Rewriting the book on digital strategy

Rewriting the book on digital strategy

By Rich Cherecwich
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With digital, brands can become more than just advertisers; they can become partners in the consumer experience. Razorfish's chairman outlines an approach for achieving this ideal.
Advertising is simple: Take a brand, find the target market, and apply a message that will make consumers look at the brand in a new light and remember it the next time they run to the store.

Easy, right? Well, not really, according to Clark Kokich, chairman of interactive agency Razorfish. When it comes to digital, things should differ from the process mentioned above.

"The strategy in digital looks a lot like it always looked: [Digital] gets lumped into the advertising part of the brand, and I don't think that's good enough," said Kokich, speaking at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coronado, Calif.

Digital offers brands an unprecedented ability to address multiple concerns. After all, Kokich said, the internet is a marketing channel, a customer service channel, and even a storefront. As brands recognize this, they are starting to construct more complicated and original campaigns. The bigger the impact, the greater the demand. There's one catch, though.

"You're seeing companies doing things that have a big impact in the market, and other companies are saying 'Let's do more stuff like that,'" Kokich said. "The problem is, there's no process for doing 'that,' and there's no history."

The problem with digital is that it still follows the linear development process that traditional campaigns follow, where a campaign travels a straight line from research to strategy to creative to media, then on to the client.

For digital success, that process needs to be torn down and rebuilt. It needs to be less about what you can say that will alter consumer perception, and more about using digital to alter the way consumers experience the brand, according to Kokich. To do that, he offered five tips:

1. Use research to find unmet consumer needsThis is a basic tenant of marketing and branding. As brands look to develop new products, they examine what the consumer needs. In his presentation, Kokich provided three examples of how Nike, Fiat, and Best Buy have all launched digital initiatives that function as platforms, rather than messaging. Through these platforms, the brands became partners in the consumer experience, and that's key.

"Your goal is find out 'what does the consumer need that they're not getting?''' Kokich said. "When you find three needs, ask, 'Can I use digital to fill one of those needs?'"

2. Look at business problems, not just advertising problemsAgain, this point refers to the multiple facets the internet provides. At least one out of every three broad-based strategic initiatives can be solved through digital, Kokich said, and you can incorporate these business problems into the digital campaign.

3. Build a culture of collaborationKokich's process is completely non-linear. Digital campaigns obviously require more people in the process, including the technology developers and analytics experts. But they should also include more client involvement. After all, ideas can and should come from anyone involved in the process.

Kokich explained that when he started in advertising, he couldn't wait to have a corner office and serve as a mentor to younger members of an agency when problems arose by giving them ideas or pointing to a precedent. With this non-linear process, things are far different.
"I thought I could say, 'Oh, this is what we did back in '82, try it this way,'" he said. "And it's nothing like that. I have no f**king clue, and neither do you."

4. Big ideas still matter, but they look differentA mobile campaign is not a big idea, according to Kokich. Rather, it's a small part of a bigger idea. In the example he shared from Nike, the shoemaker built an online platform that encouraged runners to join "The Human Race," a 10-kilometer run that happened on a specific day in countries around the world. That campaign was a big idea, and a mobile application was just a small part of it.

5. Silos kill digital strategyAlthough the internet functions as a directory, store, and customer relationship tool, those aspects of branding are all separate for clients, and that stifles digital creativity. Kokich explained how Razorfish once pitched a company on an idea that he personally was excited about, and the company's CMO was on board as well. But once other departments were looped into the idea, it died on the vine.

"It could have been a lousy idea, but it doesn't matter," Kokich said. "The silos will kill digital strategy. At most companies, the only person who could buy an idea like that is the CEO, and that's not going to happen most of the time."

Rich Cherecwich is associate editor of iMedia Connection.

10 tactics for lowering your website's bounce rate

10 tactics for lowering your website's bounce rate

Taking action A thorough bounce rate analysis (and resulting actions to correct problem areas) should include the following steps.

1. Analyze the source of the visit. Identify the search engines and the channel (search vs. content network, etc.) with the highest bounce rates, and test different ads accordingly in these sources.

2. Analyze the keywords. Are certain keywords leading to a 100 percent bounce rate? Test match types and negative keywords to refine the precise keyword phrases on which your ads appear.

3. Analyze the campaign funnel. Is it seamless, consistent, and intuitive? Do your ads and landing pages capture the query intent? Do they use consistent language? Always test new ads and landing page variations to ensure that you are minimizing bounce rates while maximizing conversions.

4. Analyze the timing. Do you experience a much higher bounce rate on weekends vs. weekdays, or in the morning vs. the afternoon? Explore lowering your bids on different days of the week and at different times of the day.

5. Analyze the landing page design and layout. Test different colors, buttons, and images. Test different page layouts.

6. Analyze the calls to action. Test different types of calls to action and the wording of such calls to action on your landing pages.

7. Analyze special offers. Test various types of "specials," whether discounts or value-add offerings. Test whether a percentage discount works better than a dollar-amount discount, etc.

8. Analyze the internal navigation. Don't assume that all of your visitors will have the same immediate need or objective. Some may desire to explore your website in further detail, so test whether the inclusion of additional navigational options on your landing pages improves overall results.

9. Analyze the trust elements. Test different elements that help build trust in a first-time visitor. Include a customer testimonial, link to a privacy policy, and display "trust marks" (e.g., VeriSign, Better Business Bureau) on your landing pages.

10. Analyze your customers. It's not just about your analytics data. Don't forget to ask your customers and prospects about their likes and dislikes. Include surveys on your site or send out a survey via email, ask your customer advisory board, or conduct focus groups.

As you work on improving and refining your paid search campaign, remember to include bounce rate analyses as a regular part of the process. Doing so will help you capture the right audience with the right message in the right way, and drive further campaign growth.

Tom Shapiro is director of search marketing at iProspect.
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Study Confirms Display Ads, Paid Search Work in Concert

Display ads influence search behavior, according to a study from iProspect released today. The findings rely on data to support industry rhetoric that display ads and search work together to provide a bigger impact on campaigns.

The "Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising Integration Study" suggests that while 31% of people click on display ads, nearly as many -- 27% -- go to search engines to provide a search. More than 20% type the company Web address into their browser and directly navigate to the Web site, and 9% respond by investigating the product, brand, or company through social media.

"If I don't have a display campaign to support my paid search campaign, I'm basically giving the traffic away to my competitors," said Robert Murray, CEO at iProspect, Boston. "Display isn't dead, but just as many people will perform a search, and you had better have an integrated paid search campaign."

Murray called paid search "the ultimate demand capture mechanism," but it can't create awareness for the products and the services. He said smart marketers don't need to generate demand. Although a bit of a "gorilla tactic," those running smart search campaigns integrated with someone else's display campaign let marketers capitalize on another's spend.

Tapping into a competitor's display campaign, marketers can run paid search ads based on keywords and messaging.

Marketers should keep in mind all conversions and clicks the display ad will drive to competitors' sites if they invest in display and not integrate a paid search campaign.

The survey found that of the 52% of Internet users who respond to an online display ad, 48% are familiar with the display ad offering or company but do not purchase the product. It is interesting to note that 38% learn of the offering or company for the first time from exposure to an online display ad but do not purchase the product, while 33% are familiar with the offering
or company and eventually make a purchase of the product or from that company. Only 14% learn of the offering or the company for the first time and eventually purchase the product.
Overall, the study shows that Internet users are more likely to engage and/or eventually make a purchase from brands with which they are already familiar.

Consumers also seek to validate a brand through search engine rankings. Perception suggests that if search engines rank a product or a brand high in query results, it must be a reputable brand.

Murray said marketers should also integrate display and paid search with offline media, such as radio and TV. A iProspect study conducted last year suggests that 67% of the people exposed to an offline marketing message said they performed a search.

"You need to make sure the message is consistent throughout all media including the look and feel of ad units and keywords," he said.