New-age media buying kicks vintage tactics to the curb
Back when horse-run carriages still clopped along Broad Street, Philadelphia native and department store pioneer John Wanamaker said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
Back then, you placed an ad in the newspaper and waited. If your sales increased, it must be because of the ad, right? No one really knew. Today, we have the resources to measure, track, evaluate and tweak content to work even harder. That ensures you can know where every dollar is being spent, who your messages are reaching and how they are driving behavior. Still, for these tools to work, you must have a goal and tie your advertising tactics to it. If not, you’ll keep making the same 100-year-old mistakes John Wanamaker made.
Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.
John Wanamaker
Media planning, buying and reporting tools allow us to identify the right individuals and groups to target and move to action. These tools also help us customize the right messages to the right individuals, allowing your tactics to remain tied to your goal. These digital resources provide clients with:
- The big picture: What good is awareness if it doesn’t drive action? It’s time to move past the top of the traditional funnel and start following users through the entire journey. Tools such as a customer data platform allow for personalization that puts the audience first. This leads to customized content that drives efficiency, not just the top and bottom of the traditional funnel, and allows for a better overall user experience.
- Efficiency and economy: With the ability to test different versions of ads and messages, you don’t have to waste money on one full-fledged campaign to see how it works. We know what the audiences want, not what they think they want. Unlike the Wanamaker days, you can target different messages to different audiences, get feedback immediately and focus on the approaches that will give you a win.
- The ability to pivot quickly: Today, people can take immediate action online — or simply by yelling at Alexa — to order a pizza or contact a member of Congress. Our tools allow us to identify and respond to evolving consumer preferences and actions. We can quickly react to a user’s behavior and preferences, by doing anything from changing a color in an ad to modifying a user’s website experience, to spur the action a client is seeking.
- Transparency: There’s no guesswork or wasted resources involved in this process. We and the client know exactly who is receiving the message and advertising and how they’re acting on it. That transparency is what enables a quick pivot when necessary. We’re all on the same page regarding what resources are being deployed to achieve a specific result.
None of these tools helps, however, if you don’t have a strategy and don’t know what your win will look like. If you’re going to invest in measuring your tactics, you must have a goal.
