Media Monday

3 Critical Gaps that are Sabotaging Your Marketing Plan

By: Lexi Gray, Media Buyer

As Q4 rapidly comes to an end (per usual), it's time to gear up for Q1 and the rest of the new year, but more importantly it's time to reflect on the past year all together. Take a moment to identify the 3 main components that come to mind when developing future media plans. If none of the below instantly came to mind for you, you could be missing out on crafting the most ideal plan.

An article from Marketing Dive recognized 3 critical gaps people may not realize when developing marketing plans.

1. Missing the big picture
2. Misaligning budgets with strategic goals
3. Failing to use performance data to inform future plans

These components of planning may seem like a given when crafting your plans for the future, but we all know how quickly time goes by and deadlines approach. Take the time to focus on what matters the most. Happy planning!

Social CPMs On Track to Increase in Q1 2025, Especially on TikTok

By: Laura Montgomery, Director - Media

New year, new… cost increases? According to EMARKETER’s projections, the cost of advertising is going to increase year-over-year across all social media platforms. TikTok’s CPMs within the United States are going to be particularly hard hit, rising 15.6% in Q1 2025, a sign of growing competition on the platform. We’re not surprised at this, in light of the release of significant enhancements including search ads, automated performance tools, and “out of phone” placements.??

Nevertheless, TikTok remains comparatively inexpensive, with average CPMs estimated to be $7.03 in Q1, versus more than $12 on Meta.

Google AI Overviews Ads seen on Mobile Search

By: Leonard Greene, Paid Search Manager

With Q4 coming to an end and Q1’25 on the horizon, Google search is poised to make a huge splash to start the new year. Google AI overview ads, since being launched in Oct 2024, have finally been seen in the wild.?

Search Engine Land explains how this is a significant step in Google’s ad expansion strategy:

1. Increases in overall visibility or impressions in campaigns
2. Higher engagement rates due to AI overviews being above the fold (top of page)
3. The opportunity to see the impact between AI overview click through rates versus non AI overview click-through rates. (other metrics like cpc, conversion rate etc)

As a search marketer, I’m super excited and skeptical at the same time. Even though AI overviews occupy the most valuable space in Google’s search results, ads appear under the AI-generated answer. Time will tell as Google rolls out ways to optimize for AI overviews.??