The COVID-19 is an unprecedented event that is making every business review their spending and adjust where necessary. However, the smartest companies will try to play offense instead of only cutting their costs. According to a report from McKinsey, the companies that recovered the fastest in the middle of a recession were not the ones that cut spending but the ones that refocused it. Nevertheless, many companies are removing digital spend from their plans. This decision is opening opportunities for those businesses that decide to stay in the game and take advantage of the decrease in competition.

The current digital advertising landscape

If you are a business owner or a marketing director that wants to understand this opportunity better but is not sure about the results of their current digital marketing efforts, this article is for you.

Don’t stop all your campaigns because of lousy performance without reviewing the potential causes first. Using the tips from this article, you might find that your advertising accounts are not getting a fair chance because of mistakes in mismanagement by your agency or even your in-house marketing team. The interfaces of the different ad platforms can be very obscure to understand for non-technical users. However, there are a couple of easy-to-notice signs that can help you know if your account is being mismanaged. These are the 3 most common ones that you can identify in just a couple of minutes.

Sign 1: there have been no changes or just minimal changes in your ad accounts in the last couple of weeks.

This is the easiest trick in this article. You will be surprised by the number of agencies that just don’t work actively in their client’s accounts. Sometimes they don't touch their clients accounts for months.

Just stating facts, even if they are sad.

If you enter the history of your account and you see only a few, non-critical changes in the last couple of weeks, then something is off. Especially in the middle of this crisis where everyone is switching their marketing approach.

How to access Facebook’s ad manager history.

How to access Google Ad’s history.

Sign 2: the reports you receive don’t include conversion data.

Any self-respecting marketer should be able to track the number of conversions that his or her campaigns generate, not only impressions or clicks. If you don’t receive conversion data in your reports, you are focusing on vanity metrics that don’t improve your bottom line.

Sign 3: your campaigns don’t optimize for conversions.

Equally crucial with tracking conversions: leveraging the Machine Learning capabilities of the different ad platforms to optimize your campaign using that conversion data. If you are not using Target CPA in Google ads or the Conversion objective on Facebook, your media spend is being neglected.

Target CPA bidding in Google ads.

Conversion objective in Facebook ads.

I identified one or more of these signs. What do I do now?

If you found one or more of these signs, you should consult your agency or in-house teams about them. They might be able to give you a reasonable explanation. However, if you are suspicious of a lack of expertise, indifference, or negligence, it might be time to get a second opinion. Here at Meteor Affinity, we offer a free consultation process where we review your data and prepare a proposal full of recommendations and tips. If you then decide to proceed and implement it with us, great. If not, that’s great too! No strings attached. Contact us today and start taking advantage of the current digital landscape.