A substantial advertising budget is a blessing and curse. On the plus side, you have the ability to broadly target, to experiment with new types of placements and to run a large number of creatives. But these positives can lead to complacency, causing campaign performance to stagnate and never be fully optimized.
That is the challenge we faced when working with a top insurer in the U.S. Their past paid social campaigns had been successful in meeting their goals. But, it had come at the cost of efficiency. In just eight months, our team optimized the campaign, cutting spend by an impressive 60% and still reaching the client’s goal faster than the previous year’s campaign (run by another agency). How do we do it?
Tips for optimizing campaigns
When we took over the campaign from a previous agency, we conducted an in-depth audit to identify all weaknesses and develop the strongest strategy possible for improving performance. Here are the changes we made to improve campaign efficiency, saving the client spend that they would reinvest in other initiatives.
Tighter targeting
The campaign was widely targeting the U.S., including regions that did not include the core target audience. Our team refined to focus on metro areas that not only met the audience criteria, but had traditionally delivered the highest quality prospects and conversion.
Add messaging optimization
Our team provided a creative refresh focused on three core messaging strategies. This resulted in fewer creative executions, but a clearer, more consistent messaging strategy that allowed for testing. Once we understood the top performing ad messaging, media spend was allocated accordingly.
Add format optimization
Additionally, our team launched ad creative with motion – specifically motion graphics and reels – in addition to static ads. The addition of these ad types immediately impacted campaign engagement.
Strategic targeting expansion
Once we refined down the targeting from the initially broad strategy, we began a strategic expansion of the campaign to additional regions that represented secondary targets, but that had only previously received a small budget investment. By slowly expanding to new markets, we were able to tap into new markets without sacrificing efficiency.
Synergy with organic
It may seem like a no brainer, but it works. Understanding the posts that receive the most organic engagement can be a barometer for what will work in paid social advertising. We took messaging cues from organic activity and saw a campaign lift.
Collectively, these tactics led to higher efficiency and lower spend, opening up new opportunities to invest in other marketing channels.
©2024 Huck Strategies, LLC
