned with the business strategy, identify what the market you’ll be focusing on is: Is it a small business, enterprise, individuals, etc
- Identify the target personas: Who they are, the demographics, geographies, firmographics, needs, pain points and, very notably, their media consumption habits through their decision-making process.
- Can you meet behaviour and intent with the targeting capabilities of the advertising platform?
- Can you measure the effectiveness of running a test in the new channel?
- Have you run similar campaigns in the past and can you partially forecast what you can achieve with a test like it? Set expectations for yourself and others.
- The recommended approach is also to calculate how much you need to invest in getting the campaign running and have room for optimisation and further testing.
- Can you measure the impact of the campaign?
- Is the channel/platform emerging or growing quickly?
It is essential to know that each channel can play a particular role in a marketing campaign as is better suited to deliver on specific metrics, budgets, target audiences and industries. I will share a couple of examples:
| Objective | Awareness | Engagement | Conversion |
| Media channel | Display / Paid social / Video / events | Email / Webinars / lead generation / content syndication / paid social | Paid search / retargeting tactics / nurturing email |
| Audience | Broad / Top funnel | Mid funnel | Narrow / Bottom funnel |
| Measurement | Impressions – reach – accounts impacted – incremental growth – post impression conversion / Brand perception – Brand recognition | CTR – Leads – MQL’s Registrations | Sales / Volume / Revenue |
Use the above table to define a measurement framework that will help you define success and align on the metrics you’re focused on depending on the role of the channel.
- What are the targeting capabilities of this channel/platform?
Analyse or test the segmentation capabilities the platform can provide for the targeting you’re looking to achieve. If you’re looking for a way to reach incremental users, you’ll be interested in high reach. You can reach a wider audience by using demographic segmentation, geographic and targeting by topics and keywords.
If you’re looking for performance, then it will be very beneficial to do narrow targeting based on behaviour or interests (that usually drive better performance).
More advanced capabilities would have the opportunity to build lookalike audiences. Which is usually only available for large networks.
It can be interesting to know what ad formats are available. If these are video, image or text and also look at the placement of the ads. Some niche channels can have some very valuable email lists or content inventory that can be extremely valuable.
- What is their pricing model?
The volume and cost. They might represent this in different ways. When it comes to smaller channels, they will provide monthly visits, reach, or impressions. The cost model could differ across platforms. This could be at CPM (cost per thousand impressions), CPC (Cost per click), or CLP/CPA (Cost per lead / Cost per Acquisition).
While figuring out what results from this platform you can achieve without testing them is hard, you can always find resources to compare with previous benchmarks. This can also help you potentially negotiate better terms.
There are circumstances where it’s better not even start a test. To do so when you are approached by an idea or a sales representative suggesting you advertise in their platform or channel. Go through the list above with the vendor and decide if it’s worth starting a test. Depending on the opportunity, you could even get free credit to test them out or account manager support.
I’ll share an example of a channel I have been considering as an advertising platform for some time. We tested and learned it wasn’t fit, so we stopped using it and focused on other better-suited ones. This was Quora. Initially, these seemed like a platform with huge potential to drive that mid to bottom-funnel traffic who were asking questions, who were at that consideration stage looking for information or even close to making a decision.
However, the platform targeting capabilities were very limited and the targeting too broad. When it came to using the platform to reach wider audiences to generate awareness, these seemed to be a challenge due to the limited reach and volume of prospects compared to others we were already using. We decided it wasn’t the time to look at this one. But this doesn’t mean it’s not a suitable platform for others or could be used at a different time.
Alternatively, some of these platforms audiences could eventually be reached through an ad network. This can be used to programmatically access these audiences in a more scalable and efficient way.
My suggestion would be to keep an open mind to constantly look for new platforms, being aware of the trends and changes in the behaviour of the audiences you’re trying to reach. Build new relationships, open new accounts and test. New opportunities will always rise.
Cristian 360 