Brandformance Workshop: This Tactic Can Lead to Market Domination

Clicks to Conversions

Brandformance Workshop: This Tactic Can Lead to Market Domination

May 31, 2023

What’s Hot

“BRANDFORMANCE” AKA Market Domination

We kicked off Strikepoint’s ongoing webinar series last month in a big way with our “Brandformance” presentation.

It was a marketing masterclass that taught viewers how to combine your business’s branding with your performance marketing to leverage a strong brand identity that can help you meet or exceed your target ROIs. When you get it right, you’re cutting your operating costs by eliminating wasted money and low conversions, and making it easier to grow your business.

Here’s the thing … It’s essential to get this right to avoid wasted money, low conversions, and issues with scaling your business. It comes down to trust.

Trust equals conversions.

Consistency in your brand’s message, look, and feel builds trust and drives sales. Customers will buy because of your brand, not just your product.

I know this may sound obvious, but way too many people get this wrong. They fall victim to some pretty common mistakes – specifically unclear messaging and expecting quick returns on long- term investments, forcing a pushy sales pitch that makes no sense to anyone.

To avoid this, make sure to objectively assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Decide what your brand stands for, its positioning, and desired perception. Then, be clear on who you can help and how.

Does your brand align with everything you just listed? How sure are you about that?

I’ll tell you what, let’s find out! Since you’re a C2C reader, we’ll make it easy for you to be absolutely positive about that with a free self-guided Brand Report Card.

The webinar is a lot more in depth than just what you see above, so I really encourage you to watch the full replay here.

Case Study: Cut CPL 28% With This Youtube Ad Template

52% of internet users worldwide (2.7 billion people) access YouTube at least once a month, with more than 122 million people using the site daily.

If you’re not using YouTube as one of your primary lead gen sources, you need to be. Immediately.

The audience targeting is as good as it gets,
and the returns speak for themselves. Especially with this simple “hack” that slashed our CPL on a campaign by 28%.

Here’s the ad:

Before this test, we were only running this ad creative in the standard 16×9 YouTube ad format that you typically see before videos.

But since we’re always looking to improve, we recently tested out this “upper-right” template using the EXACT same video. But this new placement lets you do a bit more with your ads.

It allowed us to use the space to the left and below the video to add a headline, some supplemental copy, and subtitles below the video.

Those tweaks brought down our CPL by 28% in just a few days!

Here’s the thought process behind why this is so effective:

The creative copy in this format acts as an extension of our call to action. On YouTube specifically, the arrow we have baked into the design of our ad points to the exact spot where the viewer will click to learn more.

The copy is attention-grabbing, and speaks directly to our target audience, priming them for what’s to come once they reach the landing page.

That’s it!

Ad Insights: Strategy, Standards, and Showcase

Lead gen is about having a cohesive plan, not just a good ad.

It’s everything from how you set up your ad manager to how you follow up with leads.

That’s why we’re highlighting ad strategy, industry standards, and a creative showcase this month.

Strategy: Structure for Success

Clearly setting up your media buying/ad account manager so that it aligns with your goals up front is key for your success.

This sounds so simple, but it’s one of the most common mistakes we see when auditing businesses. Make sure your business goals are in line with your optimizations and conversion goals inside your ad account.

For example, new customers need to be optimized for acquisition. If you’re looking to drive revenue,

you need to be optimizing for average order value. There needs to be a symmetrical approach from the business goals and ad accounts.

When Strikepoint conducts an audit, we look at the customer experience through your digital sales funnel to ensure a smooth system and process for people to educate themselves while still being actively sold in a cost effective yet profitable way.

Then we analyze your ad creative to make sure that the best copy, messaging, and content are all being utilized to drive the most qualified and primed customers.

The reason we do this approach is because it takes a holistic approach and strategy to get all three “buckets” working in unison.

Standard: The Importance of GCLID Configuration (Google Click ID)

GCLID (aka Google Click ID) is a critical attribution tool that can help you identify what’s working best in your business and then scale accordingly. It lets you tag customers once they’ve gone into your CRM so that you can track their actions and attribute down the funnel conversions back to the ad account. For example, if you collect a lead and then that lead is followed up on with a phone call, Google Ads wouldn’t normally see that.

However, since we tag that lead with GCLID, we can update that lead’s status inside our CRM and Google tracks it accordingly.

Let’s say that your lead ended up buying something on the phone … Because GCLID is active, we can take the lead and upload it back to the ad account and tell Google Ads “This lead led to a purchase” and Google tracks the rest of the attribution to its source. We usually trust UTMs for this, but that only works if your ad account receives the data. It’s like having a Pixel for conversions that take place offline.

This may sound a little “extra” but if you’re not following this industry standard, you’re only getting front end data, and missing out on key data points that matter.

You’re also not taking full advantage of everything that Google has to offer. And that means you’d
be locked out of leveraging certain bid strategies efficiently, like Max Conversion Value and tROAS if you have and down funnel purchases. Think of it like this: Pretend you’re running a lead gen promo and seeling those leads an offer on the backend via email or phonecall.

Let’s say you have 2 campaigns running – one with a $10 CPL and one with a $20 CPL. You might think to cut the $20 CPL campaign and focus on more volume with the $10 campaign … except you’d really have no way of knowing which campaign is contributing to your ROAS.

GCLID lets you pass back those buyers into the ad account to identify definitively which campaign is generating your revenue.

Moral of the story … If you’re running down funnel sales, use GCLID.

Showcase: ChatGPT of “Trading”

Lastly, what’s a C2C Report without an ad highlight?!

This ad is CRUSHING it for LeadGen.

VantagePoint has been around for more than 40 years, and they’ve done a ton of great stuff in the business, for their clients, and for their community.

But now they’re really stepping it up by leveraging one of the hottest topics in the world – ChatGPT.

It’s a great example of how to stop scrolls within the feed.

The ad is simple, direct, and efficient.

And above all, there’s a clear CTA so people know exactly what to do next.

And as you’ll see in this month’s Copy Corner, that’s been a necessity for over 300 years.

Copy Corner

Modern Lessons From America’s Very First Advertisement

America’s very first ad appeared in The Boston News-Letter on April 17, 1704.

Here’s an image of the ad itself:

It’s an advertisement for … advertisements! And more than 3 centuries later, it still kicks ass.

It is, by all accounts, a direct response advertisement which makes a direct offer.

The paper’s publisher, John Campbell, ran it to sell people on placing ads in the newspaper at
a “reasonable rate” to monetize the paper – and started an entire industry in the process. And the structure back then is still what we use today.

Call out qualified prospects (Here’s who this is for)
Make an offer (Here’s what you get and for how much)
Call to action (Here’s what to do to move forward)

Fast forward to the present day and we’re still using that same structure.

Sure, it’s gotten a little more sophisticated, with headlines and opt ins and all that, but if you’re missing a single piece of this structure, your ad just won’t work.

Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just make sure you’re clear on who you’re talking to, what you’re offering, and how they can take advantage of it.

Kind of like that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

What’s Hot At Strikepoint

The month (the last few, really) have been about growth for Strikepoint – especially as we expand more and more outside of financial publishing with amazing clients like Vixen Gathering.

After a strong start to the year, SPM keeps growing. And that means we could use a little help.

We’re currently looking for:

Digital Marketing Coordinator
Head of Media Buying
Social Media Manager

Plus, it’s about time to start our summer internship program!

If you or someone you know would be a good fit, just apply through one of those links above and let’s talk!

We’ve also identified some incredible talent in all that growth, like Matthew Anderson; our Rockstar of Q1.

This is something new that Strikepoint is doing. Every quarter, we want to recognize one team member who has gone above and beyond for our clients, and deserves the award. Matthew, we appreciate you and all your hard work for Strikepoint. Congratulations on being our first official Rockstar Recipient!

And what better time to release his episode of Conversion Experts! Matthew and I recently sat down to discuss his background in the marketing

industry, the new ideas and initiatives he’s brought to the team, and all things webinars! Click here to watch the latest episode, and as always, let me know your thoughts! It’s always a fun time when we have a new Conversion Experts episode, as we get to share and showcase the amazing people and talent we have here at Strikepoint.

Finally, that growth also means more focus on leadership, which is why we’re so excited to announce that Erin King has stepped up as our new Chief Digital Officer.

She’s the world’s leading digital persuasion expert, she’s worked with everyone from The Academy Awards in Hollywood to the U.S. Navy at the Pentagon, and now she’s focusd on SPM’s clients, which is a massive win for you guys!

That’s it for this month’s issue of the C2C Report! As always, if you have a question, or if there’s anything you’d like to see more of or have us focus on (or that we can do better), please shoot me an email and let me know directly!