Using Data Studio Lists as an Audience Source (Legacy Display Ads)

Note

This functionality is limited to our legacy display advertising product (tactics/campaigns launched pre-spring 2023). This feature will continue to function for any legacy tactics that still remain active in your instance, but it cannot be utilized with any current or future campaigns.

For new display campaigns, please use the new Segment Builder in Data Studio. 

Prerequisites

This feature is available to customers whose Terminus subscription includes Data Studio and Ad Experiences. Additionally, customers will need to have saved account lists created in Data Studio to use this feature.

Feature Overview

As an addition to our audience source options for Terminus Ad Experiences, this feature allows Terminus customers to make their Data Studio Lists actionable by associating them to an advertising tactic on the Display Advertising channel.

When to Use Data Studio Lists as an Audience Source

With this feature, Terminus customers will be able to push a saved list of accounts created in the Data Studio directly to our Display Advertising tactic builder.

Customers that are currently using our direct Salesforce integration with the Ad Experiences product, however, may find there are scenarios where leveraging either Data Studio Lists, or Salesforce directly, may be more beneficial.

You may find that using Data Studio Lists as an audience source is beneficial if:

• You have experienced challenges with getting down to the “right” list of accounts in the current SFDC <> Ad Experiences integration.
  
• Leveraging the flexibility of Data Studio’s Global Filters (re: cross-object filtering) to create segmented account lists is more advantageous for Terminus advertising efforts.

Note: It is not required to create dedicated account lists specifically for your Terminus advertising efforts. However, if you do wish to create advertising lists, we would suggest grouping those in an advertising-specific folder in Data Studio. For example:

• You want to layer additional data sources on to your account lists that may not be available in SFDC, and are also highly dynamic, like Terminus Engagement Spike or Bombora intent data.
• You are planning on creating lists that are under 1,500 accounts, and will use those lists for mirrored channel campaign and reporting efforts.
• You are not using our progression rule functionality heavily in Ad Experiences, or have advertising use cases that would not necessarily warrant the need for progression rules (e.g: “Always On Air Cover,” or smaller lists that are easily maintained manually)

You may find that using the direct Salesforce integration as an audience source is beneficial if:

• Your SFDC segmentation is easily executed in the current Ad Experiences integration.
• You either do not have, or do not plan to incorporate, dynamic data sets, like intent or Engagement Spike, into your advertising strategy.
• Your Data Studio Lists are over 1,500 accounts, and you do not want to create dedicated Data Studio lists for advertising use.
• You are using our progression rule functionality heavily, and have use cases (e.g. BDR/SDR engagement, stage-based tactics, 1:1s) where accounts are flowing in and out of different advertising tactics regularly.

A few business considerations for leveraging this feature:

• Only public and read-only folders/lists can be leveraged in the Data Studio > Ad Experiences integration. Private folders/lists will not show in the integration.
• Currently, we are only able to report on Terminus display advertising performance data.
• The Terminus Ad Experiences display channel currently accepts lists of 1,500 accounts or less.
• Data Studio lists are static, so your advertising audience will not automatically update unless accounts are manually added/removed, or filtering criteria is changed, in Data Studio. Additionally, you will not be able to use progression rules if your audience source is a Data Studio list.

Getting Started With this Feature

Launching a New Tactic

To use this feature, customers will first need to have saved Account Lists created in Data Studio. For tips on getting started with Account Lists, check out this article.

When creating a new advertising tactic in the Terminus Ad Experiences product, customers will first select “Terminus Account Hub ”, as the audience source in the Ad Experiences Campaign/Tactic Builder:

On the next page, you will be asked to select the folder location and specific Account List you will be leveraging for your advertising audience. Once you have selected your Account List, you will have the option to preview the specific accounts we recognize as being a part of that list in Data Studio.

From there, you will be able to proceed to the normal steps for launching a display advertising.

Feature Details

Tactic Detail Page

Once a tactic is submitted customers will see the following information in the Tactic Detail page:

For Display tactics, customers will see:

• Audience Source: Data Studio* (formerly "Account Hub")

*For Display tactics, customers will be able to view only the Audience Source at this time. In order to view the associated List name, customers should navigate into the Tactic builder using “Edit Tactic” link

Making Changes to Your Account List 

When a customer makes changes to a saved list that is linked to an active Terminus advertising tactic, the following workflows will occur:

Adding Accounts to a List

After adding new accounts to the list, those accounts will go through our standard data matching process before we are able to start serving ads to them.

If the list size exceeds the active account limit for that channel once new accounts are added, those accounts will still be accepted. However, we will not start serving ads to those accounts until more accounts are removed from the list, or are manually inactivated in the advertising tactic.

Removing Accounts from a List 

If an account is removed from a Data Studio list, that account will be removed from the advertising tactic within 24 hours. Customers can also manually turn accounts off in the tactic detail page.

Deleting an Account List 

When a customer deletes an entire list in Data Studio (that is associated to an active advertising tactic), no change will occur to the accounts and associated tactic in Ad Experiences. If this action occurs, we will display a message on the tactic detail page to notify users the Data Studio list tied to the tactic has been deleted.

FAQs

Will my advertising accounts lists update dynamically as changes are made in my connected CRM or Marketing Automation platform?

• No; since lists created in Data Studio are static, your advertising audience will not automatically update unless accounts are manually added/removed, or filtering criteria is changed, in Data Studio.