THE STATE OF Digital Advertising 2017

Transcription

1 HT SIG S IN ERIE S THE STATE OF Digital Advertising 2017

2 Summary Marin Software interviewed 500 digital marketing managers from leading agencies and brands around the world to discover the trends, opportunities, and challenges they face in In this report, we discuss a number of insights, including: Mobile Ad Spend: Our survey confirms that marketing budgets are following the shift of eyeballs from traditional channels to mobile. We examine this trend and discuss the ROI potential of different mobile strategies. Lack of Expertise is routinely cited as a reason marketers knowingly leave money on the table. We explore the implications of this trend and the opportunity it presents to those willing to learn and/or leverage new tools and channels. What s Hot? Marketers top priority in 2017 is content marketing. We ll explore how to integrate paid channels with your content marketing efforts for best results. What s Next? Marketers have taken notice of consumer willingness to try the newest video, voice, and augmented reality technologies coming to market. However, these nascent technologies are generally not a priority for marketers this year. Budgets Migrating to Mobile 70% of marketers reported advertising on both search and social. Today, Google and Facebook collectively aggregate 74% of Internet traffic % 75% 50% 25% 0% Parse.ly Authority Report, INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com

3 Consumers live their lives online, with the average user unlocking their mobile phone 150 times per day. 2 With each unlock, the consumer has a job to be done ranging from the mundane (e.g., checking or killing time) to the critically important (e.g., researching major purchases like a home or car). As marketers, it s our job to identify our target audiences and deliver useful content at the moments when they re needed. Budgets Move to Mobile in Lockstep Marketers are following the shift of consumer attention, with 70% of respondents indicating they re actively advertising on search and social. Budgets are shifting. In our sampling, 43% of marketers expect their mobile budgets on search marketing investment to increase between 10% and 30% in An additional 34% plan to increase their mobile search budgets by more than 30%. On the social side, 70% of respondents plan to increase their advertising budget. With Facebook eclipsing Google in gross traffic for the first time in 2016, it comes as no surprise that marketers view each channel as important. Most popular methods of paid advertising on mobile Global respondents Paid social (e.g. sponsored posts / advertisements on Social Media) Paid search/ppc 70% 70% Display Advertising 61% Behavioral retargeting or remarketing 44% In-app advertising Programmatic advertising 27% 26% SMS/MMS advertising 17% Other 6% 2. Time, Inc. Americans Check Their Phones 150 Times Per Day. INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com 3

4 Increase in paid search investment across desktop and mobile ( ) Global respondents 6% 5% 5% 24% 0-10% 10-30% 17% 30-50% 50-70% % More than 100% 43% What Strategies Are Being Used on Mobile? Do you plan to adopt any of the following tactics as part of a mobileoptimized approach to paid search marketing? Global respondents Location extensions Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) Extended Text Ads Call extensions 43% 42% 40% 38% Customer Match 31% Store visits 19% What Are These? Location Extensions: Display your business name, address, and phone number in your Google text ad. Remarketing List for Search Ads (RLSA): Target previous website visitors when they search by customizing your message and keyword bid. Expanded Text Ads (ETA): An enlarged text ad format Google introduced in 2016 for mobile and desktop ads. Call Extensions: Display your business phone number in your Google text ad. Customer Match: Show ads to your customers based on data about those customers that you share with Google (e.g., imported from your CRM). 4 INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com

5 Store Visits: An estimate of store visit conversions that Google calculates based on mobile location data. Third-Party Bidding: Set keywords level bids according to an advertiser s goal (e.g., CPA, ROI, ROAS); offered by advertising partners like Marin Software. Lack of Expertise the Marketer s Achilles Heel Marketers on search and social face an ongoing learning curve due to the constant influx of new features and ad products. As a result, many struggle to keep up with the fast pace of innovation. Biggest challenges associated with delivering ROI from paid search Respondents currently investing in desktop or mobile Difficulty replicating campaigns across Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search providers 37% Lack of support for investing in paid search 31% Lower conversion rates compared to other forms of advertising Lack of understanding of paid search adverting techniques Lack of technical expertise in implementing paid search campaigns Other 25% 22% 20% 20% Addressing the Challenges Problem: Difficulty Replicating Campaigns to Non-AdWords Publishers Solution: Most publishers offer tools to import and continually sync your Google AdWords campaigns. Problem: Lack of Support for Investing in Paid Search Solution: A compelling investment thesis promises strong returns with limited risk. Your task is to craft this thesis. Here are a few helpful resources. Measure: Use past data to prove that customers use search engines to find your product. Ideally, you re able to measure the entire customer journey from first touch to last-touch conversion. This is a benefit of using an advertising partner, like Marin Software. INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com 5

6 Think With Google provides valuable resources for planning ad spend like the customer journey to online purchase. This resource provides industry ad spend benchmarks to understand where you stand relative to your peers. It can be especially valuable if your current measurement system lacks robust data. Forecasting tool: Another option is using an advertising partner like Marin Software that leverages machine learning to build predictive forecasts. This forecast allows marketers to hypothesize future outcomes by inputting different variables like ad spend. Problem: Low Conversion Rates Solution: Conversion rate optimization is as much art as science. Pre-click optimization focuses on continual testing of your targeting, message, and individual advertising bids. This is an ongoing process that s well-suited to automation, which is why many marketers turn to ad optimization partners like Marin Software. The techniques employed here include keyword mining, A/B testing, goalbased algorithms, and full-funnel analysis. Post-click optimization is focused on removing friction between a user s click and that person taking action that you deem a conversion event (e.g., in a B2B setting it could be downloading your white paper). There s a cottage industry of vendors specialized in this domain with leaders including, but not limited to, Optimizely, Monetate, and Mixpanel. Problem: Lack of Understanding and Technical Expertise Solution: We suggest you start with one or both learning programs offered by Facebook and Google to build a strong foundation. Google AdWords Fundamentals Course Facebook Blueprint Course What s Hot in 2017 and Beyond? Marketers designate high-quality content as the top priority. In our survey, 42% of marketers identified content marketing as their top priority for 2017, narrowly edging out search marketing and social media. 6 INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com

7 Which of the following areas do you believe are the top priorities for your business in 2017? Global respondents Content marketing 42% Search marketing 39% Social media 30% Retargeting / personalization 30% Cross channel campaigns 29% Attribution 26% Mobile optimization 26% Programmatic advertising 15% Part of the reason consumers covet their mobile phones is the equal foot it provides, by providing instant access to information. Companies with business models designed to exploit friction like asymmetric information or inconvenience have been directly affected by this change in consumer behavior. Consumers can now price-check at will, or ship hard-to-find items directly to their home. Our survey results reveal that marketers are taking heed and focused on providing consumers with rich content at the precise moments they need it to make an informed decision. Still Too New Marketers are keeping an eye on new technologies like voice search and virtual reality, but less than 5% of respondents indicated these were a top priority for We suggest paying attention to the impact of these new technologies on the digital marketing landscape. 60% of smartphone users who use voice search have begun using it within the past year. Search Engine Land INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com 7

8 Parting Thoughts In a study conducted by Marin Software in 2016, we found that marketers can increase their performance by ~70% by joining their social and search ad buying efforts to create a multiplier effect. Marin Software provides a simple framework to execute this cross-channel campaign. Marketers struggle to keep up with the torrid pace of digital marketing innovations. Third-party management platforms help marketers get the most out of their digital marketing. A software management layer like Marin Software sits atop the major publishers and automates the campaign creation, syndication, and optimization process. In effect, marketers can continue to build campaigns on channels where they excel, and this work serves as the foundation for campaign syndication from Marin Software to other channels with a single click. About Marin Software Marin Software Incorporated (NYSE: MRIN) provides a leading Revenue Acquisition Management platform used by advertisers and agencies to measure, manage, and optimize billions of dollars in annualized ad spend. Offering an integrated platform for search, social, and display advertising, Marin helps advertisers and agencies improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions. Marin s technology powers marketing campaigns in more than 160 countries. For more information about Marin s products, please visit: 8 INSIGHT SERIES State of Digital Advertising 2017 marinsoftware.com