Introduction to Digital Advertising PDF

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL ADVERTISING DIGITAL ADVERTISING -- any kind of marketing communication that happens on a digital platform OUTBOUND TACTICS -- they aim to put marketing messages in front of as many people as possible in the online space; regardless of whether it's relevant or welcomed -- ta...

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL ADVERTISING DIGITAL ADVERTISING -- any kind of marketing communication that happens on a digital platform OUTBOUND TACTICS -- they aim to put marketing messages in front of as many people as possible in the online space; regardless of whether it's relevant or welcomed -- tactics that just want to get an advertisement out to whoever and whenever, no specific audience and 'forced' INBOUND TACTICS -- a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them -- tactics that have a specific target audience and put special work into creating content that actually means something to the audience DA is CHEAPER than traditional advertising. Works in REAL TIME. Is MEASURABLE. Is FAR REACHING. Is PRECISE. SEARCH ADS is performance medium provoking (clicks and actions). DISPLAY ADS achieves branding goals such as CREATING AWARENESS. AD EXCHANGE -- a technology platform that facilitates the buying and selling of media advertising inventory from multiple ad networks prices for inventory are determined through bidding; the approach is technology driven as opposed to the historical approach of negotiating price of media inventory in simpler terms, a user visits a website, the website signalizes to the ad exchange that it has space for an ad; advertisers look at that space and decide if they want to show their ad to this person; they bid on the space, the highest bid wins; this process is less than 100 milliseconds Demand Side Platform (DSP) -- enables buyers to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface - Real time bidding occurs withing ad exchanges - Marketers use DSPs to manage bids and pricing for targeted audiences - DSPs allow optimization based on Key performance indicators (KPIs) like eCPC and eCPA, similar to Paid search in simpler terms, DSPs are connected to ad exchanges and helps to look for best deals on ad spaces in real time, making sure that the ads are shown to right people and staying in the advertising budget; they are made for advertisers Supply Side Platform (SSP) -- helps web publishers and DOOH media owners manage ad inventory and generate revenue - Large web publishers use SSPs to automate and optimize selling online media space - SSPs connect publishers to ad networks and exchanges, which link to DSPs on advertiser side in simple terms, SSPs are made for publishers, to help sell their ad space to the right advertisers USER ROLES -- who are we online? CONVERSION FUNNEL LANDING PAGE -- VISITOR -- the first page that a person sees on a website, the goal here is to make the visitor interested enough to take the next step, like learning more or signing up LEAD GENERATION PAGE -- LEAD -- the visitor interacts with a site, they sign up or fill out a form, subscribe or express interest; they become a lead (a potential customer) CHECKOUT PAGE -- CUSTOMER -- if a lead decides to make a purchase or sign up for a paid service, they reach the checkout page to complete the transaction THANK YOU PAGE - once a lead successfully completes the checkout process, they become a customer; they land on the Thank you page which confirms purchase and often encourages further engagement like leaving feedback or sharing with friends, exploring more products etc. funnel because few people make it through each stage BUYERS PERSONA -- your ideal customer IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE -- a starting point for your persona development; identifies a category of people, and withing that category are subcategories -- buyer personas BUYING PERSONAS -- semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers based on real data and some select educated speculation about customer demographics, behaviors, motivations and goals HOW TO CREATE BUYER PERSONAS? 1. Research 2. Identify needs 3. Create persona profile stories PERSONA RESEARCH - Buyer personas must be based off of actual research, not assumptions - Ex. sample questions: What is your job? What are your goals? What are your biggest challenges? How do you like to learn about information? Preferred communication channels? Shopping preferences? Family life? Etc. the customer should be at the center of what you're trying to solve for; they need to come first EMPHATY -- standing in the shoes of others the effort to see the world through the eyes of others, understand the world through their experiences and feel the world through their emotions THREE LAYERS OF EMPATHY IN DESIGN THINKING 1. Functional (physical) -- how users physically interact with products and services (ergonomics, accessibility, how the products fits into their daily lives) 2. Cognitive -- understanding the thought processes and decision-making of users 3. Emotional -- understanding feelings, desires and frustrations of users THE BUYERS JOURNEY -- the active research process someone goes through leading up to a purchase 1. AWARENESS STAGE buyer becomes aware of a problem that they have; I need to improve, I need to prevent, I need to start/stop etc. 2. CONSIDERATION STAGE buyer considers how to solve the problem; what tools are available for me to..., what are the solutions to..., what are the options to... etc. 3. DECISION STAGE they buyer decides on a specific product; I need prices for..., I need proof that... works, I need assurance that... for marketing, use it to create content at every stage for sales, better understand how to sell and guide prospects for services, develop a customer's journey THE INBOUND METHODOLOGY 1. ATTRACT strangers get attracted to a brand by blogs, searching up keywords and social publishings once they visit the website, they become VISITORS 2. CONVERT now it's the website's job to CONVERT them into LEADS this is done with forms (newsletters, signups), landing pages and call to action buttons 3. CLOSE leads become CUSTOMERS through workflows (automating tasks, efficiency etc.), CRM (Customer relationship management) and email sequences (prewritten promotional emails) 4. DELIGHT customers become PROMOTERS in this phase by having knowledge and giving feedback most brands don't have the delight phase because they only focus on awareness that's BAD because customers are the best advertisers, so it pays off to invest in them by sending them gifts, giving discounts etc. to be able to attract strangers, you need to have good CONTENT STIMULUS FIRST MOMENT OF TRUTH (when you see it on your SHELF) SECOND MOMENT OF TRUTH (EXPERIENCE when you buy the product) in between stimulus and FMT is ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth) which is prevalent in the digital age since it's researching the product on Google and social media before you even go to the store after the SMT, we are inclined to write a review about the product which then becomes some other person's ZMOT THE BUYERS JOURNEY MAPPING a customer journey map is a very simple idea: a diagram that illustrates the steps your customer(s) go through in engaging with your company, whether it be a product, an online experience, retail experience, service, or any of these combined - A VISUAL STORY OF YOUR CUSTOMERS' INTERACTIONS WITH YOUR BRAND INGREDIENTS: - Personas - Emotions - Timeline - Touchpoints & channels STEPS 1. Review goals for your products or services - Find the sweet spot where your customer goals and your own align - Before you start journey mapping, nail down your business goals - Any marketing and communication you deliver during the customer journey should be focused on helping your brand reach those goals - Your customers' goals might be different from your own 2. Gather research - Look for data wherever you can find it - If there is no data, conduct research - Interview, survey, card sorting, analytics, social media, benchmarking etc. 3. Brand touchpoints and channels - How might your customers feel at the prepurchase, purchase and post purchase stages as they try to achieve their goals? - Find the moments where your customers might have negative experiences and brainstorm 4. Empathy map - Collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user - It externalizes knowledge about users in order to create a shared understanding of user needs, and aid in decision making - Actually experiencing the journey for yourself can uncover much needed insights about the purchase process - Become a customer of your competition to experience the journey they've created - empathy maps tie in with personas - empathy maps can summarize insights from surveys etc. 5. Affinity diagram & brainstorm - Using an affinity diagram can help you analyze and synthesize findings - Thematic analysis; aim to make sense of all the user research notes and observations by creating themes to further organize and explain data - Naturally, an affinity diagram is a tool generally used to create groups and themes from user research data since it's an effective way to categorize qualitative data - Record all notes and observations on individual cards or sticky notes - Look for patterns and notes that are related - Create a group for each pattern or theme - Give each theme or group a name - Create a statement of what you learned about each group 6. Sketching the journey - Make sure to create hypotheses around why new communication touchpoints will improve the customer journey, then implement and test them - If they are wrong, go back to your journey map, reassess, tweak and improve