With the positive results marketers are seeing with their advanced TV strategy, it comes as no surprise that more than 50% of marketers are likely to include Advanced TV in their advertising schedules. By the end of next year, connected TV ad spend is expected to reach $913M, up from $293M in 2016.
During last month’s NYC TV Week, I had the opportunity to network with data media experts within the television advertising and streaming services industry to discuss what’s trending, along with what’s keeping marketers awake at night.
One of the common topics of discussion was around the benefits of incorporating an advanced TV strategy into your marketing program. Let’s further explore.
Key benefits of an advanced TV strategy:
It’s a measurable medium with addressability
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketers are trying and testing out TV as it’s a measurable medium with addressability. Having the ability to understand who’s receiving the impression and being able to track it to a transactional level so we know who converts from an advertisement is very beneficial to marketers.
This post-campaign attribution analysis enables comprehensive measurement, so you know the value of every dollar you spend. Then, you know your expected ad spend.
Increases revenue
Sure, we realize that not every TV advertising campaign generates revenue, but when it’s aligned with all channels and has the right fundamental components, marketers are seeing an increase in revenue.
For example, incorporating a call-to-action is an effective tactic as it encourages viewers to take action and follow-up ultimately leading to a sale.
Enhances omnichannel strategy
For marketers, TV is perceived as a somewhat new channel that helps to plan for future ad strategies, and is quite exciting.
But with this precise targeting on TV, campaigns are better aligned with all channels – digital, mobile, direct mail and/or email campaigns – creating a true data omnichannel effect.
Today’s modern marketer is focused on incorporating all channels into their campaigns to ensure they’re speaking to their customers in their preferred channel.
Enables enhanced personalization
Having the ability to deliver relevant and meaningful tv ads based on behavioral insights is key for marketers. It helps to increase engagement and connect with consumers on an emotional level.
When creating your digital video ads, think with a storytelling mindset and thoughtfully plan your creative strategy and content. Advertisers should be relevant with their content, but should also have a little fun. From our research, we’ve learned that 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences.
All of these benefits aside, it’s important to get the data aligned with your goals. Additionally, maintain an open communication stream with your agency to level set on aligning the data with the call-to-action.
For example, if the agency is using transactional data for targeting with a branding/lifestyle type message or conversely, using age and gender while leveraging conversions for measurement is a slippery slope. Further, if the creative is positioned as ‘a branding play’, then they should understand that they will likely continue to see little lift.
Fundamentally, if the campaign creative is not set up to meet KPI’s, a traditional marketer won’t view the test as a success. Aligning the audience with the message and the goals can’t be forgotten in this new world we live in where a traditional branding medium is evolving into a marketing channel. Don’t be discouraged if your TV video campaign produces flat results or no lift at all, this is not uncommon and it can take time and repetition for your message to resonate.
So as you continue to evaluate and enhance your advanced TV strategy, make sure to take time to review your overall data strategy. Your data strategy is the backbone to success. For example, if you’re in the travel industry, find and target your competitors’ most loyal guests and travelers and measure how much they spend with your brand.
Or for restaurant marketers, consider using consumer purchase behavior to identify and target your or your competitors’ customers, and measure visit frequency and average order value.
And if you’re a retailer, know where your customers and prospects spend their money. For example, as part of our transactional data set, we track non-cash transactions. The insights gleaned from this rich data is quite telling.
Finally, make sure to use quality data. As marketers we need to be forward thinking with the data we’re using and most importantly, we need to know the data and ensure it’s aligned with our KPIs. If it’s not first party data you’re leveraging for measurement, then make sure you know the data that you are using is best for what you are trying to accomplish for your advanced tv digital video.