Building an ad campaign: 4 takeaways from our recent event

A recent FSF event focused on the challenges of building a modern advertising campaign – here are some of the key takeaways.

Set clear goals

abrdn’s Head of Global Digital Marketing & Analytics Matthew Greenlay discussed how data was allowing marketers to better prove the value of their campaigns. He suggests firms should structure campaigns based on a limited set of goals that they want to achieve, and within each goal set three or four KPIs.

Marketers can share these objectives in advance and measure success against them, as well as sharing them with agencies to make sure all parties are working to the same goals.

When planning campaigns, he talked about the importance of getting the “right people in the room”, in order to have a holistic discussion about the journey you want customers to go on and what is needed to achieve that.

Don’t forget the human element

Will Wright, Business Director at agency Libertine, said that it was more important than ever in a data-heavy world to understand that you are talking to a human being.

“[Data] can make things more effective but only if you remember the people you are talking to are human beings. The minute you stop talking to them they forget you.

“Talk to them as if they are real people who aren’t thinking about the next product they want to buy from you.”

He said that while performance marketing offers harder metrics, companies need to understand the long-term importance of brand. There is, he says, too much focus on getting the customer to click through rather than convincing the person it’s worth doing.=

The importance of creative – even in a digital world

Tom Chandler, Head of Paid Search & Shopping at Mediaworks, discussed recent changes in the Google landscape.

Traditionally, Tom says, Google had been primarily numbers-focused, with creative as a second thought. This has changed with the launch of Performance Max, which allows advertisers to access Google’s entire advertisement inventory (including search, display and YouTube) in one place.

He says that if advertisers use this platform without supplying their own good content, Google will create a YouTube video for them – which he said was “Windows Movie Maker” standard. Tom argued that tools like Performance Max were the future of digital marketing, despite these challenges in using it effectively.

TV is getting more efficient

Sky’s Head of Sales for Local and Development Steve Wild talked about how better targeting had vastly increased the efficiency of TV.

Companies who had previously avoided TV due to the budget are now able to advertise for as little as £3000, Steve said, with most targeting only 15% of the available TV audience rather than paying for mass market exposure. It also claims to offer better attribution.

Sky’s AdSmart essentially uses data on its audiences so that advertisers now only have to pay for their ad to be seen by a certain group.