Timing is everything and the truth can set you free, but sometimes it hurts. If you are shooting for short-term gains, then you are most likely going to have trouble coming to terms with your return on ad spend (RoAS) calculations. We waited three years to write this post, and for good reason. You can't accurately evaluate a business campaign strategy without sufficient time to include the length of multiple sales cycles.
You want results quickly, but what if the timing of your pilot program is off the mark? Our firm consistently recommends that our clients spread their programmatic campaign budget over a longer period of time. Here's why. Consider a $15K ABM investment for a small SaaS provider (under $50M) and their resulting RoAS shown below:
| Advertiser A | Advertiser B |
New Campaign Budget | $15,000 | $15,000 |
Data and Media Allocation | $12,500 | $12,500 |
Flight Dates | March 1 - April 30 | March 1 - December 31 |
Unique Creative Assets (41) | 30 Banner, 9 Native, 2 Video | 30 Banner, 9 Native, 2 Video |
Audiences (3) | 1 CRM, 1 ABM, 1 RT | 1 CRM, 1 ABM, 1 RT |
Frequency Cap | 10 views per user per day | 5 views per user per day |
Impression Volume | 960,000 | 960,000 |
Average CTR | 0.23% | 0.28% |
Total Clicks (DSP) | 2,208 | 2,688 |
Related Sessions (GA) | 2,195 | 2,771 |
Average Session Length (GA) | 2 seconds | 3 seconds |
Secondary Conversions | 18 | 23 |
Conversions | 1 | 4 |
Closed Deals | 0 | 2 |
Incremental Gross Profit | 0 | $83,450 |
Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) | ($15,000) | $68,450 |
The above example is based on the same number of unique creative assets, the same audience composition, the same total impression volume, the same tracking mechanisms (UTM parameters) for measurement and Google Analytics, and the same budget. So why the huge difference?
Set aside the math and think like a human being and the answer reveals itself. If you have a small target audience and a small percentage of them are actually likely to be interested in and have budget for your solution, then you need to make sure you reach them at THE RIGHT TIME. With a limited budget, there are a few things you must consider.
First, if you are looking to measure a B2B campaign's performance then you must give it time. Furthermore, if 80 percent of your prospective buyers won't be in-market during your flight date priod, then you've wasted media budget on a short-sighted test.
Second, if you want success long-term, then build your plan to have sufficient runway to account for the complexities of a B2B sales funnel.
Finally, if you are working with a digital advertising agency, then why not shift to a performance-based program and ditch the hourly fees. This will enable you to spread the creative and strategy costs over time. There's a ton of talent out there, so ask for what you want and request full transparency.