The biggest challenge was to reconcile the goals of the campaign: to achieve immediate performance in the form of conversions, and at the same time to build a brand in a new market in the long term. Coordination between performance and RTB channels required precise management, as well as the cooperation of two teams - agency account managers and PPC specialists with RTB specialists from Zircon Tree marts. The hypothesis was clear: Consistent branding will increase the search for the brand, which in turn will strengthen the performance of all channels. The purpose of the campaign was not only to get handles, but to create trust and loyalty to the brand.

The long-term campaign to support the brand brought measurable results and also had an effect on e-shop transactions. We achieved a double effect thanks to an effective combination of RTB and PPC channels. The client, a large e-shop from the segment of spare parts for cars and motorcycles felt an increase in visits in the short and long term, which we can attribute to a successful campaign. A comprehensive online communication strategy ensured an increase in brand awareness and also had an effect on sales and revenue.

The presented client is a reliable e-shop with a wide range of auto parts, accessories and accessories for cars and commercial vehicles. It operates in several European markets, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, where it has gained the trust of customers thanks to favorable prices, fast delivery and quality products. The brand focuses on end customers and smaller car workshops, while regularly bringing promotions, loyalty benefits and premium services. Its goal is to simplify the purchase of auto parts online and offer motorists trouble-free maintenance of their vehicles.

Putting the plans into practice was a certain challenge from the point of view of coordinating activities between the two entities. Agency dabl. she was in charge of communication with the client, strategy coordination and execution of performance campaigns and campaigns on social networks. It teamed up with martech company Zircon Tree focused on successful brand campaigns in the RTB environment.

The communication strategy aimed to strengthen the brand and attract relevant customers to the web. We combined brand and performance channels, while banners purchased via RTB ensured wide reach nd awareness building. Meta ads promoted user engagement and retargeting increasing the chance of conversions. We built the performance part of the campaign on Google Ads, where we targeted users with a clear purchase intention.

Despite the fact that the e-shop is already active on the Hungarian market, the key challenge was to strengthen its brand and at the same time maximize sales. We launched PPC campaigns on Google and Meta at the beginning of June, while RTB formats were added in August, which made it possible to evaluate their impact on other channels and the overall performance of the campaign. Average monthly budgets ranged from €4 to €10,000. Despite the fact that units of €1,000 were allocated to RTB, the brand part of the campaign had a measurable impact.

RTB campaigns were aimed at maximizing hits and clicks, with the fact that we also measured purchases made in the advertising system from the beginning.

The primary goal of RTB campaigns was brand support. Secondary then bringing relevant traffic to the website and therefore clicks, or actions on the website - browsing the product, placing the product in the basket, or completing the purchase. The campaigns reached an average of 176,000 unique users per month with a frequency of 2.7. We thus delivered around 475,000 impressions per month. The optimal frequency for segments of this type is higher due to the shorter decision-making cycle of the customer, the need for more frequent reminders of the brand in a competitive environment and the need to repeatedly communicate the practical benefits of the product, such as price, quality and availability.

In the campaign, we managed to deliver an above-average CTR of around 0.52%. The CPM remained below the planned €3 throughout the campaign. In the second half of the campaign, after the client's feedback, we also started to optimize for transactions.

1. Impact of RTB campaign on paid channels

We observe the impact of the launch of RTB campaigns in August on all other channels in the media mix. For both PPC and Facebook campaigns, a significant decrease in CPA is clearly visible since the launch of the brand campaign in August, from which it can be concluded that the campaigns helped to spend resources more efficiently in the channels that stand in the customer journey for RTB (PPC, Facebook). This assumption is also confirmed by the development of the brand search campaign (PPC campaign aimed only at searching for the client's brand), where a sharp increase in impressions can be seen after the launch of the campaign in RTB. It can thus be assumed that the user, who did not click on the campaign in RTB, but remembered the client's brand, then came and bought from the client's brand search.

2. The impact of the RTB campaign on organic traffic sources

We also observe a similar effect of launching RTB campaigns in organic and direct visits in Google Analytics. With the launch of RTB campaigns in August, organic search traffic on Google doubled and targeted transactions increased 2.5x. Direct visits to the e-shop then grew from a few hundred to more than 10,000. The volume of transactions almost quadrupled. We can see the positive impact of advertising activities in the popularity of the brand, but also in direct visits. Users already remember the brand and come directly or from organic search and make purchases. Increasing organic search volume also has a positive effect on the reliability of the domain, which has the potential to improve positions in search engines with increasing organic search numbers.

The impact of our communication strategy on the brand position can also be measured with tools for SERP analysis, such as Marketing Miner. In the development of SERP metrics, it can be seen that the sharp increase in brand searches occurred at the end of October. The impact of campaigns on the brand does not occur immediately, and even with this client, it occurred about two months after the launch of brand communication. Here you can see the importance of continuous communication and persistence in the case of brand support. Users needed to be exposed to advertising continuously and for a long time in order to start to perceive the brand sufficiently and search for it organically.

Also in Google Ads, when analyzing keywords, we see that brand keywords have seen a significant increase in searches since June. The specific name of the client then showed an increase of 88%.

This campaign showed that the connection of performance and brand channels brings a synergistic effect - not only in an immediate increase in transactions, but also in long-term brand building. Thanks to the precise coordination of the teams and a clearly defined strategy, it was possible to reach the relevant audience, increase traffic and conversions and, above all, strengthen the client's position on the Hungarian market. The combination of a data-based approach and creative execution thus confirmed once again that marketing is not only about performance, but also about trust and relationship with the brand.

Suggestion for improvement

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