MARKETING

How to Set Up a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy

Published

1 year ago

May 2, 2023

How to Set Up a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy

When you’re designing or re-evaluating your business’s long-term game plan, it’s important to ensure you’re making all the right decisions. You need to think deeply about your marketing strategy – including your company’s value proposition, your plan to reach your target audience, how you will present your brand, and how you’ll take advantage of big bets for the year ahead. In a nutshell, you need to break down exactly how your business is better than your competitor’s.

If you’re a B2B company, however, there are unique factors of your marketing strategy to consider. For example, you likely have a longer than usual sales cycle – how will you nurture leads? How will you juggle multiple stakeholders per account (or business)? Further, how can your strategy enable sales to close big-ticket opportunities?

In this post, we’ll give you the information you need to answer all those questions and more. But before we discuss all the different frameworks available for your B2B strategy, we need to get into the right mindset by analyzing the current B2B marketing landscape.

Today’s B2B Marketing Landscape

There are five key trends that will impact B2B marketers in the years to come – an abundance of marketing technology, changing demographics, the growth of mobile marketing, the emergence of AI, and tightening data privacy restrictions. Let’s dive in.

MarTech Overload

If you are in B2B, chances are one or more of the following situations has most likely happened to your business or are currently taking place:

During the rapid shift to digital that happen as a result of the COVID pandemic, your B2B company bought more marketing technology than what was truly needed
Your business has overlapping platforms. For example: 3 platforms that do ABM in some capacity or 4 platforms that help with digital marketing management
Your company has MarTech that solves for a unique problem
Your data is not standardized or not connected throughout your MarTech stack, leaving information siloed
No one “owns” certain MarTech and few know how to use the platform in full

With budgets constrained and CMOs asking their teams to do more with less, B2B organizations will need to reevaluate their marketing technology stack in 2023 and beyond. The number of platforms and solutions available to teams seems to increase every day – it’s simply not sustainable for B2B marketers to maintain and appropriately use these tools.

Performance measurement is a problem in the B2B space, but it won’t be directly addressed by obtaining more and more MarTech. It comes from your B2B strategic framework which we will be discussing later on this post.

Audience: Who is the B2B buyer today?

2023 is officially the year where Millennials and Gen Z have become dominant in B2B buying committees according to eMarketer. The American Marketing Association also states that 65% of buyers are between the ages of 18 and 40.

This is an important shift given the older generations (Gen Xers or Boomers) will likely want to engage with a sales representative in some capacity. However, these younger generations are more inclined to do their own research. Instead of trying to get them on the phone as quickly as possible, these buyers will want to explore different types of resources to determine if your business is the right fit for them.

The MX Group surveyed B2B Millennials to understand the challenges they faced when getting purchase recommendations considered or implemented, the answers were:

52% responded that too many people are part of the decision-making process. This number is expected to increase now give the diversity of buying committees
49% said their buying group is indecisive/misaligned. This makes sense as different generations trust different sources and perform research differently (online vs peer reviews vs network)
39% mentioned difficulty getting their budget allocated. This isn’t surprising given the economic hardships in the world economy

While it’s unlikely that your final decision maker will be a Millennial or member of Gen Z, especially when buying large ticket items, they are certainly influencing these decisions behind the scenes and providing alternatives to the buying committee.

Mobile is Growing for B2B

If you’ve been in the B2B space for a while you know that we always hear about the growth happening in mobile – but until recently, it was a small share of traffic. That’s changed as the pandemic and diverse B2B buying committees are impacting the growth of mobile traffic and actions very quickly.

2023 is the year where more than half of B2B digital ad spending will go to mobile, and while non-mobile traffic is expected to continue growing, it won’t be at the expense of mobile traffic.

chart depicting growth in b2b mobile ad spending 2020-2024

Source: eMarketer

Mobile traffic will bring a new element of complexity to B2B marketers. For example, most large purchases/contracts won’t happen on a mobile device, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to engage with them through actions made for mobile devices, such as, “read later” or “send to email” promotions. The connection between marketing and sales will be imperative to guarantee we are passing prospects down the funnel.

Additionally, make sure you have CRM data that allows you to really look at lead quality and engagement over CPL. This will be a helpful directional metric, particularly when large purchases are involved.

How is AI Used in B2B Marketing?

All the data showcases that AI won’t replace the human element in advertising or SEO, and the same applies to the sales team. However, AI is going to change common marketing processes and the level of effort on redundant tasks.

B2B companies were already interested in adding AI to their processes and with ChatGPT, the interest expanded and accelerated. The real question is, when and how will B2Bs be able to leverage AI? Here are some great places to get started:

Content generation: Bloomreach is adding content generation capabilities across email, SMS, in-app and push notifications – all extremely manual tasks today
Automating email for sales representatives: Microsoft’s AI tool called “Viva Sales” will generate email content for a variety of scenarios, automatically create executive summaries and call transcripts, and even generate AI-driven recommendations to create better seller experiences
Customer segmentation: AI-based tools like Baremetrics and Optimove have built-in dashboards to subdivide your customers into specific groups based on their needs and characteristics

Data Privacy in B2B Marketing

Data is without a doubt critical for B2B success. Organizations hang onto data for long sales cycles and share that data with multiple stakeholders per account, so they need to work with data privacy and compliance experts and invest in strategies that guarantee data is managed and normalized across multiple internal systems. And while B2B companies are balancing those complex processes, they need to ensure they follow the latest privacy regulations.

Moreover, B2B buyers are looking to get experiences that are more closely related to what they experience in their day-to-day from B2C organizations. This means B2B marketers need to provide personalized experiences while respecting privacy at all costs and all times. That’s why we recommend following these best practices when working with B2B accounts:

Use multiple sources of information: B2B prospects are complex. They can be located in multiple office locations across the world or work from home. They could be Gen Z or Gen X. They could work in marketing, finance, or any other department. To deliver the right messaging, you’ll need the right data
Define a goal for the data: If you ask for any personal data it must serve a purpose in your marketing and sales strategy. Otherwise, the data won’t just be pointless – it’ll be more difficult to manage
Establish security protocols: Make sure you are setting up your team for success by getting the appropriate certifications, risk assessments and penetration tests. And since data protection strategies are only as strong as their weakest link, you should also ask this from the companies you work with

Types of B2B Buyers

The semantics of the term “B2B marketing” has always bothered me. It almost insinuates there are no important sub-verticals in the business-to-business space. So before we keep going, let’s evaluate the key players in B2B using the model outlined by the Toronto Metropolitan University:

Producers

These types of companies take goods and services and turn them into other products and/or services. For example, a business that manufactures products from raw materials or a business that makes enhancements and modifications to existing goods.

Resellers

Resellers sell goods or services to another business without materially changing them. This includes wholesalers, brokers, and retailers.

Government

The government is a large B2B buyer (not to say the largest) and they require a lot of goods and services to function properly. In order to sell to the government, very specific processes must be followed. If you are in the U.S., the General Services Administration’s website is a good place to start.

Non-profit Institutions

The last segment is formed by non-profit organizations. In many cases they could technically be grouped into the “producers” group – at the end of the day, they take goods and services and turn them into other products and/or services. However, non-profit organizations are usually segmented into their own bucket because they tend to be more incentivized to buy products they need to fulfill their mission at a lower cost.

Understanding the type of B2B buyer you’re trying to reach will allow you to create a better strategic framework that speaks directly to their needs and how they operate.

Strategic B2B Framework

There’s no single framework that works for everyone. Yet, building one and understanding that it might change with time is a good place to start setting up your team up for success.

Here are the elements you need to gather to be able to have a strategic B2B framework:

Understand your market: Such as their size, needs, growth, competition
Have clear target personas: For B2B, this you need to understand the type of business (or account) you want to engage with while also understanding the different points of contact that will be involved in the decision making process
Have clear goals: Make sure to set both short and long term goals
Set your marketing mix: If you studied marketing or business in school, this might sound familiar. Yes, we are taking about the 4 Ps: Price, product, promotion, and place
Build your media mix: Think about how you are planning to reach out to your target audience
Synchronize and align your marketing and sales team: The hard truth is that many B2B marketers fail because of a lack of alignment with their sales team. One cannot be successful without the other
Forge a strong lead nurture program: You need to do more than send a few random emails to your prospects. It should be a dance that you are leading so prospects can better understand what’s next and why your business is the right fit
- Use this to also determine which prospects are not a fit. Don’t waste their time or yours if it’s not a mutually beneficial relationship
- This process will also ease up-sells and cross-sells later on
Help retain current customers: If the economy experiences a slight recession or a full on financial crisis, a good retention strategy can make all the difference
Measure everything: Specifically, a unified measurement plan will be pivotal with the cookie deprecation and privacy changes we are experiencing in the marketing industry

Once the foundation for your framework is established, the next stage is all about how we are going to communicate our value proposition to the prospects and current customers.

Mapping Your Content and Messaging to the B2B Buyer Journey

In order to deliver your message to your target audience, it is important to divide the information into different styles of content; video, FAQs, blog posts and so on. Now, we cannot expect the B2B buyer to just digest all of your content at once. B2B has a long sales cycle and individuals within a business will have content preferences depending on their role and seniority.

That’s why we need to align our content strategy to the B2B buyer’s journey:

Depiction of three stages of B2B buyer journey: Awareness, consideration, and decision

Source: Search Engine Land

But again, we cannot expect all this content to be consumed exclusively over email or through display banners. This is why we need to take it one step further and start layering media mix components.

Using traditional advertising platforms will look like this:

Examples of ad types to use for Awareness, Consideration, and Decision phase of B2B buyer’s journey

Remember, this strategy needs to evolve over time. As new platforms, ad types, and channels appear you will have to go through the process of updating and refining your map of the buyer’s journey.

Fitting Account Based Marketing into Your B2B Strategy

We cannot talk about B2B strategy and not talk about Account Based Marketing (ABM). Most people today believe that a platform or solution is the key to effective account based marketing. This can’t be further from the truth.

We’ve heard it a thousand times: The foundation for any successful ABM program is alignment between marketing and sales. However, B2B organizations are still failing big time when it comes to this.

So, when you’re setting up or evaluating an ABM strategy, we must first flip the funnel. This way, you won’t invest money into programmatic advertising or mid-funnel ABM and not be able to prove if your efforts worked or not. By flipping the funnel, you’ll ensure sales is able to pass feedback to the marketing team, such as:

Leads that have become customers
Leads that are too cold and need more information
Valuable business, but the POC that filled the form is not the correct one
Leads that can be upsold or cross-sold
Topics that the prospects are always interested in

Once there’s a stress tested process to move data between marketing and sales, we will be able to understand what triggers the audience to finally decide they are ready to convert. This fuels additional bottom of the funnel conversions and helps you create content specific to this stage of the buyer’s journey.

When that process is complete, you will realize that some of the key personas you outlined in your framework are not filling forms or reaching out to sales. When that happens, move up in the funnel and focus on the middle – the consideration and persuasion stage. What are the common questions that we can address before they engage later on with our sales team? Which other team members should start to hear from your business? Answering these questions will help set the account up for success and better inform the buying committee about your B2B product or service.

Lastly, once we address the middle of the funnel, we are finally able to go to the top of the funnel to determine where the most qualified traffic is coming from based on implicit and explicit lead scoring signals.

Conclusion

B2B is a game of patience and strategy. You’ll need to set a strategic framework from day one to keep your whole organization focused on the same goal. On top of that, you’ll need to continue to workshop your framework on an ongoing basis since B2B buying cycles move much slower than their B2C counterparts. But setting (and refining) that framework will help you get ahead of the competition and spot key trends impacting your target companies.

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MARKETING

Foundations of Agency Success: Simplifying Operations for Growth

Published

21 hours ago

May 12, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Foundations of Agency Success: Simplifying Operations for Growth

Why do we read books like Traction, Scaling Up, and the E-Myth and still struggle with implementing systems, defining processes, and training people in our agency?

Those are incredibly comprehensive methodologies. And yet digital agencies still suffer from feast or famine months, inconsistent results and timelines on projects, quality control, revisions, and much more. It’s not because they aren’t excellent at what they do. I

t’s not because there isn’t value in their service. It’s often because they haven’t defined the three most important elements of delivery: the how, the when, and the why.

Complicating our operations early on can lead to a ton of failure in implementing them. Business owners overcomplicate their own processes, hesitate to write things down, and then there’s a ton of operational drag in the company.

Couple that with split attention and paper-thin resources and you have yourself an agency that spends most of its time putting out fires, reacting to problems with clients, and generally building a culture of “the Founder/Creative Director/Leader will fix it” mentality.

Before we chat through how truly simple this can all be, let’s first go back to the beginning.

When we start our companies, we’re told to hustle. And hustle hard. We’re coached that it takes a ton of effort to create momentum, close deals, hire people, and manage projects. And that is all true. There is a ton of work that goes into getting a business up and running.

1715505963 461 Foundations of Agency Success Simplifying Operations for Growth

The challenge is that we all adopt this habit of burning the candle at both ends and the middle all for the sake of growing the business. And we bring that habit into the next stage of growth when our business needs… you guessed it… exactly the opposite.

In Mike Michalowitz’s book, Profit First he opens by insisting the reader understand and accept a fundamental truth: our business is a cash-eating monster. The truth is, our business is also a time-eating monster. And it’s only when we realize that as long as we keep feeding it our time and our resources, it’ll gobble everything up leaving you with nothing in your pocket and a ton of confusion around why you can’t grow.

Truth is, financial problems are easy compared to operational problems. Money is everywhere. You can go get a loan or go create more revenue by providing value easily. What’s harder is taking that money and creating systems that produce profitably. Next level is taking that money, creating profit and time freedom.

In my bestselling book, The Sabbatical Method, I teach owners how to fundamentally peel back the time they spend in their company, doing everything, and how it can save owners a lot of money, time, and headaches by professionalizing their operations.

The tough part about being a digital agency owner is that you likely started your business because you were great at something. Building websites, creating Search Engine Optimization strategies, or running paid media campaigns. And then you ended up running a company. Those are two very different things.

1715505964 335 Foundations of Agency Success Simplifying Operations for Growth

How to Get Out of Your Own Way and Create Some Simple Structure for Your Agency…

Start Working Less

I know this sounds really brash and counterintuitive, but I’ve seen it work wonders for clients and colleagues alike. I often say you can’t see the label from inside the bottle and I’ve found no truer statement when it comes to things like planning, vision, direction, and operations creation.

Owners who stay in the weeds of their business while trying to build the structure are like hunters in the jungle hacking through the brush with a machete, getting nowhere with really sore arms. Instead, define your work day, create those boundaries of involvement, stop working weekends, nights and jumping over people’s heads to solve problems.

It’ll help you get another vantage point on your company and your team can build some autonomy in the meantime.

Master the Art of Knowledge Transfer

There are two ways to impart knowledge on others: apprenticeship and writing something down. Apprenticeship began as a lifelong relationship and often knowledge was only retained by ONE person who would carry on your method.

Writing things down used to be limited (before the printing press) to whoever held the pages.

We’re fortunate that today, we have many ways of imparting knowledge to our team. And creating this habit early on can save a business from being dependent on any one person who has a bunch of “how” and “when” up in their noggin.

While you’re taking some time to get out of the day-to-day, start writing things down and recording your screen (use a tool like loom.com) while you’re answering questions.

1715505964 938 Foundations of Agency Success Simplifying Operations for Growth

Deposit those teachings into a company knowledge base, a central location for company resources. Some of the most scaleable and sellable companies I’ve ever worked with had this habit down pat.

Define Your Processes

Lean in. No fancy tool or software is going to save your company. Every team I’ve ever worked with who came to me with a half-built project management tool suffered immensely from not first defining their process. This isn’t easy to do, but it can be simple.

The thing that hangs up most teams to dry is simply making decisions. If you can decide how you do something, when you do it and why it’s happening that way, you’ve already won. I know exactly what you’re thinking: our process changes all the time, per client, per engagement, etc. That’s fine.

Small businesses should be finding better, more efficient ways to do things all the time. Developing your processes and creating a maintenance effort to keep them accurate and updated is going to be a liferaft in choppy seas. You’ll be able to cling to it when the agency gets busy.

“I’m so busy, how can I possibly work less and make time for this?”

1715505964 593 Foundations of Agency Success Simplifying Operations for Growth

You can’t afford not to do this work. Burning the candle at both ends and the middle will catch up eventually and in some form or another. Whether it’s burnout, clients churning out of the company, a team member leaving, some huge, unexpected tax bill.

I’ve heard all the stories and they all suck. It’s easier than ever to start a business and it’s harder than ever to keep one. This work might not be sexy, but it gives us the freedom we craved when we began our companies.

Start small and simple and watch your company become more predictable and your team more efficient.

MARKETING

Advertising on Hulu: Ad Formats, Examples & Tips

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Streaming

By Emily Sullivan

May 08 2024

With the continued rise in streaming service adoption, advertisers are increasingly turning to OTT (over-the-top) advertising, which allows brands to reach their target audiences while they stream television shows and movies. OTT advertising is advertising delivered directly to viewers over the internet through streaming services or devices, such as streaming sticks and connected TVs. One of the most popular streaming ad-supported streaming services today is Hulu.

At just $7.99 per month (with ads) and $17.99 per month (without ads), Hulu is a great deal. And where the deals are incredible, the subscribers follow…

The formula itself is one we’re all familiar with, and it appears to be working out quite well for Hulu.

Low prices attract more viewers
More viewers brings more eyes to Hulu ads
More eyes on ads brings more interested advertisers
Advertising revenue climbs alongside impressive viewer growth

In this particular scenario, everyone wins! And the proof is in the pudding considering Hulu generated $11.2 billion in revenue in 2023.

Advertising on Hulu Ad Formats Examples Tips

In the following article, we will cover everything you need to know about Hulu including how to advertise on Hulu, ad types available, advertising cost, best examples of Hulu ads, and more. Let’s dive right in.

What is Hulu Advertising?

OTT Video Viewers in US by Service Over Time with over 111 million subscribers In 2023

Image Source: https://www.emarketer.com/content/disney-will-become-streaming-heavyweight

Hulu is a service that offers subscription video on demand. Hulu currently has more than 50.2 million subscribers across their SVOD (ad-free subscription video on demand) and AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) plans, translating to nearly 100 million viewers in 2021. eMarketer predictions estimate that number will grow to 115.6 million viewers by 2024.

Hulu notes on their website that their ad-supported offering is their most popular. Previously shared statistics showed that in 2023, 58% of total Hulu subscribers opted for the ad-supported plan.

Hulu subscriptions can be purchased on their own, or as part of a bundle with other services. One such popular option is The Disney Bundle. The new Disney Bundle brings together the extensive Disney+ and Hulu libraries – including beloved characters, award-winning films and series, and 100 years’ worth of inspiring stories – all in one place.

Hulu’s ad-supported and ad-free plans offer subscribers a vast streaming library, inclusive of thousands of movies and TV episodes. Hulu Originals are also included in both plans, as is the ability to watch on the internet-enabled device of your choosing—TV, mobile, tablet, or laptop. As the first platform to introduce viewer-first advertising innovations, like the industry’s first interactive ad formats, Hulu continues to give viewers choice and control over their ad experience.

Outside of the primary differentiators between the two options—ads or no ads, and cost—the only additional distinction to be made is that the ad-supported version does not allow subscribers to download and watch titles on-the-go.

Hulu offers a popular option with an ad-supported tier. This utilizes OTT advertising, meaning ads are delivered directly to viewers over the internet through the Hulu platform, rather than traditional cable or satellite TV. Unlike a typical TV buy where you get a set amount of ad space, these OTT ad buys allow for granular targeting based on demographics, location, and interests, similar to what you might experience on other digital platforms. While these ads are strategically placed before, during, and potentially after your chosen content, they are not skippable. It’s also worth noting that even ad-free tiers might show a few promotional spots for certain shows or live TV events.

Hulu has its very own ad platform that includes a robust set of options for bidding, targeting, and measurement, as well as different ad experiences.

Why Advertise on Hulu?

In today’s media landscape, reaching your target audience effectively is crucial. Hulu offers a compelling advertising platform with a variety of advantages:

Massive Reach – Tap into a vast audience of engaged viewers. Hulu boasts over 50.2 million subscribers, with their AVOD tier reaching a staggering 109.2 million viewers per month.
Targeted Engagement – Go beyond traditional TV’s limitations. Hulu’s targeting capabilities allow you to zero in on specific demographics, interests, and even geographies. This ensures your message reaches viewers most likely to resonate with your brand.
Cost-Effectiveness – Hulu has many buy options, which makes it accessible for any size client to run a campaign on Hulu. Hulu offers campaign minimums as low as $500, which creates a low barrier to entry for most clients. Especially, when partnering with an agency like Tinuiti, where brands can anticipate 2-3x more efficient CPMs when compared to the general market. This makes it accessible for businesses of various sizes to test and refine their advertising strategies.
DRAX – Disney’s Real-Time Ad Exchange establishes direct connections to major media buying platforms for streamlined ad buying across Disney+ and Hulu. This integration increases automation, allowing advertisers easier access to Disney’s inventory. Partnerships with Google and The Trade Desk provide direct paths to Disney’s inventory, offering greater reach, flexibility, and transparency.
Engaging Ad Formats – Hulu offers a variety of ad formats beyond standard video ads. Explore interactive elements to capture viewer attention and create a more immersive brand experience with Shoppable ads, pause ads, takeovers, and more.
Brand Safety – Hulu prioritizes brand safety, ensuring your ads appear alongside high-quality content. This minimizes the risk of your brand being associated with inappropriate content.

By leveraging Hulu’s advertising solutions, you can target engaged viewers, deliver impactful messaging, and ultimately reach your marketing goals.

How Advertising on Hulu Works

Hulu offers brands of all sizes a chance to advertise on their platform. And since Hulu falls under the Disney umbrella, advertising opportunities extend beyond the Hulu platform itself. There are opportunities to buy into inventory cross ESPN, Disney+, ABC and more.

It’s important to keep in mind, the method through which you purchase ads plays a role in the measurement insights you’ll receive. Below are the three primary ways to buy ad placements on Hulu, with additional details regarding programmatic buys, and Hulu’s self-service platform.

Purchase ads directly from Hulu sales teams
Programmatic ad buys
Through Hulu’s self-service platform (currently invite-only, but brands can request access)

If you’re not ready to pick up the phone and collaborate with Hulu’s sales team on a large ad buy, you’re probably going to end up using Programmatic Guaranteed ad buys or purchase ad space through the Self Service Platform. Here’s a little more information on each option:

Programmatic Guaranteed (Reserved Buys) and Private Marketplace (Auctionable)

Ads purchased through a programmatic sales team that works directly with platforms and streaming agencies, like Tinuiti. This offers advanced local and national targeting and measurement capabilities, enhanced reporting, and suite of targeting options at fixed or biddable rates.

Whether you want to target lookalike audiences, specific demographics, interest or behavioral segments, or leverage audience CRM matching for a customized group, you’ll know exactly when and where your ads showed, and be provided with robust reporting that helps measure what’s working best, and where you should continue to invest for optimal performance. You’ll also enjoy guaranteed media buys that ensure you get the expected visibility and reach.

There are certain Hulu ad types that can’t be purchased programmatically, including sponsored placements, pause ads, and ad-selector ads, among other standout units. For these types, Tinuiti makes reserved buys for our clients from opportunities that are only available through Hulu directly.

Not sure which ad types make the most sense for your business and advertising goals? Our team works with clients to determine which campaign initiatives are best for them, and help ensure their creative meets Hulu’s requirements.

Self-Service Hulu Ads (Beta) – Must RSVP and Be Approved as a Brand

Hulu’s self-serve ad platform allows brands to access ad inventory directly, with a modest $500 campaign minimum. These ads are ideal for smaller businesses that don’t have a sizable streaming ads budget, or are just getting started with OTT and want to test the waters.

The Self-Service Ads beta program offers a glimpse into the future of advertising on Hulu. With features like budget management, targeted audience selection, and ad format flexibility (to some extent), businesses can craft impactful campaigns tailored to their specific needs. However, remember the current limitations and the need for approval before getting started.

Reporting Limitations: Notably, when purchasing through the self-service platform, your reporting will only include impression data; you won’t have insights into where your ads actually ran.

While this offering is still in beta, Hulu has already shared some early success stories. Learn more here about how Hulu self-serve ads work.

How Much Does Hulu Advertising Cost?

Unlike traditional ad buys, Hulu advertising utilizes a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) model. This means you pay each time one thousand viewers see your ad, with estimates ranging from $10 to $30 CPM. Factors like targeting specifics, competition, and ad format (pre-roll vs. mid-roll, length) can influence the final cost.

Hulu advertising costs are structured to allow for advertisers of all sizes and budgets, but the total costs, you’ll realize, will largely depend on a number of factors, including:

Whether you’re buying directly through Hulu or a DSP (demand-side platform)
Any restrictions you place on Hulu regarding where your ads display. Specific audience or genre targeting, and/or frequency caps, may incur a premium as well
Which ad types you choose
How much creative you will need to generate for your ads (production costs)
Seasonality—Q4 advertising costs are higher than other quarters
Whether you’re buying through an up-front agreement (advertising commitment for a full TV season), or the scatter market (ad buys that run month-to-month, or quarter-to-quarter)

How to Advertise on Hulu

Here’s what you need to know to advertise on Hulu, from buying and targeting to measurement and optimization.

Hulu offers several advertising reach options for brands:

National: Reach viewers across the US
Local: Reach a localized target audience
Advanced TV: Automated, data-informed ad buys

Within the Advanced TV category, Hulu has 3 different bidding options:

Programmatic Guaranteed: Automated, guaranteed buy with advanced targeting.
Private Marketplace: Non-guaranteed buy with increased targeting control.
Invite-Only Auction: Find your audience, set your price, and optimize from within your DSP

In Hulu’s invite-only auction, advertisers select their target audience, determine their bid price for that audience, and control and optimize their ad campaigns in real-time based on results and performance. You can learn more about Hulu’s advanced targeting options here.

When it comes to executing Hulu ads, at Tinuiti, we can take on all the heavy lifting for you.

Ad Types Available on Hulu [With Specs]

In today’s streaming world, capturing viewers’ attention is more important than ever. When it comes to Hulu ads, pre-roll placements (those shown before your chosen content) are proven to be highly effective, especially earlier slots within the pre-roll sequence. This is prime real estate for grabbing viewers before they settle into their show.

But don’t be limited! Hulu offers a variety of ad formats to suit your needs, including pre-roll, mid-roll (shown during commercial breaks within the content), and even 7-second bumper ads for quick, impactful messaging. Whether you choose a short and sweet 7-second spot or a more detailed 15 or 30-second video ad, Hulu offers the flexibility to tailor your message to your audience and campaign goals.

When creating your Hulu video ad, it’s important to follow their specifications including:

Video Duration: 15 to 30 seconds
Audio Duration: Must match video duration
Dimensions: 1920×1080 preferred; 1280×720 accepted
Display Aspect Ratios: 16:9 preferred; Hulu will accept videos shot with 2.39:1, 1.375:1, 3:4, or 4:3 dimensions, but you must make the video fit a 16:9 ratio by inserting matting on the top and bottom of the video.
Video Format: QuickTime, MOV, or MPEG-4
File Extensions: .mov or .mp4
File Size: 10 GB maximum
Audio Format: PCM, AAC
Frame Rate: 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, or 30 fps
Frame Rate Mode: Constant
Video Bit Depth: 8 or 16 bits
Video Bit Rate: 10 Mbps – 40 Mbps
Audio Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bits (for audio channel 2)
Audio Bit Rate: 192-256
Chroma Subsampling: 4:2:0 or 4:2:2
Codec ID: Apple ProRes 422 HQ preferred; H.264 accepted
Color Space: YUV
Scan Type: Progressive Scan
Audio Channels: 2 channel stereo
Audio Sampling Rate: 48.0 kHz

Hulu offers what they call “a viewer-first ad experience” made up of an extensive variety of different ad products and solutions, including:

Video Commercial

This is the most ‘standard’ ad type available from Hulu, with your video playing during any “long-form content commercial breaks.” Hulu allows 7-, 15- and 30-second video commercials, and “does not accept stitched Ads.” This simply means that if advertisers want to display a 30-second commercial, they will be required to have an asset of the correct length, and can’t ‘stitch together’ two separate 15-second ads.

Ad Selector

This ad type gives the viewer greater control over their ad experience. Viewers will be given the option to choose between two or three different video ads to watch from the same advertiser. This can increase the chances that viewers will be engaged with your ad as they had some degree of choice in watching it. If no ad selection is made within 15 seconds of being presented with the options, one of the two or three available ads will be selected at random and played automatically.

According to Hulu Brand Lift Norms, 2020, products like these that “give viewers choice and control” have “result[ed] in 70% higher lifts than the average campaign on Hulu.”

Branded Entertainment Selector (BES)

Choice comes into play with Hulu’s BES ads as well, but in this scenario, they are choosing not just their ad experience, but their viewing experience as well. Viewers are given the option to watch their programming of choice with the typical commercial breaks, or to enjoy their programming uninterrupted by first watching a longer ad. We like to think of it as finishing your dinner before eating dessert! This is a popular choice for advertisers who want to tell a story with their ad—or advertise a movie or upcoming event—and need more than 15 or 30 seconds to do so.

Binge Ad

Want to reach viewers dedicating some of their downtime to an hours-long binge session, but don’t want to risk hitting them with the same ad, delivered in the same way, episode after episode? Hulu’s Binge Ad placements are designed with brand safety and a positive watching experience in mind. These “enable marketers to deliver contextually and situationally-relevant messages at the right time and place – during a viewer’s binge session.”

According to the Kantar Brand Lift Study, 2020, ads like these have been shown to “increase[ing] unaided brand awareness by 24% and ad recall by 25%.”

Interactive Living Room

These ads are designed to “foster greater affinity with a brand” through “customizable interactivity” focused on whatever elements of your brand you would like to promote. Whether you want to get the word out about a new product launch, enhanced features of an existing product, a new line of services, a company announcement, or more, these ads make it engaging and easy. Hulu notes that they offer “select functionality via third-party producing and hosting partners,” and that the production lead time is quite a bit longer than for most ad types at “four to six weeks from the receipt of the final assets.”

Max Selector (Beta)

In this ad type, viewers are given a choice over how they would like to learn about the product or service being advertised. Interactive templates are designed to create “a more engaging and immersive choice-based ad experience.”

Branded Slate

Advertisers are given the opportunity to reach audiences before the show has even begun with Branded Slate custom title cards. These brief, static video ads feature your logo with “Presented by” text, with voiceover audio that identifies your brand as the sponsor. Hulu also offers Branded Slate ads specifically tailored to entertainment clients.

Premium Slate

This 7-second ad type is similar to the aforementioned Branded Slate ads, but allows for advertisers to include “their own video, dynamic visuals, and sound” as opposed to a static video with voiceover. If preferred, you can still opt for the voiceover to be handled by Hulu talent, but it is not required as it is with the Branded Slate ads. Hulu also offers Premium Slate ads specifically tailored to entertainment clients.

GatewayGo

These unique ads are designed with conversions in mind, bringing together “Hulu’s traditional living room video ads with action-oriented prompts and personalized offers.” GatewayGo ads harness “second screen enablement technologies such as QR codes and push notifications” by “shifting conversion actions from the TV to mobile devices.” Viewers who wish to learn more can simply scan the QR code using their phone—which is likely within reach, if not in their hand—or choose to receive notifications.

According to a 2020 Hulu Internal Study, “6 in 10 viewers like that they can discover and act on deals with GatewayGO.” For these ad types, Hulu strongly recommends 30-second placements “to increase engagement,” though the minimum required length is just 15-seconds.

Pause Ad

Pause ads are unique in that they reach viewers who have decided they are ready for a break by pressing the pause button, with the ad serving as a screensaver of sorts. These offer an ideal opportunity to reach viewers in the least intrusive way possible, and give you significant opportunity to increase brand awareness—particularly for viewers who pause often, and for longer periods of time.

Poster Marquee Ad

Want to entice viewers to watch a specific series or theatrical release? This ad type makes it possible by leveraging “existing coming soon design components to promote a trailer for an upcoming title.” Hulu recommends that these should ideally be an “extended trailer,” with 15-second and 30-second ad spots not recommended.

Cover Story Brand Placement

Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/ad-products/cover-story-brand-placement/

For this ad type, the only thing Hulu requires is your logo, which will be showcased directly within the Hulu homepage alongside the “Presented By” notation, as shown above. Thanks to their prominent placement, these ads are ideal for increasing exposure, and enhancing brand recognition.

Promoted Content Marquee Ad

This unique advertising option “mimics the existing Hulu UI design and only supports long-form full-length episodes or feature films.” Because “Hulu viewers already recognize this design to promote content that is available for them to watch,” they may not even realize what they’re seeing is an ad.

*Note: The ad units mentioned are almost exclusively available via guaranteed IOs (national or local) and not the audience-driven methods.

Best Practices for Hulu Advertising Campaigns

Whether you’re promoting a new product, driving subscriptions, or raising brand awareness, these best practices will help you maximize the impact of your Hulu ads and connect with your target audience effectively. Let’s explore the essential tactics and insights for creating high-performing Hulu ad campaigns.

Follow Creative Best Practices for Video Campaigns

Adhere to Ad Specs – Always adhere to the platform’s ad specifications to ensure your video displays correctly across different devices and platforms. This includes guidelines on resolution, aspect ratio, file format, and maximum file size.

Build a Strong Hook – Grab the viewer’s attention within the first 3-5 seconds. This can be achieved through visually striking imagery, compelling storytelling, or posing a thought-provoking question. The key is to pique curiosity and entice viewers to continue watching.

Consistent Branding is Key – Maintain consistent branding across your video campaigns to reinforce brand recognition and recall. This includes using your logo prominently at the beginning and end of the ad, as well as incorporating consistent color schemes, fonts, and messaging that align with your brand identity.

Stick with Simple Messaging – Focus on communicating a single, specific idea or message in your video ad. Avoid overcrowding the ad with too much information, as this can overwhelm viewers and dilute the effectiveness of your message. Keep it simple, clear, and memorable.

Use Text for Emphasis – Use text overlays strategically to highlight key messaging or calls to action in your video ad. This ensures that important information is conveyed effectively, especially for viewers who may be watching with the sound off.

Provide Variety and Freshness – Rotate your video ads regularly to prevent audience fatigue and maintain engagement. Experiment with different creative strategies, visuals, and messaging to keep your ads fresh and appealing. This also allows for A/B testing to determine which creatives resonate best with your target audience.

Utilize Audience Targeting – Tailor your creative content to resonate with the specific interests, preferences, and demographics of your target audience. This may involve customizing the storyline, imagery, and messaging to appeal to different audience segments and maximize relevance and impact.

By incorporating these best practices into your video campaigns, you can enhance their effectiveness and drive better results in terms of engagement, conversion, and brand awareness.

Use Hulu’s Targeting Capabilities Wisely

Hulu Ad Manager empowers you with a robust suite of targeting options to reach your ideal audience. Here’s how to leverage them effectively:

Audience Targeting:

Demographics – Reach viewers based on age, gender, income, and parental status. This allows you to tailor your message to resonate with specific segments.
Lifestyle Interests – Target users based on their interests and hobbies. For example, target fitness enthusiasts with ads for your activewear line. (Explore the full range of interest categories within Hulu Ad Manager).
Behavioral Targeting – Go beyond demographics by targeting viewers based on their past purchase behavior or browsing habits. This can significantly increase campaign relevance.

Content Targeting:

Genre Targeting – Place your ads within specific genres (e.g., comedy, sports, documentaries) relevant to your product or service. This ensures your message reaches viewers actively seeking content aligned with your offering.
Programmatic Targeting – Target specific shows or programs on Hulu where your ideal audience is likely to be watching. This allows for highly focused ad placement.

Location Targeting:

Geographic Targeting – Reach viewers within specific cities, zip codes, Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs), or regions. This is ideal for promoting local businesses or service-based offerings with a geographical focus.

Pro Tips for Smart Targeting:

Combine Targeting Methods – Utilize a combination of audience and content targeting for maximum reach and relevance. For example, target viewers interested in fitness (audience) while placing your ads within workout-related shows (content).
Leverage Lookalike Audiences – Expand your reach by targeting audiences similar to your existing customers.
Test and Refine – Don’t be afraid to experiment with different targeting combinations and monitor performance metrics to optimize your campaigns for better results.

By strategically using Hulu’s targeting options, you can ensure your ads reach the right people at the right time, maximizing campaign effectiveness and ROI.

Measure and Optimize Campaigns Based on Performance

Data is king when it comes to optimizing your Hulu ad campaigns. Hulu offers advertisers varying measurement and attribution insights for their campaigns, which depend in part on how the ads were purchased. Hulu’s attribution capabilities let advertisers measure brand lift and direct ROI, and business outcomes across QSR, retail, ecommerce, tune-in, automotive, and CPG categories. Third-parties like Tinuiti offer more omnichannel campaign analysis options.

Here’s how to leverage Tinuiti’s expertise to achieve peak performance:

Set SMART Goals and Benchmarks

It’s crucial to begin by defining your objective with a clear SMART goal that aligns with your overarching marketing strategy. This goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Once your objective is established, it’s essential to establish benchmarks by leveraging historical data from past campaigns or industry averages. These benchmarks will help set realistic expectations and guide your efforts in tracking key metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions throughout the campaign.

Continuous Optimization

At Tinuiti, our omnichannel campaign analysis allows us to compare your Hulu campaign’s performance with other marketing channels like social media and email, giving you a holistic understanding of how customers engage with your brand across different platforms. But it’s not just about data – our team of experts dives deep, uncovering hidden patterns within the data and translating them into actionable insights.

These insights then fuel data-driven recommendations for optimizing your Hulu campaign. We might suggest adjustments to your targeting strategies, ad creatives, or even budget allocation to ensure you achieve the best possible results. We can also analyze viewer fatigue and recommend A/B testing new ad variations, keeping your audience engaged and maximizing the effectiveness of your Hulu advertising.

Putting it into Practice

After a few weeks of your campaign running, revisit your initial benchmarks to evaluate progress. Don’t just rely on surface-level data, leverage omnichannel analysis to understand what elements are resonating and which areas need improvement. This comprehensive analysis allows you to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your targeting, ad creatives, and budget allocation.

By taking a data-driven approach and utilizing Tinuiti’s expertise, you can continuously measure, optimize, and refine your Hulu campaigns, driving maximum impact and achieving your marketing objectives.

Example of Hulu TV Ad promoting livestreaming sports

Best Examples of Hulu Ads

Let’s dive into some of the most memorable and effective Hulu ad campaigns that have left a lasting impression on audiences.

Filippo Berio Interactive Ads

Hulu Interactive Campaign for Filippo Berio

Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/brand-stories/filippo-berio/

Filippo Berio is a brand best known for their selection of olive oils and vinegars, with a legacy tracing back more than 150 years. Their thoughtful use of interactive ad formats helped them in connecting with potential customers, with their Hulu ad campaign resulting in a “2x lift in brand favorability”, and a “3x lift in brand consideration.”

Filippo Berio’s use of the Interactive Living Room ad type “was especially impactful as an awareness-driver, highlighted by a +44% lift in brand awareness and +64% lift in message association”
Other ad types were included in the campaign as well, including standard and situational ads

ThirdLove Contextually Relevant Original Sponsorships

Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/brand-stories/thirdlove/

ThirdLove is a lingerie and loungewear company that focuses on body positivity and inclusivity in their marketing, and importantly, their range of products and sizes. The brand crafted a Hulu advertising strategy that aimed to enhance “awareness and overall consideration for their products across women of all demographics” with ads that ran “alongside premium and contextually-relevant Original content.”

ThirdLove saw results that outperformed “both industry and Hulu retail norms,” in part by advertising during women-produced content, and content that focuses on themes and issues that are of importance to women. This Hulu campaign included:

Co-branded ads at the start of every episode of Mrs. America
Creative that included a CTA and a discount code that could be accessed by “visiting a unique URL tied to the Hulu Original series, Little Fires Everywhere”

Best Strategy for Hulu Advertising [from the experts]

Experimentation is at the heart of all statistically-significant data, and Hulu makes experimentation easy and affordable. With more than a dozen distinct ad types to choose from—and an array of ad lengths to suit all advertising needs and goals—you are provided with all the necessary tools to find the ideal methods to reach new and existing audiences.

With Hulu ads, there is no shortage of innovative options to choose from, and we encourage you to experiment extensively, but also strategically. No matter how sizable your streaming ads budget, no brand can afford to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But you can thoughtfully design combinations of differing visual components, and ad lengths, to see which resonate best with viewers.

These learnings can then be applied across similar streaming platforms as well, many of which won’t have the same robust inventory of options to experiment with.

According to a Nielsen CTV Analytics study, 62% of Hulu viewers never saw a brand’s ad campaign on linear TV, making Hulu a critical partner to brands trying to reach new audiences or their full target audience. And with Hulu’s ability to audience-target based on CRM matching or behavioral segments, Hulu is an important partner in delivering addressable TV at scale.

If you’re interested in advertising on OTT/Streaming TV, check out Tinuiti’s TV & Audio advertising services.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Tara Johnson in July 2020 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

MARKETING

Updates to data build service for better developer experiences

Published

3 days ago

May 10, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Updates to data build service for better developer experiences

Optimizely Feature Experimentation users can now benefit from an average of 87% faster data file updates. The ability to generate data files in a faster and more predictable manner enables our customers to make updates to feature flags and experiments more quickly and reliably.

Datafile build service – Performance, stability
Webhooks by environment – Lower latency across all environments. Push notification that a new datafile is ready
Secure environments – Security

Key features

Smoother workflow
It lets you update feature flags and experiments faster and more consistently as a seamless workflow step.
Better developer experience
Developers can expect faster and more predictable feedback when configuring feature flags during local development.
Faster execution
Product teams benefit from “kill switches” to roll back problematic features and flawed experiments to protect user experience and conversion rates.

Finally…

Speed, performance, and usability are key to delivering a better experience, and as such we are always striving to improve the performance of back-end services. Our improved datafile build service enables you to deliver feature flags and experiment changes to your end-users more quickly and reliably.

Optimizely Feature Experimentation generates a JSON datafile that represents the state of an environment in a customer’s Feature Experimentation project, this datafile is polled for and consumed by our SDKs to enable user-level decisions and tracking.

With our new datafile build service, Feature Experimentation customers will experience better performance and reliability when delivering feature flags and experiment changes to end-users.