Client Overview

Advertising for DBT’s Coalesce conference presented an opportunity to show the value of a full-funnel, cross-channel campaign. Utilizing various platforms, mediums, and audience combinations, we were able to reach the right users with the right offers and drastically exceed performance forecasts.

-Ben Sottek, Sr. Paid Media Account Strategist at Directive

Every year, DBT partners with some of the largest players in the data space at their Coalesce conference. It’s a great initiative to network and generate referral revenue, but there’s room to make more out of their event. We decided to start by optimizing and scaling this channel with a proliferated paid media strategy. By driving signups to the conference through a widened reach, we could grow DBT’s exposure as well as its pipeline.

Generating demand in the tech space is no easy feat. We knew we wouldn’t generate enough impressions and engagement through Google ads. To justify DBT’s new foray into paid advertising, we expanded beyond the usual mediums and channels to maximize impression count and conversions. This expansion included traditional Google ads plus video, display, as well as LinkedIn and Reddit.

Since DBT had never invested in a paid media strategy, there was no historical data for Directive to use for goal setting. To set accurate benchmarks, we combined multiple sources of data to ensure the goals we set were both reasonable and worth chasing.

First, our team completed a comprehensive client analysis by industry to establish existing performance benchmarks of our work. Then, we compared these to broad-level industry standards. We also used organic conversion rates to give us more context into how DBT’s traffic engages with their site. By collecting all of this information, we were able to set the right goals for our paid media strategy.

Once we set proper goals and benchmarks to aim towards, we tackled the next challenge—our goal conversion. Instead of focusing on traditionally revenue-tied conversions such as leads and meetings booked, our campaign for DBT focused on event sign-ups, a conversion goal that was more aligned with our cross-medium, multi-platform ad campaign strategy.

As a result, we maximized impressions across all Google Ads mediums and reached the sweet spot of impression saturation. We also increased the conversion rate.

While we specialize in LinkedIn Conversation Ads, this strategy called for a volume play for impressions over a targeted approach. Instead, we leveraged every other type of ad across LinkedIn to maximize placements and saturate the entire platform with impressions.

We also targeted relevant subReddits with qualified audiences like r/bigdata and others. As a result, we were able to dominate the market where it mattered most.

While this campaign was all about growth, starting on the right foot to generate momentum was just as important. Although DBT lacked historical data, we could track our progress through the achievable, custom goals we set. In the end, we produced significantly more sign-ups and conversions at a much lower cost-per-signup.

Our market saturation strategy successfully launched DBT’s journey into paid media. This outstanding performance proves that if you leverage multiple data sets to establish goals, you have a solid foundation to build on. When it comes to the psychological game of tech demand generation, starting strong and maintaining that momentum is the best way to set your brand up for compounded growth.