Largely accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 saw a major surge in online holiday shopping. While brick-and-mortar will likely play a larger role this year than the year prior, e-commerce sales continue to grow, and there’s no doubt the channel will be integral for shopping this winter.
Once again, many consumers are choosing to do their shopping online instead of in-store this season, for a myriad of reasons. To stay ahead and optimise traction this holiday season, advertisers need to have a digital strategy in place that will capitalise on the trend towards e-commerce, drive revenue and, most importantly, accurately measure results.
To be successful in this highly competitive season, driving brand awareness is not enough for advertisers. Rather, advertisers need to move away from the focus on top-of-funnel and take a wider, full-funnel look at their pipeline to ensure they are driving measurable actions to prove out ROI and ROAS.
Precise targeting: reaching consumers who are most likely to take an action
Advertisers need access to granular targeting capabilities that allow them to reach a precise audience of consumers who are most likely to take an action. In doing so, this eliminates wasted impressions and drives the highest ROI for their business. By tapping into the latest targeting solutions like addressable programmatic and CTV advertising, advertisers can reach consumers on a highly individualised level.
Addressable programmatic allows advertisers to target at the household-level based on demographic and behavioral data so that campaigns can take into account the various ways that one household differs from another. When leveraging addressable programmatic, retailers can effectively reach every device seen within a household, including the big screen in the living room, for those that have expressed interest in a product or service offering through either their online behavior or offline behavior.
Behaviors such as visiting a website, searching for a similar product or service offering, and/or reading content that pertains to a specific item or service demonstrates a level of interest that advertisers can capitalise on this holiday season. Pairing this information with household-level location data results in a more granular and customised audience. This leads to fewer wasted impressions, a more personalised and useful ad experience for consumers and, most importantly for the advertiser, higher ROI.
With the continued uptick in streaming, there has never been a better time to reach users on their streaming devices. Advertisers getting ready for the holiday shopping season can tap into CTV advertising and combine the impact of TV ads with the precision of digital targeting.
The power of strategic and smart CTV campaigns cannot be understated. Advertisers who utilise CTV capabilities are able to reach viewers with the same message as they would using traditional Linear TV, but with improved precision in targeting and attribution. By precisely targeting an audience using these advanced targeting solutions rather than casting a broad net this holiday season, advertisers will be able to drive what’s most important – actions.
Tracking ROI when it matters most
Now more than ever, advertisers want to know exactly what they are getting for their advertising dollars. While impressions and views have long dominated as the top metrics to determine the impact of advertising, advertisers are now better suited pursuing actual actions taken by consumers.
Being able to influence and track a specific action, such as filling out a form, purchasing a product, visiting a storefront or a website, researching a product and/or service offering further, etc. are actions that advertisers will look to drive this holiday season. Additionally, this level of attribution insight will be essential for marketers to make informed decisions and quickly pivot campaign strategies if needed. By taking advantage of advanced attribution capabilities, advertisers can better understand how their holiday campaigns are impacting the bottom line.
As consumers look to shop in every format this year, advertisers must have a diverse digital marketing mix and access to precise targeting and advanced attribution capabilities to ensure their campaigns drive performance this holiday season, not just branding.
Advertisers need to make sure they have access to the industry’s most advanced audience targeting solutions and have them ready to go this holiday season to drive performance. Do not let broad, overgeneralised audience targeting cause you to miss out on revenue. With a precise targeting strategy in place, along with taking advantage of advanced attribution capabilities that prove out ROI, advertisers will see less wasted impressions and better results for their holiday campaigns.
