choozlechat: Campaign strategy with Julie Stone

Megan Sullivan-Jenks, Director of Markting at Choozle: So, Julie, I’d like to start with all the most important questions: do you have a dog? If not, do you wish you did? And, who’s your favorite client? …Just kidding.

Julie Stone, Media Strategist at Choozle: My favorite clients are the ones who send pictures of their pups! I don’t have a dog yet so I love coming to work at Choozle and being greeted at the door by our office dog. A while ago I told our CEO that I would work here as long as Willow does, and I wasn’t kidding!

But seriously, I work with a lot of fantastic clients who are very smart and very easy to work with. I love when clients have a clear goal for their clients or for specific campaigns because it helps me help them!

MSJ: What does it mean, to you, to be a thought leader in the technology space?

JS: A thought leader? That sounds fancy! Thank you. It’s not a term that I’d to describe myself, but I’ll take it as a compliment.

I’ve worked in digital advertising in one form or another since 2011 and have learned a lot along the way. Aside from Choozle Academy, there aren’t many schools that teach programmatic advertising so most of it is learned on the job. I’m glad that I can bring knowledge from my time as a digital media buyer and advertising operations manager.

MSJ: Let’s get into some strategy talk. If you had to explain it to someone who’s completely clueless about what it means, what would you say?

JS: If someone is starting from scratch on their strategy, I would ask a few questions. What is the main goal of the campaign – awareness or conversions? If it’s an awareness campaign, the goal would be a high click-through rate (CTR) which can be improved by including mobile and tablet inventory. For conversion campaigns, I would focus on data targeting and retargeting tactics and while excluding app inventory, where conversions aren’t easily tracked.

Either way, it’s all about gradually honing in on your target audience.

MSJ: What are some of the most popular and/or effective targeting strategies being used right now by your clients?

JS: I’ve employed data targeting for most of my clients with a fair amount of success. Data targeting can sometimes get a bad rap that it isn’t effective, but I’ve found that the opposite is true. Instead of building an audience with five segments, I like to comb Choozle’s rather extensive data catalog for all possible matches to my search terms. Then after a week or so, I’ll examine detailed reporting to see which specific data segments are performing the best and I’ll rebuild the audience with only those segments. This process can be time-consuming but worth it.

Regardless, I always recommend a creating a campaign with a mix of targeting tactics because you can always shift budgets between tactics as you go along!

MSJ: What are some of the biggest hold-ups you see when your clients are launching their campaigns, and how can they expedite the process?

JS: Sometimes there can be a delay if an agency partner is stretched past their capacity. In that case, Choozle may be able to fully manage the campaigns for you. (I had to put in a shameless plug for my own team, can you blame me?)

MSJ: If you could give everyone a little advice on what to do BEFORE launching a digital advertising campaign, Choozle user or not, what advice would you give?

JS: Make sure your creative has a clear call to action button, something like ‘learn more,’ ‘book now,’ ‘get the report,’ or ‘buy now.’ Good creatives go a long way in ensuring that your campaign will be effective!