In this op-ed, Jaime Nosworthy, CEO of The Pistol (above), explains why all adland guns should value small wins as much as big ones.
In an ever-shifting landscape like retail, sweeping big moves and bold gambles do not pave the way to growth.
Instead, it’s the small, strategic adjustments that often lead to monumental business impact.
We’ve seen firsthand how minor, incremental improvements can transform a retailer’s performance in ways that are both significant and sustainable.
Let me tell you a story. When we first partnered with a well-known Australian fashion retailer, their global paid media plan looked like a teenager’s bedroom: fragmented ad accounts, flawed data capture, and zero cohesion for all their paid and organic work.
They needed a change, but they didn’t need a revolution.
What they needed were small, smart adjustments.
In three short months, we turned the ship around, enabling better machine learning and optimisation of their ads; driving 118% growth in paid-attributed revenue. Plenty of attention was paid to optimising the data-capture strategy, alongside their product feed hygiene, for a 15% increase in average order value and a 91% increase in attributed transactions.
This retailer’s growth wasn’t only in paid search.
Add to that a focused local SEO strategy with an increase in signal resilience, and they saw an 86% increase in organic keywords in the top three, along with a 25% lift in revenue attributed to organic search.
The key to these successes? A meticulous, data-driven approach. Here are some tips for the tactics that worked wonders:
Data capture, activation, and enrichment strategy: Capture and activate data so that no single customer interaction is wasted. The enriched data allows precision targeting and personalisation, which means better results can be achieved. This golden rule ensures best practice budget allocation and optimal performance.
Reduce unnecessary campaign complexity: Times have changed, machine learning capabilities are enhanced, as are optimisation opportunities. Streamlining campaign set up and structure ensures more effective budget allocation and improved performance.
Optimised infrastructure: Seamless, real-time data flows, online to offline unification, and dynamic, rule based optimisation lead to more efficient and effective campaigns. Your infrastructure is the foundation for the performance of your entire marketing mix.
Agnostic, multi-touch attribution: We need to stop accepting in-platform measurement as an effective tool for optimised marketing strategies. Leveraging agnostic analytics tools translates to clearer strategic shifts, less wasted media, and ultimately greater return.
Integrated paid and owned channels: Investing in the long game through a robust owned channel strategy translates to less reliance on paid media and a more seamless customer experience.
Using these tips, success did not stop with one retailer. A global fashion retailer was facing the same challenges.
A similar systematic approach resulted in a 71% increase in proportionate paid-attributed revenue, an 8% lift in ROI, and an 18% reduction in cost per acquisition, all in the first 90 days of partnership.
Small changes can have very big impacts.
Our favourite story is our partnership with a beloved Australian furniture retailer. Their prior results were, at best, mediocre with a severely fragmented media strategy.
Within three months, their blended return on ad spend improved by 725%, proportionate paid attributed revenue increased by 56%, and average basket size grew by 32%. On top of that, they also saw an 11% year-over-year improvement in full-price transactions.
So believe in the power of small wins. All these strategic tweaks and refinements in marketing augment each other, which is why the development and growth can be tremendous.
Your accelerated journey to growth starts with a single step. The question is, are you ready to take it?
