Meet the Specialist: Greg Mackenzie

In our latest interview series, we’re sitting down with some of our specialists, for a quick Q&A on business updates and to review new developments in the marketing industry. This time we caught up with one of Incubeta DQ&A’s Search Specialists, Greg Mackenzie, to discuss how various stages of the Digital Maturity Scale can apply to businesses’ approach to paid search.

Throughout the short session, we explore:

1. How paid search strategies can vary throughout the Digital Maturity Scale

Here we identify the differences between a Nascent and Connected search strategy, for both lead gen and e-commerce advertisers. In labelling the 2, it’s possible to see the steps a business can take to mature from one end of the scale to the other.

To expand on that, we consider what the key benefits behind advancing paid search strategy are, and some motivators a business can tap into to ignite change.

2. The opportunities for business across sophisticated use of 1st party data

Now a step into the Multi-Moment, or the top end of the Digital Maturity Scale. We explore the opportunities available when using lifetime value (LTV) and enhance audiences, starting out by defining the difference between the 2 initiatives:

1. LTV defines the conversion value – to support bidding
2. Enhanced audiences defines the audience value – to support targeting

Here we also hint towards the argument of suppressing paid media to capture users signalling a high propensity to convert. Instead, using budget to capture new or lapsed users. The use of enhanced audiences certainly enables various ways for businesses to test & learn to get the most out of their marketing budgets.

Understandably, both initiatives have high barriers to entry, so we suggest some alternative solutions to get advertisers started.

• LTV alternative
  • Integrate product value (i.e. margin) via offline conversion uploads
  • Within SA360 – use Custom Floodlight Variables to segment conversions and customise bidding set up
  • Within SA360 – use Formula Columns to weight conversions / add proxy values to conversions
• Enhanced audiences alternative:
  • Email lists uploaded into engine
  • GA audiences, using on-site behaviour to define value of audiences

3. Incubeta resources available to help advertisers achieve growth and business success

As ad tech consultants, we have specialists across Advertising, Analytics, Cloud Integration and Data Science. These 4 pillars enable us to help partners:

• Identify their usable 1st party data
• Prepare data in line with best practice
• Automate the flow of data between platforms
• Activate data into media buying campaigns – for bidding and / or targeting purposes

You can watch the full interview here.