Mertcan Atik, Art Director & Digital Marketer

Uskudar - Istanbul, Turkey
info@mertcanatik.com
+90 554 439 84 86

GUIDE

March 01, 2024
Mertcan Atik by Mertcan Atik

PERFORMANCE MARKETING

Performance marketing is a type of digital marketing based on results. Advertising costs based solely on performance are very friendly to brands’ budgets. In addition, successful studies bring high conversions to brands. Brands optimize their performance-based ads by reviewing them at the end of the campaign. Thus, the efficiency of advertisements will be further increased in future campaigns. The criteria for success in performance marketing are correct segmentation, auction bid, quality score of advertisements, and the resulting conversion rate.

Performance marketing is a type of marketing that aims to take action. It is based on data and needs to be analyzed after advertising studies. The important thing is that the campaign is measurable. Clicks, visits, subscriptions, or sales can be one of the desired conversions of the campaign. CPM and CPC are traditional conversions. These models are mostly used to measure clicks and views. The contribution of the campaign to sales cannot be understood by looking at these models. For this, it is necessary to tie campaign success to conversion-based targets such as potential customers or sales. Only in this way can the success of the campaign be fully measured. The return on investment (ROI) of campaigns can be evaluated through direct sales or form downloads that will turn into sales. Only in this way can advertising budgets be used more efficiently. This is an important opportunity to get ahead of the competition.

Performance marketing generally consists of 4 groups:

Advertisers: This is the group formed by brands. Brands announce their products or services through their affiliates or publishers. Advertisers set campaign goals and look for a publisher with whom they can achieve them.

Affiliates or Publishers: Marketing partners who publish ads, campaigns, or direct products of advertisers. Product review sites, blogs, and mobile applications can be given as examples of this group. Such platforms have a certain traffic. Advertisers who want to benefit from this traffic introduce their brands to potential customers on these platforms. Platforms must align with the brand’s core identity and strategy.

Affiliate network and third-party tracking platforms: These are platforms where brands can reach affiliates that will publish certain marketing materials through a single address. Through these platforms, brands aim to increase their sales by giving sales commissions to affiliates. Partnerize, Commission Junction, AWIN, and Impact are some of such platforms.

OPMs (Outsourced Program Management): These are the support units that brands will deal with affiliates or affiliate platforms on their behalf. Having support from outside the company has enabled them to specialize in subsidiaries.

Understanding the place and importance of these groups within performance marketing increases the number of successes to be achieved. Only in this way can brands reach new audiences and increase their traffic. By knowing the structure of these groups, brands can plan where they can invest more. Advertisers agree to a CPA model with affiliates, which means payment will only be made when the desired action is taken. This means a high return on investment with a low payment.

Performance marketing offers a broad category that includes marketing strategies aimed at measurable and specific targets in the digital world. These strategies are designed to increase brand awareness across various online platforms, optimize customer engagement, and most importantly, target tangible conversions. Various types of performance marketing, such as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Display Advertising, Social Media Ads, Native Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Video Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Email Marketing, Sponsored Content, and Programmatic Advertising, allow businesses to develop strategies that suit their specific needs and target audience. recognizes.

01 | SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

Search engine marketing is paid advertising that brands use to have their products and services appear on search engine pages (SERPs). Brands type certain words into search engines to research or purchase a product or service. They generally tend to click on pages that appear first in search engines. Brands that cannot do the right work in terms of SEO manage to rank at the top of search engines organically. Brands that fail to achieve this pay for certain keywords and rank higher in searches for these words. In other words, businesses that want to invest in SEM enter the auction of the keywords they have determined and pay certain fees.

Google ads go through an ad auction before being displayed. To enter the ad auction, you must first select specific keywords and determine the amount you are willing to spend per click on each. However, not every keyword is guaranteed to appear in every search; If some keywords are not commercially viable or irrelevant to the user’s search query, the ad may not be displayed. Additionally, the maximum bid and Quality Score of the ads are important to win during the ad auction. Quality Score measures the quality of the ad, keyword, and landing page; A higher Quality Score makes the ad more likely to perform better.

The issues that need to be considered to be successful in search engine marketing are:

Keyword: Finding the right keyword to bid on is the most critical issue. It is necessary to do good research on this subject. It is necessary to brainstorm on which word to search for the product. Prioritizing specific words that carry purchasing intent would be a budget-friendly approach. If the budget is large, bids can be placed on more generally relevant words rather than words to be searched directly with the intention of purchasing.

Keyword Volume and Competition: Keyword volume refers to the frequency with which a particular keyword is searched in a particular period, which is an important factor in measuring the popularity of a keyword. High-volume keywords often offer the potential to reach a wide audience, but can also result in intense competition. The competitive analysis evaluates how much other advertisers are bidding for certain keywords and the intensity of competition for these keywords. Advertising in areas with intense competition can increase cost per click and negatively impact budget effectiveness. Therefore, it is important to take a balanced approach to keyword selection. Low-volume but less competitive keywords can offer the potential for more authentic engagement with your target audience.

Keyword Cost: Keyword cost refers to the cost an advertiser is willing to pay per click for a particular keyword. This cost may vary depending on keyword popularity, level of competition, and industry-specific factors. High-volume and competitive keywords generally have higher costs. This indicates that a particular keyword is in demand by its target audience and competition against this demand is increasing.

Account and Campaign Structure: Account structure determines how an advertiser organizes their campaigns in Google Ads or other SEM platforms, and this structure ensures that campaigns are effectively managed and optimized. Each campaign typically represents a specific product, service, or marketing goal. The account structure allows grouping campaigns and making settings specific to these campaigns. The campaign level is where the overall strategy is determined. Below are the campaign groups; each campaign group contains ads associated with specific keywords.

Ad Text: Each ad copy should be created by targeting a specific keyword or group of keywords. These texts should be directly associated with the targeted keywords and respond to users’ search queries in the most appropriate way. Titles, descriptions, and URLs should be conveyed to potential customers in a way that highlights your brand’s value, unique features, and benefits.

Website Optimization: Keywords should be used correctly in website content, title tags, meta descriptions, and other important HTML tags. Thus, search engines better understand what topics the website is about and can rank better in relevant searches. Additionally, technical factors such as website speed and mobile compatibility are also important. A fast-loading website allows users to navigate better and is appreciated by search engines. Content quality also plays a critical role in website optimization. Relevant, valuable, and original content both pleases users and is rewarded by search engines.

Landing Page: Landing Page plays a critical role in ensuring that users find the right information and interaction options on the page they land on after clicking ads. Landing pages should be designed to ensure that advertisers focus on a specific campaign goal and allow users to quickly reach the content they are looking for.

A/B Testing: A/B testing involves an experiment where two different ad or page variations are used simultaneously. This testing offers a data-driven approach to understanding which elements are most effective and improving strategies. A/B tests involving different elements such as ad copy, headline selections, calls to action, color schemes, or conversion forms give advertisers the chance to determine the most effective strategies to achieve specific goals.

Search engine marketing offers marketers a powerful strategy by offering the ability to deliver instant results, comprehensive targeting options, a variety of pricing options, ease of automation, and extensive analytical data. Thanks to the advantage of instant results, advertisers can launch their campaigns on the same day and start seeing results immediately. The targeting feature allows you to reach customers directly through various parameters such as location, interests, and online activity. At the same time, flexibility in budget management is provided by choosing between a variety of paid search channels and techniques. The automation feature ensures that ads are delivered automatically after one-time adjustments, saving time and resources. Analytical data helps develop a comprehensive understanding of the target market and business strategies by monitoring the performance of SEM campaigns in detail. When these features come together, SEM offers marketers an effective, fast, and measurable marketing strategy.

02 | DISPLAY ADVERTISING

One of the oldest examples of online advertising is display advertising. Banner ads are among the ads that internet users are used to seeing. Brands use display advertising to raise awareness, drive traffic, and reach their potential customers. The critical thing here is to correctly determine the platforms where the target audience is located and the type of display advertising suitable for this platform. Display advertising can be with images, text, GIFs, or videos, or it can be designed in an HTML format that includes all of these.

With the rapid increase in internet usage brought about by the digital age, it has become inevitable for businesses to direct their advertising strategies to the online environment. Display advertising offers businesses the advantage of reaching a wide range of internet users with visual and impressive advertisements. Reaching a target audience through large platforms such as the Google Display Network may present potential risks, but with a careful strategy, the opportunities this format offers to increase brand awareness and attract potential customers with visual interaction are valuable. Eye-catching formats of display ads offer benefits like strengthening brand consistency, nurturing leads, and transforming PPC strategies, fueling businesses’ online success.

Display advertising, like search engine marketing, is a type of PPC advertising. It is budget-friendly as it charges per click or view. When it comes to display advertising, the first thing that comes to mind is Google ads. Apart from this, display advertising formats made through other social media platforms such as Facebook Ad Manager are also included in display advertising. However, these are discussed under a broader heading as Social Media Advertising. YouTube advertising is also planned through the Google Ads platform under the scope of display advertising.

When display advertising formats are examined, 4 formats stand out:

Static Ads: These are simple, inactive ads consisting of text and images. These types of ads are usually saved in JPEG or PNG format and have the advantage of fast loading. Ideal for those who want to communicate with a simple design and text.

Animated Ads: Use movement to attract attention and convey the message more dynamically. Created as GIF or HTML5 files, these ads contain multiple frames and are used to tell more complex messages or stories.

Video Ads: Attracts the attention of the target audience by combining visual and audio elements. They can be shared on websites and social media platforms. Video ads are used to make a strong impression and tell the brand’s story.

Interactive Ads: Contain clickable elements, forms, or other interactive features through which users can interact with the ad. They are often created using HTML5 and encourage users to interact with the ad.

These types of display ads are published at various points on the website or applications. The most common of these are banner ads. Banner ads are located at the top, bottom, or side of websites. Large ads are full-screen ads that cover the interfaces of websites or applications. Large advertisements appear on the screen when the website or mobile application is opened and disappear after a certain period until the main page is opened. It is mostly used for promotions and announcements. Pop-up ads are small windows that suddenly open on a website. Pop-up ads that open right in the middle of websites are quite eye-catching.

When examining the display advertising forms, the most popular forms are as follows:
  • Banners
  • Billboards
  • Skyscrapers
  • Buttons
  • Boxes
  • Pop up
  • Pop-under
  • Floating Ads
  • Expanding
  • Wallpaper
  • Interstitial
  • Superstitial

The Google Display Network brings together more than 2 million websites around the world, handling the bulk of most visual advertising. This network includes many websites, from small to large, popular to niche, which means the potential advertising space is large. Google also includes Gmail and YouTube. Google also provides a variety of tools to tailor an advertiser’s ads to a specific audience. When creating a campaign based on this type of advertising, it is possible to determine targeting, that is, to whom the ad will be shown. Facebook Audience Network is one of the giants of digital marketing and offers ad placement on its services. Meta has a very wide reach as it includes many popular networks. Another option is the Twitter Audience Platform, which can put your service in front of 700 million people.

Proper targeting allows you to reach an audience that is truly interested in your company and generate leads. This service may be a bit costly, but with effective targeting, the investment can be well worth it.

In general terms, when we divide display advertising according to its specific features, the types are as follows:

Site Placement Advertising (Banner): There are certain websites, blogs, or applications that the brand’s potential customers visit. The existence of these platforms often depends on the display ads they include on the site. Brands prepare and send banners to these platforms in the dimensions given to them. These banners are published within the period determined by the agreement.

Display Networks: Google Display Network brings together more than 2 million websites worldwide, handling the bulk of most visual advertising. This network includes many websites, from small to large, popular to niche, which means the potential advertising space is large. Google also includes Gmail and YouTube. Google also provides a variety of tools to tailor an advertiser’s ads to a specific audience. When creating a campaign based on this type of advertising, it is possible to determine targeting, that is, to whom the ad will be shown. Facebook Audience Network is one of the giants of digital marketing and offers ad placement on its services. Meta has a very wide reach as it includes many popular networks. Another option is the Twitter Audience Platform, which can put your service in front of 700 million people.

Advertising efforts used as display advertising are targeted in different ways:
  • Geographical targeting makes the target groups reached tied to a specific location.
  • Contextual targeting means ads are customized based on specific keywords and the topic of a website.
  • Thematic targeting, ads are displayed on websites with a specific area of expertise
  • Directional targeting, ads are displayed on certain selected target sites (individual preference possible).
  • Retargeting refers to ads appearing to viewers who have previously visited the website and taken a specific set of actions.

Social Media Display Ads: Social Media Display Ads are a type of advertising that brands use to promote products, services, or messages on social media platforms. These ads are ad formats that appear visually in users’ social media feeds or other content areas. Social media platforms use these visual ads to reach users more effectively and direct them to a wide audience to increase brand awareness. This type of advertising is widely used on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Brands can use social media visual ads strategically to reach their target audience directly and strengthen their online presence.

Programmatic Display Ads: Refers to a technology and process used to automatically and efficiently buy and sell advertising inventory from advertisers and publishers. This form of advertising is carried out using programmatic advertising technologies. This type of advertising offers a faster, more efficient, and more targeted approach compared to traditional manual ad-buying processes. Programmatic Display Ads offers advertisers a powerful tool to achieve better results and effectively manage their advertising budgets.

Some example companies operating in this field are:
  • The Trade Desk
  • DoubleClick by Google
  • AppNexus
  • Adobe Advertising Cloud
  • Rubicon Project
  • Criteo

These companies are just a few of the leading players in the programmatic advertising space. Each has different features and services and provides advertisers, agencies, and publishers with a variety of tools to implement programmatic advertising strategies.

Native Display Ads: This is a type of advertising in which ads are integrated appropriately into the natural content and design of the platform on which they are located, offering an organic appearance without disrupting the user experience. These ads are designed to fit in with other content and are often presented in a format that doesn’t explicitly identify them as an ad, but has a more organic feel. These types of ads often appear on social media platforms, news sites, and various other content platforms. These ads provide advertisers with an effective tool to attract and engage users more naturally.

Display ads can identify the target audience. It creates strong interaction with the customer and can be easily noticed thanks to creative graphic solutions such as large formats, photos, animations, or videos. Affects the user; Display ad formats enable interactions such as commenting, liking, or sharing. It significantly increases brand awareness, especially vital for specific brand or product campaigns. It increases the product thought process and creates purchase intent. It is effective in the e-commerce industry and digital display ads are more economical when compared to traditional ad formats, such as TV, radio, and print.

03 | SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Social media advertising is a type of digital advertising and means spending a budget to deliver content to a specific target audience on the preferred social media platform. This concept, called “paid reach,” refers to the number of people who see the ad and contrasts organic reach with people who view content distributed for free. Social media ads offer an effective way to reach the desired target audience directly, and ads can be paid for before making special efforts to create viral content.

Social media advertising allows you to reach new customers as well as develop strategies for returning customers. It also helps optimize advertising strategies by offering the chance to run hands-on A/B tests. The downside is that it is costly, but social media platforms offer flexible pricing options to suit various budgets. Therefore, a certain budget should be created to start with social media advertising.

To do social media advertising, it is necessary to narrow it down using filters, settings, and criteria. This targeting may include targeting by geographic locations, ages, hobbies, and professions. Then, after determining the starting point, it is necessary to determine the goal. Although different social media advertising platforms offer conversion tools, the main goal is usually to direct people to share their contact information. This goal can be achieved by filling out a form or visiting a landing page on the website.

Paid social media platforms for marketing are as follows:

Each paid social media platform has its unique features, and these features differentiate the platforms from their competitors. All major social media platforms offer advertising options, but it’s not necessary to use them all. When choosing where to place the ad, it is important to know which social networks the target audience prefers. Which platforms are the places where the target audience is most dense and accessible?

FACEBOOK

Facebook ads can appear in various parts of the app, including users’ feeds, stories, Messenger, Marketplace, and more. These ads look similar to regular posts, but they always include a “sponsored” tag. Facebook ads include more features than regular posts, such as CTA buttons, links, and product catalogs.

Facebook is popular across many demographic groups, with 2.91 billion monthly active users. Although millennials stand out as the most active demographic, young people, Generation X and even the elderly also use this platform. Offering detailed targeting options for this wide user base, Facebook is a great platform to start social media advertising.

Facebook advertising models are as follows:
  • Feed
  • Marketplace
  • Video Feeds
  • Right Column
  • Business Discovery
  • Stories
  • reels
  • In-Stream Video
  • Instant articles

Facebook advertising types offer businesses a wide range of options. Image ads use a single image to promote products or brands in a basic format. Video ads include a single video used for product demos or tutorials. Carousel ads allow you to showcase different products by presenting ten clickable images or videos. Playable ads preview products or apps by providing interactive experiences. Collection ads provide a mobile shopping experience, allowing you to browse the product range. Slideshow ads serve as an alternative to video ads with little data usage. Stories ads drive engagement in a full-screen vertical video format. Messenger ads allow users to initiate interaction with the brand. This diversity allows businesses to choose the most effective type of advertising to suit their goals.

INSTAGRAM

Instagram ads address six broad campaign categories, including awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales. The platform is popular among Gen Z and Gen X users, especially millennials. Although there are fewer boomers and older users on Instagram compared to Facebook, the platform offers extensive custom targeting options, the ability to create lookalike audiences and identify audience behaviors, interests, and demographics.

Instagram advertising models are as follows:
  • Feed
  • Profile Feed
  • Explore
  • Explore Homepage
  • Stories
  • Reels
  • Search Result

Instagram ads can appear in users’ Feeds and Stories, as well as in the Explore and Instagram Shop navigation experience. All Instagram ads carry the “sponsored” icon and may include a C2A button. There are a variety of ad styles available, including Boosted Posts, which look like regular Instagram posts, Carousel ads that allow users to swipe to different images, Instagram Stories ads that appear in a full-screen format, Reels that highlight video content, and Instagram Shop ads that showcase products on the Shop tab home page.

Promoted posts carry the “Sponsored” label, while Carousel ads allow users to scroll to different images. Instagram Stories ads use photos or videos in full-screen format for up to 120 seconds. Reels is an Instagram highlight that focuses on video content and supports looping ad Reels of up to 30 seconds, encouraging engagement with comments, likes, shares, and saves. Instagram Shop ads are ads that promote products on the Shop tab home page, allowing users to click through to get more information on the product details page. Instagram’s variety of ad formats gives businesses the flexibility to choose the most effective style based on their campaign goals and audience.

X

Twitter ads support three main business goals: awareness, opinion, and conversion. It seems that the platform’s accessible audience includes male users.

X advertising models are as follows:
  • Promoted Ads
  • Amplify Pre-Roll
  • Amplify Sponsorships
  • Trend Takeover
  • Timeline Takeover
  • X Live
  • Dynamic Product Ads
  • Collection Ads

The platform’s advertising services include various options such as Promoted Ads, Product Ads, Amplify, Takeover, and X Live. Promoted Ads are a type of advertising that allows brands to show special content to X users to people who are not their followers.

While Amplify allows brands to place their video content before certain publishers, Takeover ads come in two different types, Trend Takeover and Timeline Takeover. Trend Takeover offers the ability to display sponsored ads on Twitter’s home page and in the Trending tab on the Explore screen. Timeline Takeover, on the other hand, includes ads that appear at the top of users’ timelines on their first visit of the day.

While Twitter Live is available for free to everyone, it stands out as an option that brands can pay to maximize their reach. Additional features like polls, hashtags, and branded hashtag ads are also among the various branding opportunities offered by X ads.

LINKEDIN

LinkedIn ads work towards three basic marketing goals of businesses: raising awareness, generating opinions, and achieving conversions. Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn is a more business-oriented platform and offers targeting options based on professional characteristics such as job title and seniority.

LinkedIn advertising models are as follows:
  • Sponsored Content
  • Sponsored Messaging
  • Lead Gene Forms
  • Text and Dynamic Ads

Among the different types of ads used on this advertising platform is “Sponsored Content”. These ads are available in a variety of formats, including single image, carousel, document, video, or event ads, and appear in a similar position in the LinkedIn feed as organic content, but are marked as “Supported.”

LinkedIn also offers a type of advertising called “Sponsored Messaging”. This involves sending direct first-person messages and allows users to engage with a series of referrals of their choosing, either by delivering personalized messages to the audience’s LinkedIn inbox or through interactive “Conversation” ads. Additionally, a personalized ad format called “Dynamic Ads” automatically adapts for each viewer, allowing personalized campaigns to be automated at scale.

YOUTUBE

YouTube ads can help businesses achieve business goals such as awareness, generating opinion, and driving action. YouTube’s user base consists mostly of men and has a wide spread among age groups up to the age of 65.

YouTube advertising models are as follows:
  • Skippable Video Ads
  • Non-Skippable Video Ads
  • Bumper Ads
  • In-Feed Video Ads
  • YouTube Shorts Ads
  • Watch Feed
  • Masthead

There are various video ad formats on YouTube. The “Skippable Video Ads” option has options that viewers can skip or skip (15 seconds maximum) and can run before, during, or after videos on YouTube. “Bumper Ads” are quick ads that last six seconds and cannot be skipped, and are an ideal option if you want to share short and striking content. “In-Feed Video Ads” are ads containing a thumbnail and text that can appear next to videos on YouTube, as part of search results, or on the YouTube homepage on mobile.

Masthead ads, on the other hand, are a type of advertising that is offered only to VIP customers through a Google sales representative through reservation. This featured ad appears at the top of the desktop site or mobile app and can play automatically for up to 30 seconds.

TIKTOK

TikTok ads can help you achieve business goals like website visits, app downloads, and online sales. TikTok users consist of young people; almost seventy percent are under 34 years old. Despite TikTok’s “don’t advertise, make TikToks” mantra, they offer paid brand solutions.

TikTok advertising models are as follows:
  • In-Feed Ads
  • TopView
  • Branded Mission
  • Branded Effect
  • Spark Ads
  • Promotion

Social media is teeming with user-generated content, and it’s important to have a personal feel. To optimize advertising expenditures, it is necessary to use the targeting tools of social media platforms. Advertising effectiveness can be increased by reaching relevant audiences based on factors such as location, interests, and browsing habits. Every social media platform has certain content rules. By following these rules, advertisements must be kept on air for the duration of the planned campaign. A strong “call” (CTA) should be used. Social media platforms provide statistics about your advertising campaigns. Advertising strategies can be developed by examining the data provided by major platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

05.04 | NATIVE ADVERTISING

Native advertising historically dates back to the era when advertising was only in print and emerged in the 1940s. This concept is intended to “match” the look and feel of the publication in which the ad is placed. Over time, native advertising has evolved to include any paid content designed to adapt to the form and function of the channel in which it appears. Nowadays, it is used extensively within the scope of digital marketing.

Native advertising takes advantage of the publisher’s efforts to attract a broader audience, rather than using advertisers’ channels. However, for native ads to be effective, the site must adapt to its content universe, which affects the performance of high-quality content. Similar to content marketing, native advertising can be successful based on the quality of the content and emphasizes the need for content to adapt to the natural flow.

The performance of native ads has been shown by many studies to have higher click-through rates and attract more attention from consumers compared to traditional display ads. Native ads may be less intrusive and better fit the target audience, resulting in lower annoyance and a higher likelihood of engagement. It appears that the use of native ads is an effective method for brands to engage with their target audience and build trust.

The main purpose of native advertising is to increase engagement by providing a smoother user experience. While in-feed advertising is the most common, there are many different native ad formats. While social media ads and search results ads are not included in this list (technically some of them can be considered native advertising because they adapt to the environment), they are considered along with other ad types to make digital advertising a seamless experience for all users.

Advertising models frequently used in local advertising are as follows:
In-Feed and In-Content Native Ads

The main difference between in-feed and in-content native ads is where they are placed. In-feed native ads appear within the normal content of a website or app, and users often encounter them in their news feeds or social media feeds. These ads blend in with the surrounding content, are often labeled “sponsored” or “promoted,” and may include static images or videos. In-content native ads are placed within a single piece of content, for example, a news article. These ads mimic surrounding content and can be served programmatically, similar to in-feed ads.

Content Recommendation Ads

Content recommendation ads generally refer to widgets located below news articles or content pages that present users with a list of related articles or products. These widgets are usually labeled with labels such as “recommended,” “sponsored,” or “you might also be interested in,” and have a design that matches the normal content of the website. Content recommendation ad widgets allow brands to promote their content or products naturally. Consumers generally respond more positively to these types of ads because they suggest relevant content that may be of interest to the user. These types of ads are also called content discovery ads or sponsored content ads and often redirect users to external sites.

Branded/Local Content

Branded/Native content includes content where a brand’s paid content is published on a publisher’s site in the same format as full editorial content, often in collaboration with the publisher’s content teams. This broad definition explains why it is sometimes called sponsored content or partner content. Some also refer to this as publisher-partnered content because this type of native advertising relies on the relationship between a brand and the publisher. While broadcasters generally produce the content, leading broadcasters appear to produce local content from a journalistic perspective through their studios.

Promoted Listings

Promoted listings are a type of native advertising commonly used by online retailers and are the process of giving special prominence to certain product listings. This may include methods such as showing them at the top of search results, highlighting them in a special area, or presenting them with a dedicated page of their own. The main goal is to increase the visibility and click-through rates of these products, ultimately increasing sales and conversions. However, challenges with this strategy include potentially significant higher costs, paying for prominent positions, especially on major e-commerce platforms, and having to invest in up-front marketing efforts to increase recognition for lesser-known brands.

For successful native advertising, it is important to focus primarily on originality. Original content builds trust and encourages interaction, which in turn gets the target audience to click on your website and make a purchase. It should be noted that native ads need platform-specific adaptations and relevant content to connect with the target audience.

It’s also important to deliver a non-intrusive experience. Native ads encourage users to engage more when designed to suit their platform. Finally, creating a plan and focusing on specific goals is important for measuring and improving the success of native ads. The data obtained by tracking established metrics can be used to increase the effectiveness of local campaigns.

05 | PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING

Programmatic advertising involves the process of automatically buying and selling online ads. The purchase and sale of advertising space occur in real-time through the Demand Side Platform (DPS), an automated system. Compared to traditional advertising, programmatic advertising offers a more automated approach. Instead of dealing with manual processes in traditional advertising, in programmatic advertising advertisers upload their ads to an automated platform, select their target audience, and let the platform do the rest.

Local programmatic advertising is a subcategory that focuses on geotargeting by establishing exclusive partnerships with local media groups, such as publications, radio stations, and TV channels, specific to the geographic region. This method allows advertisers to run ads in publications within a geographically determined area. For example, a localized programmatic advertising campaign places ads on local media groups such as news stations, local radio, and newspapers.

Three important concepts to know in programmatic advertising are:
SSP (Supply Side Platform)

SSP (Supply Side Platform) maintains the publisher’s inventory. The publisher sends a web page as the source for an ad to an SSP, which will then connect to one or more ad exchanges, ad networks, and DSPs. SSP places a pixel code on the page to track visitor behavior. The code provides anonymous data about visitors and the actions they take. SSP is programmed to maximize the value publishers receive from an ad interaction. SSP allows publishers to filter ads by advertiser and other criteria and set different fees for ad spaces.

DSP (Demand Side Platform)

Algorithms that form the basis of programmatic advertising collect data from online users to ensure that ads match the needs of the target audience. Through DSP (Demand Side Platform), advertisers define their target audiences with the parameters they set, and programmatic advertising uses this information to automatically deliver ads to target audiences on various websites. Programmatic advertising offers advertisers the flexibility to automatically reach a wider audience while providing the ability to measure campaign performance with tracking and analytics tools.

DMP (Data Management Platform)

DMP (Data Management Platform) is an independent platform that collects, manages, analyzes, and activates data. The platform provides advertisers with comprehensive user profiles so the data can be used within a programmatic algorithm to match visitors with those most likely to convert to the best advertising.

One of the advantages of programmatic advertising is that it helps the advertiser make data-driven decisions and increases advertising revenue. It is also budget-friendly, offers the opportunity to closely examine KPIs, and offers the ability to target highly specific target audiences. But while programmatic advertising is a way to effectively place ads across channels and mediums, it faces some shortcomings. Programmatic advertising lacks the human touch because it is an algorithm-driven process. There is a case where handpicking may show better results as a single publisher provides a more targeted reach than a dispersed group of websites and channels. Additionally, there is the potential for poor content matching due to the absence of a marketer placing ads on behalf of the brand. Additionally, programmatic advertising carries the risk of paying for empty views due to pay per thousand impressions.

06 | E-MAIL MARKETING

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves sending promotional messages or newsletters to lists of subscribers. The main goal is to build customer relationships, promote products or services, increase brand awareness, and ultimately increase sales. Email marketing is a channel that not only reaches your target audience directly with personalized and relevant content, but is also cost-effective, easy to track, and provides valuable data to analyze campaign success.

The popularity of email marketing stems from the fact that it is a flexible and cost-effective communication tool. It also offers the ability to target specific audiences with personalized messages and build potential customer relationships. Email marketing can be used in a variety of forms, such as announcing new content in a single email, customer communication with regular newsletters, or product updates. Email may not be as glamorous as other marketing channels, but it’s a reliable way to build an effective audience.

The benefits of email marketing are quite diverse. There are more than 4.3 billion email users worldwide, indicating that email is an effective way to reach customers. Most marketers state that email marketing is the most effective marketing channel. Investments in this channel are expected to continue to increase. The flexibility and high return on investment of email marketing are important advantages for marketers.

There are several important steps to consider when creating an email marketing strategy:
  • First, you should know the target audience and plan an e-mail campaign that suits their needs.
  • Next, campaign goals should be determined and realistic goals should be set, taking into account average email statistics for the industry.
  • Building an email list is also an important step, and various methods should be used to ensure potential customers choose to receive emails.
  • When choosing the e-mail campaign type, the needs of the target audience should be focused on and different lists should be created for different types.
  • Finally, trust must be established by consistently implementing a specified program and its results must be measured continuously.

Compliance with email regulations is important by regulating consumers’ wishes regarding the protection and use of their information. CAN-SPAM compliance ensures that commercial e-mails are sent by the wishes of subscribers, and in this context, e-mails must include company information and unsubscribe links.

Another important issue that email senders should pay attention to is avoiding spam filters. Falling into spam filters can negatively impact deliverability rates and cause customers to miss emails. Creating a whitelist, including instructions in welcome emails, not using spam trigger words, and choosing a reliable email service provider can help avoid spam filters. Finally, it is important to adopt a consistent analytical strategy to measure the success of email marketing efforts. Businesses can evaluate and improve campaign effectiveness through email marketing analytics.

07 | SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

Customer segmentation is the grouping of customers based on common characteristics, which enables personalizing marketing, service, and sales efforts to specific groups. This process can lead to increased customer loyalty and a potential increase in conversions. By identifying customer segments, businesses can tailor their products and services to the specific needs of each segment.

Customer segmentation provides businesses with a competitive advantage by identifying groups with similar characteristics and needs. In this way, it is possible to offer a personalized customer experience. For example, sending customized messages to specific customer segments can increase businesses’ competitive advantage and contribute to closing deals.

Better targeting of paid campaigns is also an important benefit of customer segmentation. Campaigns such as PPC, LinkedIn, or Facebook ads can be optimized based on customer segments. This makes it possible to create a more effective marketing strategy, providing a better return on advertising spend. The development of e-mail campaigns can also be made more relevant and effective thanks to customer segmentation, and customer relationships can be strengthened by offering special content to various customer groups.

Segmenting customers in performance marketing is generally done as follows:
Demographic Segmentation:
  • It is a method of grouping customers according to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, education, and marital status.
  • For example, in the e-commerce or fashion sectors, customer segments can be divided by gender, and special product recommendations and messages can be sent.
  • Criteria: Gender, Age, Occupation, Household Income, Marital Status
Geographic Segmentation:
  • It means grouping customers based on their geographic location, such as country, state, city, or town.
  • Useful if the business ships goods to different regions or caters to customers in different geographic areas.
  • Geographic segmentation provides the opportunity to offer specific and regional content to customers.
  • Criteria: Location, Preferred Language, Transportation, Work Area
Technographic Segmentation:
  • It is a method of grouping customers based on technology usage.
  • Focuses on factors such as mobile usage, desktop usage, applications, and software.
  • Criteria: Device Type, Browser Type, Source
Needs Based Segmentation:
  • It is the strategy of focusing on customer needs and separating the essential parts of the product or service according to certain customer groups.
  • For example, since a founder who needs software and a copywriter have different needs, segmentation can be made according to their needs.
  • Criteria: Product Attributes, Service Needs, Delivery Method
Value-Based Segmentation:
  • It includes the economic value of certain customer groups to the business.
  • Useful for businesses selling high and low-priced products or services.
  • Criteria: Customer Satisfaction Score, Number of Purchases, Average Purchase Value
Psychographic Segmentation:
  • It is a method of grouping customers based on psychographic factors such as personality, attitude, values, and interests.
  • Businesses that offer multiple services can use this model to segment their target audiences according to certain psychographic characteristics.
  • Criteria: Values, Interests, Personality
Behavioral Segmentation:
  • It is a strategy to group customers based on actions associated with your brand, focusing on customer behavior.
  • Segmentation is made based on factors such as trends, frequent actions, product or feature usage, and habits.
  • Criteria: Lifecycle stage, Website activity, End Customer Interaction

Although implementing market segmentation requires effort and resources, successful market segmentation campaigns can increase a company’s long-term profitability and health. Market segmentation allows management to focus on specific demographics or customers. Rather than trying to target the entire market, market segmentation enables a narrow, concise approach and is often less costly than a broad approach. Market segmentation forces management to consider how it wants to be perceived by a particular group of people. Once the market segment is determined, management must consider what message they want to create. A company’s branding and messaging tend to be more purposeful as this message is directed at the target audience. This may also indirectly contribute to customers having better experiences with the company.

Market segmentation offers consumers the opportunity to build long-term relationships with a company. More direct, personal marketing approaches can build better relationships with customers and create a sense of inclusion, community, and belonging. Additionally, market segmentation increases the likelihood of reaching the right customer compatible with their product range and demographics. Market segmentation allows a company to determine the exact message it wants to convey in the market and against competitors. This can also help create product differentiation by communicating how a company is different from its competitors. Unlike a broad marketing approach, management creates a more specific and memorable image. Market segmentation allows a company to implement more targeted advertising strategies. This includes marketing plans that focus on specific ages, locations, or habits, especially through social media.

The tabulation of advertisements placed through Google Ads and Meta is as follows:

Audiences used in Google Ads’ Display Network, Search Network, Video, Hotel, and Standard Shopping campaigns are comprised of segments or groups of people defined by Google as having specific interests, purposes, and demographic information. During the audience-adding process, you can choose from a variety of segments, such as sports and travel fans, car shoppers, or people visiting a specific website or app. Google Ads aims to reach targeted audiences by showing ads to people who are likely to be in the selected categories. Audiences are determined based on users’ activities using Google products and third-party websites. Activity and content on third-party websites are used specifically for audience segments on those sites, while activity and content on Google products are used to predict audience segments within those products.

Google Ads segmentation types are as follows:
  • Affinity Segments
  • Custom Segments
  • Detailed Demographics
  • Life Events
  • In-Market
  • Your Data Segments (Remarketing)

When creating a target audience in meta ads, narrow or broad approaches are generally adopted. Neither type of targeting is superior to the other, and it’s often nearly impossible not to include elements of both approaches in a given ad set.

Narrow targeting essentially gives you a very limited set of parameters to find the most suitable people to show the ad to. These parameters may look like demographic targeting, Custom Audiences, or similar audiences. This may provide a smaller potential audience, but one that may be more interested in what is being presented than a larger, broader audience. Broad targeting allows finding hard-to-find potential customers. Broad targeting should be done and then people and their reactions to ads should be examined by checking Audience Insights or Meta Advertising Reports.

Google Ads segmentation types are as follows:
  • Locations
  • Age
  • Gender
  • languages
  • Detailed Targeting (Clicks, Interactions (interests, Devices, Gestures))
  • Custom Audiences

Lookalike audience is a method of delivering your ad to potential customers who have similar characteristics to your existing customers. This method works by using an existing Custom Audience to find new people who share characteristics such as demographics, interests, and behaviors. The advertisement is directed to a target audience that has similar characteristics and is similar to the source target audience. Generally, a source audience of 1,000-5,000 people is recommended, but the quality of the audience is also important; for example, using a target audience of top customers can help achieve better results.

Segmentation in advertising is important because it allows businesses to focus on the specific needs of a particular consumer group. This allows businesses to develop targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to align with the segmented group. The main goal of businesses is to create a good number of leads (customer potential). If you want to attract more customers, it is important to make sure PPC campaigns are effective.

08 | BUDGET & ROI MANAGEMENT

ROI (Return on Investment) aims to ensure that the revenue generated for each dollar spent on a marketing campaign exceeds that amount of money. However, a “good return on investment” may vary depending on the overall marketing strategy, distribution channels used, and industry. Considering different marketing tactics, it is difficult to determine an overall ROI metric. With PPC campaigns that automatically track ROI data, it’s easy to compare the ad’s performance with similar ads. Platforms like Google Ads can report many ROI comparisons based on long-term data. However, with other strategies, such as content marketing, it can be difficult to determine ROI, especially when the content does not directly lead to a purchase. While technologies such as tracking URLs can help measure success, return on investment must be evaluated from a long-term perspective, including non-financial gains.

The ROI formula is as follows:
[((number of potential customers x customer reach rate x average sales price) – cost or advertising expenditure) ÷ cost or advertising expenditure] x 100

To use the marketing ROI formula, it is necessary to define factors such as the number of potential customers, lead rate, average sales price, and cost or advertising spend. When calculating the lead ratio, it is important to determine what percentage of potential customers are actual customers. For example, if 12 out of 100 leads become customers, the lead rate will be 12% or 0.12.

The budget to be prepared for digital marketing activities includes the following:
Social Media Marketing
  • Production of content types such as images, video, text
  • Budget for advertising space on each selected social media platform
  • Research on the social media habits and preferences of the target audience
  • Creating and updating the company profile
Content Marketing
  • Production of various content such as images, videos, and blog posts.
  • Freelancer or in-house personnel costs for content production.
  • Payment for publishing content on external websites
Email Marketing
  • Design and development of email templates
  • Creating, updating, and managing the e-mail list
  • Budget for software and tools for email marketing
Search Engine Optimization
  • Editing and optimizing content
  • Identifying keywords and using them strategically
  • Increasing the authority of the website through external links
  • Editing technical SEO elements
  • Tools used to monitor SEO performance
Performance Marketing
  • Budget allocated for SEM campaign
  • Determining suitable keywords for the SEM campaign
  • Increasing the authority of the website through external links
  • Tools used to monitor SEM performance
  • Budget allocated for PPC ads
  • Determining suitable keywords for the PPC campaign.
  • Analyzing the target audience and competition
  • Creation of images, videos, and texts for PPC ads

When determining the success of the marketing strategy, it is important to consider not only the exact revenue but also non-financial elements that include social media followers, unexpected traffic on the website, and customer trust. Although these elements do not provide immediate financial returns, they can increase purchases or indirectly strengthen customer relationships in the future.

When creating a digital marketing budget, it is important to understand the customer conversion process by outlining the sales funnel. Additionally, determining operational costs is an essential step in planning the rest of the budget. Reviewing past results is important to evaluate previous quarters or years’ performance and determine future strategies. It is critical to determine this year’s goals by listing the goals and allocating the budget according to these goals. This guides budget allocation and helps identify areas that need focus.

Examining competitors can be a guide in determining effective channels in the industry. This is important to gain a competitive advantage and develop effective strategies. After creating the marketing plan, the budget can be finalized by estimating the cost of each activity. This helps to consider the possible return and use the budget effectively. Making every decision based on data requires relying on clear data to support the budget plan. Measuring the results allows for directing future strategies by closely monitoring the expenditures and results achieved after the budget is approved.

09 | CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

CRM represents customer relationship management, and a company’s CRM system covers all interactions with potential and existing customers. This includes the process from the website visit until the sales proposal is fully reviewed. CRM makes it easier to deliver a positive purchasing experience by providing detailed information about potential customers. By combining key company details with pop-up blog posts, emails, and other interactions, messages can be personalized, delivering more value from the start.

CRM makes business processes more efficient by automating call and activity recording, reporting, and opportunity creation. Agents spend less time on administrative tasks, allowing them to focus more on customers, which contributes to increased revenue. Sales managers can see salespeople’s interactions in real-time, enabling greater collaboration within the team. Account managers can quickly evaluate opportunities and support each other by facilitating information sharing among the sales team. CRM provides more information about salespeople by tracking team and individual performance in detail. Analyzing agent performance with data such as conversion rates, deal sizes and velocities by deal stage provides a valuable database for optimizing business processes.

Broadly speaking, CRMs can be divided into four main types:

Operational CRM focuses on managing daily business processes and often includes operational activities such as sales, marketing, and customer service. Tracks customer interactions and transactions, manage customer service requests, and provides lead information to sales teams.

Collaborative CRM aims to increase communication and collaboration between different departments. This type of CRM facilitates information sharing among team members, improves project management, and helps manage customer interactions more efficiently.

Analytical CRM aims to make strategic decisions by analyzing customer data. This type of CRM tracks customer behavior, preferences, and trends. Analytical CRM allows businesses to better understand customer relationships and develop customer-focused strategies.

Marketing CRM focuses on managing marketing activities. This type of CRM tracks marketing campaigns, enables customer segmentation and provides lead data to marketing teams. Marketing CRM aims to create customer-customized campaigns and optimize marketing strategies.

Each type of CRM offers different advantages depending on the needs and goals of businesses. Businesses often combine these types of CRMs to create a comprehensive customer relationship management strategy.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a valuable tool for managing customer interactions, lead processes, and digital data. However, it is important to know the limitations of these software and understand what they cannot do. CRM software can manage the customer journey on your website and collect data, but it cannot create or publish a website. CRM typically optimizes external-facing functions such as sales and customer service but does not manage internal business operations. CRM is effective for managing contacts, lead processes, and customer journeys, but it lacks the features needed for comprehensive project management. CRM can be successful at collecting data from digital channels (social media, ads, email), but may have limitations when collecting data from non-digital sources. To maximize CRM benefits, it is important to ensure staff training and consistent use.

Concepts to know about CRM are as follows:

Contact: In CRM, contacts contain customers’ names and personal information.

Potential Customer (Lead): These are prospective customers who have the potential to do business in the future but are not yet fully mature.

Opportunity: These are prospective customers who are truly interested and willing to purchase the product or service.

Quote: It includes the price given to potential customers who are almost ready to make a deal and the products or services they will receive.

Deal: Tracks situations in which the product or service is sold successfully or the opportunity is wasted. They are divided into won and lost deals.

Profile: Represents the users within the company using the CRM software. It is usually associated with roles that have certain permissions.

Campaign: Represents marketing efforts. Each campaign includes its audience, results, and ratings.

Tag: Used to add additional information to items such as a person, agreement, or company. Provides additional data for filtering and sorting.

Activity: Represents any event in the CRM, such as new deals, contacts, opportunities, or messages from colleagues.

When choosing the best CRM solution for business, it is necessary to consider five important criteria:
  • CRM should be easy to use and quick to learn. It should be a platform with a clean interface and free of unnecessary features.
  • The ideal CRM should be a solution that fits business needs and can solve specific use cases.
  • Change is inevitable in the business world. There should be a CRM system suitable for both growth and contraction.
  • It should include a suitable solution to avoid paying for features that are not needed.
  • Modern CRM features are based on AI technology. Therefore, one should choose a CRM provider that invests in AI.

A complex and difficult-to-customize tool gets in the way of nurturing customer interactions and increasing productivity, getting in the way of improving customer relationships and negatively impacting productivity. When choosing CRM software, it’s also critical to consider how it aligns with sales, marketing, and customer service departments. When marketing automation is paired with other performance marketing tools, customer data can show you what type of interaction with customers would be more effective, leading to an increase in sales.

Posted in DIGITAL MARKETING