The impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the online advertising industry has been enormous and cannot be understated. The main problem is uncertainty, which unfortunately is present in nearly every aspect of modern life across the globe at this moment. This type of uncertainty has never been experienced in the 21st century, which creates a new reality that we need to adjust and adapt to.
As a marketer, it is crucial to understand the full scope of the world today, specifically new trends that have emerged from the arrival of COVID-19.
We believe that understanding the world as it is, rather than how it used to be, will enable your company to perform better going forward. To achieve this, we have created a series of buy-side focused articles focusing on how to effectively analyze, strategize, and remain resilient with your digital marketing in 2020.
The goal of this series is to assist you with information we think is valuable, along with compelling recommendations and strategies, which may enable you to reach new levels of success with your marketing campaigns on Display & Video 360 (DV360)!
We recommend that you use this content as a combination of both compass & manual, to effectively analyze and strategize new plans as well as remaining resilient and nimble for whatever happens in the months to come. The sequence is divided to the following chapters > articles:
Global Trends and Strategy – The impact of COVID-19 on user behaviour & online advertising
- Article I (This blog post!)
- WHO are your primary target audiences today?
- HOW should you maintain control of your brand’s visibility and messaging to audiences?
- Article II
- WHAT is your audience doing right now?
- Article III
- WHERE can you find your ideal customers right now?
- HOW much should you budget for your campaigns?
Tactics and Best Practices – Managing a DV360 account during COVID-19
- Article IV
- Tactics for ongoing campaigns for DV360
- New campaigns tactics for DV360
After reading this series of articles, you will possess a better understanding of how to evolve your brand in the time of COVID-19 and be ready for what awaits in the future beyond.
WHO are your primary target audiences today?
You should be identifying new and relevant audiences to be addressing right now, alongside continuing to amplify your presence to your current and core audiences.
Ways to reconsider your audience targeting:
- Revisit your current audience personas (pre-COVID-19 demographics & content) for your products/services. Ask yourself – are they still relevant?
- Make thoughtful adjustments to your existing audience persona profiles by evaluating the new daily routines that your audiences may have in aspects of both (content, ad format, regular hours).
- Begin strategizing and identifying new audiences that can be relevant to your current products and services basis. Who else could you be targeting that you’re ignoring today?
- Examine potential new targeted personas and plans that will enable you to expose your company to new market segments and opportunities.
- Test new brand messages regarding your products (or new products) that will serve new audiences in times of need, i.e., cooking lessons. Once targeted only for cooking enthusiasts, today, everyone! Another example is companies that pivoted to COVID-19 oriented solutions with regards to their set of products, and thus, will need a definite re-adjustment of their current brand persona and advertisement messaging. Are there new ways that people can benefit from what you have to offer?
By conducting constant re-evaluation, you are opening yourself to new audiences and possibilities. On the technical side, this process can later be used for ongoing (re-marketing) campaigns and new prospecting attribution models as well (we will expand on this concept in our next chapter below). Always striving to remain current is just plain good business!
How should you maintain control of your brand’s visibility and messaging to audiences?
First, maintaining control of precisely where your message should and should not appear is essential to protecting your brand and its perception of your audiences/targets. Misplaced ads can have negative consequences as the public may misconstrue your ads purpose or message from merely being shown in the wrong placement. The audience could (incorrectly) believe that your brand is actively and purposefully associating itself with a controversial idea or piece of content, which as a result, will convey the exact opposite of your intended marketing and company goals. Stay tuned for the second part next week. Gadi Elias, Programmatic Training & Strategy Expert at Total Media