A CTA IS NOT A CAMPAIGN, & 3 RANDOM THOUGHTS

I see it all the time.

Too often a client hands down a directive from 'above'.

Here's how it usually goes down.

Them: "We have 4 new campaigns that need to be launched this month!"

Us: "Ok.. what are they?"

Them: "1.) CEO wants to promote this webinar we did, 2.) we have a free trial now so we want a campaign around that, and 3.) we wrote a new ebook so we want a campaign around that."

Sound familiar at all?

The problem is - there is often a disconnect between the 'thing' being advertised and the 'targeting' responsible for displaying that thing.

I'll explain that in a second, but first, a quick definition of CTA and Campaign as it pertains to this article:

• CTA: An action a user should take or an item (digital asset, demo, etc.) being advertised
• Campaign: A set of targeting designed to hit a particular audience with relevant offers (i.e. CTAs)

All campaigns have CTAs, but not all CTAs are campaigns

Let's use the examples above to illustrate the point being made. Here are the 3 'campaigns' requested:

1. Promote this webinar we did
2. Promote a free trial
3. Promote a new ebook

In order for any of these to be a campaign by itself, you need to answer YES to the following question:

Is there a unique set of targeting required to reach the audience interested in this asset, separate from our core audience?

If the answer is YES, then it's a campaign.

Example 1: Your core audience are professionals in the manufacturing industry, but the webinar created exists to educate professionals in the finance industry of a newly developed product relevant to them.

In that example, 'finance' is a separate audience from the core 'manufacturing' audience, and requires different targeting to reach the appropriate people.

That new targeting + the webinar are combined into a new campaign.

Now, what happens if the answer is NO?

Example 2: Your core audience of manufacturing professionals have been previously exposed to ads offering a product demo. You now possess a 'free trial' offer to get that manufacturing professional audience using your product without the roadblock often caused by a demo offer.

This, is a CTA (and not a unique campaign). So what do you do?

In this example you'd take your new offer (free trial), and add it as an ad within your core targeting campaigns.

You'd test it against your demo offer using front-end metrics (i.e. cost per lead, conversion rate, etc.) and validate it's quality using back-end metrics (i.e. qualified lead, an opportunity created, etc.)

Forcing a CTA to become a campaign makes you compete against yourself

The only logistical way to get a CTA to be a campaign of it's own, is to essentially duplicate your core targeting in a new campaign and offer this new asset.

The problem?

That pits your one campaign against another, and results in you driving up your own costs.

A big marketing no-no.

During your next planning meeting - think, is this a CTA? Or a campaign?

As always, start with the end goal in mind. Are you trying to compare offer success rates? Or are you trying to reach an entirely new audience?

The answer to those questions should help guide how you take a new CTA and integrate it into your marketing.

OR, you can compete with yourself (which is silly).

Choice is yours.

3 random thoughts

1. I hate that I'm probably going to love Apple's new DSP. It's targeting and attribution for iOS devices will surely be second to none for a bunch of obvious reasons - while I'll know we all got bamboozled into using it - I'm excited to see it's results.
2. This is your reminder to zig when everyone zags. If your landing pages and ads look like your competitors, you're doing it wrong. That meme ad might work, that LP with no form might kill it, be the breath of fresh air needed in marketing.
3. Read between the content. Find your favorite writers, influencers, whoever. Consume their content, but do it through the lens of "why do I like this"? Take those observations, and apply them to your own output. Sometimes it's more about the delivery than the content itself.