January is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. For some of us, that might
mean joining a gym to get in shape. Due to shutdowns, capacity restrictions or simply
an abundance of caution, a lot of people have not stepped foot inside a fitness center
since before the pandemic.
The YMCA of Greater Louisville wants to change that — and get local residents
back on a path toward living their healthiest, happiest lives. And for a nonprofit like
the Y, engaging new members is more crucial to its mission than ever. With so many
people already thinking about making positive changes in the new year, it was the perfect time to launch a new member drive.
Here’s the deal, though: The Y understood that to engage new members, you first have to get in front of them. And that’s one thing Current360 does best. As rock stars in targeted media buying and placement, we know exactly how to reach people with the right message at the right moment.
We’ve partnered with the Y for many years on other projects, so they’ve seen firsthand that we don’t just meet expectations, we exceed them. They’ve also seen how well we work with others.
In the case of the YMCA’s membership drive, another top-notch Louisville agency
designed the creative assets (TV, radio and digital ads) for the campaign, and we took
on the media component. These types of partnerships are very common in the
advertising industry — it’s not about getting the whole pie, it’s what we do with the
piece we’re given. For us, that means doing whatever it takes to move our clients’ brands forward.
The Tactics and the Results
So, what exactly did we do? We pulled out our entire arsenal of media tactics to
maximize the campaign’s reach and impact. We took advantage of traditional forms
of advertising, including outdoor, radio and television. You might have seen one of
the billboards or heard a commercial.
Our digital approach included a broad range of hyper-targeting tactics to reach
potential members, based on their purchasing habits and online history. This
strategic approach ensured less waste and allowed us to get trackable results.
Examples include geotargeting, demographics and a series of advanced targeting tactics. These were applied to social advertising, search-engine marketing (SEM) and display efforts, to name a few.
We’re especially proud that our digital efforts resulted in growth across the board,
even as competition increased year over year (YOY) and marketing budgets shrank —
during a worldwide pandemic.
Don’t just take our word for it.
“Many advertisers leaned more heavily into the digital realm during the pandemic,”
said Kati Parrish, Account Executive for the YMCA of Greater Louisville. “That
increased competition required careful targeting tactics to ensure messaging was delivered to the proper audience with the least waste. Current360 is consistently
optimizing and adjusting our targeting tactics on behalf of clients and is pleased to
deliver year over year.”
The results speak for themselves. Here are a few highlights, listed by type of
placement.
- Paid search ads. Grew click-through rate (CTR) by nearly 10% from 2019 to
2021. CTR is the ratio of clicks an ad gets to the number of times it’s shown (impressions). It’s a common metric used to gauge the relevancy and quality of
an ad. - Google Grants (a Google Ads program for nonprofits). Grew clicks YOY by nearly 50% (48.7) AND grew CTR by more than 10% from 2019 to 2021.
- Paid Facebook ads. Grew CTR by 33.5% and lowered Cost Per Click by $0.15
while decreasing budget YOY by more than 50%.
Digital ads, including display, video and audio. Delivered better than a 97% video completion rate and 95% audio completion rate.
We’re really proud to have lent our expertise to a campaign that’s driving our
community and its residents toward meaningful change. (Join the Y, you’ll thank us
later.)
What meaningful changes would YOU like to make for your business? Let us help you
share your message with the right audience at the right time.
