[Understanding Marketers] There’s a professional perspective on advertising (Part 2): Looking at reports is only half the battle; where do professional advertising professionals get their precise insights?
In the last “Linker AI Intelligent Advertising” session, expert Tony shared with us what professional advertising placement is and introduced what data-driven advertising is. But beyond using data tools, how do we use them well and accurately? Human experience is key! Let’s continue to see how Tony serves clients and perfectly combines artificial intelligence and human intelligence.
5. Using data and your professional know-how, how do you help clients review their existing advertising strategies and plan new ones when working with them?
I will analyze the client’s past advertisements from two aspects: ” ad content ” and ” ad placement ” to further plan the next steps for cooperation.
“Ad content” is relatively easy to understand; although we are not advertising designers, we analyze hundreds of ads designed by our clients every day to see which one is eye-catching and which one has a high conversion rate. Therefore, we can offer suggestions on the ads provided by our clients, such as “what kind of images and text, and how to express our views, might be more persuasive for these consumers.” If our clients want to actually experiment with it, that’s of course no problem either.
In addition, regarding our expertise in data, as mentioned earlier, the AI robot generates new customer groups every week. We will specifically advise clients on how to customize and adjust advertising content for these newly discovered customer groups to ensure that every ad campaign is something that consumers will accept.
In the “Ad Placement” section, we analyze the client company’s past advertising performance, comparing it with successful case studies of similar companies: impressions, clicks, conversion rates, and bounce rates. This establishes a target benchmark, allowing us to understand how much improvement has been achieved in the next evaluation . Furthermore, based on the client’s product and consumer habits, we analyze the expected benefits of placing ads on different channels , helping the client consider how to allocate their resources and how to optimize for the future.
In addition, data AI can also help us anticipate potential risks . For example, if we can see that a product’s honeymoon period in the market is only two weeks on average, then based on the speed at which the hype fades, we do not recommend that the product’s advertising incubation period be too long. Instead, we must change it to short-term, high-exposure advertising.
6. When companies invest in advertising, they typically aim for “high conversion rates.” In your experience, what blind spots have you encountered that, from a professional advertising perspective, are “things that shouldn’t be done” or “there should actually be a better XXX strategy”?
There are three points that I think are common blind spots, which I will explain in three parts.。
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Exposure-based and conversion-based advertising are both indispensable for a company or brand.
First, the two main types of advertising are “exposure advertising” and “conversion advertising.” Conversion advertising, whether it’s joining a membership, making a purchase, or subscribing, all require “consumers to do something.” But it’s normal for people to be reluctant to do something, so under the same controlled variables, the cost of achieving results with conversion advertising is much higher than with exposure advertising , but it definitely has more potential to retain consumers.
Many small businesses, especially those that rely on selling large quantities of disposable goods, want to maximize sales conversion and immediate profits; that is, to invest their entire advertising budget in “conversion advertising.” But this strategy is actually the least intelligent. If a company doesn’t have high brand recognition or is just entering the market and isn’t yet an icon in that industry—like Dolby for audio equipment or ASUS for computers—then no matter how much conversion advertising it does, the results won’t be good. Consumers simply don’t trust you, so how can they feel comfortable buying your products ?
When a company invests in advertising, it should spend at least 3-6 months initially building brand exposure , accumulating awareness, cultivating reach, and building trust before moving on to lead generation advertising. Even if the initial efforts don’t generate immediate profits, they are laying the foundation for the brand; with brand awareness, the company will have the ability to cultivate members, sell products, and generate conversions in the future.
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Secondly, a brand’s marketing strategy must be comprehensive and interconnected.
We’ve encountered cases where marketing costs are entirely invested in advertising, while the company neglects its own website, social media, and e-commerce platforms.
What’s the result? Attractive ads are seen, consumers think, “Oh? This looks interesting,” then click on other platforms: “Empty, nothing there.”… Okay, fine. They jump out and forget about it.
This is a typical example: high exposure and click-through rate + high bounce rate = no conversion rate and wasted advertising.
Advertising serves as a lead-in medium , ultimately guiding consumers back to our official website and social media communities to become our customers. Therefore, the destination a brand wants to lead its customers to must be comprehensive and unforgettable. Our most successful clients in the past achieved their best advertising performance by diligently managing all platforms, actively engaging with consumers, and effectively managing their membership programs. Integrated marketing channels are a crucial part of building a brand’s long-term market position. If the maturity of basic exposure channels such as the official website, social media, and advertising varies, consumers will not perceive the brand as trustworthy and likely to continue following it , nor will they continue to pay attention to its products. Furthermore, while advertising plays a “driving” role among various marketing strategies, to achieve good results, it should be combined with other marketing and membership management strategies , such as social media interaction, new product launches, and cross-industry collaborations.
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The last point, and also the most common misconception, is that it’s normal to increase investment after cultivating a high conversion rate.
This is the difference in perception between professional advertising marketers and outsiders.
Consider this: an ad shows a conversion rate of 300 to 5000, resulting in a profit of 3000 after deducting product costs. If I invest 600 or 1000, reaching even more people, wouldn’t the conversion rate double, resulting in a profit of 6000 or 10000 after deducting costs? An ad’s budget determines the target consumer group. If ad A performs well with the initial target group, it’s highly persuasive, and as long as the next target group isn’t too misaligned, it’s worth continuing to leverage its strengths to generate more conversions. However, if two similar ads have different conversion rates—one high, one low— a professional advertiser won’t “increase the budget to salvage the low-performing one,” but rather “abandon the low-performing one! Increase the budget on the high-performing one and chase the higher conversion rate for greater profits . “
We often receive questions from our clients: “Why should I increase my advertising budget even though the results are already great? Shouldn’t I just take a more relaxed approach to advertising?” My answer is: “If something has the potential to make your money grow, then investing more in it will surely help you earn even more money, won’t it?”
7. Can you share your successful advertising experience with us?
We recently collaborated with a 3C electronics company. The client is known for their meticulous approach to advertising design and social media engagement; our role was to test the ads across various platforms and Facebook pages. Initially, as per the client’s wishes, we focused on North America and Europe, testing in over 10 target countries: besides common destinations like the UK, US, and France, we also included countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Poland, and Israel. Subsequent results showed a 62% increase in Facebook page followers within a week. A closer look at click-through rates and impressions revealed that the overall effectiveness in Europe was five times that in North America.
Therefore, in the next wave of advertising, we specifically targeted channels in European countries for heavy exposure. Through AI-driven viral marketing and data analysis, we identified new relevant keywords such as in-vehicle information systems, artificial intelligence platforms, trucks, and cruise ships. Ultimately, we achieved the following impressive results on our fan page and LinkedIn:
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On our global fan pages, our ad campaigns resulted in a reach increase of over 10,000% and a click-through rate increase of over 5,000%.
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On LinkedIn pages primarily targeting B2B consumers, our ad campaigns resulted in a reach increase of over 3000% and a click-through rate increase of over 1600%.
In conclusion, the success of our collaboration with this client can be attributed not only to their accurate advertising and proactive viral marketing experiments, but also, as mentioned before, to the importance of ensuring that corporate brands effectively manage their official websites and other various exposure channels, making them user-friendly and regularly updating them.
A brand’s marketing success does not depend solely on advertising to generate revenue; rather, it depends on the synergistic effect of all marketing plans working together to achieve a synergy greater than the sum of its parts.
Special thanks to: Tony Wu, Advertising Manager at Linker.
Specializes in integrated marketing solutions (including advertising, SEO, KOLs, and social media) for all types of brands, helping them identify their real marketing pain points and plan to achieve each stage’s goals with different budget levels. Has served industries including Japanese home appliance brands, Japanese kitchenware brands, beauty groups, leading Taiwanese convenience store chains, and various cross-border B2B companies, currently a Senior Account Manager at Linker.
Digit Spark, part of the Zhenhao Internet Media Group, integrates its six sub-brands offering data application services to provide enterprises with comprehensive and precise optimization services across five key areas: “Industry Customer Targeting,” “Performance Optimization Strategies,” “Digital Tool Integration,” “Online Voice Cultivation,” and “Brand Value Promotion.” It drives brand success through data technology.
