97. Some Personal News (SPN)

Spend allocation X Donor behavior

Apr 28, 2024

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In this week’s SPN:

3 valuable, audience-addressable channels
A fundamental change in how donor data can be collected
Meta Misbehaving: recommendations to combat current issues
Jobs & Opps that caught my eye this week

Let’s dig in!

Refresh that Digital Playbook!

Some interesting stats out of the UK: Digital ad spend is up 11% YoY to almost £30B (US is +7%).

Both sides of the Atlantic saw big upticks across Podcast ads - UK spend grew by 23% YoY - and Connected TV (CTV) up 21%. Social video continued to perform strongly with annual growth of 20%.

Growth rates across all 3 categories outperformed the digital ad market as a whole, which underscores the appeal of these wildly valuable, audience-addressable channels. Interestingly they each stand to be more immune to upcoming cookie changes than other forms of digital advertising too.

All 3 would be my top picks for "must buy" of the season.

The important takeaway here is that Ad spend data shows that spend follows consumer behavior.

Other interesting nuggets I came across:

Digital out-of-home market grew 12%.
Digital retail media spend was also up 12% as RMNs continue to prove a popular route for advertisers looking to tap into retailers’ wealth of first-party data.
Spend on mobile advertising accelerated vs 2022, when it slowed in the wake of Apple’s IDFA changes. In 2023, investment picked up growing 15% (to £16.7B).

Unsurprisingly, Search continues to underpin the ad industry - accounting for 50% of the market at £14.7B. Check out SPN’s deep dive into Search Generative Experiences, prepping for Google's huge update to Search.

Digital fundraising has brought about a tremendous amount of unrestricted fundraising in the past 3 years. Yet the digital ecosystem is undergoing a considerable shift (see the post below on first-party data for an example).

Media that are often referred to as ‘emerging’ are taking their place as increasingly established ways to resonate with engaged donor audiences - could be the immersive nature of podcasts or the niche topics explored with vast engagement in social video.

All roads lead back to Audiences. How do your current advertising allocations stack up against where this data shows your donors are spending masses of time?

Running the same playbook that worked in 2020-2022 on Meta ain’t gonna cut it no more.

This Should Ring Alarm Bells

Google’s cookie jar remains stubbornly full as they hit ‘snooze’ on privacy changes...yet again.

In a move that shocked absolutely no one, Google again pushed back its deadline to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome this week. This latest procrastination marks the third delay since the initial announcement in January 2020.

Why should Orgs care?

This delay in phasing out third-party cookies should ring alarm bells for Orgs. It isn’t merely a technical update; it’s a fundamental change in how donor data can be collected and leveraged online.

It’s worth understanding several key implications:

Data Strategy Overhaul: As cookies fade away, the necessity for robust first-party data strategies becomes paramount. This is the time to accelerate any development of direct donor relationships to gather actionable insights without relying on third-party data.
Privacy-First Advertising: The emphasis on privacy is reshaping donor expectations and regulatory landscapes alike. This means embracing privacy-first advertising technologies and methods that respect donor consent. Think ATT (Apple's framework for making in-app ad placements more privacy-centric) or Advertising tech that give Orgs access to first-party data while prioritizing privacy (e.g. RMNs).
Experiment and Adapt: This delay at least provides extra time for a little innovation. Use the time to test approaches like contextual advertising and predictive analytics, which don’t rely on individual tracking.
Competitive Edge: Those who adapt swiftly and effectively to a cookie-less world could gain a significant competitive advantage. You’ve got more time now. Being proactive rather than reactive in this transition can set an Org apart in a crowded market.

This whole series of postponements underscores the dilemma Google faces as it attempts to reconcile privacy enhancements with the operational demands of the digital advertising ecosystem. Or...said another way...regulators are on to the pandora’s box of anticompetitive behaviors this unlocks. But maybe that’s just me.

The smart advice is to ignore the bickering and get ready for a post cookie world - SPN friends at the IAB put it well:

“The shift away from third-party identifiers is already well under way and getting on the front foot means not waiting for the final phase-out. We’re at a crossroads and the action you take today will define how this plays out tomorrow.”

Understanding and preparing for these changes now is crucial. Orgs have been given a temporary stay of targeting and measurement execution.

Don’t squander this opportunity!

Jobs & Opps 🛠️

USA for UNFPA: Director, Leadership Giving ($125,000 - $140,000)

Samaritans: Assistant Director, Supporter Engagement (£75,000-£78,000)

Obama Foundation: Director, Athletic Center and Sports Leadership Programs, Obama Presidential Center ($129,000 - $162,000)

New York Pops: Director, Development ($150,000 - $160,000)

UNICEF Canada: Chief Strategic Engagement Officer ($187,000 - $215,000 CAD)

American Cancer Society: Director, Brand & Fundraising ($102,000 - $128,000)

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: VP Science Communications ($297,000 - $475,000)

Save the Children International: International Website Product Owner (circa £60,000, doesn’t have to be UK-based)

Equality Federation: VP, Donor Engagement & Comms ($150,000)

Mind: Head of Fundraising Innovation (£52,973 - £59,368)

Meta Misbehaving?

I tee’d up this topic a little cheekily earlier. Today’s longer post is all about Meta… specifically, what to do when Meta is breaking, misreporting numbers, or just not driving results.

The punchline is you need to build a brand, not just ask for money on Meta. When you have “Brand,” you have the leverage to turn on other channels quickly.

Meta has been a mess for many Orgs since the beginning of March, not just nonprofit Orgs. CPMs are up 5-50%, CPAs are up, and conversions are down. It’s been a bit of a nightmare scenario for Orgs who rely on social for the bulk of their revenue, and especially those who mainly rely on Meta to drive that revenue.

The weird thing is that not all Orgs are affected. I’ve chatted to B2B, B2C, D2C and nonprofit Orgs for whom it’s business as usual — no changes to their CPMs or Meta firepower. And others across every sector who are fighting to stay profitable and testing out new creative, new messaging, new ad accounts, etc. Even with the most senior of reps at Meta or however big the nonprofit Org, there’s not a whole lot you can do when the platform is having technical issues that affect performance.

So I wanted to go through some recs to combat the Meta mess. These are in no way exhaustive, and they certainly don’t replace an Orgs reliance on Meta as a channel, but I thought it would be helpful to share a few things I've been sharing with others offline over the last few weeks.

The below also isn’t intended to speak to Meta’s announcement this week that they’ll discontinue its fundraising products - fundraiser tools and donate buttons - across Europe starting July 1. Though it may help.
As a UK or US org, there’s nothing to worry about immediately but bear in mind the revenue hit for any future budget planning exercises! This is also as good a time as any to be aware of the data held in your Meta accounts and begin hatching a plan to download/integrate it with your CRM.

Diversifying Channels

Maybe obvious but if your CACs on Meta are up 20-50% you need to dial back spend and start focusing on other channels! You might find that TikTok does a fantastic job driving awareness and Meta gets more efficient from simply retargeting that traffic.

Diversification also means figuring out channels like YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap, X/Twitter, TV, native ads, podcasts, direct mail, etc. Hopefully you’ve taken some time to build up at least two other healthy channels for your Org that you can divert spend to.

Not many channels scale like Meta does but getting a few channels to ramp up quickly can help soften that blow from poor Meta performance. You'll need to go one by one and start testing each of these if you aren’t already live on them. Obviously they all have their pros and cons. For example:

X is getting tons of impressions and clicks but the conversions are low and you may see more bot traffic.
TV is great for top of funnel and some direct response but it’s more expensive and takes more time to stand up.
Native ads on Taboola and Outbrain help you tap into massive amounts of non social inventory but the CVRs aren’t as good as Meta when it’s working correctly.
Podcasts are a longer fundraising cycle but they’re a great way to build your Orgs brand and stay top of mind.
Partnering with creators who have a lot of influence and organic reach is one of the best ways to go. Hopefully you have spent some time building influencer relationships and you can spin this up quickly this month.
Snap is underrated and I think more Orgs should be experimenting with it.

Partnering with Influencers and Creators

If Meta is drastically underperforming, I'd be tempted to take the next 4 weeks of spend that you have planned on Meta, cut it in half, and go find as many relevant influencers and creators to promote your Mission. You need to find the right mix of their audience, engagement and fit for your Org.

Send them swag and pay for posts, share before and after program/product shots, etc.

If their posts perform, try getting them to agree to a contract to whitelist ads from their accounts. Whitelisting with the right creative via influencers is another great way to bring CACs down. This strategy has worked for many years on Meta and it still works today.

An Owned Organic Content Engine

DTC brands often do this very well. And now is exactly the time that Orgs wish they made the strategic investment into building up their own organic content engine! No ads? No problem.

That said, it doesn’t mean the investment is free.

The reality is having a strong organic content engine is going to do multiple things for you:

Diversify your fundraising away from paid.
Make your paid efforts cheaper (from the halo effect of donors recognizing and following your Org from organic social).
Develop critical learnings from your donors about what offers, angles, and hooks resonate to drive fundraising).
Test concepts cheaply before running paid.

I’ve seen occasions where organic strategies have delivered a far higher ROAS than plenty of paid efforts. More Orgs could really be thinking critically about this and leaning into more organic content strategies where they can. It’s a long term investment that can be worth its weight in gold (especially as paid social CPMs and CACs continue to rise).

Wrapping Up

IMO, success always leaves clues and it’s all right there. Obviously there’s no one size fits all solution to any of this but my advice is to learn and test out all of the key strategies for yourself. Also, see what’s working for ecomm and retail brands. They continue to be a massive source of inspiration for me when thinking about donor engagement and experience.

Ok, that’s all for today!

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Now onto the interesting stuff!