If you read our article on the 5 Deadly Pitfalls of Your BPM Brand’s Paid Media Campaign Strategy, you know there are many ways a paid media campaign can go sideways. And when you need to show results, avoiding crafting an ineffective marketing strategy is at the top of your list.
It’s time to take your BPM brand’s paid media strategy to the next level. Drive impact by applying these five paid media strategies specifically for the building material brand industry.
1. Use Your First-Party Data
To start, turn to your first-party data. It has a wealth of information to steer your niche targeting strategy. Combine specific job descriptions (i.e., plumber as well as a professional who plumbs) and use paid search keywords to determine where ads will run programmatically. This creates a more granular and relevant contextual segmentation. For example, painting contractor audiences may not appreciate messaging originally intended for architect or general contractor audiences.
2. Expand Your Reach With Third-Party Data
Another way to hone your targeting is by partnering with third-party data providers who own comprehensive data on specific audience segments. These providers give you access to their extensive datasets, enabling you to reach users programmatically with remarkable precision. They also provide:
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- The ability to execute precise advertising campaigns (based on digital information they have collected from users across various sources, such as websites, apps, or plugins)
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- Uncover untapped audiences
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- And gain valuable insights about your existing users through the augmentation of their first-party data
For example, a data provider like PlaceIQ focuses on location-based solutions. Their platform allows ads to be targeted to users or consumers based on their physical world interactions across the programmatic landscape (think architects, or contractors on a job site, or in and out of retail and distribution locations). Yes, this gets granular, but that is the point. It enables your ads to reach the precise individuals who have a direct interest in or connection to your exact industry.
By understanding and catering to the unique characteristics and needs of different audience segments, you can increase the effectiveness of your paid media strategies and drive meaningful business outcomes.
3. Weave Together Two Objectives Under One Large Campaign
There are times when you need to achieve more than one objective with a paid campaign. You may need to generate leads while also building brand awareness — two goals that employ different tactics.
The Awareness and Consideration Objective Approach
An HVAC manufacturer’s primary goal may be to generate awareness for their brand. To achieve this, they could use programmatic online video, YouTube, connected TV, and programmatic display advertising media channels to efficiently target as many potential customers as possible. By maximizing their reach, they’re building a strong foundation of brand awareness, ensuring their message is seen by as many potential customers as possible.
At the same time, they also want to drive prolonged engagement and direct users to their landing page to learn more or take further action. To make this happen, the HVAC manufacturer can target their audience with messaging across paid social media and Google Discovery media channels and optimize media efforts towards a landing page. The more users that are directed to their landing page, the better likelihood of turning prospects into customers.
The Website Traffic and Leads Approach
A window and door company wants to focus on increasing website traffic and leads. To drive website traffic, they have two different options:
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- Use Google Discovery to extend campaign reach and connect with a broader (yet relevant) audience to drive website traffic.
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- Use LinkedIn to hone in on more granular/specific audiences (such as contractors and other relevant professionals) with an in-platform lead form message directly within LinkedIn to generate leads.
By optimizing the campaigns toward website traffic, the window and door company can generate increased visibility and engagement on their website.
When done right, integrating multiple objectives into a single large-scale campaign can be an effective way to reach your marketing goals.
4. Focus On Driving Awareness Before Conversions
A study from LinkedIn found that those exposed to brand and acquisition messaging are six times more likely to convert.
We know that brand awareness opens the door to relevant audiences who need the solution your brand offers, whether they’re ready to buy or not. Sure, your audience has to know who you are if they’re going to convert when you ask them to. But brand awareness goes beyond that.
Focusing on brand awareness increases opportunities to:
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- Establish trust and credibility
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- Build recognition
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- Foster customer engagement and loyalty
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- Enhance pricing power
Tech platform and legacy brand HomeSphere knew this all too well. When it came time to launch their new product, they needed to overcome long-held perceptions that all they offered were rebates.
Point to Point helped them turn things around by creating brand awareness, and testing multiple versions of creative assets (to identify the messaging and visual approach that resonated most with the target audience). As a result, HomeSphere saw high numbers of paid media impressions as well as high click-through ad engagement numbers and leads.
5. Know How Long to Run a Paid Media Campaign
When it comes to running a paid media campaign, the length and duration can vary depending on several factors. And your campaign objectives play a significant role.
For example, if you want to raise awareness, you have the flexibility to run your campaign for a short or long period of time. But if your focus is on lead generation, give yourself a longer timeframe to really get things rolling and generate those valuable leads.
The amount you can spend and the number of media channels you use also come into play. If you’re working with a tight budget and sticking to a single media channel, your campaign might run for around two or three months. But if you’ve got a more substantial budget and are using multiple channels, extend the campaign to reach more audiences. Don’t forget, you can even spread your media across different channels over time to keep the campaign going strong.
Another factor to consider is the number of creative assets at your disposal. If you’re only using one version of creative, your audience can get bored and disinterested after a few months. To keep things fresh and the momentum going, use multiple versions of creative, switch them out, and keep the campaign running longer.
When You Should — and Shouldn’t — Optimize
It’s important to remember that media campaigns, no matter the objective, should never be a “set it and forget it” deal. Once your campaign kicks off and gains traction in those initial weeks, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and dig into the data you’re collecting. Take a close look at different parameters like audience segments, the performance of different creative versions or tactics, and your overall channel performance.
Around two weeks into the campaign, you’ll start to see patterns emerge and get a sense of what’s working well within each audience segment and creative version. Start making small tweaks based on your findings. For example, if one audience segment is crushing it on social media, consider combining it with another segment. But remember, once you make changes in the media channel, give it at least another week to run before you evaluate and make additional adjustments.
It’s important to strike a balance between making necessary optimizations and maintaining consistency. Avoid the temptation to make too many changes too quickly, since it can disrupt the learning process of the media channel algorithms. You want to keep the campaign flowing smoothly while making informed tweaks along the way.
Get Your Marketing Strategy on the Right Track
Paid media strategies are only one play in your marketing strategy playbook. You need to have a well-rounded approach supported by the proper tech and know-how. And if you still have questions about the best ways to connect with your audience, let’s talk.