Industry Chat: Connecting growth – with Commerce Advertising
Times have changed significantly in the digital advertising landscape in recent years. Consumers’ reality is increasingly shaped by a digital approach when it comes to purchasing products. Communities, influencers, and trustworthy publishers are the voices they listen to when they search for information and compare items and prices before converting into buyers in an online shop. Accordingly, eCommerce marketing has had to find new ways to show presence at all these touchpoints and raise awareness for products and offers.
But if you look at the digital advertising landscape, the industry has partially reached its limits. Consumers are suffering from “display ad fatigue,” and third-party cookies are on their way out. And that’s the reason why we wanted to fill the gap by providing a holistic approach to digital marketing. We call it Commerce Advertising. This umbrella term stands for all digital advertising tools and technologies centered along the customer journey within or around content that lead to conversions. It’s no longer the last point of contact with a product or a service that counts for a buying decision. It’s the whole experience a user makes during the journey in the digital world from the beginning of their search to the final purchase. Proximity sells. What’s behind this holistic approach, and how does it affect publishers, advertisers, and users?
Our expert on Commecer Advertising: mrge
mrge is the leading global platform for Commerce Advertising, connecting over 5,500 publishers, 50,000 advertisers, and 100 networks in over 160 countries. In 2021, the group generated almost 3 billion affiliate links for its publisher clients, resulting in upwards of EUR 2 billion of additional e-commerce sales for its advertiser clients. By merging smart tools, technologies, and formats, mrge brings campaign messages closer to content, creating value for publishers, advertisers, and users alike.
The purchase-oriented Customer Journey
In marketing, understanding the customer journey has always been a core interest for many participants. Especially in digital marketing, the customer journey is flanked by marketing activities around all five stages: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. But what really counts for leads and sales are the performance-oriented stages of consideration and purchase. Everyone has experienced wanting to buy a product and not yet knowing exactly what it should be. You gather information from various sources, publishers, trade media, product tests, credible communities, social media talks, and influencers. Then you probably have several products to choose from, and you add further criteria such as price, coupons, and cashback. The best offer leads you to an online store, where you buy the product you are most convinced of. During this user journey, you are always in touch with tools and technologies that we bundle under the umbrella term Commerce Advertising.
A new standard for advertisers and publishers alike
An advertiser who wants to win over the customer during the journey from information to purchase must come close to their interests and be present near customers’ relevant content. With Commerce Advertising, they can fulfill this need. Advertisers combine different measures to pave and shorten the way between digital ad format and their online store. From a content-driven perspective, they can use product reviews, tests, or comparisons. Coupons and cashback sites make it easy for the customer to decide in favor of the advertiser. When it comes to Google Shopping, Widgets flag a clear statement.
Additionally, the proven affiliate marketing technology, which plays a crucial role in publishers’ commerce content strategy, must remain in the set-up. All these tools have in common that they trigger a target transaction that leads to optimized revenue streams for advertisers. Being present in an environment that is actually of interest to the user increases the likelihood of being noticed by the customer. That is an enormous competitive advantage. It’s also an efficient way to implement D2C, Direct to Consumer. For publishers, integrating tools from the Commerce Advertising ecosystem also leads to additional revenue streams. It’s easy to integrate and adapt to a specific corporate look and fits perfectly with existing content.
How can advertisers use Commerce Advertising?
Marketing Managers should have a data-driven approach to their marketing. Commerce Advertising requires a strategy that puts people – the users – and their interests at the center. They then know best about the impact of different touchpoints along the customer journey on the conversion. Based on these insights, they can optimally manage the marketing channels and define tools and technologies as an ad format that reflects a user’s interests and can be placed in a context where they will probably perceive the ad. The likelihood of users engaging and interacting with the ad format is increasing. Commerce Advertising is positioned in the field of eCommerce marketing, but also impacts neighboring disciplines such as couponing marketing. The advertiser’s pricing strategy is also important before you set up the tools and technologies.
As an umbrella term, Commerce Advertising brings the user perspective into digital marketing and enables advertisers and publishers alike to how users act along their digital journey and when and where they want to interact with ad formats. At mrge we strongly believe that Commerce Advertising is the most effective way to build and strengthen connections between publishers and advertisers. Both sides add value for their target groups and increase revenues.
Maximize your growth now!
Do you want to maximize your growth? Then start with Commerce Advertising! Get in touch with us now >>
