When to expand advertising beyond Google and Meta

Marketing teams should think about expanding beyond Google and Meta— or at least, that was our hypothesis going into episode five of our video series, The Hypothesis. In this episode, we discuss why so much ad spend goes into these two channels, how to better optimize them to get the most out of your investment, what “di-worsification” is, why and when to start considering new channels, and where to expand. Watch the full video below or listen to the episode here to get this conversation in its entirety. More of a skimmer? Keep reading for our top takeaways.

Top takeaways from this episode 

What is the average media mix in ad programs for organizations right now?

• Media mix refers to where ad dollars go — this can include channels and tactics.
• This mix varies a ton by business size. 
• Smaller businesses (for easy reference, let’s say any organizations spending <$100,000/month on paid ads) aren’t normally too complex. 
  • Some Google search engine marketing and some paid social (Meta, LinkedIn, or TikTok).
  • Can get distracted by recommendations by friends or new platforms and veer away from those core channels.
  • Often aren’t as optimized in their core channels as they could be and should think about depth vs. breadth 

• Medium businesses (roughly $100,000 to $500,000 in spend)
  • Still focusing on Google SEM and some paid social but looking to other, experimental channels to add to the mix

• Large businesses ($500,000+ monthly ad spend)
  • Channel exploration becomes a more important part of the scaling plan for these brands
  • These brands are where the risk of over-investment becomes more pertinent and real. Diversification is more of a necessity here.

When and why should marketers diversify?

• First of all, it’s important to understand channel and tactic level diminishing returns here before moving on to experimentation in new areas. Meta and Google are often popular for a reason. We strongly recommend looking into solid testing plans to understand exactly what’s happening (check out our whole episode on testing and in-platform reporting here).
• Listen to your users. Find out what channels they’re spending their time on rather than relying on your competitors media mix to inform your diversification choices.
• Beware of “di-worsification”. This is when marketers are doing too many things at once creating needless complexity, confusion, and distribution of attention across too many channels. This happens a lot with smaller budgets as it’s not enough resources spread too thinly.

Where should marketers look to invest going forward?

• It’s hard to get too prescriptive here but one thing is for sure now, tomorrow, and always: do the research to find the platforms your users are on and the tactics that will engage them meaningfully.