Brand and performance marketing teams traditionally work separately and focus on either the upper or lower funnel in the customer journey. This means that the middle is often totally overlooked.

This point is extremely important because this is where consumers explore and evaluate their purchase options. Even with companies like Google, this part has been overlooked. But not at Zankyou, we concentrate specifically here and are the golden mean to inspire the newlyweds and to help them make a purchase decision. Simply put: making the right decision and comparing a large number of providers at different levels.

Mid-Funnel Analysis - Google

What companies like Google found out after digging deeper into this topic is that they need to double up their mid-funnel marketing strategy to get more customer demand. The result? Up to 16 times more sales could be assigned to these channels than expected. An additional increase in telephone sales was also recorded.

Multi-touch attribution as a weapon in mid-funnel marketing

At Zankyou, we ourselves use a variety of digital marketing channels to reach our users, but we don't always pay attention to the mid-funnel channels - like display and video - these have often been neglected in favor of channels that we normally find more cost-effective.

The key to changing our approach was knowing what touchpoints with consumers actually lead to sales. Last click attribution, currently used in many marketing campaigns, tends to undervalue marketing channels in the middle of the funnel. However, advertising channels don't work in silos. We knew it was important to improve our attribution in order to better allocate our budget.

Google went one step further and put the whole theory into practice once. You have started examining 14 digital advertising campaigns in 14 markets.

1. The analytics team built a custom attribution model with Ads Data Hub and then used prospecting tactics to reach audiences who were in the smartphone market on channels like Display & Video 360 (Google Display Ads and YouTube). The analysis showed that these tactics play a much larger role than was initially considered.

The multi-touch attribution analysis showed that these channels actually resulted in 16 times more sales compared to the last-click attribution model.

2. Additionally, over the course of the campaigns in late 2020, there was an increase in sales compared to what Google would have seen without the use of these mid-funnel tactics. There was a 12.5% ​​increase in phone sales for people who viewed the mid-funnel display ads.

3. There was also a 31.5% increase in phone sales for users who viewed the mid-funnel YouTube ads.

Sure, this is a prime example and not all companies will have the same success with it, but it opens your eyes to adjust your marketing strategy and consider other factors that might be irrelevant.

Today's consumers want to buy new things all year round; the deliberations are constantly in progress. The same thing happens at weddings - consumers need more help than ever in properly exploring and evaluating their options in the complex "chaotic middle" of the buying process. In addition, the expenses in the wedding market for bridal couples are a lot higher than buying a new cell phone, for example.

Most marketing strategies focus on recurring direct response advertising and selective campaigns that focus on the last phase of the buying process (last click conversion). The inclusion of the mid-funnel makes it possible to be present where it matters: to remind users of the brand and to show them the most important product advantages. Of course, this needs the right adjustments and a mid-funnel strategy must be adjusted accordingly in messaging.

This is exactly where we come in, campaigns at Zankyou focus on value-oriented messages for customers who look around the Internet, and this is exactly where we create offers that represent the urgency for customers who are ready to buy.

So what do we learn from this analysis as a service provider? You have to look at your marketing campaigns more holistically instead of looking at brand and performance separately.

How to bring brand and performance together in the mid-funnel:

Consumers are faced with a huge amount of choice and information as they navigate the complex "messy center" of the online buying process - the area where customers are won and lost. By bridging the brand / performance gap in the mid-funnel, you can be present and helpful as customers explore and evaluate their options. You can provide them with the information they need to make a purchase decision.

An "always-on" strategy in the mid-funnel also enables you to react more flexibly to changing consumer behavior during the entire buying process - now and in the future.

The mid-funnel strategy should not be missing in a good marketing mix. You may not have received direct leads, but you made sure to steer the purchase decision in the right direction.