By Jonathan Baker If your performance media campaigns are not performing as well as you hoped for, you are not alone. Recent reports highlight the current (diminished) state of performance media. Why is this happening and what can you do about it? Distrust Among Consumers Looking at this situation from the consumer’s point of view, there has been an increasing change in attitude regarding ads, particularly personalized ads. A recent study from YouGov concludes that just over half of American consumers find these ads disturbing (or are “creeped out” by them, as the study states). Additionally, 44 percent of consumers run ad blockers day and night on every website they visit. This is one uphill battle marketers face. Now, for the state of performance media in general… Planning and Preparation Does Not Always Lead to Success The saying of “you get what you pay for” does not apply to performance media. Regardless of the care and attention given to purchasing a marketing action—whether a click or conversion—there’s no guaranteed return on investment. If a set amount of dollars is spent on a digital campaign, and it gains 200 conversions, that same amount on a future campaign may result in half the conversions. Why? The cost-per-acquisition will increase in relation to the amount of money spent on a campaign. Now, let’s examine what the recent reports revealed. Nationwide Study on Performance Media A study was recently conducted by Taboola (a firm which specializes in performance marketing) and Qualtrics (an experience management company). Participants in this study consisted of just over 300 marketers in the United States—all of whom managed performance advertising campaigns via social media and digital platforms. The findings of this study, summarized in Media Post, concluded that factors such as ad fatigue, increased competition, and ever-evolving changes to platforms have contributed to the diminished returns in performance media. This has proven to be particularly true where social media is concerned. Statistics About Social The Taboola/Qualtrics study noted that maintaining performance and gaining return on ad spend for social media has been especially difficult for marketers. Consider the following percentages among advertisers and marketers who participated in this study: 74 percent noted diminished returns on social media. 80 percent admitted that diminished returns were noted at the beginning of the budgeting stage of a social media campaign. When asked for their opinions as to why there has been a dramatic drop in performance… 60 percent believe ad fatigue—where online users are exposed to the same creative and lose interest—is partly to blame. 37 percent cite user fatigue—with users feeling overwhelmed by seeing too many ads, too often. Complementing the above statistics, the increase in ad costs, algorithm efficiencies, and weak targeting due to greater privacy restrictions factor in diminished performance media. Frustrating? Yes. Marketers and advertisers should not, however, give in to discouragement. Reversing the Diminishing Direction of Performance Media By recognizing the reasons for underperforming digital campaigns, actionable steps are necessary to reverse the downward spiral. New ad formats would help limit ad fatigue. Updating targeting strategies to either attract new users or renew the interest of existing audience members is another tactic worth considering. If you have questions or want to learn about different options to improve your brand’s digital performance, The EGC Group may be of assistance. Whether it is a matter of fine-tuning the targeting, designing attention-grabbing creative ads, or anything else, we can provide the solution. Contact us today.
