TRANSFORMING YOUR MEDIA CAMPAIGNS TO REACH TODAY’S ENGAGED BUYER

YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?

10 MARKETING STRATEGIES TO ACTIVATE THE ENGAGED BUYER

THIS PRESENTATION IS FOR YOU IF:

You haven’t yet harnessed the power to serve up the right offers to the right buyers at the right time

You’ve dipped your toe into programmatic buying but have been underwhelmed with the results

Your audience is a constantly moving target in a complex landscape of screens

You have terabytes of big data on your targets and customers but are still pushing to find meaningful connections with them

You’re struggling to get noticed, but you don’t think you can afford an advertising investment that pays off in driving sales

OVERVIEW:

MEDIA: THE PROMISE IS FINALLY REALITY

FOUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO TRANSFORM YOUR CAMPAIGNS

REACHING THE ENGAGED BUYER

HOW PJA CAN HELP

media: the promise is finally reality

ADVERTISING TO AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

As buyers become engaged in more purchases that are heavily considered – whether it’s a $200 camera lens or a $20 million in-memory database – innovations like Big Data analytics and automated buying present media strategists and CMOs with big opportunities. But many have yet to capitalize on them.

Why? On one level, it’s hard to blame them. The promise of what could be in emerging media is often high, but the scale and revenue impact too often disappoint. So what’s different this time? Now more than ever, data can be used to predict each buyer’s preferences while media technologies can serve relevant, smart messages to key prospects as they move through their buying process.

And not a moment too soon. With the average buyer using 3 to 4 screens every day to research purchases, they have become very savvy in filtering out offers that don’t speak to their personal demographics and needs.

5

BUYING ON VALUE, NOT ON COST

Media buying used to be based on a rote formula. You found the media real estate where you wanted to place a message then haggled down the rate card price for this “relevant context.”

Media today is far more sophisticated in terms of placement selection, audience identification, buying strategies and creative technology. The tools are here to meet today’s engaged buyers where they are – on a specific device, at a specific point in their journey, and at every specific point of need.

Yet rather than wiping out yesterday’s best practices, these new innovations build on them. It is the best of then + now. For example:

• We still buy space, but now we buy it knowing how the creative and media placement will build on each other

• We still look for media where audiences gather, but now we can find them with highly improved precision

• We still seek permission from buyers to talk to them, but now we can provide more personalized value in exchange for their information

+

MEDIA BUYING TODAY: AN EVOLUTION THAT IS ADDITIVE

TARGETING

MEDIUM

FLIGHTING

COMMITMENT

NOWTHENData-driven profiling and segmentation

with offers that evolve in real time based

on respondent actions.

Multiple channels work together with

messaging that showcases relevant

benefits based on what individuals value

throughout the purchase process.

Always-on communication plan with ad

schedules changing in response to demand.

Relevant, dynamic elements with

continuous refinement; real-time bidding

– or payment only when your audience

engages with your message.

Demographically, based on

syndicated research. Context

was a proxy for audience.

One company-centric message

to everyone through mass channels;

limited ad materials and units to

showcase creative.

Point-in-time blasts based on historical

patterns and syndicated research.

Buy media space up front;

pay set fees & pricing by tier.

FOUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO TRANSFORM YOUR CAMPAIGNS

1 TARGET ON DATA AND BEHAVIOR

Today’s engaged buyers leave data everywhere they go online: who they are, how they think, and what they respond to. Understanding and pinpointing these signals is key to reaching buyers with content that delivers value and helps them in their buying.

By using thousands of data inputs about the buyer, programmatic media – especially when it’s integrated with paid social and traditional media – helps marketers get the right messages in front of key prospects in real time. It also helps marketers continuously test messages against each other to ensure they stay relevant.

At PJA, we capitalize on the benefits of automated media buying for our clients by setting parameters such as bid price and network reach as well as ingesting behavioral and audience data. This allows our media to drive down cost per click and CPM and rapidly adjust based on dozens of variables in real time.

Our client Neat conducted market research that identified two key market segments. Our programmatic buy tested more than a dozen verticals and identified additional receptive small business industries based on actual response to customized ads.

Use the test-and-learn capabilities of programmatic media to inform target profiles based on actual behavior, not just traditional research data.

MEDIA AS RESEARCH

YOUR ACTION

2 BUILD A DIALOGUE

Marketing used to (and often still does) push a company-centric message: “Here is what our brand wants you to know about our product.” Engaged buyers want more. They want to be pulled into the story. You have to help them frame their decisions and give them a reason to believe. When you do, they will help you spread the word with friends and colleagues, which extends the reach of your media investment.

If your media and creative strategies truly integrate targeting and story, you can deliver one ad to one consumer in one context every time. Creating dialogue also allows the buyer to be part of the benefit story and makes your brand relatable and shareable.

At PJA, we use brand demand and lead generation programs to target prospects with different messages based on their behaviors as they move through the purchase funnel.

For Corning Life Sciences, we created two tracks of content that were generated by the target audience of cell culture scientists. The crowdsourced content drove thousands of social shares, more than 100,000 video views, and a 20%+ ‘earned premium’ on the paid campaign.

Build media strategies that can engage each individual based on their values, needs, personal journeys, and the part they play in the sales decision process.

SCIENTISTS GO SOCIAL

YOUR ACTION

3 ALWAYS BE COMMUNICATING

By necessity, campaigns used to be built on a foundation of ‘spray and pray.’ Today, media has the power to launch always-on, individual campaigns that act like learning engines.

Engaged buyers like brands that champion useful content. But that’s only true as long as they see it. Today you need to distribute and drive qualified audiences to relevant content when it matters most to them.

In other words, gone are the days when you launch a big splash and go dark to read results. You need a communications plan with always-on media elements that ensures your brand is findable and in front of your most relevant and receptive audiences.

At PJA, we know that decisions are often made in the last three feet of retail settings, even if customers arrive with the intent to purchase another brand. Our strategies respond accordingly to fill this marketing ‘white space’ with on-location digital content experiences.

For a client in the wireless space, we drove a substantial increase in in-store activity by geo-fencing retail stores, and then targeting search ads to buyers conducting wireless-related searches in-store. Ads took prospects to a mobile site that featured content to support consideration and incentives to drive action.

Ensure that flighting of your messages is tied to what the buyer needs when they want it, not just when your company traditionally sells the most goods.

DIGITAL DRIVES IN-STORE PURCHASE

YOUR ACTION

4 SERVE CONTENT AS DYNAMIC AS YOUR TARGETS

The days of creating two banner concepts in three sizes to speak to every possible permutation of audience niche are over.

Today, media and creative technologies can combine relevant, dynamic elements in real time and continually refine them based on target behavior. Rather than two banners, or 200, think thousands of banner executions using one dynamic template. Even better, you can receive immediate data on the success of various offers and creative propositions. Think of this as the modern equivalent of a focus group to understand audience profiles.

This type of sophisticated approach allows marketers to fail fast, scale fast, change on the fly and build a continuous optimization loop.

Work with partners who understand and can enable dynamic, template- based messages.

We can generate thousands of variations of a single digital ad and optimize based on the most popular combinations of headline/subhead options, calls to action and imagery. Resulting in a significant increase in ad engagement.

ONE CAMPAIGN, THOUSANDS OF VARIATIONS

YOUR ACTION

REACHING THE ENGAGED BUYER

EACH ENGAGED BUYER’S JOURNEY IS PERSONAL

• Engaged buyers control their purchase journeys

• Activity generates signals of interest

• The brand brings value to the buyer through a continuous cycle of exposure and engagement

EX

PO

SUR

E A

ND

EN

GA

GE

ME

NT

CONSIDERATION EVALUATION PURCHASE ADVOCACY

PE

ER

SE

XP

ER

TS

BR

AN

D

AWARENESS

Buyer C

Buyer A

Buyer B

ENGAGING BUYERS TO DRIVE CONVERSION

For a PJA client in the office productivity space, we created a direct response campaign based on parallel drives to e-commerce and retail, as well as content syndication for lead generation across specific business and vertical targets.

In essence, we built a learning engine with programmatic buying at the core across display, social, radio, mobile, video and native.

THE RESULT IS COST-SENSITIVE, REAL-TIME BIDDING TIED TO AGGRESSIVE RETURN ON MEDIA GOALS. IT INCLUDES:

• Multivariate testing with dynamic creative resulting in a 53% lift in clickthrough rate

• New strategies around native, programmatic and sponsored social are driving key prospect consideration - resulting in engagement rates that are significantly over industry norms

• Deriving & implementing insights from attribution modeling (proving 40% of converters were exposed to more than one media tactic prior to conversion)

CASE STUDY:

HOW PJA CAN HELP

MEDIA BUILT ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT BUYING HAS CHANGED

1We are a skilled partner with senior leaders across interwoven specialties who stay on your business after the pitch and spend energy on what matters.

17

We have the experience and training necessary to serve complex, unique brand needs in the Engaged Buyer age.2

We are nimble, hungry change agents – always with an ear to the future, scouting what’s best and what’s next.3

We have an in-house, high-performance media capability and an agency philosophy with media at the core: Media + Strategy, Media + Creative, and Media + Analytics.

4

DON’T MISS THE REST OF THE ENGAGED BUYER SERIESWe’re publishing a series of marketing “plays” to help marketers reach and succeed with engaged buyers. We’d like to make sure you don’t miss any of them. You can download them by clicking below.

GET THE PLAYS

BUT IS IT MARKETING?YEAH, IT’S CONTENT.

TOUGH LOVE FOR YOURCONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

OR JUST GET IN TOUCH

Tammy BondanzaMedia Director

Tammy has 20+ years of B2C and B2B brand and agency experience, specializing in digital media and marketing. Her extensive knowledge and digital thought leadership aided in the development, management and growth of Hill Holliday’s digital media offering. Her team lead digital media efforts for many clients including Dunkin Donuts, the TJX brands, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare and Liberty Mutual. Tammy also has experience working on the client side at Bose and while at Staples where she developed integrated marketing efforts for the number one office supplier in the US. Tammy began her career in offline media at Arnold Advertising working on McDonalds and Volkswagen.

PJA Advertising + MarketingGreg Straface

VP, Business Development

gstraface@agencypja.com

(617) 234-7371

@agencypja

For nearly 25 years, PJA has developed winning positions for both startup and Fortune 500 companies, focusing on what truly sets them apart and capturing a compelling vision for buyers of where they want to go in their industries and where they can take their customers. We regularly hear from CEOs, employees and VCs that “no one has expressed what we do as clearly as you have.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR