Media Buyers Manual - Episode 2 Recap

Welcome, thank you - I’ve got to save words for what matters, David’s wisdom.
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David Herrmann @HerrmannDigital on Twitter - he’s managed over $100m in Paid Advertising, typically on Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest.
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He got his start on MySpace managing Bands like Paramore and other indie bands, escalating to DTC brands (launch team of Costco’s Pinterest) and even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Currently, he’s all DTC, managing clients from $500k to $1.5m / month and a huge believer in Performance Marketing, stating around 95% of his ads are performance-based. (I agree on this, don’t waste $ on vanity metrics!)

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In addition to Performance Marketing, he believes in using the tools Facebook gives you.
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IE. Standard Conversion Events - (Add to Cart, Purchase, View Content) - compared to Custom Conversions… why?
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Ad blockers take an effect on Custom Conversions compared to Standard Events - solve this problem yourself by using UTM parameters via Facebook’s URL parameter.

Minimize Facebook’s options to determine Purchases.
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They built the platform, you’re in their playground or sandbox so-to-speak.
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So what Key KPI’s does David use for Scaling?​
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Revenue Unique ATC : Unique Purchases AOV per Ad Set CTR - does it meet baseline requirements?
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CPA Bonus: Video, he looks at Thumb Stop Ratio

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​How do you observe these KPI’s like David?

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Don’t look day-to-day, use a 7-day window.

I’d suggest creating benchmarks for the past 2 months overall, then breakdown your KPI’s weekly to the current date of your ads.
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It can look this basic and this is just one campaign…
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Cost Per Click - doesn’t weigh as heavily in relevance to David - his point was simply put:
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If CPC < CPA/CAC & CPA < CLTV = Scale Up.

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​How do you go about Testing Creative?

“Testing creative is an art…” - David Herrmann.
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It really is - David’s refined it.
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He uses control groups: frequent buyers as well as prospecting audiences that have historically performed well.
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Prospecting can be weighed differently compared to Retargeting.

IE. a 1.5x ROAS and 3x Remarketing ROAS is good.
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Spend a minimum of $1000 on new creative for AOV’s > $50.
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Take the winner and put it into a Dynamic Product Ad (DPA) in Facebook with other winning creative and let the algorithm figure out your winners.
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Simply take out losers and replace with other winning creative from your tests.
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When you find winning creative, dive deep into WHY it’s working and 10x that amount of content.
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If it’s one hook, go and figure out more / where / how can you repackage - make more of that.
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Creative testing is his #1 lever as a Media Buyer.
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I asked David to rank 3 levers of a Media Buyers Control (in some capacity) and here was his order…
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1) Creative Landers Offer - He can use one lander for years, (I’ve found the same).
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Just frequently swap creative to avoid ad fatigue.
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Angles are swapped out - but focus on problem one and how to repackage it - or seasonality - the zeitgeist of what’s happening now.
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Don’t change the conversation, join it - just don’t be white noise to a conversation, have a unique value.
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How can you take advantage of Pinterest?
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Pinterest is not immediate results - a mix of Social Ads + Longtail Search.
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Images pop up in Google Search, the dwell time helps SEO as does the backlinks - it’s very good.
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When you turn off the ad, the ad is still pinned to someone’s wall - an organic aspect can refer traffic and sales!
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A simple Pinterest organic/natural feeling post with embedded links and traffic ran to it generated $125k in Sales for one of David’s clients - Zag when people Zig!

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​Mindset​
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Your value is not tied to the performance of an ad account - it comes with time/age - 90% of the time an ad account doesn’t work it’s out of your absolute control.

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Big media buyers affect the ecosystem.
IE. Bloomberg
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QUICK-FIRE ROUND:

1. Do you scale by specific percentages? A: Scale by 15% every 72 hours if KPI’s meet standards.
2. Gun to your head - Images or Video Creative? A: Images.
3. Preferred Video Curation Method - UGC or Production? A: User-Generated Content all the way!
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BONUS Q: 3 People he recommends to follow and talk with?
A: Andrew Foxwell, Josh Baer & Florian Litterst
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