On data, boundaries and expectations in Q4
Dear Media Buyer:
We just wanted to say that you’re not crazy and you’re not alone. Social media advertising is not what it once was, and neither is Q4. This new landscape is really, really hard.
Clients (and even some advertisers) are still trusting the numbers coming from Meta ads manager in relation to purchase data. The issue is that these numbers are “modeled” and very few are definitive or real. And if they are real, most are delayed. The days where you could look at numbers and trust them to scale up or down are gone. This reality is extremely challenging and frustrating.
On top of the measurement challenge, client expectations are higher than ever, and adding to that pressure are the expectations we put on ourselves. We must “crush it” because that’s what other advertisers on Twitter say they’re doing. We must blow client expectations out of the water because that’s what we’ve done every year, right?
Be careful. Be kind to yourself. Be honest. Devise a do-able measurement plan to usher in Q4 with steady, achievable goals.
Furthermore, our roles get even more thorny and complex when the collective understanding of what we do declines. We need to continue to advocate for ourselves and educate our clients (and our families) on the myriad issues we influence in our roles as media buyers. For example, many of us now manage the entire sales funnel from prospecting to purchase. It’s a big job, some would argue an impossible job, for one person or even one team. We must explain how long these tactics take to deploy, how quickly the digital world shifts under our feet, and how many levers we wish we could pull at once.The more we explain and the more honest we are, the more we protect ourselves and our colleagues.
Set Clear Boundaries To Produce Better Results for Clients
Clients need to know what they can and can’t do. You can kindly but firmly remind them of your boundaries, such as: clients can email you during the business week and expect an email back within six to eight hours, for example, but clients can’t email you on a Saturday during the holiday season and expect an immediate, thoughtful, multi-paragraph response.
During Q4 planning, media buyers can set clear goals and due dates for campaign assets from clients, and ALSO be very clear on the ramifications if agreed-upon dates are missed. Plan the work, work the plan.
Be honest about what you need to be successful in your job in Q4. Reframe away from “I need these things” to “here’s what I would love to make this the best Q4 for you.” They hired you to be a strategic partner. Take that responsibility seriously.
And please, please set your own boundaries. When the work is done, be done. This is difficult for most folks, but we have to take care of ourselves. When we’re not being kind to ourselves, we don’t do our best work.
During Q4, clients get nervous, antsy, and love to move goal posts. This is not an option. Lay it all out and start with what numbers you saw last year, the state of the economy/inflation, and be firm in what goals are do-able and what goals are not.
Know Your Numbers and Stick to Them
Q4 is always a challenge. Additionally, we can seemingly never have enough creative, landing pages need work, Meta (probably) will have multiple bugs during BFCM weekend and oh yeah - we can’t really trust data in ads manager.
On the data specifically, the unfortunate truth is that you can’t effectively compare the in-platform data of today to the data of the past. We can compare performance across platforms for directional signals, but it’s still not 100% clear what to turn up, down, or pause. These data discrepancies are difficult to explain to clients who like things cut and dry, and black and white.
The truth is: Meta Ads Manager data must be paired with a trustworthy third party tool in order to appropriately navigate and decipher the mixed signals. And if your client can’t afford one of the tools, then you need a plan using Google Analytics to validate some of that data (time on site data with UTMs to start), along with some soft metrics inside ads manager to help make decisions. But most importantly you need a plan.
Defining what success looks like internally and with your clients, both qualitatively and quantitatively, can be another way to ensure responsibilities are being honored and goals are being achieved.
A “measurement plan” can be a helpful tool to track progress and be transparent with one another from the start. Begin by understanding client finances and determining beforehand the numbers they are trying to reach (broken down as specifically as COGS, gross margin, CPA, nCPA ROAS, MER, etc) and extend into answering even more detailed questions like what numbers the client is looking at each day to attribute success. Getting on the same page with a comprehensive, clear measurement plan can help fix miscommunication issues between you and your clients and it will undoubtedly make your life easier in Q4.
So, in closing, take care of yourself, be honest with your clients, and know your numbers. We’re here to help, and so is Northbeam. This piece was produced in partnership with them. Interested in talking with them? Let me know.
In solidarity,
Andrew, Gracie, and the Foxwell Digital Team