Head of the TikTok Department
Colin Korzemba
Colin made his start mastering Facebook/Instagram advertising by launching and scaling several brands at The Snow Agency. After discovering the explosive potential of TikTok, Colin spearheaded our agency’s expansion into the new platform by building this department from the ground up. He is now our Senior Digital Marketing Manager and Head of TikTok Ads, using his expertise to develop and implement high-level strategies for our brands.
LIVE Case Study Launching & Optimizing Klora
Unlike most young brands, Klora has a robust content library. Prior to the brand’s launch, we worked with creators through the TikTok Creator Marketplace, and through our partner, Insense, to generate video testimonials. So when the time came, we had a variety of ads to power our TikTok launch with.
While Klora has dozens of videos, it does NOT have a refined sales pitch & brand voice. This is intentional because creating a brand image logically rarely works as well as building one through meticulous content testing. Instead of containing our content creators, we allowed them to do their thing, flex their personalities, and make authentic content. We chose to worry about developing Klora’s image AFTER finding some successful approaches.
So, given the available pool of content and present challenges, we began to methodically test each video and document the results. We tested each video with the same age/gender targeting, no Cold Interest filters, and a fixed budget of $150 per video.
The results of this test (unsurprisingly) followed a Pareto Distribution (commonly understood as the 80/20 Law). This means that the majority of videos got Zero purchases, a handful of videos got one purchase each, two videos got multiple purchases, and ONE video accounted for OVER HALF of all purchases.
This is a common distribution in media buying, so our next steps were clear.
First, we scaled up the Winning Video (as it was the only one that generated a ROAS greater than 1x) by increasing spend on the existing adset, and creating additional adsets with different target audiences and bid strategies.
Next, we began the more difficult task of optimizing our array of unsuccessful videos. While other brands or agencies might be quick to forget about their underperforming ads, we have a step-by-step process that reliably turns them into winners!
Step 1. Dissect the Winning Video
Classic marketing wisdom says that the best way to sell a product is to tell a story. Heroes, problems, antagonists, wise teachers, secret weapons, and character transformations are all universal components of storytelling, and countless marketers have successfully integrated these elements into their craft.
In a vacuum, the cookie cutter storytelling format may be the best way to sell (similar to what you can learn about on Storybrand.com). But in practice, we must also take into account our medium – platforms like TikTok deliver information in unique ways, which influence the way viewers process the information.
We know this because ad buying profitability is not as simple as, “which ad told the best story?” Results can be unpredictable and chaotic, reflecting the intangible nuances of each tech platform. So to maximize profitability, we must warp the storytelling structure, and let our ad buying results guide us.
So, while the format of a typical story is…
Character -> Has a Physical Problem -> And an Emotional Problem -> Meets a Mentor -> Who has Credibility & a Secret Weapon -> and calls the character to Action -> leading to Results -> and a Character Transformation
Your Winning Ad may be completely different…
As such, during this first step in our process, we must dissect the Winning Video, and understand the unique approach it takes to storytelling
By doing this, we will arrive at an alternative storytelling framework; one that is distinctly different from the typical one, but is maximally aligned with your Ad Buying medium. It may have new elements, exclude traditional components, or flip the ordinary flow on its head. What’s important is not that you understand WHY the ad works, only that it DOES work, and HOW you can emulate its success.
Step 2. Dissecting Losing videos
Now we’ve discussed (a) how storytelling plays into the ad creation process, (b) why storytelling should be flexible when applied to a platform like TikTok, and (c) how to break down broken videos into their storytelling components.
During this step, we will do the same video dissecting as we did in the previous stage, except instead of dissecting 1 Winning Video, we will dissect 3-6 losing videos. We can choose which videos to dissect at our own discretion, either based on objective metrics like performance data (ctr’s, roas, etc) or for subjective/intuitive reasons.
Step 3. Creating Clones
By this point, we’ve dissected our Winning Video and several losing videos, identifying their constituent parts.
To proceed, we can now ask ourselves two questions…
- What is the ORDER of the ELEMENTS in our Winning Video?
- Which of our losing videos have similar ELEMENTS but in different ORDERS
Once we answer these questions, we can find one or two videos with similar elements as the Winning Video, and then rearrange their elements to match the Winning Video as closely as possible.
This will give us brand new videos that maintain the same structure as the Winning Video, except featuring different people, different language, and different charismas.
Step 4. Assembling Frankenstein's Monster
In the Previous stage, we performed DNA surgery. We used our Winning Video as a starting point, we selected additional videos with distinct identities, broke down the additional videos into their constituent moments, and rearranged them to mimic the Winning Video.
In this stage, we are creating a Chimera. Previously, we chose ONE video, chopped it up, and turned it into a replica of the Winning Video. Now we are selecting MANY videos, pulling different clips out, and creating an entirely new video that maintains the flow of the Winning Video.
This time, we have more source material to work with, so we can stitch together the best moments of each video and arrive at an even more engaging version of the Winning Video. This new Frankenstein’s Monster video also reaps the benefits of having snappy editing, and many different faces & voices, each with their own personalities.
Step 5. Becoming a Screenwriter
If we go through the above steps and our new videos continue to underperform, we have NOT wasted our time.
Like we discussed in Step 1, the classic storytelling structure is memorable and impactful, but it doesn’t guarantee perfect ad buying results. That’s why we let results (rather than theory) guide our ad buying.
If the results of Stages 2-4 are lackluster, then we the Winning Video is NOT successful because of its alternative storytelling structure, but rather because of the personality in the video.
When this is the case, we can circle back and take a new approach – optimizing the Winning Video by rearranging it into a typical story
We can actually use the same table we created in Stage 2, and flip it around….
Essentially, we act like film editors, taking the footage that our actors gave us, and arranging it into a smooth, crystal clear viewing experience.
Conclusion
This is a Live Case study, meaning we are documenting and telling you about the steps we take in real time. If you want to see the REAL results of the steps we described, you’ll have to read the next installment of this newsletter!
Of course, we have already used this process dozens of times (otherwise our Live Case Study would be setting us up for some embarrassing results), so if your brand is in a similar place as Klora, we encourage you to follow along. Go through the steps listed above and feel free to email back with any questions. In two weeks, you can compare your results to ours, and see what next steps we recommend!
Why Should Your Brand Run TikTok Ads?
To scale your business to new heights, you need access to untapped customer bases with high growth potential. That’s where TikTok comes in. TikTok has over 50 million daily active users and an average of 650,000 new users joining every day. With great content and proper optimization, TikTok could be the platform you need to explode your brand.
Still unsure? Connect with us.
Conversion Tracking & Optimization
We optimize every stage in the funnel to achieve your best conversion rate.
Advanced Consumer Profiling
We leverage market research and consumer data to identify your customers’ main interests and what compels them to buy.
Content Strategy & Production
With us, you get a personal team of Creative Strategists, Designers, and Video Editors.
TikTok Agency Partner
We enjoy 24/7 priority access to TikTok support as TikTok Agency Partners.
Why Should Your Brand Run TikTok Ads?
To scale your business to new heights, you need access to untapped customer bases with high growth potential. That’s where TikTok comes in. TikTok has over 50 million daily active users and an average of 650,000 new users joining every day. With great content and proper optimization, TikTok could be the platform you need to explode your brand.
Still unsure? Connect with us.
Conversion Tracking & Optimization
We optimize every stage in the funnel to achieve your best conversion rate.
Advanced Consumer Profiling
We leverage market research and consumer data to identify your customers’ main interests and what compels them to buy.
Content Strategy & Production
With us, you get a personal team of Creative Strategists, Designers, and Video Editors.
TikTok Agency Partner
We enjoy 24/7 priority access to TikTok support as TikTok Agency Partners.
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