Are Your Multichannel Marketing Campaigns Flying Blind?

The famous Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” That’s an apt summary of the guesswork many marketers use when allocating their budgets. The process goes something like this: marketers have a budget, run marketing campaigns based on that budget, and then evaluate the results to determine how to move forward.

The problem with this strategy is in pinpointing the best way to proceed. Even when the campaign is successful, marketers have no idea where they should allocate marketing spend for future endeavors.

Fortunately, marketers now have some pretty cool campaign-optimization tools at their disposal that show them exactly what they need to do. One such tool — a marketing-budget simulation — enables marketers to test the efficiency of marketing campaigns in a virtual marketplace that is safe, informative, and cost-effective.

Those who don’t use marketing-budget simulation tools risk sending their marketing campaigns in the wrong direction. Following are three ways to improve your brand’s marketing planning-and-budget-allocation strategy.

1. Get Granular With Your Cross-Channel Measurement.
More accurate forecasting begins with measurement. One brand that has mastered granular cross-channel measurement is Monarch Airlines. Monarch uses a programmatic ad-buying solution that helps them measure key performance indicators (KPIs) such as bookings and revenue. This data helps Monarch ensure each channel is correctly valued while continuing to drive customers to their website.

Programmatic ad buying also helps Monarch purchase keywords more efficiently by allowing the brand to bid on thousands of individual keywords each day. This type of granular approach lets Monarch know which keywords are driving conversions so they can place more-competitive bids on the keywords that matter most.

However, there is one inherent holdup to placing a primary focus on measurement and attribution: while attribution presents marketers with a clear picture of what happened in the past and why, it doesn’t tell marketers how to allocate their marketing spends for current or future periods.

Historically, the allocation problem has been partially refined in a very different field: the stock market. Let’s say, for instance, you are an investor. You want your investments to grow as much as possible, but there are two caveats: (1) you have a specific amount of money to invest, and (2) you want to limit your risk.

This leads to the modern portfolio theory (MPT), which helps risk-averse investors minimize risks according to whatever level of risk each can tolerate. The math behind MPT isn’t exclusive to investors. CMOs allocate media spend across different ad types and media channels because they need to make the most of their marketing dollars, but they also must mitigate risks because media does not always work as effectively as planned. That’s where marketing-budget simulations come in.

2. Improve Allocation With Marketing-Budget Simulations.
Every C-level marketer has revenue goals, and it’s up to them to demonstrate how implementing marketing initiatives will drive revenue. Convincing executives to allocate marketing spend on a specific channel based on a hunch isn’t a strategy you want to take to the boardroom.

Don’t get me wrong: a marketer’s experience is an incredibly valuable tool. Spending years in the marketing trenches helps marketers develop opinions and perspectives worth considering. But, marketers are also human and subject to intrinsic biases and beliefs.

Here’s the bottom line: it’s 2016, and if you aren’t using budget-forecasting tools, you are living in the dark ages. By deploying the right programmatic ad-buying solution, marketers can balance long-held beliefs with actual quantitative numerical data that is highly accurate in its forecasting ability. CMOs can then allocate media spend across the different ad types and media channels to help company executives successfully attain the most for their marketing investments.

Running budget simulations also enables marketers to run multiple campaign scenarios without risking marketing dollars. Imagine being able to show your CEO how much of an ROI he or she could expect subject to a certain amount of variability. Budget simulations are essential risk-mitigation tools, and every digital marketer should be using them.

Budget simulations take painful planning cycles and costly guesswork out of the equation. With simulation tools — such as those available in ad-buying solutions like Adobe Media Optimizer — businesses can improve both marketing efficiency and forecasting efforts.

By leveraging signature forecast simulations in a virtual marketplace, you can be sure the decisions you make are backed by data — without the high price of in-market testing. Campaign optimization doesn’t get more sophisticated than that.

3. Support Your Marketing Team With Budget-Forecasting Tools.
Simulation and budget-forecasting tools were never meant to replace marketers. With the help of a programmatic ad-buying solution, CMOs can spend more time focused on their marketing strategies and less time on fierce quantitative planning exercises.

Think about it: machines help marketers predict the future with almost flawless results — provided the future is similar to the past. While we all know there’s much to be learned from previous campaign outcomes and marketing fails, the future can be very unpredictable.

This makes person-to-machine interaction essential. Use these tools to support your marketing team by letting the machines analyze the Big Data you already collect. You can discover which channels are best at driving your customers to conversions — and which can take a backseat.

Then, when you’re testing a new marketing strategy, product, or approach; let human intuition take the reins. Using simulations and budget-forecasting tools to accurately predict outcomes — such as paid search-advertising performance — frees valuable time for marketers to focus on the next big thing.

Know Where You Are Going.
Deploying marketing-budget simulations can help your brand advance your multichannel-marketing efforts without costing a small fortune. Work to improve your allocation strategy by measuring KPIs while giving attribution its due. Then, run simulations to determine which channels your media spend will benefit from the most. Finally, remember to use budget-forecasting tools as essential tools — not replacements — for your marketing department. By incorporating budget simulations into your marketing strategy, the path to cross-channel campaign success will become crystal clear.

The post Are Your Multichannel Marketing Campaigns Flying Blind? appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.

from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/advertising/multichannel-marketing-campaigns-flying-blind/

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