Last week I published a post on the MediaMath blog about the importance of personalization for advertisers, and explained the benefits of using a DCO solution that our DCO partners like Flashtalking and Spongecell make available through the MediaMath platform. As a follow up to that post I’ve outlined four “tips and tricks” that advertisers should think about as they take their personalization strategies to the next level. So, without further ado, the tips are:
Keep Creative Fresh!
Use dynamic creative technology to update creative elements on the fly without having to manually build, modify and traffic new assets. Dynamic creative is ideal for always-on campaigns that have the potential to suffer from creative fatigue and could benefit from increased relevancy without the operational burden of updating creative weekly. Dynamic creative technology provides self-service user interfaces that allow anyone in the creative department of an agency or brand updates ad elements on the fly, without having to work with ad-operations. This means that, at the end of the day, creative remains fresh and those responsible for updating it don’t have to manually traffic assets back and forth. So fresh, and so clean.
Think Beyond “Last Product Seen”
What’s the first kind of campaign that comes to mind when you think of dynamic creative? If you answered “last product seen” campaigns, then you’re likely not alone. We know that showing users the last product they’ve browsed for is an effective way to drive consumers to take action and make a purchase, but effective personalization isn’t just about getting a single conversion. Many advertisers are using dynamic creative solutions beyond “last product seen” to provide consumers with engaging, personalized messaging in novel ways. For example, consider targeting based on local weather, or even memes, as they gain traction in real-time.
Sequence Your Messaging For the Customer Journey
Advertisers can employ dynamic creative technology, from awareness level prospecting of new customers, to conversion focused remarketing, for a truly end-to-end campaign. Messaging can be updated in real-time based on where the consumer is on their path to purchase. For example, a prospecting tactic for a travel brand could be to use dynamic weather targeting. For those of you in the northeast, think about seeing an ad for a tropical location with “Need a little sunshine in your life?” on your screen. Marketers could retarget those audiences that engaged with the ad, or browsed the site with an ad showing a flight deal to Florida. Finally, if the user has looked at specific flights, they could be retargeted with their previously browsed itinerary filled out and a “buy now” button in the creative. In short, consider tailoring messages based on your customer’s engagement with your ad or site. Lastly, assess how this engagement can translate into future cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
Get in the Algo-Rythm of Identifying Best Performing Creative
Eliminate the guesswork on what creative elements perform best with which audiences. In order to do this effectively, when testing, don’t start with too many combinations, and start with core decisioning points like location, gender, and weather. If you’ve created a campaign for testing purposes, be sure not to segment your audiences into too small of groups; this will ultimately result in difficulty in drawing statistically significant conclusions on performance.
Check back for a third post showcasing the distinct ways in which our clients have used dynamic creative, and the results they produced.