We get so caught up in the basic day to day performance marketing optimization and big shiny objects like mobile and social, we sometimes don’t take time to stop and think about other smaller tests we can try. What is simpler than spending $5-$10K of your budget, proving out success, and having an amazing story to tell to your management organization? Doing this will just get you more trust and get you closer to those big shiny objects your budget dollars have been vying. With all of the conferences, agency presentations, e-newsletters, feeds and information overload that I have seen lately, I decided that I would weed through it all for you and share some of the tests that I actually think are worthwhile. Yes, you can use this to sift through your voicemail and email inbox that is plagued with publisher phone calls claiming to be the best, largest, newest and fastest. Delete. Delete. Delete.

I will caveat that I have tested all of these strategies at some given point in my career in some capacity, but have not worked with all of the below mentioned publishers. These are simply a list of those that I have seen/heard of/talked to that I think are worthwhile to test with. I also consulted my agency on some of these publishers, but I was not allowed to mention the name of this agency, so I decided to just take credit for it all. Also, I am not speaking on behalf of any specific company, just as myself, an online marketer.

I also won’t claim that these ideas are new; they are just practical applications of targeting that are not always utilized to their fullest potential.

No ad networks were harmed in the making of this article (I hope).

And the winners are:

1. Search retargeting – allows you to retarget people across a network or DSP based on a group of keywords that are important to your brand. These may be consumers searching for your category or a specific product, and you were unable to capture them via search, but you now know their purchase intent based on the search activity.

Example: Consumer searches on “little black dress”, they were presented in search results with Ann Taylor, White House Black Market and an article about the best way to wear a black dress on Yahoo. As they are browsing Yahoo, they will see a banner ad for your store, where you are having a dress sale. You are capturing that user when they are in the market for a dress. Perfect.

Who does this, you ask?: Almondnet, Magnetic, Clearspring, Microsoft (in Beta right now)

• Pros:  Capture traffic you may not capture from search, capture competitors traffic, target based on stated not implied intent
• Cons: With anything like this it is hard to get enough volume quickly

2. Look-a-like modeling – We have all heard this one, however sometimes there is a hurdle of sharing data or a challenge based on the higher CPM cost. Here is a lower cost option, bring your own data. If you are quantified by Quantcast, they can easily target look-a-likes across networks or DSPs. It’s a line-item on your media plan that shows there is a strong strategy at play.

Who does this, you ask?: Quantcast, Blue Kai, Advertising.com, Adconion

• Pros:  Strategically find the exact type of user that you know will be likely to purchase your brand.
• Cons: Sometimes higher cost, more work can be involved sharing data.

3. Video ad networks – Video has also been known to be a bright shiny object, but over the years has become a more mainstream part of a media plan. With its proven success from a brand and conversion standpoint, plus the proliferation of mobile video and the numerous studies that show that video works, it just makes sense. People like to watch videos, and that is why we watch TV. Sight sound and motion in a real world setting makes sense for any brand, especially with a more complicated product.

Quit making excuses about the cost, the production, the time, and the lack of metrics for video, it just makes sense for marketers! And you can overcome all of these hurdles:

• Most video networks can take existing video and tweak it to meet your needs at no cost to you.
• I have also found that you can use low cost solutions to crowdsource video creation through sites like PopTent.
• You can create flash presentations using products that are video quality.
• Video ad networks are great at producing creative to wrap around your existing video content.
• Since they are networks, they typically run on lower CPMs at a more audience targeted approach at no waste and even pay for performance in some cases.
• A lot of these networks provide brand awareness studies at no cost with certain spend levels.
• Networks sometimes have robust platforms for distribution including sharing to social networks built in.

Who does this, you ask?: Joost by Adconion, TidalTV, Video Egg, Tremor Media

• Pros:  Removes the cost perception hurdles from video, quick and easy to start, brand awareness and extended metrics provided.
• Cons:  Hard to incorporate traditional DR metrics If you are a DR oriented

4. Blogger networks – What is the best way to grab new audiences? By using market influencers to test or sample your product then write about it. They can create contests or promotions around your brand, and drive strong engagement with their followers. Bloggers are very authentic and usually have a strong following, which is why this channel works. It is another one of those tests where networks have come in and taken away some of the hurdles that there used to be. The even better aspect of the blogger networks is that they can serve ads across the entire network while also focusing on a specific blogger, this drives reach across the entire blogging community.

Who does this, you ask?: Federated Media, BlogHer

• Pros:  Targeting a new audience via influencers instill trust in your brand, asking for comments or feedback is guaranteed brand engagement
• Cons:  Higher maintenance than other media buys, you need to provide them with specific guidance, and brand elements, and in some cases have little control over what the blogger actually writes.

5. Dynamic retargeting – Another extremely effective tactic with a misconstrued perception on how challenging it is. When your customers are shopping in your site and viewing specific items, it only makes sense to entice them with those items later on. With the fast paced multi-tasking world we live in, sometimes you have to remind customers. The more targeted you can be with these reminders, the higher the conversion rate. A lot of the new technologies allow you to incorporate tags into your site that tie back to a product catalog sku. We’ve all seen these banners and thought how challenging and expensive it is to do. Not true – some of the newer technologies actually work on a pay for performance basis, and they do all the work for you.

Who does this, you ask?: TellApart, Traffic Market Place, Criteo, Turmri/Teracent

• Pros:  The highest converting form of retargeting, no cost for creative
• Cons:  Some small engineering resources required to add tagging to your site

6. Segment targeting within networks – Looking for soccer moms, sports enthusiasts or shopaholics? Since ad networks are incented based on performance, they are almost willing to do anything to help out. In many cases, you can give them one creative unit, and various images and they can customize the units for you to match the specific targets. Again, no more excuses about the challenge and cost of effective creative.

Who does this, you ask?: TrafficMarketPlace, Burst Media

• Pros:  Inexpensive targeted creative solutions that are an alternative to a brand buy
• Cons:  Sometimes low volume, and creative can lose some of its edge

7. Email retargeting – Exactly like targeting media across ad networks, you can now target across email networks. If you have a list of opt outs, or non-engaged email subscribers, you can share them with publishers and retarget them within their daily email reads such as NY times. Sometimes email subscribers have changed their habits and don’t open email, but they will still be receptive to your brand through other targeted mediums. You can also test to see which segments perform the best and optimize over time.

Who does this, you ask?: Connection Engine

• Pros:  great way to target low engaged email subscribers at a low cost, only pay for opens
• Cons:  Sometimes low volume, and you do need to share email subscriber data files

8. Deal a day sites – Not just for local viewing anymore, and there are now over 500 of these gems. You can easily experiment in a few markets, nationally, or create your own white label deal a day site.

Who does this, you ask?: Groupon, BuyWithMe, Pounce or Bounce, Living Social, Plum District, Nimble Commerce

• Pros:  A great way to drive trial and new distribution of product, as well as sell off clearance merchandise
• Cons:  Forecasting is a challenge, the channel is still so new that laws are not clear, there are new sites popping up every day, navigating the landscape is tough

9. Targeting online gamers – With the rise in online gaming across social networks and mobile devices, it only makes sense to target the audience who apparently has a lot of time on their hands. If they have so much time available for entertainment, perhaps they have time to spend with your brand? Keep ads fun and engaging to sit within the gamer’s mindset and you will be more successful. Don’t just repurpose a standard ad unit. As with anything, a lot of the ad networks will create the ads for you, so no excuses on creative costs.

Who does this, you ask?: MiniKlip, WildTangent, Shockwave, Addicting Games

• Pros:  A pretty innovative and interactive way to engage with the right audience
• Cons:  Lack of targeting, potential for users to block out messages, lack of meaningful metrics

10. Target your customers social patterns – We all know that the ultimate recommendation is that which comes from a friend via word of mouth, so it only makes sense that friends of your customers who are sharing information with them will be better prospects for your brand. Yes, it sounds kind of spooky, but it also makes sense. A lot of these networks have the capability to understand your site visitor’s social activities, who they are “friends with” online and who they are sharing with. You can also deliver much more focused creative to support this strategy like “All your friends love BrandXYZ”.

I am not sure where this new technology is going, but I suggest trying it while it’s still legal.

Who does this, you ask?: ShareThis, 33 Across, Media6Degrees

• Pros:  Easily target friends of your customers, using your customers as the ultimate influencers
• Cons:  Lack of scale, may be privacy issues in your company not allowing you to test this

The great aspect of all of these tests is that you don’t have to dedicate a huge testing budget to check them out. Don’t use one of these as a standalone solution; use them all appropriately as part of your digital marketing mix. After you test, compile the results in a story like setting, and take them to your boss. Let me know how it goes.

Up next – top strategies to drive holiday 2010 performance.

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