Over 5,000 marketers gathered at POSSIBLE this week. Here’s our breakdown:
Performance marketing is key during uncertainty
One of the biggest underlying themes was the clear need for results-first marketing strategies. Campaigns can’t just look good; they need to convert and drive real business results, like sales, in-store traffic, check growth, and cart size growth.
What We Heard on the Floor:
- In the past, media dollars could disguise bad creative. Today, even the best creative needs to be amplified by strategies and tactics that drive revenue.
- Too many brands are using outdated metrics or the wrong metrics entirely. To keep up, you need to measure what the organization sees as business progress, not vanity metrics.
- The line between brand and performance marketing is blurring. Brand managers need to be able to communicate, execute, and prove the impact of their programs on long-term growth.
- In our current economy, leadership isn’t interested in taking big chances. “Test and learn” experiments need to show results quickly, and marketers need to bet quickly on what works.
Engage your audience across their favorite channels
Today, more channels are accessible programmatically than ever before, so there’s no shortage of ways brands can reach their audiences. But reach alone isn’t enough.
What We Heard on the Floor:
- We are moving deeper into a world of owned, paid, and earned media working together. Your brand and creative must be cohesive across channels to drive potential customers further down the pipeline.
- Don’t just talk at your audience. Build positive associations by engaging with your audience across channels, then iterate in real time based on what works!
- Build custom creative with different platforms in mind. Audiences engage with ads in unique ways depending on the channel. A “one-size-fits-all” approach may not always work.
In uncertain times, bold brands are poised to win
As some brands slow ad spend amid economic uncertainty, smart players are filling the gap and seizing market share. Now is the time to invest where it matters: in channels and strategies that drive real results.
What We Heard on the Floor:
- As big brands quibble about ad spend amid economic uncertainty, smaller brands have an opportunity to punch above their weight by intelligently investing ad spend where it matters.
- Audiences are more often engaging with content based on topic preferences instead of creator preferences. This opens new possibilities for brands to reach new audiences.
- Break down interdepartmental silos. Amazing things happen when brand, performance, and creative teams work together.
Embrace technology creatively
As expected, AI was the talk of the town this year, but there was an emphasis on its use as a workflow and creative enhancer rather than a replacement.
What We Heard on the Floor:
- Curiosity is paving the way. An interested, experimental approach to technology, especially AI, will reveal new ways to best utilize these new tools.
- AI is a powerful amplifier, but human creativity and storytelling set brands apart. Quick AI-generated creative can never replace human insight.
- The power of AI will soon extend to ad campaigns, leading to greater personalization and ad performance across campaigns and channels.
We hope you’ve managed to pick up a few insights of your own. Have more questions about the latest from POSSIBLE? Reach out to us today and we’ll be happy to chat more. Or, if you’re interested in doubling down on performance, sign up for an Ads Manager account today (no minimum spend required!) and start driving your own real business results.
