Today’s consumers are more demanding than ever.
Their purchase paths are no longer linear, but involve a multitude of touchpoints. To reach and convert them, businesses need a strategic approach. Demand Generation, powered by Google AI, provides a sophisticated solution but yet make it simpler for advertisers to run full funnel campaigns.
By delivering highly personalised advertising campaigns, we can resonate with consumers at every stage of their journey, drive conversions and maximise ROI.
Unpacking The User Journey
Consumers are taking their time to make decisions and are considering more brands than ever before.
This shift in behaviour shows the importance of meeting consumers at all points of their purchase journey. By understanding their needs and preferences, businesses can create compelling campaigns that drive awareness, consideration, and ultimately, conversions.
Here are some stats you need to know:
- 1 out of 3 consumers are spending more time making decisions and considering more brands
- 48% of customers are happy to switch providers for a better deal
- 3X increase in likelihood of purchase for brands in a consumer’s initial consideration set
Introducing Demand Gen
Demand Gen is a data-driven advertising solution that utilises Google AI to identify and target consumers with dynamic, relevant, and multi-format creatives.
These creatives are designed to capture attention, spark action, and drive conversions at the right moment. By tailoring campaigns to individual consumer preferences, Demand Gen helps businesses maximise their impact and achieve their marketing objectives.
Meeting Your Goals with Demand Gen
Demand Gen can be tailored to support various marketing objectives, including:
Purchase Consideration
- Objective: Create and convert demand by influencing consumers to evaluate, take action and move closer to purchase.
- Proof Point: Users are 2X more likely to discover new products/brands on YouTube vs. traditional social platforms.
Lead Gen
- Objective: Drive high-quality leads at scale.
- Proof Point: 89% of Lead Gen advertisers perceive Google to be highly effective at driving leads.
Online Sales
- Objective: Drive online sales to maximise revenue growth and profitability.
- Proof Point: On average, advertisers that added Demand Gen to their Search and/or Performance Max campaigns saw 14% more conversions.
Middle and Lower Funnel KPIs
To measure the success of Demand Gen campaigns, it’s essential to track KPIs at different stages of the funnel.
Upper
- Reach/impressions, CPM, frequency
- Video views/completion rate, CTR
- Social engagement (e.g., likes, follows, shares, etc.)
- Recall rate
- Impact in brand metrics
Middle
- Shallow conversions
- Landing page views, CTR
- Cost per landing page hit/view
- Traffic (e.g., time spent, bounce rate)
- Incremental searches
Lower
- Deeper conversions
- Campaign cost per conversions
- Account ROAS & CPA
- ROI
- Revenue
Laying the Groundwork
Before launching a Demand Gen campaign, it’s crucial to establish a solid foundation.
This includes:
- Clear Alignment: Ensuring alignment on campaign goals, KPIs, ramp time, and budget.
- Measurement Framework: Defining a measurement framework that aligns with your business objectives.
- Best Practices: Reviewing best practices and measurement fundamentals.
- Campaign Setup: Setting up the campaign with appropriate tracking and measurement tools.
Measuring and Understanding Results
To optimise Demand Gen campaigns and measure their impact, businesses should:
- Define a Measurement Framework: Establish clear metrics for assessing campaign performance.
- Optimise Campaigns: Continuously analyse results and make data-driven optimisations.
- Measure Impact: Evaluate the overall impact of Demand Gen on business objectives.
- Conduct Incrementality Studies: Determine the incremental impact of Demand Gen compared to other marketing channels.
Key Metrics to Track
- Lead Generation
- Lead Volume: Track the total number of leads generated through various channels.
- Lead Quality: Assess the quality of leads based on criteria like job title, company size, and industry.
- Lead Conversion Rate: Measure the percentage of leads that convert into customers.
- Lead Volume: Track the total number of leads generated through various channels.
- Website Metrics
- Website Traffic: Monitor the volume and quality of website visitors.
- Bounce Rate: Analyse the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing a single page.
- Time on Site: Measure the average time visitors spend on your website.
- Website Traffic: Monitor the volume and quality of website visitors.
- Engagement Metrics
- Email Open Rates: Track the percentage of emails that are opened.
- Click-Through Rates (CTRs): Measure the percentage of recipients who click on links within your emails.
- Social Media Engagement: Analyse metrics like likes, shares, comments, and mentions.
- Email Open Rates: Track the percentage of emails that are opened.
- Content Performance
- Content Downloads: Track the number of downloads for whitepapers, ebooks, and other content assets.
- Content Shares: Monitor the number of times your content is shared on social media.
- Content Engagement: Measure metrics like comments, likes, and shares on content platforms.
- Content Downloads: Track the number of downloads for whitepapers, ebooks, and other content assets.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC):
- Calculate the total cost of acquiring a new customer.
- Compare CAC to customer lifetime value (CLTV) to determine profitability.
- Calculate the total cost of acquiring a new customer.
Best Practices for Measurement
- Define Clear Goals: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your demand generation campaigns.
- Choose the Right Tools: Utilise marketing automation platforms, analytics tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) software to track and analyse data.
- Segment Your Audience: Divide your audience into segments based on demographics, interests, and behaviour to tailor your messaging and measure performance accordingly.
- Track Attribution: Determine which marketing channels and activities are most effective in driving conversions.
- Continuously Optimise: Analyse your data to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven adjustments to your campaigns.
Tools for Demand Gen Measurement
- Marketing Automation Platforms: HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot
- Analytics Tools: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics
- CRM Software: Salesforce, Zoho CRM
- Social Media Analytics Tools: Hootsuite, Sprout Social
- Email Marketing Platforms: Mailchimp, Constant Contact
By implementing a robust measurement framework and following these best practices, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your demand generation efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimise your campaigns for maximum impact.
Marketing Mix Models (MMM)
With MMM, Estimate the impact of Discovery or Demand Gen campaigns across your entire media mix within Google and other measurement channels and then forecast the impact of future holistic and omnichannel strategies.
Google MMM data is easy to request and use, and delivered in a consistent format directly to MMM partners’ data lakes to enable data processing automation.
The consumer journey is more intricate than ever. Seizing the right moment to engage audiences is paramount. Aligning on your objectives before launching a campaign is essential to achieving the metrics that truly matter.
Putting the Pieces Together
By understanding the user journey, leveraging the power of Demand Gen, and implementing effective measurement strategies, businesses can drive meaningful results and achieve their marketing goals.
By following the guidelines outlined in this guide, you can maximise the impact of your Demand Gen campaigns and unlock the full potential of this powerful advertising solution.
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.