COVID-19: What Performance Marketers Need to Know

by Morgan Bailey

Mar 23, 2020 · 3 min read

With event cancellations, travel restrictions, mandatory work from home policies, and #socialdistancing fully in effect, COVID-19 has disrupted performance marketing strategies across the board. Performance marketers in all industries have been scrambling to get a pulse on the landscape and adjust their plans for this new normal for now. Though certain industries are definitely hurting from governmental restrictions imposed to battle the pandemic, others—like CPG, food subscription services, home-based fitness apps, and gaming—are seeing significant gains in the current moment.

Stuck at home with digital devices as their only means of connection, consumers are spending most of their time on their phones, tablets, TVs, and computers. This surge in traffic, coupled with lower demand from advertisers, is driving low CPMs making now the time for marketers to quickly pivot their performance strategies and produce creative that drives consumers to take action. Your business depends on it.

Learn More: Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide

Creating Performance Marketing Assets on Tight Budgets

Budgets are tightening, but there are ample opportunities to repurpose existing assets without coordinating a shoot in the coming days or weeks. “New” video assets can be created remotely using unused footage from past shoots or by recutting footage you already have. Static images, too, can quickly be turned into visually engaging videos through animation or motion design to stand out in audiences’ feeds and stories.

Here are some video marketing examples of work we recently did for some of our acquisition clients at QuickFrame:

For Everlane, we used repurposed existing video footage by cutting it down to a 1×1 aspect ratio and layering on-screen text to test different messaging.

Using photography assets, we created motion stills for MVMT, bringing life and movement to still images.

Animation is another tool you can leverage to create new video assets without organizing a shoot. In this example, we used animation to create direct response creative for MoneyLion.

Producing new live action creative assets for your performance marketing campaigns is not out of the question though, and can often be executed on budgets that are far lower than those required to make commercial-quality brand creative since performance creative can take on a more UGC feel.

Utilizing Data to Create Smart Performance Video

Performance marketers can also accelerate performance improvements and ROI by being very thoughtful about how they design and create performance assets. Taking a data-driven approach to creative concepting can do just that.

At QuickFrame, we use machine learning to identify the variables in video creative that drive performance. Before formulating a multi-variate creative testing plan, we conduct a video intelligence audit of our client’s existing assets to see which variables (e.g, messaging, branding) are most closely linked with KPIs. For clients newer to video, we conduct an industry or competitor audit, instead. These learnings inform our clients’ testing plans, which directly inform a comprehensive shoot that captures video content that can be used over several weeks to produce hundreds of deliverables. This data-centric and budget-conscious model maximizes our clients’ advertising spend.

COVID-19 & Performance Marketing: The Takeaway

There has never been a better time for performance marketers to be in sync with brand, creative, and data. Communicating the right message at the right time combined with an increased focus on analytics will help us all weather this rough patch.