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21 Sep 2020
Industry Trends | 2 min read

Fall Trends in Marketing Channel Mix

Rockerbox - Sara Livingston Written by Sara Livingston
on September 21, 2020

While this is certainly a massive understatement, it’s still with noting that 2020 has been a unique year.

There’s no question the broader state of the world has drastically impacted consumer behavior and spending habits.

Yet at the same time, everyone is adapting and that holds true for marketing mixes as well.

Purely from a marketing channel standpoint, below are some recent trends we’ve seen over the summer that we anticipate will continue throughout the fall and BFCM/holiday.

(Getting to work with over 100 of the leading DTC ecommerce companies puts us at a unique vantage point).

Testing and Scaling OTT

- Building on trend that started during COVID, lower demand and increased streaming has driven lower rates and more new brands are capitalizing on this opportunity to test
-Measuring the impact of OTT extends beyond CPA and ROAS- using halo analysis to quantify the impact on bottom funnel channels
-Brands that proved out OTT in Q1 and Q2 are now scaling and moving on to test Linear TV

Slimming Down Affiliates

- Cutting affiliates that aren't driving incremental users or orders; and tightening and optimizing payouts for the rest

- Focusing more on top-funnel content and commerce affiliates over bottom-funnel coupon sites

Increasing Attempts at Facebook Diversification… Finally

-Testing new channels picked up in Q2 and has been consistently increasing since
-Biggest winners of test budgets are:
  - Reddit, TikTok and Pinterest
  - Email newsletters (both niche and mainstream)
  -Niche social and dating sites/apps

Text Me, Definitely

- Now a core component of every marketer’s channel mix
- Fastest post-engagement channel on driving conversions (less clutter than email)

Audio… Much More than Podcasts

- After Podcast spend dropped in Q2 (with listening down due to no one commuting), brands are now looking at other ways to test audio
- Streaming audio (the previously abandoned audio channel) has seen an increase in test budgets in late Q3 and planned for Q4

You’ve Got (Direct) Mail

- Fastest growing “new” channel for brands (more so than OTT). “New” in quotes given Direct Mail is the oldest marketing channel on this list!
- Lower barrier to entry with creative assets
- Propelled the most by macro changes:
  - Less podcast listening (without commuting)
  - Budgets shifting out of OOH (less people out and about)
  - People are home more (and checking mail)

No more confusion. Just real marketing insights.

Talk to our team about how Rockerbox can change the way you spend—for the better.

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