Add HouseHold Extensions to your Retargeting

The goal of every retargeting campaign is to convert the most sales for the least amount of money. We offer a variety of tools and techniques to help you achieve this, but we’ve just added a new element to our arsenal: Household Extension.

Household Extension broadens campaign reach while still delivering targeted impressions across multiple devices in one location, such as a home or a small office.

Household Targeting

How can this expanded capability benefit your campaign?

Multi-device retargeting

Household Extension allows you to expand targeting to every device on a user’s IP address. This capability allows you to reach a single user on multiple devices (think laptop, tablet, and mobile) and/or reach other users on the same IP address.

Retargeting expansion

Consider this hypothetical situation. John Smith, age 18, is excitedly looking to purchase his first car. He’s spent hours and hours eagerly researching this major purchase, but ultimately he will rely on the input of his parents before handing over his hard-earned money.

Let’s say you’re a car dealership that stocks a large inventory of used cars. John is diligently looking at what you have for sale in his price range. Wouldn’t it be nice if Mom and Dad were also exposed to the same advertising John was viewing?

Your dealership may come out on top of your competition because the right people (in this case, multiple people within the same family) are seeing your advertisement. Influence decision makers by reaching multiple household members through connected devices.

Additional Prospecting Opportunity

By reaching multiple people on a single IP address, you have the opportunity to capture new users prospecting information within your original retargeting landscape, most likely their circle of influence.

We can help you implement this feature in an existing retargeting campaign or we can start a new one! Reaching more people means increased opportunity for conversions at a reduced cost. Grow your business and prospect list without any additional effort with Household Extension.


Capitalizing On Big Game Buzz

It is NFL playoff season and people are buzzing about football, especially here in Seattle where our Seahawks are Super Bowl bound after an incredible comeback against the Green Bay Packers. Although you may not have the marketing budget to buy air time during the Super Bowl (which is reportedly going for a cool $4 million for a 30-second commercial), you can still capitalize off the excitement and energy generated by the Big Game and use it to positively impact your business.

Make a game plan

You have a set amount of advertising dollars and it’s up to you to spend them how you deem most beneficial. How are you going to drive potential customers to make a purchase? You already have your plans in motion with your retargeting campaign, but consider ramping up your efforts and adding a special promotion or offer related to Super Bowl weekend.

Connect with your 12s

Seattle Seahawks fans are affectionately referred to as the 12th Man (or 12s) and the Seahawks organization masterfully connects with their fans. The 12th Man feels like they are part of the team and you can foster that same connection with your “fans.” Follow the Seahawks’ lead and stay in touch with your customers via social media and an effective marketing campaign. Offering a special incentive or offer can generate business and build brand loyalty.

NFL Conversion Driver

Execute your big play

Go above and beyond your standard offense and execute your big play with your Super Bowl offer. Through email marketing or a custom conversion driver, you can drive fans to your website and capture prospective customer information while providing them with a valuable offer. Use the Seahawks Super Bowl buzz to your advantage.

Outwit your opponent

You are not the only company selling your particular product or service, but you can be the best at selling, far exceeding others in your industry. By continually evaluating and refining your marketing campaign, you can stay 10 yards ahead of your competition. We offer several different tools to energize your online marketing, increasing leads and building your brand so you come out on top.

TOUCHDOWN!

Putting all of the right things in motion at the right time will result in a score for your business. Increase brand awareness, convert website visitors, or reward loyal customers. Get creative and come up with a fun, Super Bowl-sized way to score a touchdown for your business.


Using Purchase Intent to Target Car Shoppers

We all know car shoppers spend the bulk of their buying cycle researching online. They use more than 11 different sources and visit countless websites comparing features, prices and reviews.

So what does this mean for car dealers? If you’re looking to connect with car shoppers, you need to do it online. Luckily we have a tool that lets you do that.

It’s called Pixel Targeting. What we do is measure the intent of car shoppers and deliver ads to them based on what they’re looking for.

So how do we measure intent?

We do it in a few different ways. By analyzing browsing history, search queries and page contexts we can get an accurate picture of what car shoppers are looking for and serve ads appropriately.

Take this shopper’s history for example. From this page we can see that this shopper is looking at buying a new Jeep. They’re looking in the for sale section of AutoTrader and are located in Kirkland, WA.

AutoTrader Intent

Since we know where this person is located and know what kind of vehicle they’re searching for, we can deliver a relevant ad to them.

The power of Pixel Targeting is being able to reach people who are looking for what you have to sell them. You’re not trying to break down barriers and convince these shoppers they should buy a Jeep — they’re already looking for one. You just need to get your ad in front of their eyes and give them a reason to pick you over your competitor.

Interested in Pixel Targeting? Contact us today for more information.


Search Campaigns Can be Used for Branding

Search advertising has long been used as a direct-response marketing strategy, but a new study from Google reveals it could be helpful in branding as well.

Throughout 2013, Google and Ipsos MediaCT conducted 61 search experiments to measure the impact of search ads on brand awareness. They measured both top-of-mind awareness and unaided brand awareness even when the consumer doesn’t click on the ad.

Overall, Google found that there was a positive impact on unaided brand awareness and top of mind awareness.

Top of mind awareness from search campaigns

This can add an interesting twist to your search campaigns. Rather than focusing solely on direct-response campaigns, you can include a search campaign for branding as well. This can help drive your direct-response campaigns by improving your mindshare of customers.

To learn more about getting your own search campaign up and running, contact us today.


Auto Dealers Spending More In Digital Advertising Than Ever

The auto industry is embracing digital advertising and marketing more than ever. In a new report from eMarketer, digital advertising spending for automotive is up 18.8% year-over-year.

This confirms what we already knew about digital. Your competitors are jumping into digital spending and you need to be as well. An effective digital marketing campaign can bring you new customers and help convert existing shoppers into buyers.

Digital Spend

Looking for a new way to bring people to your dealership? Check out our Conversion Drivers. Conversion Drivers will help you turn more of your online traffic into leads and sales. Competition is only going to increase as more dealers start improving their online presence.


Step beyond the TV buy with video pre-roll

Online Video Pre-Roll

It’s the era of the internet baby!

Yet we still have a hard time breaking from the habit of traditional media approaches. The principle still applies…PEOPLE REMEMBER 90% of WHAT THEY SEE!

The question is where will they see it?  Or perhaps better yet, “where will it be most effective?”

The “audience of one” is the feeling you get when we see your ads in the wild. A feeling of pride and assurance rushes over you, and you know you’ve been heard.  You hope that your potential customers were watching or listening at that time.  If that’s not the case, then the ad was lost in the noise.

Traditional media costs are hefty and time consuming. To get the most out of your traditional ads, invest in video pre-roll, the most intentional tool in re-purposing traditional media with an exponential punch!

Drop your 15 or 30 second video in the cue for display.  Throw in a pixel for retargeting and behavioral targeting andy you just launched a lethal combination of advertising both to your known audience and those who are actively looking.  This way you’re not just hoping that everyone is looking.  You can know (via analytics) what was displayed, what was seen and what the results were.

When its all said and done, it’s a fraction of the cost.  A mere 10% of an average cable commercial, or 1% of a prime time commercial.

Better yet, you can redo your whole mindset for shooting your traditional media with your target audience / medium in mind.  Shoot smarter not more!  Edit content for both mediums!

Top of mind awareness for your future customers’ sake takes on a whole new meaning when they are seeing you online — where they are spending most of their leisure time — instead of watching their DVR’d shows while skipping over the commercials.


Digital Media and TV: The two pillars of any advertising budget

It seems that advertising is slowly turning into a two-horse race. In the days before digital media, there was a three-way split between print, radio, and TV. Now, TV and digital advertising are the only growing media channels. In a new report from Nielson, display advertising grew 26.6% during the first half of 2013. TV advertising grew at 4.2% during the same period.

While TV is admittedly a more mature market, the increase in display advertising is hard to ignore. It’s apparent the industry is turning to the two largest mediums to deliver the bulk of their advertising. The Internet and TV are far and away the biggest marketing channels available according to audience size and time spent on each medium.

We see a further consolidation of other media types when we look at some of the declines in advertising spend. Newspaper advertising is down 2% year-over-year, magazine advertising is down by 1.9%.  Even radio suffered from decreased spending during the same time period.

So how does this affect your advertising budget looking into 2014? One benefit is decreased complexity for you advertising plan. Instead of throwing dollars at newspapers and radio, you can shift your budget to TV and online display.

In 2014 it will be important to expand your digital strategy to find new customers online. More people buying digital media means more competition, so developing correct targeting techniques will be crucial.

If you’re curious about the different types of display available such as retargeting or pixel targeting, contact us and we can give you an overview of the types of targeting available for your business.


Google Leads in Display Advertising, Facebook is Gaining Ground

The latest numbers for total digital display advertising revenue are in, and it looks like Google remains on top.

In eMarketer’s latest report, they reported that Google remains the digital advertising king, capturing 40% of the overall market in 2012. Yahoo remains in second place with 8.6%, but the real up-and-comer is Facebook.

Facebook captured just 5.9% of the overall market in 2012, but they are set to reach 7.1% of the market in 2013. Plus, they are expected to overtake Yahoo in total revenue by 2014.

So what does this mean? It means you should start looking at doing some Facebook advertising. Facebook is set to be a major player in the digital advertising arena, and you should get on board.

Plus, with the Facebook Exchange, you have the ability to retarget your website visitors on Facebook, as well as target them with third-party data.

Go to AdsUpNow and learn more about how you can get started with a Facebook retargeting campaign.


Reaching Generation C – More Than Just Millenials

Google calls today’s modern digital consumer Generation C. This generation is not bound by an age demographic – instead they are bound by their use of digital media, social media, and online video (heavily Youtube of course).

Generation C mindset is characterized by its devotion to creation, curation, connection and community. They drive popular culture with photos, videos, memes and mash-ups.

Before you dismiss Generation C as an undesirable demographic to target, listen to this: they are responsible for influencing over half a trillion dollars in spending per year.

While 80% percent of millennials belong to generation C, this mindset is truly cross-generational, and includes members from Generation X and the Boomer Generation. In fact, because of this generation’s digital tendencies, they open up new advertising opportunities.

Google identifies 8 characteristics of Gen C:

Gen C is not a demographic – it’s a state of mind.

They’re the people who live digital. They spend more time online than they do watching TV.

Gen C strives for expression.

They are heavy users of social media and share photos and other content online.

Gen C is a taste-maker.
Made up of early-adopters, they set the trends that the rest of the population will soon follow. They also rely heavily on peer approval before making buying decisions.

Gen C defines the social network.

Almost 90% of Gen C has a social profile, and 65% of them update it every day.

YouTube is Gen C’s habitat for entertainment.

Gen C is twice as likely to be a YouTube viewer as the general population, and more likely to be a light TV viewer.

Gen C is constantly connected.

They eat, sleep and breathe the Internet and their smartphone. 91% of them sleep next to their smartphone.

Gen C connects on YouTube on all screens.
They watch mobile video on desktops, tablets and their smartphones

Gen C values relevance and originality.
They value conversation that aligns with their interests, and they aren’t opposed to ads that are relevant to them.

When you remove Google’s sales pitch for YouTube you’re still left with a compelling description of today’s modern digital consumers. These are the same consumers we connect with on behalf of dealerships across the country.

These consumers spend huge amounts of time on screens other than TV. They are mobile masters, using tools from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and YouTube. They may not know where their television remote is, but they definitely know where they can get online.

Their “water-cooler moment” is a link, a tweet or a tag. Instead of reaching them with a TV buy, you’re better off with pre-roll video and display advertising like retargeting or data-driven advertising like pixel targeting.

Learning to connect with Generation C will become more and more important throughout the next year and in the future. Remember, Generation C is a group of early adopters. As they go, goes the rest of the population. You want to make sure your advertising is primed to keep up.


New: Retargeting in the Facebook News Feed

We’ve had access to Facebook retargeting for a while now, but we now have a new feature we’re excited to announce: Facebook retargeting in the News Feed.

If you’re ever on Facebook, I’m sure you’ve seen the Facebook News Feed ads. They are usually called “Suggested Posts” and promote a page that Facebook thinks you’ll like. These ads are extremely effective, and now Facebook has opened them up to the ad exchanges.

These ads get click through rates that are up to 50 times better than normal FBX ads. Instead of going only on the right-hand side of the feed, your posts will be front and center to everyone who has visited your website.

We’re rolling out Facebook News Feed Targeting to select customers, so contact us to get started with your campaign.