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6 Questions to Ask Your Digital Agency About Programmatic Buying

With so many brands vying for consumer attention, people are overwhelmed by options and information, leaving little bandwidth for ads that aren’t immediately relevant. A 2023 survey found that 73% of consumers wanted fewer messages than they got in 2022, and 27% of those surveyed feel “bombarded” by the number of messages they receive. Marketers need to get incredibly precise about targeting to make a stronger impact and avoid contributing to consumers feeling overwhelmed.

Programmatic buying overcomes many of the issues by using data and algorithms to purchase ad space in real-time, allowing advertisers to target specific audiences and optimize ad placements. It’s crucial for efficiency, precision, and reaching the right audience at the right time, which improves campaign performance and ROI while reducing wasteful spending. However, it takes expert help to get programmatic buying strategy right. How can marketers find the right digital agency to manage their campaigns? Here’s what to look for.

6 Questions to Ask Digital Agencies About Programmatic Buying

1. What experience do you have with programmatic buying?

Recent years have brought significant expansion in programmatic advertising, including the new technologies, platforms, and regulations emerging on a continuous basis. One of the most important questions to ask a digital agency about programmatic buying is how familiar they are with the industry, because experienced digital agencies understand these nuances, possess in-depth knowledge of best practices, and can navigate the evolving landscape effectively. Agencies merely adding new capabilities to say they have it might lack the necessary expertise, leading to suboptimal results and wasted time and resources for their clients.

2. What technology do you use?

Knowing what type of technology stack a digital agency uses for programmatic buying, including the specific Demand-Side Platform (DSP) and Data Management Platform (DMP), is crucial because it directly impacts campaign performance, data targeting capabilities, and overall effectiveness. The choice of DSP and DMP determines how well an agency can align with their client’s campaign objectives and influence their ability to reach and engage the target audience.

3. What services do you offer?

Knowing the full scope of services a digital agency offers, such as campaigns for display, video, native, mobile, and more, is vital to understanding the ability to tailor strategies to specific marketing objectives. Clients must choose an agency with a service portfolio that aligns with their goals and target audience to ensure a comprehensive and effective digital marketing strategy.

4. How do you collect and use data for audience targeting?

An agency’s data practices directly influence the precision and relevance of advertising campaigns, impacting the ability to reach the right audience, deliver personalized content, and optimize ad spend effectively. Clients need to ensure their agency complies with a growing number of federal, state, and international data privacy regulations, uses ethical data collection methods, and employs robust data analytics to refine targeting strategies.

5. Can you explain your approach to audience segmentation?

A digital agency’s data segmentation methodology determines how effectively they can tailor messaging and content to specific audiences. Properly segmented campaigns can increase revenue by 760%. To maximize ROI, clients should seek agencies with a robust and data-driven approach to audience segmentation to ensure their marketing efforts are focused on the right demographics, behaviors, and preferences.

6. How do you prevent and respond to ad fraud?

Ad fraud can be a major drain on budgets, distort performance metrics, and undermine the trustworthiness of campaigns. In 2023 alone, advertisers lost $84 billion of their spend to ad fraud. Clients should prioritize working with agencies with a defined ad fraud prevention strategy and employ measures to detect and mitigate fraudulent activities. This safeguards the client’s investments and ensures audiences see campaigns, strengthening overall brand recognition.

Power Marketing: A Leading Agency for Programmatic Buying

Programmatic buying is a complex ecosystem that requires a digital agency with the adaptability to emerging technologies and staying ahead of industry trends. With extensive experience in the field, Power Marketing stands out as early adopters of technology, evident in our proven track record of consistently delivering exceptional and reliable results to clients. Ready to learn more about our programmatic buying services? Get in touch with the team today.
The Best Marketing Stunts of 2023

Every year, marketers fiercely compete to win the hearts and minds of consumers, pushing their client brands to the forefront of the public eye in the hopes of driving sales. Time and again, we see there is no precise formula for achieving great marketing results — but as we saw in 2023, some exemplary campaigns can provide ample inspiration for others.

Let’s look at some of the best marketing 2023 had to offer, including wide-ranging campaigns of the past year that brought results, engagement, and sales for some daring and creative brands.

The Biggest, Loudest, and Best Marketing of 2023

Making a Product More Personal: Spotify Wrapped

A viral marketing sensation now in its seventh year, Spotify Wrapped represents so many things done right about how a brand connects with an audience. The music streaming platform stands out from its competitors by championing its use of data to drive more personalized selections With Wrapped, Spotify then gets to reutilize that very data to provide a unique portrait of users’ tastes from the previous year.

Again, Spotify Wrapped proved supremely successful and popular this past year. Shared millions of times across social media at the end of 2022, the marketing gambit has become so popular that people count down to its release in anticipation each year, referencing it like the music version of McDonald’s famous recurring McRib sandwich. By finding itself in this rarified territory for a massive brand, Spotify routinely sees itself not just on “Best Marketing of 2023” lists, but best of the decade.

An Unlikely (but Powerful) Partnership: Heinz Meets Absolut

Some of the biggest marketing wins result from out-of-the-box collaborations between disparate brands that somehow, someway, land with a splash with mass audiences. Such is the case with this past year’s Heinz/Absolut product partnership, which used the combined branding power to boost Heinz’s new pasta sauce lineup to creative effect.

The net result of the partnership campaign brought hundreds of millions of impressions, transforming from what was initially considered another April Fools marketing hoax into a truly wow-worthy stunt. Coupled with jaw-dropping design and expert media placement, the dual partnership benefits were a boon for both brands and a catalyst for major sales.

Tapping Into the Ultimate Influencer: Dunkin’ x Ben Affleck

How can a brand get in on a popular inside joke without spoiling the public’s fun? This was the challenge facing Dunkin’ when it sought to turn its unofficial viral ambassador, famed Hollywood icon Ben Affleck, into the Boston-centric face of its new campaign. After numerous paparazzi shots of Affleck picking up massive Dunkin orders, it felt like only a matter of time before the coffee brand took advantage.

Yet, too often a brand will overzealously embrace a public or viral joke and overdo it in their advertising. Through a subtle hand, witty writing, and full embracing of the joke on Affleck’s part, Dunkin’ landed itself a thoroughly enjoyable TV and OLV campaign. Whether they saw it coming, the popular coffee company landed a high-profile yet perfectly genuine brand ambassador — making it some of the best marketing of 2023 and something other brands only dream of.

A Landmark Campaign Takes Another Step: Dove Real Beauty

Since the campaign launched almost 20 years ago in 2004, “Real Beauty” from personal care brand Dove has been a case study in marketing excellence. Beyond just a push for beauty products and brand awareness, Real Beauty fearlessly pushes Dove into the conversation of self-acceptance, social media responsibility, and diversity.

Dove revived that effort to create some of the best marketing of 2023, taking on a modern reincarnation of the issues endemic to real beauty — social media filtering. Creating a Body Toxicity Index and providing tools for parents to better communicate healthy body image discussions with their kids, Dove repurposed a landmark campaign for a modern era.

Taking a Leap Forward With Your Marketing in 2024

The brands on this list took some big swings to create some of the best marketing 2023 had to offer. These campaigns also provide the perfect inspiration for marketing creative in 2024 — showing how a strong creative aimed at subverting customer expectations in delightful ways delivers the biggest response.

As your brand looks ahead to your next year’s marketing, use that innovative inspiration not as something to replicate, but as a framework for bringing your own campaigns to life — with the right partners by your side to make it happen.
Top 3 Digital Marketing Trends of 2024
Three years into a wildly unpredictable decade, marketers face an ever-increasing number of challenges in their day-to-day work. In 2023, they had to find strategies to maintain sales amid growing inflation, navigate their brands through complex social issues, and overcome growing competition for consumer attention — both from other brands and world events. Anticipating what’s coming and being ready for change are critical for succeeding now and in the foreseeable future.
As we enter 2024, the new year represents an opportunity to reboot and take advantage of insights and new technology with a fresh perspective. Here are the top digital marketing trends for 2024 to keep in mind.

1. Getting Hyper-Personal

As transactions and customer interactions become increasingly digitalized, marketers and customer service professionals gain more and more access to valuable data and insights that can improve ad targeting and customer experience — a strategy known as hyper-personalization.

According to Twilio, over 56% of customers in 2023 said they would become repeat buyers as a result of a personalized experience, and this sentiment is true across the globe. For example, an Indian payment processing company called Mobikwik doubled its user engagement and grew retention by 20% after creating a hyper-personalized welcome campaign that guided users through app features relevant to their profiles.

AI is finally developing enough to mainstream hyper-personalization, making it one of several major marketing trends of 2024 and allowing marketers to personalize messaging, increase accuracy of micro-targeting, and more. Twilio also found that 92% of marketers surveyed are using AI-driven personalization to increase business growth.

Action Items:
- Review data collection methods and data quality and find ways to improve processes.
- Analyze existing data to find new opportunities.
- Find ways to tie in marketing initiatives with personalized customer service.
- Research AI-powered marketing solutions to start deploying
  hyper-personalized campaigns in 2024.
2. The Rise of Voice Search

As smart speakers and voice-activated smart assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home become more popular, users are spending less time on traditional search engines like Google and Bing and more time finding information through voice search. This method uses speech recognition technology to convert spoken language into text, which is then processed by a search engine or virtual assistant.

As voice search becomes more prevalent, brands must adopt a new SEO approach. The voice and speech recognition technology market is expected to reach $26.8 billion by 2025. To keep up with marketing trends of 2024, marketers must increase their investment in this technology regardless of where they are in their voice search strategy.

Action Items:
- Begin optimizing keywords for natural language queries.
- Invest in local SEO (related to “near me” queries) to align with what most voice search users search for.
- Leverage the expertise of marketing agencies that specialize in voice search optimization.
3. Short-Form Content Is King

Screen time on apps like TikTok exploded during the pandemic lockdowns and hasn’t shifted much since the world reopened. Today, the average person spends 6 hours and 37 minutes in front of a screen each day. A significant portion of that is spent on social media watching short-form video content, including advertisements.

Apps like TikTok, with low CPM, are driving massive growth in ad revenue — with totals expected to reach $331 billion by 2027. With so much consumer attention focused on social media, advertisers must meet them where they are in this shorter format, making short-form content a definite marketing trend of 2024.

Action Items:
- Allocate more resources to creating short-form videos for TikTok that can also be used for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and other ads.
- Research the social media landscape to stay up to date on monthly and weekly trends — and opportunities for the brand to join them.
Get Ahead of Digital Marketing Trends in 2024

The digital marketing landscape is changing rapidly, and the speed of innovation will continue to accelerate through 2024. Make the most of the opportunities this year presents by partnering with a seasoned agency to make the most of ad spend. The team at Power Marketing has over two decades of experience optimizing campaign strategy. Get in touch to learn more about our services.
Defining the Best KPIs for Your Retail DSP
Consumer attention is today’s holy grail, but the fight to win it has never been more competitive. Fortunately, programmatic advertising is helping marketers cut through the noise around consumers with ultra-precise targeting and ad placement, so audiences are more likely to take notice and engage.

As a category, programmatic ad spend will make up 90% of digital display ad spend in the U.S. by the end of 2023, and only continue to grow. CPG brands must use programmatic advertising to tailor messages, stay competitive, and reach the best leads. Brands can maximize ROI on programmatic advertising by optimizing their demand side platform (DSP) against specific key performance indicators (KPIs). Read on to learn how brands can define the best KPIs for their retail DSP.

The Programmatic Advertising Success Metrics to Know

A DSP is a technology platform used by digital marketers to programmatically buy ads and manage their campaigns across various online channels. With a DSP, they can target specific audiences and optimize ad placements in real-time auctions through a centralized interface that maximizes efficiency and performance.

Ultimately, maximizing ROI with programmatic advertising is about understanding exactly which KPIs you’re trying to improve, and optimizing your DSP to focus on them. Here are six of the best KPIs for a retail DSP to measure:

Impressions
Impressions indicate how many times an ad was viewed by consumers. Monitoring impressions allows brands to evaluate the effectiveness of ad placements and adjust targeting to reach the right audience.

Clicks
Clicks represent user engagement with an ad. Clicks can be a sign of higher quality traffic, as users are actively interested in the offer or message they’re seeing.

Click-Thru Rate (CTR)
This KPI measures the ratio of clicks to impressions, and how effective it is in persuading users to take action. CTR helps assess the performance of different ad creatives and messages, and can even guide A/B testing and creative optimization.

Detailed Page Views
Detailed page views go beyond clicks and measure how many users engaged further by visiting multiple pages on a website or app. Users who explore multiple pages are often more likely to convert, making this KPI a strong indicator of conversion potential and one of the best KPIs for a retail DSP.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
This KPI measures the revenue generated relative to the advertising spend. It directly reflects the financial impact of a programmatic ad campaign.

Total Sales
Total sales quantify the direct impact of a programmatic advertising campaign on sales revenue. Tracking total sales helps attribute conversions to specific advertising channels or campaigns, allowing you to allocate budget effectively.

Maximizing Your Best KPIs for Retail DSP

With these KPIs in mind, marketers must take additional steps to optimize their retail DSP. Here’s how brands can maximize results from the best KPIs for a retail DSP:
- Define General Goals
  Begin by defining specific, measurable, and achievable campaign objectives. Is the goal to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or generate leads? At the same time, determine the KPIs that align with the goal. For example, if the goal is to drive sales, the KPIs to focus on may include ROAS, conversion rate, and total sales.
- Assess Resource Limitations
  Be aware of budget constraints and allocate resources accordingly, including ad spend, creative production costs, and any additional expenses related to the campaign.
- Choose the Right DSP
  Before selecting a DSP, research the market thoroughly to identify the platform that best aligns with campaign goals, target audience, and budget. Consider factors like available inventory, targeting capabilities, and pricing models. Choose a DSP that provides access to the right publishers, data sources, and ad formats to reach the target audience most effectively, and that it integrates seamlessly with the existing technology stack.
- Leverage Data for Ongoing Improvement
  During and after campaigns, analyze the collected data to gain insights into what’s working and what’s not. Shift budget toward high-performing ad sets or channels, and adjust bidding strategies to maximize ROI. Avoid ad fatigue by setting frequency caps to limit the number of times users see ads, and conduct A/B tests to experiment with different messaging and targeting options.
Make the Most of a Retail DSP With Power Marketing

Identifying and implementing the best KPIs for your retail DSP takes decades of expertise and insight into best practices. That’s why partner agencies like Power Marketing are so important. The team has lived and breathed digital marketing for more than 20 years, and is an industry leader in programmatic advertising. Get in touch to learn more about our capabilities.
Master Marketing on Streaming Platforms with These Smart Tips

Streamers are still a relatively new type of media platform, but the landscape has changed dramatically since Netflix first launched its video-on-demand service in 2007. Now, the company has broken its vow to never have advertising, launching its first ad-supported streaming tier. Major streamers like Disney+, Paramount+, and Peacock are making a concerted effort to drive customers to their own ad-supported tiers as well, presenting significant opportunities for marketing with streaming platforms.

The age of streaming advertising is here, and as more and more platforms begin to prioritize a shift to their ad-supported tiers, brands will have fresh opportunities to reach potential customers. But it’s critical to approach streaming marketing the right way. Here are some key strategies for advertisers to maximize their ROI in this new frontier:

5 Tips for Marketing With Streaming Platforms

1. Create ads that feel native to streamers

To maximize the impact of marketing with streaming platforms, it’s important for streaming ads to integrate seamlessly with the platform’s content and style. Advertisers should craft ads that match the format, tone, and aesthetic of the streamer’s library — even down to the show viewers are watching — to create a smoother transition between the content they were watching and the ad.

Native advertising blends in with the user experience, making it less intrusive and more engaging. Brands that plan on using the same assets for streamers that they do for YouTube, social media videos, and other channels should keep the demands of TV ads in mind and plan productions accordingly.

2. Incorporate interactive elements

When marketing on streaming platforms, elements like clickable links, buttons, or calls to action can significantly enhance viewer engagement, encouraging viewers to interact with brands or learn more about their product or service.

Recently, Smartwater even added purchasing ability to their streaming ads on the Freevee app. By adding interactive features, passive viewers transform into active participants, and brands stand out dramatically compared to traditional TV ads. Brands should note that while these placements tend to be more expensive or require a higher minimum spend, the ROI comes by way of higher viewer engagement.

3. Keep ad placement in mind

Many streamers’ targeting capabilities are on par with ad platforms on social media and YouTube. Brands can take advantage of their precision to target the most relevant consumers, but shouldn’t forget the importance of context.

In addition, advertisers should try to avoid unflattering brand associations with controversial or misaligned content. For example, family-friendly brands might want to avoid promotions during extremely violent or mature streaming shows or movies — finding much better luck with programming aimed at all ages or younger audiences.

4. Be concise

Brevity is key in the world of streaming, where audiences have notoriously short attention spans. When marketing with streaming platforms, brands should keep messaging concise and to the point, delivering their core message quickly and effectively to grab the viewer’s attention within the first few seconds of an ad.

A key best practice is to follow the same rules as advertising on YouTube to maximize engagement and minimize disruption for the audience. This can lower costs while increasing engagement and conversion rates with quick, eye-catching placements that delight without distracting.

5. Cap ad frequency

After years getting used to uninterrupted streaming, ad fatigue is a real concern for viewers on streaming platforms. Minimizing irritation is critical to maintaining a positive experience for viewers, so it’s important for brands to limit how frequently their ads appear to targets during a specific piece of streaming content.

Avoiding excessive repetition reduces the risk of viewers tuning out or becoming frustrated, helping ensure ads remain effective and streamers continue to view the brand positively. Few things are worse for a brand than being associated with interrupting their audience’s favorite TV show.

Expert Support for Marketing With Streaming Platforms

Marketing with streaming platforms unleashes a wealth of possibilities for advertisers, but technology, capabilities, and trends are changing quickly. Harnessing the full potential of this moment requires expert guidance and support to keep up with changing times. The team at Power Marketing has over two decades of experience in all things digital, including marketing with streaming platforms. Get in touch to learn more about our services.
TikTok Marketing: The Best and Worst of Paid Media on TikTok
Even in the world of social media, where virality is king, paid media remains a crucial component of any promotional campaign. Leveraging display ads beyond just search engines and websites to social media platforms is critical for strategically reaching audiences, raising awareness, and generating leads in the most targeted and cost-effective way possible. Even though it’s the newest player in the field, paid media on TikTok is an increasingly important channel to advertise through, with the platform expected to reach 2.25 billion users by 2027.

TikTok marketing is still a new field, but there’s already a right way — and a (very) wrong way — to do it. Here are the best examples of each, and what we can learn from them.

The Best Examples of Paid Media TikTok Marketing

Kung Fu Tea = Leveraging User-Generated Content

In 2020, the marketing team at Kung Fu Tea launched the #bobachallenge, tasking their followers with putting their lid popping skills to the test. One of the biggest draws of boba tea — aside from the delicious taste — is the satisfaction of stabbing the straw into the plastic-sealed lid.

By transforming this ritual into a social media challenge, the company inspired thousands of user-generated videos that have garnered over 1.6 million views to date. And by promoting some of these videos as sponsored, paid media on TikTok, Kung Fu Tea amplified the natural virality of the challenge even more.

Crumble Cookies = Jumping on a Trend

Social media users love two things:
1. Underdogs
2. Inspiring and/or shocking transformations
This is at the heart of the #glowup trend on TikTok, where users often show off their journey into style, confidence, and general fabulousness. Crumbl Cookies showcased their own transformation in a viral post on TikTok — highlighting their early days and how they eventually became a brand with supremely sleek advertising and video content with impressive production value.

Touting their humble beginnings in contrast to where they are now was a way for Crumbl Cookies to use paid media on TikTok to thank their loyal fans while low-key bragging about how delicious their cookies are.

CoverGirl = Getting Grassroots Right

Makeup tutorials are ubiquitous on social media platforms, and many brands try to jump on that train in a way that rings inauthentic. CoverGirl, on the other hand, hit the mark in this example of paid media on TikTok because the video barely mentions the brand, shows the product in action, and avoids out-of-place logo shots. The influencer even swears in the video as if she’s releasing it on her own channel, rather than the official CoverGirl TikTok account.

The Worst Examples of TikTok Marketing

Top War = Cringe Commentary

There are two common tropes many mobile game ads seem to incorporate:
1. Gameplay videos where the player makes unusually bad choices — as if to incense viewers to want to do better themselves
2. An influencer providing “real-time” commentary as if they’re playing the game
This unsuccessful example of paid media on TikTok features both, and although the ad has generated a significant amount of likes and shares, clicks remain low, peaking at 100 exactly one second into the video, and tapering off to one or two clicks for every remaining second of the video after that.

See more on TikTok

Cosy House Collections = No Product Visibility

On the surface, this ad from Cosy House Collections capitalizes on TikTok’s ability to add audio templates to videos and be part of a trend. But while the video is funny, it’s missing everything an ad actually needs to be effective. There’s no indication of what the product looks like, why it’s valuable, or what it actually is: a set of bed sheets. In fact, viewers don’t even see that there are sheets involved until the end of the video — and only for a brief moment as a sort of punchline to the joke.

The best paid media on TikTok takes part in the zeitgeist of the platform, but not at the expense of showcasing a product or brand.

See more on TikTok

Jackpot World™ Slots Casino = Misleading Premise

Games are supposed to be fun, but this ad for a gambling mobile game called Jackpot World opens like a video for an online get-rich-quick course (that doesn’t even show the supposedly $200,000 car). Viewers don’t even know they’re watching an ad for a game until five seconds into the video (calling to mind an increasing mobile game ad trend of showcasing fake or misleading gameplay). What’s more, 15 seconds into the ad, it’s still touting the game as a way to make money rather than enjoy yourself.

It’s worth noting that while the ad generated a small amount of engagement, TikTok did not record even a single conversion.

See more on TikTok

Master Paid Media on TikTok With Power Marketing

TikTok marketing is a great way to get creative with advertising — but it still requires a firm grasp of how to manage paid media campaigns. Power Marketing has a track record of excellence at all things digital marketing and can help maximize ROI on any paid media on TikTok. Get in touch to learn more about our services.
4 Tips on How to Promote Products in Your Catalog
Retail brands that provide diverse products to their customers leverage that wide variety of offerings to keep their audience engaged and happy. But offering those products isn’t enough — brands must also know how to promote products individually and ensure they’re pushing sales in every possible revenue stream.

When introducing new products, many brands strategically allocate a majority of the ad spend to drive sales and get an understanding of the new product’s audience. But outside of those major campaigns, retail brands must be tactical about how they divvy up their budget. Here’s what goes into a great product marketing campaign, particularly when promoting multiple products.

The Art of Promoting a Catalog

To promote products across a varied catalog, marketing teams must learn how to strike a delicate balance in their campaigns. How much attention should each product receive? How much should be spent promoting each product on different channels?

If catalogs contain well-designed, helpful products, they’ll each naturally find the audience that needs them most — brands just need to clear a pathway for that organic connection to take place with specialized tactics for marketing individual products.

4 Tips on How to Promote Products Across Your Catalog

Product marketing varies across individual items or product lines depending on the size of a catalog. Here are a few tips brands can use to spread the word:
Use multi-product ad placements
Drive awareness of the actual products available with an initial marketing campaign including multiple items. Multi-product ad placements are a great catch-all to introduce as many people to a catalog as quickly as possible without overwhelming them.

From carousel ads on Facebook and Instagram to dynamic digital banners that flash different items, these types of media get eyes on a product faster and with flair.
1. Create bundles and collections: For brands wondering how to promote products individually but efficiently, offering collections of products is an effective approach. Bundles are a great way for customers — especially new ones — to see the breadth of a brand’s catalog all at once. That way, they can decide for themselves which items in a given selection are right for them.
  
  From subscription boxes of mixed items to promotional mailers offering samples, bundles do the legwork of getting customers excited without overwhelming them.
3. Encourage customer interactions
Some of the best promotional material is user-generated content that comes straight from the customer. One method brands can use when exploring how to promote products is incentivizing first-time customers to post about or share how much they enjoyed their purchase, spreading the word organically.

Offering bonuses like rebates and coupons for posting a favorite new product on social media or sharing with a friend via email are perfect for drumming up excitement across a product line. For instance, offering 10% off for a certain shade of lipstick if a customer uses the hashtag #MyFavoriteShade in a post provides organic content on a brand’s behalf for that specific product (and benefits the shopper, too).
1. Create timely schedules for promotion: The more business a brand does, the more sales data becomes available, which can be a major asset for brands that want to know how to promote products most effectively. Analyzing this data can reveal shopping patterns and connections between products and certain seasons, holidays, or even days of the week. Brands can use this data to their advantage by promoting certain products when the demand is highest.
  
  A candle company offering seasonal pumpkin scents in autumn may seem like an obvious take on this approach, but the tactic can be just as effective on a smaller scale. For example, a home improvement retailer may offer hyper-targeted advertising for its products on weekends versus weekdays to capitalize on interest from curious at-home DIYers.
Product Promotion Expertise with Power Marketing

Effective, popular products are the reflection of a great brand — as such, each product needs a strong marketing push to receive the attention it deserves. Brands that know how to promote products across their catalog can find success with a more diverse customer base for a consistent revenue stream.

When it comes to tactical marketing for retail and CPG brands, Power Marketing brings decades of experience to execute a strategy customized to each company’s needs. Reach out today to learn more about how we can energize any product marketing strategy and move items off the physical and digital shelves and into customer’s hands.
5 Tips for Boosting Cyber Monday Sales
Cyber Monday entered the market in 2005, and with the rise in ecommerce popularity, the shopping holiday has become one of the most lucrative days of the year for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, even surpassing Black Friday. In 2022, Cyber Monday sales totaled $11.3 billion, increasing 5.3% from 2021. Another report found that 77 million people shopped online during Cyber Monday last year.

Maximizing Cyber Monday marketing can lead to even more revenue than Black Friday, and contribute substantially to annual profits. But what are the best strategies to follow, and what makes them effective?

5 Cyber Monday Marketing Tips

Because Cyber Monday is an online event, digital paid media is especially important for CPG brands to get the word out about their offers. These are the top Cyber Monday marketing strategies that can help generate more sales:
- Lean On Display Advertising
  Using display advertising networks like Google Display Network (GDN) and programmatic advertising platforms allows brands to create visually appealing banners and video ads showcasing their Cyber Monday deals. Target specific products or blanket discount ads to follow audiences across the web so Cyber Monday deals are always top of mind, right where they conduct their shopping.
- Retarget Product Ads to Highlight Cyber Monday Discounts
  Implement retargeting ads to reach visitors who have previously shown interest in products but didn’t make a purchase to remind them about Cyber Monday deals. Remind consumers of products they’ve shown interest in (or abandoned in their cart) with retargeted ads highlighting their discounted price on Cyber Monday.
- Don’t Neglect Paid Search
  Use platforms like Google Ad’s targeted pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns that can highlight Cyber Monday sales on the items consumers are searching for. Use relevant keywords and ad extensions to maximize impact and optimize engagement. And don’t forget about Bing Ads, which can help reach the growing audience segment that doesn’t use Google.
- Invest in Product Listing Ads
  Product listing ads (PLAs) visually showcase products directly in search engine results. Each PLA includes a product image, the price, and description, allowing shoppers to easily compare items while driving click-throughs and conversions. Optimizing PLAs with Cyber Monday-specific promotions can help brands capture the attention of holiday shoppers, and drive higher sales with the simplified purchase process.
- Promote Bundled Discounts and Special Offers on Social Media
  CPG brands should bundle Cyber Monday discounts to incentivize even more purchases and promote them heavily on social media — especially through retargeting. Bundled discounts and other types of special offers can entice shoppers with the promise of added value, and the opportunity to stock up on their favorite products. The nature of social media also allows brands to foster a sense of urgency, encouraging users to share, comment, engage with, and otherwise act on the promotion as quickly as possible, ultimately boosting sales on this key shopping date.
Create a Cyber Monday Marketing Frenzy With Power Marketing

Maximizing revenue on Cyber Monday is crucial for CPG brands to achieve their annual targets — but reaching goals requires a strategic marketing plan. Power Marketing has a breadth of experience in executing paid media strategies for both Cyber Monday and Black Friday, setting brands up for a new record in profitability. Get in touch to learn more about how Power Marketing can help.
How the Move to Ad-Supported Models Will Affect the Streaming Landscape
It’s only been a few years since former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the platform would never have ads. Then, in November 2022, Netflix officially launched its first ad-supported streaming tier: “Standard With Ads.” By the end of Q1 2023, there were over 5 million subscribers to the plan.

This new ad-supported streaming tier represents a trend, not just for Netflix, but for the entire streaming industry. More ads won’t just have a lasting impact on both the companies and their customers — it also opens a significant opportunity for brands to reach these audiences.

The State of Ad-Supported Streaming

In the early days of the streaming wars, ad-free viewing was like a status symbol for these services. Now, price-conscious consumers are taking advantage of the saturated market by opting into subscriptions that are free or low-cost, which is driving major growth for companies that pair streaming with advertising.

Platforms like Pluto TV, Freevee, Tubi, and the Roku Channel all boast millions of value-conscious viewers. In fact, a report by Samba TV estimates that one-in-three U.S. streamers are subscribed to free, ad-supported streaming services. As major studios try to find new ways to monetize their content libraries, they’re licensing more and more high-quality titles to these low-cost alternative platforms.

Major studios today have begun trying to cash in on ad revenue. Over the summer, most of the major streamers, including Disney+, Paramount+, and Peacock altered their pricing to drive more consumers to their ad-supported streaming tiers. As a result, as much as 40% of new subscribers for Disney+ were joining the ad tier.

Why Ad-Supported Streaming?

This conscious pivot to ad-supported streaming is a long-term strategy to ensure these services remain profitable. Allowing commercials to play during streams can help:
- Improve margins. Even though consumers are paying less in monthly subscription fees, streaming platforms can substantially offset the shortfall through higher advertising exposure. In fact, if streamers secure incredibly popular content, they could generate more revenue than they would from a flat subscription rate.
- Reach a larger customer base. Some consumers are unwilling to pay full price for a streaming subscription, prioritizing savings over convenience. This has already proven lucrative for Disney+, which doubled its ad-tier subscriber base to 10 million between May and August 2023.
- Open additional revenue streams. Though most streamers keep their data secret, they have unprecedented insight into the viewing habits of their customers, including their demographics, viewing preferences, and even down-to-the-minute time spent viewing each piece of content. Streamers will be able to collect similar information about customers’ engagement with ads, allowing them to sell the insight to third parties, offer consulting services on ad design, or sell ad space at a premium.
- Cross-promote. In addition to selling ad space to third parties, streamers with ad-supported tiers can also use the space to promote their other content to subscribers for free. This can drive viewership of other content on the platform, helping retain membership while also generating additional ad revenue from future views.
- Create more content monetization opportunities. In addition to generating immediate revenue, new revenue streams from ads open the door to more creative monetization opportunities down the road, such as digital rentals, in-show product placements, and more.
Start Streaming Your Ads With Help From Power Marketing

Ad-supported streaming isn’t just an opportunity for streaming services — it’s an exciting way for brands to reach customers. Streaming ads have many of the same capabilities as ads on YouTube and other video platforms, allowing for more precise targeting. However, this streaming also pairs ads with more prestigious content — not that there’s anything wrong with cat videos.

Of course, ads on streaming platforms require a certain level of strategic expertise. The team at Power Marketing has extensive experience with streaming audio and OTT campaigns, as well as relationships with some of the most recognizable streamers in the industry. Get in touch to learn more about how we can help.
5 Tips for Maximizing Your Black Friday Marketing

Black Friday has for decades been one of the most important days for retailers and CPG brands, representing the official kick off of the holiday shopping season — and the highest sales volumes of the year. A report by Adobe Analytics found that consumers spent over $9.12 billion on Black Friday in 2022. And historically, during the entire week of Black Friday, CPG brands tend to see a 20% increase in sales. How well a company performs during Black Friday will have a significant impact on their bottom line for the year. With so much pressure on maximizing revenue during this time, it’s critical to develop and execute a solid Black Friday marketing strategy. Here are some Black Friday marketing strategies to get your sales moving in the right direction.

5 Black Friday Marketing Tips

Paid media is one of the best ways to drive sales for the start of the holiday season. Here’s what to do…

Highlight Specific Promotions

Target niche audiences with exclusive Black Friday deals and discounts that are relevant to them already through remarketing, email, or abandon cart data. When customers are interested in a specific item that’s now being discounted, there will be a greater sense of urgency to move forward with the purchase while a deal is in play!

Retarget Product Ads to Highlight Black Friday Discounts

Consumer attention is stretched thin, so frequent reminders are key to closing sales. Strategically retargeting people with a history of interacting with your website or app will allow you to remind them of the incredible discounts available during Black Friday sales. This technique could help drive a final sale for those who have abandoned cart and now realize the item, tickets, etc. are discounted. This personalized approach increases the likelihood of conversion and contributes to a higher return on ad spend (ROAS).

Capture Paid Search Keywords Early

Paid keywords are valuable real estate in the fight for Black Friday sales. The sooner you decide on your marketing strategy, the sooner you can start claiming territory and establish a strong online presence for consumers searching for deals. This not only improves your visibility, but it also makes ad campaigns more cost-effective and impactful.

Invest in Paid Social

Even if planning to shop in person, consumers still plan their Black Friday excursions based on digital promotions and advertising. Use the microtargeting capabilities of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to reach the exact audience you want to drive real-life sales. Digital promotions are also inherently easier for consumers to share with friends and family than more traditional radio or TV ads.

Pay for Guide Placements

Websites like BlackFriday.com have capitalized on consumer interest in savings by publishing digital guides to help readers find the products and sales they’re looking for. Identify these consumer-facing guides and deal aggregators, and reach out for placement in their materials. By securing ads in these guides, you can keep your brand top-of-mind when it comes time for consumers to plan their shopping strategy. Remember to search the paid keywords you’re targeting to identify guides most that are relevant to your brand.

Maximize Black Friday Marketing With Power Marketing

The success or failure of your Black Friday marketing strategy can have a major impact on your annual revenue. That’s why it’s so important to leverage expert help for your campaign.

Power Marketing has a breadth of experience in every type of paid media, and can tailor and execute strategy to the needs of your CPG brand. Want to learn more?

Ready to get started?

Get in touch with the team to maximize your Black Friday marketing efforts.

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