Self-serve ads and the rise of DIY advertising

Rather than thinking through whether or not advertising on TikTok makes sense for your real estate agency or if TripAdvisor is a good fit for your restaurant let someone else (ideally an algorithm) figure it out for you.

A rising opportunity in this space are tools specifically designed for the ‘amateur’ marketer - an ‘easy button’ that would, in a couple of taps create the creative, let you test different versions, balance and optimize budget across several different channels and generally let the business owners focus on operating the business while someone else ... See more

Small businesses are the focus of every self-serve platform and the theme for this cohort is automation. Think about the day-to-day operations of a restaurant chain or a local bar: they likely won’t have dedicated marketing staff on board and their budgets are small and tied to performance.

Growth/Challenger Advertisers: These brands have largely perfected how to promote within a single channel very effectively. Facebook, Instagram, email lists, and community-building are frequent staples with some high-density area out-of-home advertising sprinkled in for good measure. These advertisers are now running face-first into platform limita... See more

Self-serve is meant to make everything easier; in reality the proliferation of different self-serve options seems to have the opposite effect.

We’re presented with a modern advertising platform paradox:

These are relatively new waters for blue chip advertisers who are used to having a much more pronounced share of voice not just literally but figuratively, too: if Ford, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks other Top 100 advertisers decided to pause their TV advertising that would cause network and cable execs to jump into action: this group accounts for ~70% ... See more

This has been a boon to smaller advertisers. Whereas a national television campaign would require a 6-figure commitment today’s starter budgets on most platforms are in the 10s and 100s rather than 1,000s of dollars.

making it easier and cheaper to buy advertising ultimately brings in a wide variety of new buyers and creates an advertiser long-tail.