We write this from home and it’s likely that you’ll be reading this message from yours. Quarantine is unfortunate but necessary and we hope you and your loved ones are safe.
We do want to share that the new “stay-at-home” norm has opened up opportunities for brands, though, especially on mobile. This past week we’ve seen how available inventory has increased by around 30% and, as the use of mobile devices increases, CPMs have decreased.
How to make the best out of this situation?
Make sure to identify the real impact of your App Promotion campaigns
If you have an app in categories such as games, education or fitness you are likely to be experiencing growth in the number of app downloads in countries in confinement. If you are also doing paid advertising, you may also observe better ROIs and lower CPIs, but are those good results? Now more than ever, using incremental metrics is critical to ensure paid channels do not get credit for what is in reality the effect of external forces. Whether it is using strategies or systems that automatically compare the behavior of users exposed to the campaign with a control group - it's key to buy impressions more efficiently and not waste your budgets.
Increase your market share
If you are in one of the lucky app categories where usage is growing, but you are not among the category leaders, now is a perfect moment to make the most out of your $$ to increase your market share: you will reach more inventory at a cheaper price.
Use the fact that people are staying at home, if you can
During this period of self-confinement it does not make sense to drive customers to physical stores that are closed. But if your business can deliver, you have an opportunity to make sure users at home know that, targeting with your campaigns only those areas where your delivery service works.
And you may not want to invest in advertising now if you don't deliver or provide digital services, but you can take advantage of this rare opportunity in which people are at home to build audience segments that will help you grow your business further as soon as this is over, which it will. You can create user segments based on where people live, or you can create audience maps linking household IP addresses to native IDs, so that you can increase the reach and effectiveness of your future campaigns.
Forward your branding efforts
A positive message is always welcome. Any advertiser can use this time to effectively invest in branding campaigns that generate awareness in loyalty. There is no more cost-effective time to do that than when inventory has grown - people spend a lot more time in their phones, tablets and connected TVs - and demand has decreased. Maybe this is the moment you were waiting for to test those video campaigns...
Avoid buying suspicious media
As in any time of crisis, fraudsters always try and take advantage. In addition to using automatic incremental metrics, which is the best antidote against attribution fraud, make sure you use tools that allow you to dismiss inventory that is suspicious of coming from click farms or publishers that simply simulate traffic with bots. Protect yourself from inventory that’s not real with tools at the MMP and DSP level.
This can be a time for advertisers to ensure they come out of this crisis stronger. We are here to support you in any way we can.
Stay safe!
