Managed programmatic advertising vs self-service in 2025
So, you’ve found yourself at the crossroads of advertising. First of all, congratulations! Your digital strategy has become more intricate as your business grows, and you’re ready for the next step in scaling your advertising. If your brand runs ad campaigns across various platforms, you must be juggling between dashboards, budgets, and data reporting systems. That’s why consolidating it all and utilizing a programmatic platform is the solution to scale. Check out our blog for the 14 best programmatic advertising platforms! Okay, the dilemma you’re facing is: do I need a self-service or managed programmatic advertising platform? Do you agree with the following statements: I want more control over my digital advertising. I want to be able to make quick changes to my ad campaigns. I have different promotions throughout the year and need the flexibility to launch and pause ads whenever I please. I want to have transparency in my digital ads and have an overview of my budget and ad spend progress etc. I want to get more insights on which of my keywords and ad creatives are performing the best and which ones are underperforming. I want to understand my consumers better and evaluate how effective my strategy is. Sounds about right? That’s great – this is the blog for you! We’ll do a quick overview of the benefits of both and what types of businesses each is most suitable for. Be sure to read on, evaluate and make an informed decision! Self-Service Self-service programmatic advertising platforms are exactly what they sound like—you sign up to access the platform and have 100% control over your ad buys. These programmatic advertising platforms tend to be Demand Side Platforms and grant you access to ad channels, publishers etc. Examples are Taboola and AdRoll. With direct access, you can keep track of your campaign (beginning to end) in real-time and make any adjustments you see fit, like a keyword or creative change, etc. You control the ad setup, strategy, bidding, scheduling of the ads across all the channels, optimizing them, and evaluating your ad’s performance. What you need to do in-house is strategy, execution, and analysis. You’ll be doing everything on your own and have total control, which can be a cost-effective option! Benefits Total control & transparency No campaign minimum or management fees Freedom Flexibility Concerns Steep learning curve Requires full-time, in-house dedication You should consider self-service programmatic advertising if: Your team has at least a minimum of one person who is familiar with Demand Side Platforms, setting up advanced audience targeting and conversion tracking, data layering, and budget configuration. That person or another individual should be able to dedicate full-time to managing the campaign, interpreting data, and making optimizations. If your team is capable of this, a self-serve platform would be a great tool! Managed Service Managed programmatic ad services mean a third party, like an agency, will manage and operate your programmatic campaigns. They act as an extension of your team. You choose this option because you want their deep knowledge and expertise of programmatic and peace of mind. You’re still in charge of your branding, creatives, and strategy, but you’ll work with the agency to plan a campaign. You tell them your objectives, target audience, budget, and channels you want to run programmatically. Then, the agency will build a plan for you to approve (eg. an Insertion Order: a certain amount of clicks or impressions at a set budget and price), and they take over the day-to-day operations of your digital ads. They will set up tracking, so your data speaks across channels; execute on launching your campaigns and reporting on the ad performance. You don’t have to worry about making bidding adjustments, engagement monitoring, optimizations, and data analysis in-house. They are the experts and will keep you informed of the entire process. They work in programmatic 24/7 and are industry experts. They’re on top of all the trends and have solutions for upcoming algorithm changes etc. Their role is to supercharge your digital ad efforts. We’ll use ourselves here at War Room as an example. We are a programmatic ad agency, and we handle all the tasks of the Demand Side Platform (in our case, we built our own from scratch, and it’s called, Kedet). We assign a dedicated team to each of our clients, consisting of: An Account Manager who is your friendly Point of Contact and manages the entire campaign from start to finish A Project Manager which oversees the entire project and ensures all parties are on pace Campaign Manager who works on the campaign on the programmatic platform A Digital Analyst who reports and deciphers the data collected throughout the ad campaign Our clients have control over budget and creative changes. They let us know, and we make it happen while providing expert recommendations. If a change is not optimal for your campaign, we will advise you before proceeding. Communication is key, and we implement everything with a documented paper trail throughout the process, so you’ll know the optimizations we’ve made. For transparency, our Digital Analyst builds customized dashboards for your ad performance. You can see exactly which ads and keywords are performing, a detailed breakdown of your audience, and more. Agencies like us who provide managed programmatic advertising services are invested in your success. As your strategic partner, it is our responsibility to navigate the programmatic landscape on your brand’s behalf and provide valuable, expert suggestions to improve your overall marketing strategy in the short and long run. Benefits Strategic recommendations and data reports Access to exclusive inventory No learning curve (saves time and energy!) Expertise & insights: traffic patterns, benchmarks, creative best practices Concerns Management fee on top of ad budget Need to go through the agency for adjustments Service providers’ management fees may vary, so do your homework and compare! Here’s a handy resource (free to download) to figure out if an agency is right for you: You should consider managed programmatic advertising if: You are looking for complete campaign configuration: setup, execution, and analytics. Now
7 key programmatic advertising metrics to measure (and why)
Your programmatic ads are performing well – or are they? The only way to really know is to look at your analytics, and the key ad metrics that help you make better strategic campaign decisions. There may be a lot of metrics to measure, but some are more valuable than others. Too often advertisers focus on the wrong metrics that lead them astray! That’s why today’s post is about 7 extremely important and relevant metrics that will help you make clearer, stronger and better decisions for your next big programmatic campaign. Here is the list of ad metrics we will cover today: Impressions Clicks Conversions Cost Revenue Reach Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) How to measure programmatic ads effectively Here’s the thing about programmatic advertising metrics—there are dozens you could track, but most will just overwhelm you with data that doesn’t move the needle. We’ve narrowed it down to seven essential metrics that give you real insight into campaign performance. These aren’t vanity numbers designed to make your reports look impressive. They’re the metrics that help you make smarter budget decisions, optimize campaigns in real time, and prove actual ROI. Each metric serves a specific purpose: Performance metrics show you what’s working Financial metrics keep you profitable Brand metrics build long-term value Let’s break down the seven metrics that separate successful programmatic campaigns from expensive learning experiences. 1. Impressions Impressions are an important baseline metric, because they help you understand how many times your ad media was displayed in your inventory. They answer the question: How many times has my programmatic creative been displayed? Impressions are not about who has seen your ad. Instead, they‘re about the potential that your ad has to be seen. So you can’t really assign a reliable, quantitative weight to these metrics. This metric isn’t based on an action, but instead acts as a valuable part of calculating other critical metrics that will lead to better campaign performance. The two types of ad impression are: #1: Served – when served content is transmitted it counts as an impression#2: Viewable – when more data is used to understand if a user saw the ad content or not Served impressions are unreliable, while viewable impressions are more accurate. The most vital of the two are viewable impressions because they provide data analysts with actionable performance data for campaign improvement. 2. Clicks & click-through rate (CTR) Clicks are a performance metric. They answer the question: How many times has my programmatic ad creative been clicked? With programmatic ads, clicks are among the most telling metrics you can measure. It’s not accurate to assume all clicks are intentional, and they certainly don’t all lead to a conversion. But when you combine click and impression metrics, you can calculate actionable percentages that help you make better campaign budget decisions and improve your ad ROI. In Display Advertising, calculating your Click-Through Rate means determining the percentage of people who saw and clicked on your ad. Here is how you can calculate Click-Through Rate: If 3 people saw your ad every 100 impressions, you have a 3% CTR for example. Clicks help you understand ad success when combined with other metric data! 3. Conversions (and conversion rate) Conversions are a performance metric. They answer the question: How many times have my programmatic display ads converted? Every ad campaign has goals, or actions that advertisers want the consumer to complete because of the ad that has targeted them. Conversions are the ultimate ad metric. You get all sorts of conversions – buy, sign-up, download, comment – these are all measurable actions. The achievement of conversions means the customer is either buying, or has a much higher chance of buying, from your brand in the future. 4. Cost Cost is a financial metric. It answers the question: What did my ad campaign cost? Programmatic ads cost money to run, and the point is to set a budget that secures you the right inventory and target audience. That means measuring cost in relation to many other ad metrics. As you delve into the world of digital advertising, it’s essential to incorporate financial planning and budget tracking tools into your strategy, ensuring that every advertising dollar is spent wisely and aligns with your business’s financial goals. You can measure cost-per-mille, cost-per-click, cost-per-engagement, cost-per-view, cost-per-conversion and a host of other financial metrics you’ll need to understand campaign success. Cost metrics directly influence how you will invest in your next ad campaign. Sometimes you’ll want to target better quality inventory, because your budget parameters didn’t allow you the right inventory in your previous campaign. Your goal is to keep testing to find the right cost levels. These will help you determine your overall Return On Investment. As you delve into the world of digital advertising, it’s essential to incorporate financial planning for SMBs into your strategy, ensuring that every advertising dollar is spent wisely and aligns with your business’s financial goals. 5. Revenue Revenue is a financial metric. It answers the question: What revenue did my programmatic ads generate? With this ad metric, you need to know everything from gross revenue to net revenue. Coupled with your cost metrics you can calculate and refine media, data, agency, tech and other fees – and even streamline your profit margins over time. The most important of these are the overall revenue generated from your campaign, revenue created per visit and revenue created per page (RPM). 6. Reach Reach is a brand metric. It answers the question: How many unique users did my ad campaign reach? Reach is a critical ad metric for understanding how many people your campaign actually reached. Unlike impressions, reach is calculated per person, not per potential view. Reach can be compared with other vital metrics, like CTR, frequency and impressions to better understand ad success. Paid reach often increases viral and organic reach of your unpaid content. Estimating reach can also help control the parameters of a new ad campaign. 7. Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) ROAS is a performance metric. It answers the question: What was the profit created from my current advertising campaign? ROAS, or Return On Ad
2024 Holiday Advertising Tips to Drive Better Results
It’s November 2024, which means Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” is back on loop in every supermarket and mall. If it feels like the holiday shopping season is starting earlier every year… that’s because it is! According to Google’s recent Think Retail event, 34% of US shoppers had already started their holiday shopping as early as July 2024—up from 27% last year. But this year’s timeline comes with a twist: there’s five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s! Brands will need to pack in more impact in a shorter time period. It’s more important than ever to engage your target audience more efficiently! In this blog, we’ll introduce Google’s four holiday “shopper mindsets” and some additional holiday ad tips so you can drive more sales for the 2024 holidays! 4 Types of Holiday Shoppers At the Think Retail conference, Google identified four distinct mindsets that drive consumer behavior during the holiday season. Each one has unique needs and expectations, which would in turn impact their shopping decisions. The Deliberate Shopper These shoppers are all about planning, researching, and taking their time. They typically do their shopping in October and November. They want to feel confident in their purchase decisions and appreciate ads that guide them to the best choices. Tips: Utilize Performance Max ads to target them. Personalized ads and landing page content that resonate with their needs, such as “What’s the best gift for an outdoor enthusiast”, or “Best holiday gifts for elderly grandparent” etc. Include keywords like “holiday bests”, “top pick”, or “reviews” in your Search ads! The Deal-Seekers Deal-seekers live for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, this year (2024), the short holiday season means these shoppers will also be hunting for deals beyond the peak days. Tips: Optimize your website and/or landing page for speed and create a streamlined shopping experience. In your ads, try to emphasize on the sense of urgency, utilize words like “last chance”, “biggest blowout”, “limited time” to give them an extra budget to convert. If you want to drive more in-store traffic, consider even geo-targeting closer vicinity and utilize Klick & Mortar to attribute in-shop purchases to your digital ads! The Determined Shopper December is crunch time for shoppers who held off on buying or need last-minute gifts. Now they’re laser-focused. With fewer days to shop, they’re looking for convenience, ease, and speed. Eyes on the prize. Tips: Optimize your eCommerce website so users can enjoy a fast loading speed for browsing and checkout! Use Google’s “near me” optimization for in-store availability ads The Devoted Shopper: Loyal Fans Ahh, your repeat customers, aka your loyal fans— those who love your brand and return year after year—are the hidden holiday heroes. Their loyalty can help drive sales well beyond December if you give them reasons to come back. Tips: Segment audience lists of your members and create personalized ads for them to highlight loyalty perks, member discounts, exclusive access etc to make them feel valued! As the holidays roll in, tuning into these shopper mindsets can make all the difference in building connections that convert. Each group has its quirks, and by shaping your campaigns to speak to what matters to them—from deal seekers to loyal fans—you’ll capture their attention and drive results. This season, establish your presence where your audiences are, keep your message sharp, and make every click count! Bonus Tips to Maximize Every Moment of This Holiday Season Plan Around Key Dates With the shortened shopping window, having a flexible, target-focused budget in place can help maximize returns during high-traffic days. Get your ad creatives, offers, and landing pages etc planned and have on hand weeks ahead of time to stay on top of your game! Boost Product Visibility Make sure your Google Merchant Center feed is in top shape by including keywords, high-quality images, and clear product attributes. For example, using descriptors like “color,” “size,” and “style” can help your products appear in more specific searches. Stay Agile with AI Google’s AI-driven ad strategies, like Performance Max and Demand Gen that utilize Dynamic Creative Optimization are designed to adjust to real-time trends. These tools are especially useful when trying to keep up with the rapid pace of holiday shopping behavior. Partner with an Ad Agency The holiday season is packed with potential—make the most of it by teaming up with an ad agency that knows how to maximize your ad dollars. War Room’s programmatic approach ensures your campaigns reach the right audiences across channels, whether they’re browsing on social, watching videos, or searching for holiday deals. Our custom strategies are designed to adapt in real-time, so your ads stay relevant and effective as trends shift throughout the season. Let us handle the complexities of cross-channel advertising and data insights, so you can focus on delivering a seamless holiday experience for your customers. Are You Ready? The holiday season may be shorter this year, but with the right strategies, your brand can still thrive. Focus on connecting with each shopper mindset, use AI-driven insights, and tailor your ads to stand out in a busy market.Ready to elevate your holiday ad game? Reach out to our team at War Room to make every holiday connection count! Want more digital marketing tips? Sign-up for War Room’s newsletter to get digital marketing articles and resources delivered to your inbox! Subscribe Now You might like these:
Big Hearts, Furry Friends: How War Room & Kedet Kares are Supporting the BC SPCA
At War Room, we believe that caring goes beyond our clients and campaigns—it extends to the furry friends who bring so much joy to our lives! PS. Did you know that we are one of the most pet-friendly offices in Canada?! That’s why we’re so grateful for the opportunity to give back through our Kedet Kares initiative. Recently, the BC SPCA shared a heartfelt update with us, letting us know how donations like ours are making a real difference: “Thank you for your kindness and generosity in supporting the animals and the BC SPCA! In the past 12 months you have made a big impact be donating over $4,000 supporting animals just like Josiah who came to the BC SPCA with his 7 siblings and is currently looking for his forever home. Thanks to donors and like you we are here to help animals just like Josiah and his siblings do just that!War Room is passionate about making a pawsitive (see what we did there) difference and by making a donation that comes from the heart to the BC SPCA you are doing just that. Thank you for being there for us and the 135.000+ animals we help every year.” Just knowing we’ve played even a small part in that is incredibly rewarding.Kedet Kares is our way of giving back and showing that success isn’t just about ad performance—it’s about making a meaningful difference in the community. We’re proud to support causes like the BC SPCA, and we’ll continue to lend a helping paw to make sure animals like Josiah get the love and care they deserve. If you love animals as much as we do and want to get involved, don’t hesitate to check out the amazing work the BC SPCA is doing. Together, we can help make the world a little brighter for our furry friends—one tail wag at a time! PS. Did you know we did donation matching with our in-house charity program, Kedet Kares? Want more digital marketing tips? Sign-up for War Room’s newsletter to get digital marketing articles and resources delivered to your inbox! Subscribe Now You might like these:
Examples of Successful PPC Ad Campaigns
There’s a big misunderstanding about Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.Many marketers use it as a “fast track” to SEO success since you can pay for keyword rankings instead of earning them organically. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. PPC isn’t a “get rich quick” marketing scheme, and it’s definitely not easy.And going in with that misconception will lead to results as dry as the Sahara Desert—or if we’re being extreme, becoming broke. It’s extremely popular. Search advertising spending has reached $185.35 billion and is expected to increase to $261 billion by 2028, a 6% annual growth rate. And in 2023, Google Ads generated $237.86 billion.But very few get it right. So today, we’ll learn from the ones who do so you can take home a piece of that $261 billion pie. These examples are actual PPC campaigns that delivered noteworthy results—so you can draw inspiration from them for your next campaign, or cite them in your next marketing report for clients or in-house stakeholders. Elements of a Highly Successful PPC Advertising Campaign There are a few things all successful PPC campaigns have in common.How are they approaching their audience? Which platforms are they using? What does their ad copy look like?So, let’s get specific. For your campaign to be worth your time (and your dollar), it has to: Deliver results Be memorable Reach the target audience Stand out from the competition And that’s exactly what the campaigns below do. PPC Advertising Campaign Examples That Actually Worked Converse “Domaination” World-renowned shoe brand Converse tapped into Google’s PPC potential before most brands did. With the “Domaination” campaign, the company’s plan was to disrupt.First, they had to identify what their target audience was searching for. Since Converse’s audience was teenagers and young adults, the common searches were terms like: How to kiss How to talk to girls Spelling bee How to tell your parents Converse used these terms to begin “converse-actions.” These were how-to guides on various topics based on what they found their target audience was needing answers to. Converse’s microsites for the Domaination campaign They made multiple microsites addressing each question, hence the name “Domainnation.” They then ran advertising campaigns for each site. But the secret to Domainnation’s success wasn’t just the audience appeal. They didn’t create a site for every keyword they researched—only the low-cost, low-competition ones. This allowed them to save money and made it insanely easier to get traffic since they weren’t being drowned out by other big names. Now, ranking well for a high-traffic keyword is one thing. However, keeping the reader’s attention is where most companies miss the mark. In our opinion, this is really where Converse hit the nail on the head.The “ad” was not actually an ad for Converse products. When teenagers (the target audience) clicked on the web page Converse paid to have in the search results, the page was Converse’s unique take on the topic. They offered advice, gave hot takes, posted how-to tutorials… whatever it was that the teenager wanted to read. For example, it was spelling bee season for high school students. So Converse bought the domain conversespellingbee.com. When high schoolers typed in “spelling bee,” the first result was this website. When they opened it, they watched a video Converse made—a video that told visitors in one sentence what a spelling bee was, then told them to play a “search engine” spelling bee. The rules of the game were that the visitors go to Google and type the word that was said into the search box, and they knew they spelled it right when another Converse domain ad for the word popped up. They proceed to Round 2 by clicking the ad. But the spelling bee wasn’t the only site. Converse made new websites each week, and each site was somehow intertwined with another one (like the spelling bee site that sent users to another one) so that they could keep exploring for endless content. The end result? Converse got 600,000 unique visitors to its website. And with a budget of just $100,000, the campaign yielded massive positive results, beating the traditional cost-to-visitor ratio by 2600%. This led to the “Domination” campaign becoming a case study that marketers still talk about today, despite hundreds of thousands of campaigns having been carried out since then. Kleenex Catches Colds We’ve all been in a situation where we Google our symptoms before considering seeing a doctor. And just like that, we end up convinced we have cancer five minutes later. Kleenex found a way to capitalize on this all-too-familiar experience and turn it into a successful marketing campaign. The flu-related searches could be traced geographically—thanks to Google Trends—and for 18 months, the company’s digital marketing partner, Mindshare, tracked them. Kleenex then harnessed this data to find regions where its PPC campaigns would do best. Kleenex cold and flu trend search on Google The agency compared this information with other data sources, such as doctor visits and calls to the government-set hotlines. Together, they identified the cities with higher flu and cold rates in real-time and launched targeted ads in those areas. When the cold and flu season arrived in 2012, Kleenex expended 96% of its media budget on these targeted regions. Kleenex made a video explaining how they did this, and it’s quite funny. They start by saying that they first launched an ad campaign during the hottest month of the year, and admitted to it being a giant flop. So what did they do? They did some self-diagnosis by going to Google and finding out where they went wrong. This led to them starting their Google AdWords auction to find out where and when people were getting sick. Kleenex media spending on PPC The results were astounding—a 40% sales increase year over year in just two months. Kleenex’s approach to PPC advertising is a great example of how Google data is more than mere search engine results. It can be the foundation for your paid ad strategy. Vancouver Whitecaps Award-winning programmatic ad agency, War Room collaborated with the Vancouver
The Rise of Micro-Content: How to Keep Audiences Engaged in Seconds
Content is an integral part of digital strategy, as it is often the first touchpoint of a potential customer with a brand. Think about it—whether someone reads a blog post, sees a social media update, or watches a video, that’s usually the starting point of their journey. Modern consumers are more likely to buy from a brand after engaging with its content. On top of that, businesses that create regular content get 97% more backlinks and strengthen their online presence. Good content builds trust, shows expertise, and encourages users to return for more. In addition to driving traffic, it builds meaningful connections that turn random visitors into loyal customers. However, not all content is that powerful. The pace of modern life is steadily increasing, and so does the speed of content consumption. People want to get information in well-digestible portions. This tendency has gradually led to the emergence of micro-content. Read on to learn what it is and how it works. What is Micro-Content, and Why is it in Trend? Today, people are literally attacked by information from social media, ads, and other digital platforms. The average human attention span has dropped to just 8 seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2000. Users quickly lose interest in content that doesn’t grab them right away. For brands, this means their information needs to be laconic and engaging. Long articles or slow websites often make people leave. Shorter, more visual content—like quick videos or catchy headlines—works better. Thus, brands must adapt communication with their audiences and offer them content that can be consumed in seconds or micro-content. The key features of micro-content are clarity and simplicity. This is why platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Twitter have become so popular, where content is often limited to just a few seconds or characters. These short info bits use emotional triggers to evoke strong, lasting emotions. The fear of missing out (FOMO) adds urgency and prompts users to act quickly. Types of Micro-Content You can create easily perceptible content in different formats. Here are the most popular forms of it: Short posts: These are brief text updates that can be shared on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. They can be used to share quotes, tips, or behind-the-scenes glimpses. Videos: A few-second videos have become a staple of micro-content. These are used to showcase products, share tutorials, or simply entertain. You can find plenty on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts. GIFs: Animated images can add a touch of humor or visual interest to your content. They perfectly express emotions or reactions. Memes: Humorous images or videos added to the text ideally connect with your audience and often go viral. Soundbites: Short audio clips that can be used to share quotes, sound effects, or music snippets. They’re often used in social media posts or videos. How to Create Micro-Content That Attracts At first glance, there is nothing simpler than creating a short post or video. However, it is a true art to make a bit of info that catches. Here are some practical tips: 1. Keep it concise and to the point Small is the new big. Skip details and focus on one main idea. Your message should be understood within seconds. The more concise the content, the higher the chances it will be shared. 2. Use eye-catching visuals. Visuals are the best tools to capture attention. Experiment with colors, images, or animations to be noticed and persuade users to stop, view and share your content with others. 3. Play with emotions. Your little message should evoke emotions through humor, inspiration, or nostalgia. This approach creates memories and deepens engagement, resulting in more shares, likes, and comments. 4. Make it short-term. Phrases like “limited time” or “offer ends soon” encourage immediate action. They create the fear of missing out (FOMO) and make users interact with your content without delay. 5. Include a clear Call-to-Action. A strong call-to-action (CTA) is the best instruction on the next step a user takes. Keep it simple but clear – ask them to like, share, or buy. A CTA adds more value to your content. Great Examples of Micro-Content To better understand the power and impact of micro-content, let’s see how others do it. YouTube Shorts Graham Stephan, a popular personal finance YouTuber, makes Shorts with quick and useful financial tips. His short videos about money saving and investment tips are short but packed with helpful advice. They quickly helped him attract a nearly 5 million audience. LinkedIn posts Hiveage, a cloud-based invoice automation tool provider for small businesses and freelancers, uses micro-content to explain how to use its software. The company shares easy-to-scan infographics to show the benefits of their product and attract more users. TikTok videos Zach King has become extremely popular thanks to his stunning illusions that keep the audience speechless. These quick videos brought him a stunning number of followers – 80 million! @zachking How to get the perfect Olympic shot! 🏐 🥇 @AlibabaCloud #alibabacloudmemento #AlibabaPartner ♬ original sound – Zach King How Do You Measure the Effect of Your Micro-Content?It is not enough to create short posts and videos; you must also know their impact. Analyze engagement metrics – these are likes, comments, and shares. It will help you understand how much people interact with your content. Check the views and watch time to see if people watch your videos to the very end. Track the click-through rate (CTR). It will tell you whether people click your call to action. Watch your audience growth to see if you are actually gaining new followers. The above findings will show what works and what improvements are needed. Conclusion Micro-content adds value to any marketing strategy. Its ability to grab attention, build connections, and drive results turns it into a powerful tool for modern marketers. Micro-content helps brands stand out and reach new customers much faster. It exists in many forms and formats and is suitable for any business. Use the above insights and experiment with micro-content in your company to boost its growth! Want more digital
Driving B2B SaaS Leads with Facebook & Instagram
In today’s competitive digital marketing landscape, driving B2B SaaS leads with Meta (specifically, Facebook and Instagram) has evolved into a pivotal strategy for scaling growth. The expansive targeting capabilities, real-time analytics, and immense reach of these platforms allow businesses to connect with decision-makers effectively and efficiently. For context, Databox recently reported that Facebook and Instagram are the top 2 social media for conversions and lead generation, ahead of LinkedIn. In this guide, we’ll focus on how you can use Facebook and Instagram to effectively drive B2B SaaS leads. These powerful platforms boast massive user bases and sophisticated targeting options, making them ideal for B2B lead generation. In fact, Meta-owned apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger have an average of 3.27 billion daily active users. This shows the apps’ growing audience, which brings immense potential for driving B2B SaaS leads. Let’s now discuss how you can leverage these powerful platforms for successful B2B lead generation. 1. Understanding Your B2B SaaS Audience on Social Media The first step in driving B2B SaaS leads with Facebook and Instagram is to deeply understand your audience on these platforms. Here are some high-level strategies to gain valuable insights: Leverage social media listening tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to monitor industry-specific conversations by tracking relevant keywords and hashtags. This reveals pain points and trends that’ll help you develop your content strategy.Take a look at this social media listening dashboard sample from Srout Social. Conduct thorough competitive analysis by examining your rivals’ social media presence. Analyze their content strategy, engagement rates, and audience interactions to identify gaps and opportunities in the market. Create detailed buyer personas by combining data from your CRM, social media analytics, and customer interviews. Go beyond demographics to understand their goals, challenges, and preferred content types. Utilize Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to uncover detailed information about your target audience’s interests, behaviors, and other pages they follow. This data can refine your targeting and content creation efforts. Here’s an example of Facebook’s Audience Insight tool at work: Implement social media surveys or polls to directly engage your audience and gather firsthand insights about their preferences and pain points. Analyze your website traffic sources using tools like Google Analytics. This helps you understand which social platforms are driving the most qualified leads, enabling you to allocate resources more effectively. Adopting these strategies can help you gain balanced insights and an understanding of your B2B audience. This way, you can create highly targeted and effective campaigns to increase your Facebook and Instagram engagement rates. As a result, this helps with driving B2B SaaS leads with Facebook and Instagram. 2. Crafting Compelling Content for B2B SaaS on Social Media Now that you understand your audience, it’s time to create content that resonates with them. The key to driving B2B SaaS leads with Facebook and Instagram is to tailor your content to each platform’s unique format while maintaining a consistent brand message. For instance, on Facebook, you have the flexibility to create various types of content, including: Long-form posts: Share detailed insights, industry trends, or case studies. Videos: Create product demos, tutorials, or thought leadership content. Live streams: Host Q&A sessions or product launches to engage directly with your audience. Here’s a great example of a Facebook post geared towards driving B2B Saas leads: For Instagram, focus on visual storytelling by using: Carousel posts to showcase multiple product features Instagram videos for in-depth product demonstrations Stories to offer behind-the-scenes glimpses or quick tips Reels for short, engaging product teasers or tips This Instagram Reel from Zapier is a great example of what’s being discussed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zapier (@zapier) That said, regardless of the platform, always strive to balance educational and promotional content. Aim for an 80/20 split: 80% of your content should provide value to your audience, while 20% can be more directly promotional. Also, don’t forget to leverage user-generated content and case studies. Share success stories from your clients, complete with concrete metrics and results. This not only provides social proof but also helps potential clients envision how your product could benefit their own business. 3. Optimizing Facebook Ads for B2B SaaS Lead Generation Facebook’s robust advertising platform offers powerful tools for driving valuable B2B SaaS leads. Such tools include Ads Manager, Audience Insights, and Meta Pixel. These tools provide sophisticated targeting options, detailed analytics, and conversion tracking capabilities essential for effective B2B lead generation. That said, to maximize your results, here are a few strategies you can adopt: Create custom audiences based on website visitors and email lists Utilize lookalike audiences to expand your reach Implement retargeting strategies for high-intent prospects Create effective ad copy and visuals for B2B SaaS offerings Leverage Facebook Lead Ads for direct lead capture Try Dynamic Ads to showcase your brand, get better results and prevent ad fatigue When setting up your campaigns, keep in mind that the average CTR across all industries on Facebook is 1.51%, with an average CPC of $0.83. Aim to beat these benchmarks by continually testing and refining your ad creative and targeting. 4. Harnessing Instagram’s Potential for B2B SaaS Lead Generation While Instagram might not be the first platform that comes to mind for B2B marketing, it offers unique opportunities for driving B2B SaaS leads. Here’s how to make the most of this social media platform: Optimize your Instagram business profile for lead generation Utilize Instagram Stories and Highlights to showcase product features Leverage Instagram’s shopping features for B2B SaaS products, such as Instagram Shop for Shopify integrations Use Instagram Videos for in-depth product demonstrations and thought leadership content Create engaging Reels to showcase quick tips or product features Consider incorporating local influencer marketing to reach targeted B2B audiences more effectively It would interest you to know that 62% of Instagram users become more interested in a brand after seeing it in Stories. As such, when you create a strong Instagram presence, you’re not just generating leads; you’re building brand awareness and credibility in the B2B space. 5. Integrating Strategies with Your Sales Funnel
A Guide to the Travel Customer Journey
The Travel Customer Journey is key for successful travel and tourism marketing. It helps you understand travelers of the past, present, and future. The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily affected the travel and tourism industry back in 2020 and 2021. “Revenge Travel” was a new term coined to describe the predicted phenomenon of post-pandemic surges in travel bookings. After all, we’ve all been daydreaming about traveling while being stuck at home. Many will be dying to scratch that travel itch when things are safe again, which gradually started to happen in late 2021 onwards. You might already have a laid-out Travel Customer Journey, but it’s time to spruce it up for this new, post-Covid era. Also, not to mention, technology has revolutionized the way people book for travel. Travel technology solutions are revolutionizing the way travelers experience their journeys, from booking accommodations to exploring new destinations. For example, with VisaFly‘s expertise, your journey becomes smoother, ensuring you have the necessary visas and permits to explore the world hassle-free. The travel landscape is now multi-device and multi-channel. Our blog is here to help! Today, we’ll take a closer look at this journey and the stages within it. We’ll provide tips that can be easily implemented into your existing travel marketing strategy. Here are the topics we’ll discuss: What is a Customer Journey? What is a Travel Customer Journey? Dreaming Planning Booking Exploring Remembering How to Track the Travel Customer Journey? Why is it Important to Map out a Travel Customer Journey? Photo by Melissa Walker Horn on Unsplash What is a Customer Journey? A Customer Journey is the customer’s complete experience of interacting with a brand. The journey mapping can span different stages, but here we identify the core three: Awareness The prospect has run into an issue and realizes they need to find a solution. Consideration The prospect is conducting research and shopping around for options. Conversion The prospect makes the final purchase decision. What is a Traveler Customer Journey? Compared to the typical Customer Journey, the Traveler Customer Journey has different stages. These stages are also known as “Travel Moments”Let’s take a closer look, shall we? Dreaming Inspire People to Travel Planning Engage with your Brand Booking Drive Them to Book Exploring Loyalty Though Experience Remembering Post-Trip Touchpoints 1. Dreaming Ah, yes, we all do this. We are daydreaming about sinking our toes into the warm sand on the beach in Fiji, exploring the historical ruins of Pompeii, or biking through the scenic city that is Amsterdam! This craving for adventure has only multiplied since COVID-19 began, especially considering that people were so locked up inside. Canceled travel plans are a pain. So! This is the first stage any person that is thinking of traveling will undergo. A prospect will start by dreaming about a trip to your destination or participating in the tours or activities you offer. It’s hopeful and fun. Note, they don’t have any firm plans at this stage yet. Think of it like they are browsing for travel inspiration and pinning it on their Pinterest board. As a marketer, this is where you think: how do I get more people to become aware of my location and offerings? In order to appear in peoples’ “dreams”, brand awareness efforts are a must! Travel marketers can run awareness campaigns through Display and Social ads. Use vibrant visuals that clearly depict your destination of offerings (this is not the time to be abstract). Paint a picture in their head before they know exactly what they want. To build awareness, some ad formats work better than others: HTML5 Cinemagraphs Audio Video When it comes to your advertising imagery: Try to feature models that match the demographic you’re targeting. Family? Couples? Seniors? People want to put themselves in the models’ shoes. Are you marketing the gorgeous views of your destination? Compared to the environment, the proportions of the models should be tiny to middle-sized. That is how you feature the destination as the focal point. Want to show off the awesome activities you’re offering? Make sure the models are middle to large-sized compared to the background. This way, it demonstrates the experience effectively. You need to plant the seed in their mind so they can think of you when they dream of their next vacation! 2. Planning The Planning stage is when people have decided on the destination they want to visit. This is when they start to plan for accommodations, travel, and activities! People will be comparing options and prices before finalizing their decision. This is a crucial stage for travel marketers to establish their presence and capture people with high purchase intent. You have to stand out from your competition. That means you should cover your ground online. Modern travel software development enables businesses to create comprehensive digital touchpoints that meet travelers where they are in their journey. Consumers are smart and savvy. 4 out of 10 visits to a travel or tourism website are through mobile. Surveys show that 88% of people would switch to another website if yours doesn’t meet their needs. Thus, be sure your website and landing page provide relevant information and are optimized for mobile devices! Google breaks down the Travel Customer Journey into micro-moments. Here’s a look at how mobile devices are shaping the decision-making process for travelers. Paid Search is geared towards users who are actively searching for specific keywords. See our blog to learn more about Search Ads. If you are a hotel, hotel ads are a valuable advertising option. You’ll show up at the top of the results and it offers direct booking right on the search results page. At this stage in the Travel Customer Journey, you want to attract as much traffic from interested audiences as possible. So combine your paid strategy with content marketing. Write blogs about your services, events, and brand. It will provide people with more context in the activities they might be interested in! By doing so, your website will also see a growth in organic traffic. 3. Booking The people are ready and eager to