The Power of Relevance: Marketing During COVID-19 [Case Study]

August 20, 2020
2 min

Many companies have been searching for ways to repackage their messaging to break through the digital noise and busy schedules common in 2020. The veterinary industry is one of the few experiencing revenue growth, and veterinary teams are busy. Relevance has always been the currency that buys attention in marketing, and it’s never been more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this case study, see how one company earned attention by acing their COVID-19 messaging. The case also reveals the power of social media as a distribution channel for highly relevant content.

Case Performance

One industry company recognized the product availability issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and provided an alternative product option to veterinarians. Messaging was simple and focused on key requirements of alternative products to meet veterinary-specific needs.

The campaign leveraged email, off-site network retargeted banner ads, and Facebook retargeting. The Brief Media team identified the campaign audience based on engagement with a relevant article on cliniciansbrief.com. Once identified, the campaign audience received the message on the platform where they were most likely to see it: via email remarketing, social media retargeting, and off-site network banner retargeting.

  • Email Performance
    The subject line used keywords relevant to COVID-19. This relevance earned the email a 27.5% open rate, compared to the 22.2% benchmark.
  • Off-Network Website Banner Ad Performance
    The overall CTR performed within benchmarks and supported awareness generation initiatives for the campaign. Over a 1-month run, the banner ad earned more than 133,000 impressions.
  • Facebook Ad Performance
    The campaign’s relevant message and offerings earned engagement 5.5 times higher than benchmark engagement rates. This data highlights the value of audience-targeted Facebook advertising with a timely and relevant message.

This campaign reveals the value of adding Facebook advertising to campaigns when messaged for an urgent market need. The high performance was a result of Brief Media’s ability to target the message to the advertiser’s preferred audience.

First-party data enables Brief Media to execute advanced retargeting and remarketing campaigns via off-network extensions that include social media.

This campaign performance indicates that despite their busy schedules, veterinarians are spending time on social media. If you’re considering expanding your message distribution mix into social media, reach out—we’d love to help.