One of the benefits of digital marketing is the increased ability to link engagements and clicks to sales with an accuracy unavailable with more traditional marketing methods. Indeed, good CRM systems, call tracking, and beacon technology even mean that these digital journeys can be linked to offline activity too. The wealth of data available, smarter insights, and targeting on digital platforms also powers optimised conversion rates with great returns.
There’s certainly enormous value in good quality performance marketing. However, that’s not all digital can do, yet many brands have fallen into the trap of over-reliance on short term activation and overlooked its role in long-term brand building.
Last year, we sponsored a series of Lockdown Learning webinars which were run by Contagious, the creative and strategic intelligence service. Based on the sessions, we created an eBook highlighting five ways that marketers need to shape their company culture.
Contagious advised that a 60/40 split between brand building campaigns and short term activation is ideal, but to really hit the reset button effectively there needs to be a 75/25 split to get things back on track.
The best of both
One exciting way of partnering this need for shifting brand perception with digital’s performance capabilities is by combining thoughtful, understanding ideas with the immense possibility of more technological platforms. Shifting the focus towards a more value-led approach rather than a constant battle of attrition to cut costs and optimise.
Using social data, German Rail targeted travel enthusiasts interested in specific destinations via social ads. Geo-tagging technology and Google Search was utilised to serve video ads comparing real-time prices to travel to stunning locations in Germany and lookalike locations from around the world.
750 unique ads were created in the first two weeks, often making the stark comparison between a flight that costs thousands compared to a train ticket that you could buy with the change in your pocket.
This coming together of creative ideas and programmatic marketing led to an 850% increase in click-through-rates and a 24% increase in revenue. But it didn’t simply deliver a short-term revenue bump, it helped more Germans see the tremendous spectacles they could enjoy every weekend. Raising awareness of this in the long-term means that people will be more open to exploring again in future.
