Unity of a Campaign

One voice. One purpose. One metric. Conversions.

The Opportunity:

Many campaigns are grown over a period of time. They'll start off with an over arching idea, a solid theme and a few points of execution. But then over time they'll start to slide. Different production artist get involved. Copy gets updated for "fresher" feel. Fast forward a few cycles and where your new creative is today, no longer aligns with the campaign's foundation. This may not be a problem – if you can stay on top of every single asset in the campaign.

When we kick off our campaign we detail out all of the assets required for our kickoff. Online ads, offline ads, relevant content offers, landing pages, follow-up emails. All of these items working together as a well oiled funnel.

The problem is that while we often want to focus on update the online banners in a campaign with an ever evolving "freshness"... we are not mindful of the initial components. Namely: the landing pages. These assets never get revisited or updated. And already I can here you saying "so what?"

Optimization #1:

Landing pages are where the conversions happen. It's where your money is made. It is one thing to get people to click on a banner... it's quite another to get them to fill out your registration form. You can have the best CTR the world has ever seen – but if that creative does not carry through to a landing page that drives conversions then it's all for nothing.

Data Protection Campaign Landing Page

The new banners and your old landing page must be in total alignment. If your end user sees a different headline – a different style of art, a different font or a different text treatment; they are instantly going to put their guard up. And that's when you get to say hello to your new enemy: the increasing Bounce Rate.

Align every property in the campaign. Routinely.

Optimization #2:

Now, let's assume you've done the due diligence to keep your campaign in complete harmony. But you're still finding that while your CTR is very strong – your conversions on the landing page are anything but. Why?

Data Protection Campaign Interactive Flash Banner
Click to Play

Your banners are over-performing. Believe it or not, this is not a good thing. Your message, your offer – it's too broad. You have not properly weeded out the unwanted audience members. If you're paying per-click... you know that this is a bad spot to be in. You can quickly watch your budget get eaten alive by an audience of un-engaged grandma's with no budget or desire for your product offerings.

Like a bouncer at the trendy new nightclub... do your audience trimming up front. It sounds a bit harsh, but the sooner you separate the players from the payers; the more successful your campaign will be.

In B2B, not every impression is a quality impression. Don't waste your time selling your prospects on a vision. Sell them on what you are going to deliver. Realistic and tangible deliverables.