Digital marketing: When science and marketing meet

Compiling the strategy, finding suitable environments, negotiating media rates, and dealing with loads of data and administration, is just the beginning. Successful digital marketing is so much more than just planning and buying.

The Strategy

The process begins with the strategy. It is crucial to know and understand the objective.

Think of new and innovative ideas, brainstorm, and daydream! Here, your relationship with media owners can also be very valuable, as they can tell you what's worked (or hasn't) for similar brands, what creative concept works and what new and exciting opportunities they have in the pipeline.

“Integrate the digital strategy with the print, radio and TV plans,” highlights Britz. “There are great ways to merge traditional and digital media, with the possibility of digital becoming the core of the entire advertising strategy.”

Reflect on the target market, and what they're doing in the digital realm. Think beyond web - think mobile, and think how to link all the pieces together, but never lose sight of the objective.

The Planning

Like your favourite estate agent would comment about property, “Location, location, location!”, the same applies to digital marketing. Apart from geographical targeting, also keep the context in mind.

It is important to do your homework. Trawl through social networks and blogs where the brand (or similar brands) is a topic of discussion. Find the sweet spots, but don't be afraid to keep testing new ideas.

Really know and understand your target market, and ensure you are positioning your brand in the environments they frequent.

The Accountability

The most important aspect of digital marketing is to know what to measure, how to analyse the data, and what action to take as a result. This is where the fun and games truly begins. In the flexible world of digital marketing, creative messaging can quickly be tweaked and replaced, or selected media environments relooked.

In order to achieve this, reputable ad tracking software is required. The ultimate focus here is CPA (cost per action), whether it be a lead, a sign-up or a sale.

On the other hand, conversion numbers alone won't give you an accurate picture. One needs to dig deeper, and really understand the numbers.

Which creative message is achieving the best CPA? Which media environment is most effective? What's working, what's not? An analytical mind is crucial to not only analyse the data, but also quickly making changes and putting them into action.

Consider the following optimisation solutions based on the data that could help improve results:

• Low click-through rate? Look at the creative: is the call to action strong enough?
• The placement: is the ad above or below the fold (the midway point on your screen). Ads generally perform better above the fold.
• Is the ad in a position that is eye catching? Is it placed within the content, or on the outside of the main part of the page?
• Frequency: is the ad being viewed too many times by the same people? Change the frequency cap to avoid wastage.
• Geo-targeting: is the ad geo-targeted to, for example, South African users only or, is the company advertising to international users but selling something that is only available in South Africa.
• Behavioural targeting: once someone has clicked on the ad and bought the product, do they see the same ads again or new ads with different messages?
• What's happening on the advertiser's web site? Is there a four-page form, but potential customers are not getting past page two? Look at why, and optimise the site accordingly.
• One keyword has a high CPC (cost per click) but not converting? Analyse the CPA on all keywords and optimise based on best CPA, not CPC.

There are many things to look out for, and many solutions. Keeping a close watch on a campaign once it has gone live is key. This allows you to optimise the campaign to achieve the best possible results. Keep optimising, and check the data regularly so you can see which changes were effective in which environments. Test and retest, until you find the best fit.