Digital ad spend has surpassed TV and continues to widen the gap, but TV remains a $72 billion industry – and an integral part of many advertiser’s overall strategy.
According to Marketing Charts, 51% of advertisers say that TV investments remain core to their strategy with most advertisers perceiving TV and Digital as complementary – not competing – mediums. In fact, TV ads topped one recent survey of marketers and agency professionals as the ad medium with greatest impact.
TV continues to offer marketers a broad audience with unparalleled reach that can generate buzz and drive sales, but remains a passive medium and is often difficult to measure total impact.
Savvy marketers can complement their TV campaigns with a digital strategy to maximize ROI and ensure they are capturing the demand TV campaigns have generated.
Is your digital strategy built to compliment TV and maximize ROI?
A digital strategy that complements TV and is ready to maximize ROI will not only be prepared to handle the increased traffic you will get from TV, but will also be aligned creatively.
Search might be the most important part of a complimentary digital strategy, but it is also important that your creative is aligned across all channels including shopping, social, display and digital video.
Here are some of the most important steps you need to take to ensure you will get the most out of your next TV campaign.
Increase Search Bids/Budgets to Protect Your Position and Impression Share
eMarketer estimates that 88% of internet users use the internet while watching TV, and a recent Google consumer survey sites that 66% of smartphone users turn to their phones to look up something they saw in a TV commercial.
This leaves search to pick up where TV left off – and your search campaigns better be ready. A TV campaign will increase your branded search volume, in some cases by as much as 98%. This means you will need to ensure there is room in your budgets to account for this extra volume.
You may also need to increase your bids to protect your position and impression share, as other savvy marketers may try to capture some that buzz generated by your TV campaign. This applies to your core brand terms, but take note of your TV creative and expand your keywords to include any other searches your ad may trigger, such as celebrities in the ad, a memorable call to action, or a tag line.
Now your branded search campaign is ready for your TV campaign, but don’t count out those category terms – get your non-brand keywords ready, too. People are often just as likely to search for a product/general category term as they are to search for your brand.
Ensure you have all of your keywords covered and are bidding to a mainline position while your TV ads air; if you aren’t there on category terms, you might be driving demand to your competition.
A case study from Periscopix shows one of their clients, who had never run TV activity before, saw a 41% increase in CTR for generic terms once TV was running.
Make the Most of Mobile
As we know from talking about search campaigns, two-thirds of smartphone users will use their mobile devices to look up something they saw in a TV commercial.
An effective TV ad can stimulate ‘micro-moments’ where users are looking for quick answers about product specs, prices, details, or reviews. These mobile moments are your opportunity to provide an engaging experience for your customers.
To capture these ‘micro-moments,’ it might be worth adjusting your mobile bids to increase during the specific times your TV ads are scheduled to air. Keep the consumer journey seamless and ensure you have a digital presence when your television ads are running, especially on mobile.
Have a Remarketing Strategy
Your TV campaign piqued interest and generated a search, you were ready, and your search ad continued to engage the user as they click through to your website. Then the commercial break ends and the user is back to their program without converting.
A proper remarketing strategy will place these users into audiences for you to reengage later when your users are back online or browsing social media. You can pulse these remarketing campaigns during times when your TV ads aren’t showing to keep your customers engaged and your brand top of mind even during times when your ads aren’t airing.
Align Your Creative and Amplify Your Message
Align your ad copy and landing page with your television creative to amplify your message making it easier for customers to choose your ad and quickly get to the information they’re looking for.
A digital strategy that isn’t aligned with your TV campaign can lead to missed opportunities, so make sure the copy reflects the catchphrases, calls to action and pricing used in your TV creative. There’s nothing more disruptive to the customer journey than seeing one price in a TV ad and another one when they search online. Aligning your messaging and offer will make the offline-to-online transition effortless for the viewer and maximize your opportunities for conversion.
Conclusion
A well thought out digital strategy will help maximize your TV investment.
By monitoring increases in brand searches and in brand mentions pre- and post-launch of your TV campaign you can gauge how the TV creative is resonating with your audience, giving you immediate feedback on how your TV campaign is performing. Then, by prepping your digital campaigns and aligning them with your TV ads, your well on your way to a successful marketing campaign.
To make the most out of your investment into advertising on TV, it is paramount to have a digital strategy across all channels that amplifies the message and captures the demand created, ensuring you are maximizing your TV ROI.
Sources for Further Reading
https://www.periscopix.co.uk/blog/how-to-use-ppc-to-support-tv-advertising/
https://www.emarketer.com/Report/US-Ad-Spending-eMarketer-Forecast-2017/2001998
