Today’s consumer moves seamlessly across online and offline channels to find what they need. A person might discover a product through a digital ad, head to a brick-and-mortar store to check it out, and then use their phone for price comparison and further research. The path to purchase is complex, and it varies considerably by vertical and by individual shopping preferences. Many marketers know this. For years, they have heard that a holistic, full-funnel approach is critical for meeting customers where they are. Now we have the data to prove it.
A recent Nielsen meta-analysis of CPG campaigns found that full-funnel strategies see up to 45% higher ROI and 7% increases in offline sales compared to marketing campaigns across a single purchase stage.1 The data takes into account over 1,300 unique campaigns across 20 different CPG brands, spanning personal care, beauty, food, beverage, home care, and more. Regardless of the category, the implications are clear: full-funnel marketing gets results. Let’s look at two leading CPG brands that have internalized this lesson to their advantage.
Applying a new full-funnel strategy with winning results
For brands that have traditionally focused more on the middle of the funnel, Nielsen found that additional investment in upper- or lower-funnel tactics with Google Ads drives 52% more incremental sales over investing in mid-funnel tactics alone.2 This was certainly true for hair care and body care brand Aveda, which is owned by Estée Lauder Companies.
Despite the meteoric rise in popularity of at-home beauty treatments during the pandemic, Aveda sales weren’t keeping pace with expectations for new customer recruitment, even with their paid media efforts. The company realized that focusing on mid- to lower-funnel media meant it simply wasn’t meeting target consumers where they were spending the most time.
Beginning in the third quarter of 2021, Aveda’s marketing team created a full-funnel YouTube Ads strategy to increase awareness and brand desirability among key segments and, ultimately, win new customers. They created target personas through a mix of Google and first-party audiences. They then mapped their creative and audiences to the right tactical mix of YouTube ad formats.
We identified an opportunity to increase awareness and brand desirability among key segments and bring new consumers to our brand.
The results were undeniable: Aveda saw double-digit increases in website sessions, a double-digit year-over-year increase in search impressions, and significant increases in searches for “Aveda salons near me.” The Aveda Invati product line also experienced strong brand lift in users considering the franchise for purchase (compared to a control group). Overall, Aveda’s North American sales rose significantly as did the sales for the franchise of the campaign. And Aveda exceeded its new customer acquisition goals in North America during this time.
“The results to our business were immediate, with quick lifts in highly qualified traffic just after our full-funnel campaign launched,” said Aveda head of North American marketing Theresa Block. “With our targeted strategy and sufficiency of investment, we identified an opportunity to increase awareness and brand desirability among key segments and bring new consumers to our brand.”
Source : https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-journey/full-funnel-marketing-strategy/