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Campaign Optimization

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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Assess performance against business goals

We’re going to look at some campaign optimization which is the next step after reporting. We need to understand the data and optimize our activity based on what we’ve seen to do more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff.

After we run our reports on display campaign performance, we need to assess performance based on those original goals and KPIs that we set at the start of this entire process. We can then look at doing things like rotating creative, testing new targeting, adjusting bids, or reducing or increasing CPM or CPC bids. We can also change our scheduling, and optimize our performance by diving in and out and adapting and changing and testing as often as we can.

Use other data

We can report the effectiveness of the display campaign using other channel uplifts as well. This is important, because we know that display doesn’t always drive the action that leads to the conversion. It just brings people into the funnel by driving that awareness.

By using things like a DCM Integration in the example here, we can see the amount of sales and revenue that were generated by directly with a following click or post-impression after the click. They saw the ad, but they didn’t exactly buy at that moment. They saw it and they purchased at a later stage.

Using action-based attribution models like Last Click can lead to an incorrect reporting of the effectiveness of display. We’re always better off looking at post-impression, view-through impression, or anything that shows what display might have done to generate the awareness piece or uplift anything else in other channels, like we increased brand searches after our campaign.

If we increased brand searches after our campaign, it’s because more people know about our brand or our product. That will be a measure of display campaign success. Using the correct measurement methodology on display is essential. We always recommend veering away from last-click attribution towards conversions and start looking at post-click, post-impression ad conversions, post-click conversions, view-through conversions, or any kind of uplift in brand or product searches during or after a display campaign has been completed.

In order to understand where our display campaign fits within our KPIs, we can look at things like the assisted conversions on the top conversion paths in Google Analytics just to see where display features in that journey that drives those sales.

Optimize based on display value KPIs

When we can see the contribution of a display campaign in assisting conversions or driving consideration through post-impression data, we can optimize our campaign and creative and our audience, targeting to more of that good stuff and less of the poor performing pieces. We can look at where display features in the top conversions paths. You should veer away from that last-click model and try and validate your post-impression conversions and understand what methodology you can apply to get more awareness and to drive more of those post-impression conversions, and ultimately, attribute revenue.

Give some credit. Attribute some revenue or some bookings or whatever it may be through data-driven attribution to your display campaign, because it’s not all Last Click. Measuring your display campaign effectively is how you understand its performance, where it sits, and how it influences those conversion channels like search or email.

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Cathal Melinn

Cathal Melinn is a well-known digital marketing director, commercial analyst, and ecommerce specialist with over 15 years’ experience.

Cathal is a respected international conference speaker, course lecturer, and digital trainer. He specialises in driving complete understanding from students across a number of digital marketing disciplines including: paid and organic search (PPC and SEO), analytics, strategy and planning, social media, reporting, and optimisition.  Cathal works with digital professionals in over 80 countries and teaches at all levels of experience from beginner to advanced.

Alongside his training and course work, Cathal runs his own digital marketing agency and is considered an analytics and revenue generating guru - at enterprise level. He has extensive local and international experience working with top B2B and B2C brands across multiple industries.

Over his career, Cathal has worked client-Side, in digital marketing agencies and media owners with brands including HSBC, Amazon, Apple, Red Bull, Dell, Vodafone, Compare the Market, Aer Lingus, and Expedia.

He can be reached on LinkedIn here.

Data protection regulations affect almost all aspects of digital marketing. Therefore, DMI has produced a short course on GDPR for all of our students. If you wish to learn more about GDPR, you can do so here:

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    ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

    Display Advertising
    Cathal Melinn
    Skills Expert

    This module introduces the key concepts involved in display advertising. It covers the advantages of different types of display platforms and demonstrates how to set up a display advertising campaign. It also explores the key considerations for targeting and bidding in a display advertising campaign, and how to report on and optimize campaign performance.