I'm working with a legacy brand that is hesitant to move their budget online. This has become the biggest challenge in your career journey so far. What data points are most effective in proving the ROI of social ads compared to traditional media?
3 answers
The best "aha" moment for traditional stakeholders is showing them the granularity of targeting. I usually run a small A/B test with a tiny fraction of their print budget. When they see that we can target someone based on their exact interest, location, and previous purchase history—and then show the exact click-through rate—the conversation changes. Print is a shotgun approach; digital is a sniper rifle. Show them the cost-per-acquisition. Once they realize they are wasting 80% of their print budget on people who aren't even in their target demographic, they’ll pivot.
Do they have a specific fear regarding the "intangibility" of digital ads, or is it more about a lack of understanding of the analytics?
Focus on the lead attribution. In digital, we know exactly where every dollar went, which is impossible to track with a billboard or a newspaper ad.
Exactly, Pamela. Attribution modeling is the strongest argument we have. It turns marketing from a "cost center" into a measurable "revenue driver."
It's a bit of both, Larry. They like seeing their name in a physical magazine. I’ve started creating monthly "Visual Impact" reports that show screenshots of the ads and the comments from real customers. It makes the digital presence feel more "real" to them. Seeing positive customer engagement in real-time is a very powerful tool for persuasion.