Updated February 2024.
2-min audio summary:
Finding the right digital marketing agency isn’t easy. But the digital marketing case studies they showcase on their site can offer invaluable insights for businesses looking to hire an agency.
Not only will you get a better idea of what they’re capable of, but you’ll better understand the impact of specific strategies and campaigns that the digital marketers used, too.
In this post, we’ll cover nine of our latest digital marketing case studies to dive deep into real-world scenarios in which we walk through the successes, challenges, and ROI that our clients experienced.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Successful Digital Marketing Strategies
In the competitive online world, digital marketing will engage your customers to drive business growth. That said, there are a number of marketing strategies that will accomplish your goals while making your ROI.
Here are the top strategies that should be added to every digital marketing campaign to drive measurable results.
Understanding Customer Behavior
When you understand your audience’s wants and needs, it can lead to an exceptional user experience.
In a survey, 94% of respondents stated that a positive experience made them purchase from the same brand again:
But these positive experiences vary, depending on what the customer is looking for.
There are four types of customer behaviors:
- Habitual buying behavior: Customers usually buy the same products from the same brand.
- Variety-seeking behavior: Consumers usually buy alternatives to products to achieve the same satisfaction.
- Complex buying behavior: When customers invest in high-value items or services that aren’t frequently purchased.
- Dissonance-reducing buying behavior: When a consumer is engaged in research but isn’t finding many options.
These behaviors vary depending on the level of involvement, products and industry, and competition between brands.
Creating Relevant High-Quality Content
53% of companies are improving the quality of their content – and for a good reason:
Content guides users down the sales funnel, educating them about your industry, what you sell, and why it solves their problems. The best type of content answers questions and keeps users engaged, all without sounding too promotional.
Popular examples of useful content include:
- Landing pages
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Videos
- White papers
- Infographics
- Case studies (such as this one)
- E-books
Creating content for all sales funnel stages is the best course of action. For example, blog posts are popular for the awareness phrase, while a lead about to make a purchase may want to read your product white paper first.
Social Media for Relationship Building
4.9 billion people use social media worldwide, so it’s obvious that your customers are on various social platforms.
However, customers no longer want to be bombarded by various promotional posts and ads – they want to build relationships with brands. Businesses should consider the customer experience when creating social marketing strategies. And there are many ways for brands to meet this demand.
- Social listening is an exceptional way to satisfy customer demands while collecting first-party data. Various social listening tools track mentions, hashtags, and other branded terms so you’ll always know how customers feel about your company and products.
- 40%-60% of customers are also using social media as a support channel. Brands should always keep up with their DMs, mentions, and reviews.
- And don’t forget about personalization on social media. 89% of marketers see a good ROI and 40% enjoy higher revenue when using personalization in their campaigns:
In addition to offering exceptional social media customer service, going live and interacting with customers is another way to improve your personalization strategy.
Targeting Your Ideal Audience with Paid Advertising
Paid advertising offers many benefits. For example:
- The average paid ad campaign generates a 200% ROI!
- Paid advertising promotes your brand, increasing brand awareness and visibility.
- And since 65% of SMBs and medium-sized businesses have a paid ad campaign, investing in advertising ensures you keep up with the competition.
Because paid advertising is so effective, you can use PPC strategies on Google and most social media platforms.
Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines
Since 53% of website traffic comes from organic search engine results, it’s still integral to optimize your website for SEO:
Remember to:
- Always perform on-page tactics, such as using keywords in page titles, URL slugs, and headings.
- Keep an updated blog and optimize your content for high-ranking keywords.
- Run regular SEO audits to ensure no technical issues are decreasing your performance on SERPs.
Poring over a case study for digital marketing can be very helpful in visualizing these marketing strategies.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs are quantifiable indicators that prove your progress in your marketing campaign. Marketers can also measure KPIs to plan future campaigns, improve existing strategies, and create a basis for decision-making.
Here are the most vital KPIs for marketing:
- Traffic growth: Measures the increase of website visitors over a specific timeframe.
- Conversion rates: Metric that represents the percentage of website visitors who bought a product or responded to your CTA.
- Customer engagement: Measures how customers interact with your brand, i.e., how long they spend on your website per session.
- Revenue increase: How much money your business made in a certain period. Businesses often compare revenue increases over past periods.
In our digital marketing case study examples below, you’ll see how we tackle each of these KPIs.
Calculating ROI for Different Digital Marketing Channels
Before starting your marketing campaign, it’s essential to calculate ROI for different marketing channels to ensure that you don’t overspend. Every marketing channel comes with various strategies to calculate ROI.
Here’s a snapshot of each.
SEO Campaign ROI
Since SEO consists of multiple tactics, marketers should calculate ROI for all strategies. This can include any investments, such as tools and the personnel you hire or outsource to complete these tactics.
SEO ROI also varies by industry. All businesses can use a tool like Google Analytics to measure revenue from organic searches:
Certain industries, notably e-commerce companies, should also measure sales from organic search traffic. Other businesses can create a sales funnel and track conversions with each phase (for example, the percentage of leads who entered the awareness phase and who made purchases).
Once you have these figures, you can subtract the revenue you made from SEO from your investments.
Google Ads Campaign ROI
To calculate Google Ads ROI, Google suggests taking the revenue you generated from your campaign and subtracting it from your costs, then dividing that figure again by the costs. That formula looks like this: ROI = (Revenue – Cost of goods sold) / Cost of goods sold.
While tracking Google Ads conversions and purchases are the best ways to calculate paid ad ROI, your chosen method depends on your goals. Consider other goals, such as downloading a white paper or signing up for a free trial.
Social Media Marketing ROI
Social media marketing can be part of many strategies, such as a lead generation campaign. Some brands may also use social media to improve their brand awareness. This is why calculating your social media ROI depends on your goals.
You’ll first need to collect data on your campaign, such as engagements, impressions, and clicks. Compare these results against any expenses to run your campaign, such as advertising costs and any wages or rates you paid for staff members or freelancers.
Content Marketing ROI
Since content marketing involves many blog posts, videos, infographics, and other forms of content, many marketers calculate their ROI based on the total investments in a given time period.
Use this formula to calculate your content marketing ROI:
In this figure, you’ll add your overhead costs to get the investments, and you’ll find the return by adding your sales numbers. By subtracting and dividing the return by the investment and multiplying that figure by 100, you’ll get a percentage.
Now, let’s dive into a digital marketing case study for each of nine marketing areas.
9 Successful Digital Marketing Agency Case Studies
Now that you know what exactly goes into a marketing strategy, let’s take a look at nine of our digital marketing case studies that showcase these strategies while taking you through the challenge, strategy and execution.
Paid Search
This case study is of a client that is an AI-powered workplace communications platform. They reached out to Single Grain to launch a paid social and search strategy for their digital marketing campaign.
Challenge
The client had low brand awareness and didn’t have a paid ad strategy in their digital marketing campaign before seeking our services. The company desired to build user demand with a social and search advertising strategy. They desired a full-funnel strategy, targeting leads at every stage of the buying process.
Strategy
We created a comprehensive paid strategy for search engines. We also used LinkedIn to establish our client as a leader in their niche to increase organic traffic.
Execution
For the paid search strategy, we targeted brand traffic, high-intent brand interest, and competitor searches. We took first-party data from LinkedIn to align the ads with their target audience, experimenting with different ads to match user intent.
We also used their LinkedIn page to establish the client as a leader in their niche. This helped to grow customer lists, improve their digital marketing efforts, and grow website traffic.
Results
The client experienced a 24% increase in lead submissions. LinkedIn is their main touchpoint for Tier 1 and 2 leads, and search is the driving force behind closing high-value accounts. We achieved these results while reducing costs by 16% and maintaining a CPA of -32%.
Takeaway
In only three months after paid search and LinkedIn campaign launch, the client achieved a 24% increase in conversions.
SEO: Gump’s
Gump’s San Francisco is a specialty goods store selling various home decor and jewelry items. After having a successful previous year, they sought help from Single Grain in March 2022 to advance the previous year’s sales with various digital marketing tactics.
Challenge
Gump’s doesn’t have many challenges as far as digital marketing is concerned. They had successful sales in 2021 and set goals to surpass these revenue records.
Strategy
For this digital marketing case study, we used cross-selling and digital marketing to retain existing customers while utilizing Google Search and Shopping to attract new customers.
Execution
We invested in paid ads across various channels while expanding its Google Search and Shopping strategy. We optimized Gump’s product listings for the home decor category, ensuring that we targeted their audience.
Results
Gump’s surpassed their 2021 sales goals. Their year-over-year sales are increasing by 92%, solely attributed to marketing. This led to a 79% increase in overall revenue. They achieved an over 40% increase in web traffic, a 79% increase in total orders, 104% Google ROI in the home decor category, and a 32% return customer rate.
By optimizing Gump’s product listings for home decor categories, we improved their ROAS by 104% – nearly double the amount of spend.
Takeaway
By targeting the home decor category on Google and retargeting existing customers, we conquered Gump’s 2022 sales goals with digital marketing and drove sales and revenue growth.
Programmatic Ads: Hestan Culinary
Hestan Culinary sells high-quality pots, pans, and other cookware that’s backed by Michelin-star chefs. After seeing sales drop, they needed an effective revenue growth digital marketing solution that also improved their ROAS.
Challenge
Hestan Culinary sells chef-grade cookware. While this is great for professionals, it doesn’t target the casual cooking enthusiast or those trying to cook more at home. Hestan Culinary’s products come with a longer buyer’s digital marketing journey, which posed a problem when they started seeing sales drop.
Strategy
Hestan Culinary needed to drive sales growth while improving its ROAS. This is why we expanded to programmatic ads with a full-funnel digital marketing approach. We used StackAdapt to reach a qualified audience, using different tactics to nurture them down the sales funnel.
Execution
Through the programmatic advertising StackAdapt strategy, we implemented catalog and native feed units for a stronger-performing ad campaign. By targeting qualified audience members immediately, Hestan Culinary improved its ROAS while increasing conversions.
Results
After the first month of the campaign, Hestan Culinary achieved a 218% increase in conversions and a ROAS that went from 1.91 to 9.20. We sustained these metrics for over 45 days after the launch, and Hestan Culinary achieved more revenue.
Takeaway
Hestan Culinary not only achieved more conversions and revenue, but programmatic advertising improved its full-funnel digital marketing strategy.
Landing Page and LinkedIn Marketing: Learning A-Z
Learning A-Z sells science and literacy blended learning products to students at Pe K-6 grades. We helped them with two strategies: landing page testing…
…and purchasing licenses by targeting school administrators on LinkedIn:
Challenge
Learning A-Z’s original landing page had far too many external links and CTAs, which very likely confused customers. They were also looking to increase sales for licenses on LinkedIn.
Strategy
First, we redesigned their existing landing page. We focused on simplifying their design so as not to deter customers away from their products and services.
To increase license sales, we used LinkedIn’s Job Title Targeting function to find school administrators and used digital marketing to target these consumers.
Execution
For the landing page, we created 1-2 CTAs driving conversions per page. We used one of two buttons for these CTAs: “Free Trial” or “Order Now.”
For the licenses, we used LinkedIn’s tools to write specific job titles that narrowed down the list of candidates to those with K-5 grade school administration roles.
Results
The redesigned landing page resulted in 73% more “Order Now” clicks, 42% more “Free Trial” clicks, and 125% more conversions.
By targeting K-5 school administrators on LinkedIn, Learning A-Z achieved 462 new users, notably one free trial, four new purchases, positive website metrics, and 12 sample downloads. However, our LinkedIn efforts resulted in a high CPA, so we turned our attention to Facebook Admin. Since then, Learning A-Z has achieved a 5.47 ROAS.
Takeaway
Learning A-Z’s simplified landing page resulted in more conversions. While they had some success on LinkedIn in increasing licenses, Facebook Admin resulted in a better ROAS.
Social Media and E-Commerce: LockNLube
LockNLube sells various greasing products and parts for cars. Single Grain helped them with various digital marketing strategies: optimizing for Amazon and eBay:
…along with developing a media strategy with a heavy emphasis on TikTok ads:
Challenge
LockNLube wanted to optimize its product listings for Amazon. Since they were heading into their peak season, they wanted to increase top-of-funnel awareness with various digital marketing strategies.
LockNLube was also struggling with eBay’s new marketing tool, Promoted Listings Advanced. However, there were few bidding controls.
Strategy
We gave LockNLube’s Amazon digital marketing strategy a complete makeover, rewriting their titles and descriptions. We also scaled Amazon ad spending.
For eBay, we used keyword bidding to make up for what eBay’s Promoted Listings Advanced tool lacked.
For TikTok, we took LockNLube’s previous creatives and re-optimized them for TikTok.
In addition to these standout cases, we created a complete media strategy for LockNLube, adding new digital platforms to their campaign. These included YouTube ads, demand-side-platforms (DSP), IG/FB Shopping, Walmart ads, top-of-funnel marketing, SMS marketing, relaunched branding and store pages, and Performance Max campaigns.
Execution
For Amazon, we implemented A+ digital marketing content for their Amazon product listings, A/B testing all images and content.
For eBay, we took top-performing keywords from Amazon and Google to begin their eBay campaign. We also added competitor keywords to the campaign. To test the success, we separated all keywords into three groups: Brand, Nonbrand, and Competitor. We observed these keywords to see which keywords were converting.
For TikTok, we redid the creatives to make them more creative and entertaining. In addition to the advertising and marketing campaigns we added to their overall media strategy, we also implemented “frequently bought together” features.
Results
Re-optimizing LockNLube’s Amazon page resulted in 54% revenue growth year over year while also maintaining ROAS. Optimizing their content led to over 100% increases in sessions and an increased 24.7% conversion rate.
For eBay, there are 21% more clicks, 74% more impressions, and 12%, with ROAS increased at 110%.
For TikTok, their engagement rate and CTR were fantastic while keeping CPCs and CPMs low. Since we didn’t achieve as good of a ROAS from direct response, we came to the conclusion that TikTok is better as an upper-channel digital marketing tactic.
From Q1 2019 to Q3 2022, LockNLube saw an overall revenue increase. We launched eight new channels, which resulted in a 42% increase in AOV, a 68% increase in paid traffic, and an 18% increase in the average YOY customer return rate.
Takeaway
We drove revenue for LockNLube thanks to the launch of eight new digital marketing channels and re-optimizing their existing Amazon, eBay, and TikTok strategies.
Google Ads: Peet’s Coffee
Peet’s Coffee sells high-quality coffee and tea, sourcing the best beans and leaves. They reached out to Single Grain to improve their Google Ads strategy.
Challenge
Peet’s Coffee has excellent brand awareness and digital marketing campaigns but had very little presence on Google Ads. Even though they saw a return from their existing strategy, growth was still stagnant.
Strategy
We focused on Google Ads and optimized their campaign for different types of keywords, as well as revamped the ad copy.
Execution
We bid on high-ROI keywords, such as branded and product name terms. We rewrote the ad copy to fit the landing pages better and focus on the UVP of the product. We also tested non-branded keywords, scaling them to improve their ROI.
Results
Peet’s Coffee saw a 455% increase in revenue and 676% more orders, all with a 158% increase in ROAS and a reduced 72% cost per order. This was thanks to our efforts aligning searcher intent with ad copy.
Takeaway
Revamping Peet’s Google Ads strategy resulted in huge sales growth while improving ROAS.
PPC: Simon Pearce
Simon Pearce is an entrepreneur who reached success by selling handmade pottery and glassware. He approached Single Grain to improve his ROAS on his paid search campaign.
Challenge
Simon Pearce’s ROAS was declining YoY from January 2022 to January 2023. Not only that, but CPC was up by 168%.
Strategy
We realized the rising CPC was directly affecting Simon Pearce’s ROAS. To cut back on costs, we created a manual bidding strategy and scrapped the previous automated bidding campaign.
Execution
Even though branded digital marketing keywords are some of the most affordable, Simon Pearce was spending more than he was getting in return on these search terms. We experimented with manual bidding and doing away with their previous automated strategy to try and improve the ROAS.
Results
Early digital marketing results were extremely strong. By manually bidding on keywords and watching spend, we decreased his CPC by 60% and improved their ROAS by 135%. These tactics didn’t compromise impressions; Simon Pearce achieved a 60% CTR and a 17% increase in impression share.
Takeaway
This digital marketing case study shows that using manual bidding on Google Ads improved ROAS for Simon Pearce.
SEO: The Mom Project
The Mom Project (TMP) is a recruiter that connects talented women to companies and job opportunities. They reached out to Single Grain to decrease their costs per lead in their digital marketing campaign.
Challenge
While The Mom Project had a digital marketing search campaign, it was failing to capture total search demand. They needed a solution to decrease their costs per lead while better targeting their audience.
Strategy
Single Grain revamped TMP’s search copy to target a qualified audience better. We also separated the job titles into different audience signals, giving Google a better idea of the audience we were trying to target. We used Performance Max to find qualified clicks.
Execution
The digital marketing audience signals we created for the strategy were Custom Segments (keywords related to hiring intent), Interests (audience members who connected with TMP based on interests and demographics), and Your Data (people who previously interacted with TMP).
From here, we were able to redo customer lists, assess lead quality, use location targeting and bid adjustments, and create ad schedules. Performance Max leveraged automation to find qualified clicks on display, search, video, discover, and Gmail, lowering costs.
Results
By using Performance Max, we achieved a lower CPA and CPC, down 51.3% and 91.2%, respectively. Performance Max also helped us use this data to target TOFU audiences.
Takeaway
By using Performance Max, we were able to improve TOFU digital marketing search demand and improve CPA for The Mom Project.
Pixel and Google Tag Manager: Inkbox, Airbnb and Spearmint Love
This digital marketing case study targets remarketing for three brands: Inkbox, Airbnb, and Spearmint Love. We collected data on revenue and conversions from these brands to determine the impact of our remarketing campaign.
Challenge
- Inkbox is a temporary tattoo company that wanted to retarget marketing leads on Reddit, hoping it would lower their CPA.
- Property rental giant Airbnb used Google to improve vendor collection, prevent bottlenecks between operations and marketing, avoid unnecessary tagging replication, and minimize snippet size.
- Kids clothing and accessories company Spearmint Love used Facebook to retarget moms.
Strategy
- For Inkbox’s social marketing retargeting, we used a Reddit Pixel that captured a larger audience and tracked conversions.
- For Airbnb, we implemented Google Tag Manager and built a data layer.
- For Spearmint Love, we added Facebook Pixel to automate audience targeting, simplified ad creation and targeting, and tracked ROAS.
Execution
- For Inkbox, the Reddit Pixel helped us understand Inkbox’s Reddit audience, so we were able to customize messaging and creatives to target their consumers. This helped return customers to the sales funnel.
- For Airbnb, Google Tag Manager launched new programs, tools, and vendors quicker. It also cut tag deployment to hours (was previously at days).
- For Spearmint Love, we integrated Facebook Pixel with their BigCommerce platform, which boosted their business and resulted in more hires from within.
Results
- For Inkbox, we helped them achieve 1.5x higher CTRs and lowered CPAs by 86%.
- For Airbnb, we helped them achieve an 8% increase in website speed, more optimizations, accurate data collection, and a better ROI.
- For Spearmint Love, we helped them achieve a 38x ROAS, with 14.6x of that figure return going toward Facebook. Their advertising success also led to a 12x YoY growth in revenue.
Takeaway
By enacting a remarketing strategy for Inkbox, Airbnb, and Spearmint Love, we helped these brands achieve more CTRs and revenue growth on various social media platforms with improved ROAS, CPAs, and ROI.
Common Themes and Insights
While all of these digital marketing case studies are different, there are many parallels between these brands:
Many of these brands executed their own advertising strategy but were struggling to improve their ROAS on their own.
Because of higher CPCs, this made achieving an ad return even more difficult.
Single Grain’s digital marketers had to think outside the box for these clients, using strategies such as manual bidding and relying on unconventional social media platforms such as Reddit.
Some of these platforms, such as eBay, lacked essential advertising marketing strategies with their own tools, so we implemented additional strategies to increase impressions and CTRs.
Final Recommendations
Here are our overall final recommendations:
- While many businesses can handle an ad strategy DIY, trusting a digital marketing agency like Single Grain will result in the most conversions and the best ROAS.
- Use different tools, such as Performance Max and Pixel, to better entice your target audience.
- While advanced advertising technology such as programmatic ads can increase conversions, manual tactics, such as bidding, can still keep costs down.
- Less is more, especially when it comes to ad copy and landing page design.
- Diversifying your channels and targeting specific audiences on those platforms is the real revenue driver for TOFU targeting.
- Don’t overlook the power of remarketing to an existing audience.
Conclusion
Because of the complex world of digital marketing, even the biggest companies may need help with their campaigns. That’s why they hired professional digital marketers.
While all these case studies are different, they have one thing in common: We increased impressions and revenue while improving ROAS.
By diversifying their platforms, adding new channels, and revamping existing strategies, our digital marketers helped these brands increase web traffic, sales, and return customer rates.
Seeking help from a professional is also a smart idea when creating a new ad strategy, especially if you have low brand awareness and don’t know your target audience. This way, you know you can convert leads while achieving exceptional ROAS.
Remember: Reading a case study on digital marketing (or, better yet, several case studies) can help you learn not only what kind of success can be had, but how exactly the marketing agency you’re thinking of hiring went about it.
If you’re ready to level up your business, Single Grain’s digital marketing experts can help with paid ads, SEO, content marketing and more!👇
Digital Marketing Case Studies FAQs
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What are case studies in marketing?
Case studies in marketing are comprehensive analyses of specific instances where marketing strategies and campaigns were employed to achieve business objectives. These case study examples of digital marketing focus on real-world examples, detailing the challenges faced, strategies implemented, and outcomes achieved.
They serve several purposes, including:
- Educational Tools: Marketing case studies are used as teaching aids to illustrate marketing concepts and strategies in action, helping students and professionals understand how theories apply in real-life scenarios.
- Evidence of Success: For businesses, they provide evidence of successful marketing strategies and can be used to showcase their achievements to potential clients or stakeholders.
- Strategic Planning: They offer valuable insights into what worked or didn’t work in certain situations, aiding in the formulation of future marketing strategies.
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Where to read marketing case studies?
Right here! Just scroll up to read 9 case study examples of digital marketing tactics!
Otherwise, marketing case studies can be found across various platforms and publications, both online and in print, including:
- Business Schools and Academic Journals: Many leading business schools publish case studies on marketing strategies and business management. Journals such as the Harvard Business Review are renowned for their extensive collection of case studies.
- Company Websites: Businesses, especially digital marketing agencies, often publish case studies on their websites, showcasing successful campaigns or strategies they’ve implemented for clients.
- Marketing Blogs and Websites: Websites dedicated to marketing and business strategies, such as HubSpot, MarketingProfs, and Forbes, frequently feature case studies and success stories.
- Professional Associations: Organizations like the American Marketing Association (AMA) provide resources, including case studies, to their members.
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What are some examples of case study topics?
Examples of case study topics in marketing could include:
- Launch of a New Product: Analyzing the strategy behind introducing a new product to the market.
- Brand Rejuvenation: A study on how a brand successfully repositioned itself in the market.
- Digital Marketing Success: Examining the digital strategies an agency used to increase its online presence and sales for themselves or their clients.
- Social Media Campaigns: Analysis of a campaign that leveraged social media platforms to achieve specific marketing objectives.
- International Marketing: How a brand successfully entered and established itself in a foreign market.
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What is an example of a digital marketing case study?
Again, just scroll up to read this blog in which we provide 9 examples of digital marketing case studies!
Here’s a quick example of a company using targeted social media advertising to increase brand awareness and sales. For instance:
- Objective: A small e-commerce brand aimed to increase its online sales by 30% over three months.
- Strategy: The brand decided to utilize Facebook and Instagram advertising, targeting users based on their interests, previous interactions with the website, and demographic information.
- Implementation: They created a series of engaging ads featuring user-generated content, reviews, and special promotions. The campaign also included A/B testing of ad copy and visuals to determine what resonated best with their target audience.
- Outcome: The campaign led to a 40% increase in online sales, exceeded the initial goal, and also grew the brand’s social media following significantly.
This digital marketing case study example showcases the power of a well-planned and executed strategy, highlighting the importance of targeting, content, and continuous optimization in achieving marketing goals.
