Rewriting the book on digital strategy
By Rich Cherecwich
More by this AuthorContact Author
PRINT EMAIL
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.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
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.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Finding value beyond the click
Finding value beyond the click
Article HIghlights:
Clicks are on the decline and they don't measure every conversion
Focusing on clicks could leave your competitors with the upper hand
Challenge your vendor to deliver accurate view-through conversions
Next in Web Analytics
Ask any online marketer -- they've mostly likely had a conversation along these lines:
Marketer: "Our latest online campaign resulted in a high ROI, and revenue of $15,700."
Marketer's boss: "That's great! What was the click-through rate of the campaign?"
Marketer: "Well, it's below our average, but when you look at site visits and sales, this campaign was overall more successful than normal."
Marketer's boss: "We were running three offline campaigns and two other online campaigns at the same time. You are probably just seeing a lift due to those, since it had a low click-through rate, right? If people didn't click, they probably only came to our site due to the exposure the other campaigns created."
This conversation is incredibly frustrating for online marketers. You think you have a successful campaign, but your typical CTR metric doesn't support that assumption. This isn't to say that measuring clicks is never appropriate. Click tracking is still the easiest way to measure the success of paid search because the ad is what customers are looking for when they search, and clicking on it is the easiest way to get where they want to go online.
Display advertising is fundamentally different than paid search. It's interruptive by nature! Web customers happen upon your display ads while browsing the web. The hope is that they will stop what they are doing and click on your ads. That's the hope, but that isn't what occurs most of the time. A recent study by comScore revealed that 85 percent of all display clicks are driven by only one-third of online users -- referred to as heavy clickers.
This means that the majority of your audience is not going to click on your display ads. The majority of the prospects that want to visit your site after viewing one of your ads will generally choose to open a separate browser tab and navigate directly to your site, or use a search engine as a navigational tool to find you.
We're at a crossroads. Clicks are safe and measureable, so it makes sense to measure clicks. At the same time, less people are clicking on ads, so then it doesn't make sense to measure clicks. How do you measure campaign success when you can't track a click? This is a major issue that hits the entire industry. Let me introduce you to the view-through conversion (VTC). A VTC takes place when an ad is viewed, and though the web user does not click on the ad, they come back to your site later and convert.
VTCs are not a new metric, but they are gaining in importance as clicks decline. In fact, Google announced in August that it will begin measuring VTCs in coming months, as it is seeing clicks decline overall online, but Google understands that there is value without a click, and they want a piece of that pie.
The challenge for marketers is proving that when a person sees and ad and doesn't click, that you should give the ad they viewed credit for the conversion.I'll be the first to admit that no innovative, scalable solution to measuring VTCs has been proposed. You can work with vendors to measure VTCs, but that is a one-off solution for each of your vendors that will require a lot of work that some vendors may not be able to support.
Here is a list of what to do when dealing with VTCs: Control groupsIdentify or create a control group, and do not show them display ads as they surf the web. See if individuals who view your display ads convert at the same rate or higher than those who do not. If they consistently convert more often, it is safe to say that viewing ads, even without clicking on them, is increasing your conversion rates. If you measure the rate at which they are converting, then you can confidently say that VTCs increase your conversions by X percent.
Analytics are keyVendors that tell you they will be charging you based on VTCs should offer detailed analytics to support their validity and importance. If you are working with a vendor who doesn't, I would challenge them to begin doing so. Providing the analytics to support the effectiveness of VTCs will not only help clients understand the importance of VTCs, but will also help others in the industry to measure and embrace them. All too often I hear conversations around VTCs that include statements like "I'll give you credit for 25 percent of VTCs because I'm not really sure if the VTC metric is accurate."
It's dangerous to use assumptions when dealing with success metrics. Look for the truth (read: data and analytics) in understanding how a prospect responds when viewing the ad versus those who don't.Focusing only on CTRs is outdatedIf you find yourself measuring only CTRs, it's time to expand your horizons. If you are working with a vendor who only attributes success to clicks, it's time to challenge them to look deeper. If you want to grow in the industry and stay competitive, you have to learn how to measure, report and find value in beyond the click.
The easiest way to increase your confidence is through data and analytics, and as online display advertising grows, service providers will have to create those solutions for marketers. Until then, the best thing you can do is to press the importance of gaining additional data that confirms or disproves the value of the media in respect to VTCs. Watch for improvements in other campaignsMost marketers realize that when you measure VTCs, it is hard to comfortably give credit to the viewed ad as what caused the conversion. If a customer views three ads, the most common thought would be to credit the last ad viewed as the one responsible for their conversion. That method of thinking is not always correct.
Think of it like this: a customer visits your website after they read about your products. They leave without purchasing, but later use Google to navigate back to your site to purchase. Google shouldn't receive 100 percent credit for that conversion. The customer used Google as a navigation tool to find their way back to your site; yet these types of conversions happen every day and Google is given full credit for them. So what a marketer will see is an increase in conversions in their Google paid search campaign.
You may also see more direct traffic coming to your website as customers will remember that they saw your ad, and navigate back directly to purchase. The last ad viewed by a customer deserves some weight but not full responsibility.
Atlas has started to address this issue in its engagement mapping. I predict in the future, as VTCs become more common place, that measurement tools will become available for marketers to better measure where to give credit for conversions. In the meantime, pay attention to the overall conversion rate of your site, conversion rates on existing campaigns, and don't add too many new marketing variables into the mix at once so you can keep track of these increases.
The market is due for new solutions that help marketers track conversions by looking beyond the click. There's a lot of value in highly-targeted display ads that increase your conversion rates that can't be tracked via click. This is an exciting time where we have the analytics to help us make informed marketing decisions.
Be innovative by using some of the ideas I've mentioned, but I also believe that marketers and service providers need to push traditional boundaries of how campaign success has been measured.Chad Little is the CEO of FetchBack.
Article HIghlights:
Clicks are on the decline and they don't measure every conversion
Focusing on clicks could leave your competitors with the upper hand
Challenge your vendor to deliver accurate view-through conversions
Next in Web Analytics
Ask any online marketer -- they've mostly likely had a conversation along these lines:
Marketer: "Our latest online campaign resulted in a high ROI, and revenue of $15,700."
Marketer's boss: "That's great! What was the click-through rate of the campaign?"
Marketer: "Well, it's below our average, but when you look at site visits and sales, this campaign was overall more successful than normal."
Marketer's boss: "We were running three offline campaigns and two other online campaigns at the same time. You are probably just seeing a lift due to those, since it had a low click-through rate, right? If people didn't click, they probably only came to our site due to the exposure the other campaigns created."
This conversation is incredibly frustrating for online marketers. You think you have a successful campaign, but your typical CTR metric doesn't support that assumption. This isn't to say that measuring clicks is never appropriate. Click tracking is still the easiest way to measure the success of paid search because the ad is what customers are looking for when they search, and clicking on it is the easiest way to get where they want to go online.
Display advertising is fundamentally different than paid search. It's interruptive by nature! Web customers happen upon your display ads while browsing the web. The hope is that they will stop what they are doing and click on your ads. That's the hope, but that isn't what occurs most of the time. A recent study by comScore revealed that 85 percent of all display clicks are driven by only one-third of online users -- referred to as heavy clickers.
This means that the majority of your audience is not going to click on your display ads. The majority of the prospects that want to visit your site after viewing one of your ads will generally choose to open a separate browser tab and navigate directly to your site, or use a search engine as a navigational tool to find you.
We're at a crossroads. Clicks are safe and measureable, so it makes sense to measure clicks. At the same time, less people are clicking on ads, so then it doesn't make sense to measure clicks. How do you measure campaign success when you can't track a click? This is a major issue that hits the entire industry. Let me introduce you to the view-through conversion (VTC). A VTC takes place when an ad is viewed, and though the web user does not click on the ad, they come back to your site later and convert.
VTCs are not a new metric, but they are gaining in importance as clicks decline. In fact, Google announced in August that it will begin measuring VTCs in coming months, as it is seeing clicks decline overall online, but Google understands that there is value without a click, and they want a piece of that pie.
The challenge for marketers is proving that when a person sees and ad and doesn't click, that you should give the ad they viewed credit for the conversion.I'll be the first to admit that no innovative, scalable solution to measuring VTCs has been proposed. You can work with vendors to measure VTCs, but that is a one-off solution for each of your vendors that will require a lot of work that some vendors may not be able to support.
Here is a list of what to do when dealing with VTCs: Control groupsIdentify or create a control group, and do not show them display ads as they surf the web. See if individuals who view your display ads convert at the same rate or higher than those who do not. If they consistently convert more often, it is safe to say that viewing ads, even without clicking on them, is increasing your conversion rates. If you measure the rate at which they are converting, then you can confidently say that VTCs increase your conversions by X percent.
Analytics are keyVendors that tell you they will be charging you based on VTCs should offer detailed analytics to support their validity and importance. If you are working with a vendor who doesn't, I would challenge them to begin doing so. Providing the analytics to support the effectiveness of VTCs will not only help clients understand the importance of VTCs, but will also help others in the industry to measure and embrace them. All too often I hear conversations around VTCs that include statements like "I'll give you credit for 25 percent of VTCs because I'm not really sure if the VTC metric is accurate."
It's dangerous to use assumptions when dealing with success metrics. Look for the truth (read: data and analytics) in understanding how a prospect responds when viewing the ad versus those who don't.Focusing only on CTRs is outdatedIf you find yourself measuring only CTRs, it's time to expand your horizons. If you are working with a vendor who only attributes success to clicks, it's time to challenge them to look deeper. If you want to grow in the industry and stay competitive, you have to learn how to measure, report and find value in beyond the click.
The easiest way to increase your confidence is through data and analytics, and as online display advertising grows, service providers will have to create those solutions for marketers. Until then, the best thing you can do is to press the importance of gaining additional data that confirms or disproves the value of the media in respect to VTCs. Watch for improvements in other campaignsMost marketers realize that when you measure VTCs, it is hard to comfortably give credit to the viewed ad as what caused the conversion. If a customer views three ads, the most common thought would be to credit the last ad viewed as the one responsible for their conversion. That method of thinking is not always correct.
Think of it like this: a customer visits your website after they read about your products. They leave without purchasing, but later use Google to navigate back to your site to purchase. Google shouldn't receive 100 percent credit for that conversion. The customer used Google as a navigation tool to find their way back to your site; yet these types of conversions happen every day and Google is given full credit for them. So what a marketer will see is an increase in conversions in their Google paid search campaign.
You may also see more direct traffic coming to your website as customers will remember that they saw your ad, and navigate back directly to purchase. The last ad viewed by a customer deserves some weight but not full responsibility.
Atlas has started to address this issue in its engagement mapping. I predict in the future, as VTCs become more common place, that measurement tools will become available for marketers to better measure where to give credit for conversions. In the meantime, pay attention to the overall conversion rate of your site, conversion rates on existing campaigns, and don't add too many new marketing variables into the mix at once so you can keep track of these increases.
The market is due for new solutions that help marketers track conversions by looking beyond the click. There's a lot of value in highly-targeted display ads that increase your conversion rates that can't be tracked via click. This is an exciting time where we have the analytics to help us make informed marketing decisions.
Be innovative by using some of the ideas I've mentioned, but I also believe that marketers and service providers need to push traditional boundaries of how campaign success has been measured.Chad Little is the CEO of FetchBack.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Branding Versus Direct Response: Sound Familiar?
By Shane Atchison, ClickZ, May 4, 2006
Sponsored by Omniture
Related Reading
Online Advertising Shifting from Branding to Direct Response
Branding Steers Search Beyond Direct Response
Branding as a Direct Response PPC Search Byproduct
Revive the Lost Art of Direct Response Copywriting Online
Suggested Searches
direct response - profile pages - ad networks - direct marketing
Subscribe to newsletters Subscribe to RSS feeds Post a comment (0 posted)
In many conversations, marketing executives tell me their higher-level online goals are leveraging the Web to create unique brand experiences and generating brand loyalty.
Yet when I compare those conversations to topics presented by Web analytics experts, the focus still tends to be on direct response metrics: click-through, conversion, direct leads, direct revenue, and immediate return on marketing investment.
Is there too much focus on the Web as a direct response channel? What about the Web's long-term value to an organization's brand? Customer satisfaction? Overall business?
The debate of branding versus direct response isn't new. It's long been discussed in traditional offline advertising and marketing channels, too. Yet branding goals now represent the lion's share of marketing investment in TV, print, and other offline media. Why not online?
Is it time to evolve our perspective on measuring online marketing performance to include more focus on branding? I believe it is.
What's Wrong With Persuasion?
According to "The American Heritage Dictionary," "persuasion" is "the act of persuading or the state of being persuaded." Persuasion, we're taught, is the fuel of direct response marketing, both on- and offline. Conversion is the measure of how successfully your site persuades visitors to do what you want them to. OK, understood.
The problem with persuasion is many customers don't want to be persuaded. Some cats don't want to be taught to bark. They're happy behaving like cats.
What if your job as an online marketer wasn't to persuade your audience to do what you want, but instead to make it easier for them to accomplish what they want? How would that affect your site's design?
In an era when customers control what they view, when they view it, and why they view it, are hardcore persuasive tactics necessary? Worse, could they have a negative impact on long-term brand value? Sure, you can add a huge, red "Buy Now!" button on every page or hyperlink every other sentence of your copy. You may just even increase conversion doing it. But at what cost to your brand in the long run?
Don't get me wrong. Persuasive direct response has its role online, just as it does in offline marketing. A well-timed, permission-based direct email campaign with the right promotion to the right customers is smart marketing. I'm not challenging those strategies.
But up until now, Web marketing and Web analytics have almost exclusively been focused on direct response metrics. There's a need at a more strategic level to focus less on measuring every click of every page (like counting grains pouring from a hole in a large bag of rice) and more on measuring the Internet's overall, long-term value in satisfying customers and creating brand value.
Think Like a Customer, Not Like a Marketer
Forget for a moment that you're the marketing director for your organization. Imagine yourself as a customer of your organization and you go online to learn more about products, explore different options, solicit opinions, purchase -- whatever your mission. Do you approach your Web design differently?
When you think like a customer accomplishing a mission rather than a marketer purely trying to increase page-level click-through by X percent, the online experience you build changes. It naturally takes on more of a long-term brand focus. You begin to see the value in branding as well as in direct marketing. You begin to care more about what repeat visitors and other specific customer segments do rather than what the total visitor population does. Are you successful in building an online community of brand loyalists? Are you able to achieve higher profit margins and greater lifetime value due to brand lift?
Sponsored by Omniture
Related Reading
Online Advertising Shifting from Branding to Direct Response
Branding Steers Search Beyond Direct Response
Branding as a Direct Response PPC Search Byproduct
Revive the Lost Art of Direct Response Copywriting Online
Suggested Searches
direct response - profile pages - ad networks - direct marketing
Subscribe to newsletters Subscribe to RSS feeds Post a comment (0 posted)
In many conversations, marketing executives tell me their higher-level online goals are leveraging the Web to create unique brand experiences and generating brand loyalty.
Yet when I compare those conversations to topics presented by Web analytics experts, the focus still tends to be on direct response metrics: click-through, conversion, direct leads, direct revenue, and immediate return on marketing investment.
Is there too much focus on the Web as a direct response channel? What about the Web's long-term value to an organization's brand? Customer satisfaction? Overall business?
The debate of branding versus direct response isn't new. It's long been discussed in traditional offline advertising and marketing channels, too. Yet branding goals now represent the lion's share of marketing investment in TV, print, and other offline media. Why not online?
Is it time to evolve our perspective on measuring online marketing performance to include more focus on branding? I believe it is.
What's Wrong With Persuasion?
According to "The American Heritage Dictionary," "persuasion" is "the act of persuading or the state of being persuaded." Persuasion, we're taught, is the fuel of direct response marketing, both on- and offline. Conversion is the measure of how successfully your site persuades visitors to do what you want them to. OK, understood.
The problem with persuasion is many customers don't want to be persuaded. Some cats don't want to be taught to bark. They're happy behaving like cats.
What if your job as an online marketer wasn't to persuade your audience to do what you want, but instead to make it easier for them to accomplish what they want? How would that affect your site's design?
In an era when customers control what they view, when they view it, and why they view it, are hardcore persuasive tactics necessary? Worse, could they have a negative impact on long-term brand value? Sure, you can add a huge, red "Buy Now!" button on every page or hyperlink every other sentence of your copy. You may just even increase conversion doing it. But at what cost to your brand in the long run?
Don't get me wrong. Persuasive direct response has its role online, just as it does in offline marketing. A well-timed, permission-based direct email campaign with the right promotion to the right customers is smart marketing. I'm not challenging those strategies.
But up until now, Web marketing and Web analytics have almost exclusively been focused on direct response metrics. There's a need at a more strategic level to focus less on measuring every click of every page (like counting grains pouring from a hole in a large bag of rice) and more on measuring the Internet's overall, long-term value in satisfying customers and creating brand value.
Think Like a Customer, Not Like a Marketer
Forget for a moment that you're the marketing director for your organization. Imagine yourself as a customer of your organization and you go online to learn more about products, explore different options, solicit opinions, purchase -- whatever your mission. Do you approach your Web design differently?
When you think like a customer accomplishing a mission rather than a marketer purely trying to increase page-level click-through by X percent, the online experience you build changes. It naturally takes on more of a long-term brand focus. You begin to see the value in branding as well as in direct marketing. You begin to care more about what repeat visitors and other specific customer segments do rather than what the total visitor population does. Are you successful in building an online community of brand loyalists? Are you able to achieve higher profit margins and greater lifetime value due to brand lift?
Display Advertising Ain't Dead, Says Search Giant Google
ADOTAS — Google says that advertising on its ad network, Content Network, is likely to be as cost-effective - or even more cost-effective - than ads on the search network.
The median advertiser has a content CPA that’s about 2 percent lower than their search CPA, according to a Google study done over last year, and the Content Network drives a significant share of total conversions. The Content Network is an ad network reaching more than 80 percent of global Internet users, serving more than 6 billion ad impressions each day.
The analysis evaluated only click-through-conversion performance, but the value of ads placed next to relevant site content extended beyond direct response advertising. Researchers have found that online ads also drive incremental search volume.
Google says that advertising running on both search and content networks are likely to be as or more cost effective than ads solely run on the search network.
A Specific Media study found that consumers exposed to display ads were, on the average, 155 percent more likely to search for brand and segment specific terms. Advertisers benefit not only from the CT conversions driven by their ads, but also from the increased awareness generated by exposure to a targeted message.
The median advertiser has a content CPA that’s about 2 percent lower than their search CPA, according to a Google study done over last year, and the Content Network drives a significant share of total conversions. The Content Network is an ad network reaching more than 80 percent of global Internet users, serving more than 6 billion ad impressions each day.
The analysis evaluated only click-through-conversion performance, but the value of ads placed next to relevant site content extended beyond direct response advertising. Researchers have found that online ads also drive incremental search volume.
Google says that advertising running on both search and content networks are likely to be as or more cost effective than ads solely run on the search network.
A Specific Media study found that consumers exposed to display ads were, on the average, 155 percent more likely to search for brand and segment specific terms. Advertisers benefit not only from the CT conversions driven by their ads, but also from the increased awareness generated by exposure to a targeted message.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Experiment with price to find sweet spot
Higher price point could be right, but you won’t know until you try
Sacramento Business Journal - by Wil Schroter Contributing writer
Any entrepreneur who has ever tried to bring a new product to market must deal with one frustrating fact — no one knows what to charge for it.
No matter how well you think you can predict the market or how much research you’ve done, until people start paying for your product, you’re still just guessing.
Even when people begin forking over their hard-earned cash for your product, you still don’t know if you’ve optimized for the best possible price to generate the greatest number of sales.
Fortunately, there are some simple strategies you can employ to give yourself a little peace of mind.
The binary nature of pricing
The first pass you’ll want to take at pricing is to eliminate all of the people who weren’t going to pay you to begin with.
When it comes to a consumer’s perception of pricing, it’s not always the actual amount that scares people; sometimes it’s whether or not they have to pay at all. Pricing is more or less binary for consumers — they are either going to pay or they won’t. The actual price is incidental.
Having launched 10 companies myself, all in different industries ranging from automotive to financial services to television casting, I can tell you that I’ve seen both types.
There’s something that goes off in a customer’s head when he or she must pull out his or her wallet. Up until that point, the value you were providing might have gone relatively unnoticed. But when the customer has to break out the credit card, they give the value of the product a second thought.
Instead of developing your pricing to lure the group of people unwilling to pay for your product, focus on maximizing the yield of those who will. It’s a lot easier to get someone to pay 10 percent more for your product than it is to reduce the price in the hope that more people will buy it.
The ‘freemium’ model
Next, you’ll want to figure out how to separate the paying customers from the non-paying customers, without alienating either.
Leave it to overzealous Internet nerds like me to invent a word like “freemium” to explain a basic price gateway model. Freemium is a word used to describe giving a portion of your product away for free in order to attract interest, then charging the most passionate customers for premium benefits.
I’m not entirely sure, but I think this model was pioneered by Baskin Robbins every time it handed me a free sample of chocolate ice cream in order to convince me to buy an entire cone. These days the freemium model appears on iTunes. I can listen to a sample of the song for free but have to pay to download the whole song onto my iPod.
The beauty of the freemium model is that it lets you test two pricing strategies simultaneously. You get to see how many customers would be interested in your product for nothing at all and learn what about the product people are most interested in paying for.
It pays to try everything
Once you’ve separated the paying customers from the non-paying customers, you still need to settle on the right price to charge. There’s one simple answer here: Try every possible price.
I’ll give you an example.
At Swapalease.com, a site that allows people who want to get out of a car lease to connect with people who want to get into a car lease, we charged people to post their car leases online. The problem was, we didn’t know how much to charge them, so we tried every possible price.
Our early estimates figured we would probably get around $24.95 per posting on the site. We constantly tried new pricing strategies to figure out what would be the right price that consumers would accept.
Wouldn’t you know that after six months of testing, we found out the number was more than $100 per post.
Had we gone with our gut instincts, we would have vastly undervalued the product and left a whole lot of money on the table.
The only thing you can rely on when picking the price of your product is having to change it — a lot.
If you can develop a system to test as many possible price points with as many consumers as possible, you can hopefully uncover that hidden gem that is your perfect price. Until then, keep trying something new. It’s the only surefire way to win.
WIL SCHROTER is a serial entrepreneur, author and chief executive officer of Columbus, Ohio-based Go Big Network. Reach him at wilschroter.com.
Sacramento Business Journal - by Wil Schroter Contributing writer
Any entrepreneur who has ever tried to bring a new product to market must deal with one frustrating fact — no one knows what to charge for it.
No matter how well you think you can predict the market or how much research you’ve done, until people start paying for your product, you’re still just guessing.
Even when people begin forking over their hard-earned cash for your product, you still don’t know if you’ve optimized for the best possible price to generate the greatest number of sales.
Fortunately, there are some simple strategies you can employ to give yourself a little peace of mind.
The binary nature of pricing
The first pass you’ll want to take at pricing is to eliminate all of the people who weren’t going to pay you to begin with.
When it comes to a consumer’s perception of pricing, it’s not always the actual amount that scares people; sometimes it’s whether or not they have to pay at all. Pricing is more or less binary for consumers — they are either going to pay or they won’t. The actual price is incidental.
Having launched 10 companies myself, all in different industries ranging from automotive to financial services to television casting, I can tell you that I’ve seen both types.
There’s something that goes off in a customer’s head when he or she must pull out his or her wallet. Up until that point, the value you were providing might have gone relatively unnoticed. But when the customer has to break out the credit card, they give the value of the product a second thought.
Instead of developing your pricing to lure the group of people unwilling to pay for your product, focus on maximizing the yield of those who will. It’s a lot easier to get someone to pay 10 percent more for your product than it is to reduce the price in the hope that more people will buy it.
The ‘freemium’ model
Next, you’ll want to figure out how to separate the paying customers from the non-paying customers, without alienating either.
Leave it to overzealous Internet nerds like me to invent a word like “freemium” to explain a basic price gateway model. Freemium is a word used to describe giving a portion of your product away for free in order to attract interest, then charging the most passionate customers for premium benefits.
I’m not entirely sure, but I think this model was pioneered by Baskin Robbins every time it handed me a free sample of chocolate ice cream in order to convince me to buy an entire cone. These days the freemium model appears on iTunes. I can listen to a sample of the song for free but have to pay to download the whole song onto my iPod.
The beauty of the freemium model is that it lets you test two pricing strategies simultaneously. You get to see how many customers would be interested in your product for nothing at all and learn what about the product people are most interested in paying for.
It pays to try everything
Once you’ve separated the paying customers from the non-paying customers, you still need to settle on the right price to charge. There’s one simple answer here: Try every possible price.
I’ll give you an example.
At Swapalease.com, a site that allows people who want to get out of a car lease to connect with people who want to get into a car lease, we charged people to post their car leases online. The problem was, we didn’t know how much to charge them, so we tried every possible price.
Our early estimates figured we would probably get around $24.95 per posting on the site. We constantly tried new pricing strategies to figure out what would be the right price that consumers would accept.
Wouldn’t you know that after six months of testing, we found out the number was more than $100 per post.
Had we gone with our gut instincts, we would have vastly undervalued the product and left a whole lot of money on the table.
The only thing you can rely on when picking the price of your product is having to change it — a lot.
If you can develop a system to test as many possible price points with as many consumers as possible, you can hopefully uncover that hidden gem that is your perfect price. Until then, keep trying something new. It’s the only surefire way to win.
WIL SCHROTER is a serial entrepreneur, author and chief executive officer of Columbus, Ohio-based Go Big Network. Reach him at wilschroter.com.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Google Toys with Behavioral Advertising, Keeps Users Apprised
Marketing Vox-
Today Google will unveil revised privacy measures that give users more control over behavioral targeting.
When Google serves banner ads on publishers' sites, ads will feature links that explain how and why they were served. Clicking through will lead to information about its behavioral advertising program — which terraces consumers based on interests in goods or services, reports MediaPost.
The program is currently only in beta. But once a sufficient number of publishers have joined, consumers will be able to view what categories they've been listed in — and also tell Google to remove them from given categories as they see fit. A separate browser plug-in will enable them to opt out of the program permanently, or opt in to specific types of product offerings.
VP-Public Policy Mike Zaneis of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) praised Google's actions. "It's really a consumer empowerment tool, which is great," he said. "It's one more example of how industry is competing on the privacy issue, to the benefit of consumers–and also to the benefit of businesses."
But others were more skeptical about the details. Counsel Amina Fazlullah for media and telecommunications at the US Public Interest Research Group argued that an opt-out system means only sophisticated, privacy-minded consumers will make use of the new controls.
"If they asked people, 'Do you really want to be followed around and served ads,' most people would say no. Most of us don't really value advertising in any solid way."
A recent survey found three in five web users think sites track their behavior. This month, Google was one of a number of major search providers that signed off on new behavioral advertising guidelines released for the UK market by the IAB. Guidelines included stipulations that users must be given clear information about how their data is used, and a means to opt out.
Today Google will unveil revised privacy measures that give users more control over behavioral targeting.
When Google serves banner ads on publishers' sites, ads will feature links that explain how and why they were served. Clicking through will lead to information about its behavioral advertising program — which terraces consumers based on interests in goods or services, reports MediaPost.
The program is currently only in beta. But once a sufficient number of publishers have joined, consumers will be able to view what categories they've been listed in — and also tell Google to remove them from given categories as they see fit. A separate browser plug-in will enable them to opt out of the program permanently, or opt in to specific types of product offerings.
VP-Public Policy Mike Zaneis of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) praised Google's actions. "It's really a consumer empowerment tool, which is great," he said. "It's one more example of how industry is competing on the privacy issue, to the benefit of consumers–and also to the benefit of businesses."
But others were more skeptical about the details. Counsel Amina Fazlullah for media and telecommunications at the US Public Interest Research Group argued that an opt-out system means only sophisticated, privacy-minded consumers will make use of the new controls.
"If they asked people, 'Do you really want to be followed around and served ads,' most people would say no. Most of us don't really value advertising in any solid way."
A recent survey found three in five web users think sites track their behavior. This month, Google was one of a number of major search providers that signed off on new behavioral advertising guidelines released for the UK market by the IAB. Guidelines included stipulations that users must be given clear information about how their data is used, and a means to opt out.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Search Ads Vs. Display Ads?
By Chris Crum - Sat, 11/08/2008 - 08:50 How About Search Ads AND Display Ads
Many online advertisers continue to struggle with the decision to use either search engine advertising or display advertising. Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft AdCenter and the like, or good old fashioned banner displays. Both offer valid reasons, and each outperforms the other in different areas.
Why Not Use Both?Perhaps you should consider using a combination of the two to truly get the most out of you campaign. There is a common belief that search engine advertising delivers a better return-on-investment, but according to Matt Lillig of the Yahoo Analytics Team, a combination is more likely to do so.
He says that advertisers just aren't measuring display ads in the best fashion. He writes on the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog:Specifically, many advertisers primarily use conversion percentage to measure the success of their display ads and search keywords.
For example, if a display ad converts poorly (it has a low conversion percentage) then the advertiser typically lowers the budget for the ad, shifts the budget to another channel like search, or pulls the budget entirely.The problem with only using the conversion metric method is that it is a “last click” metric. “Last click” means that the ad only gets credit for the last click the visitor made before they converted. For display ad and search keyword purposes, a last-click model doesn’t reveal the true value of the ad.
For example, a display or search ad wouldn’t get the credit for driving conversions to other campaigns. This can be a major issue, as advertisers might end up cutting the budget on an effective display campaign that is driving additional conversions, brand awareness and increased visitor traffic to your web site.
He then goes on to discuss the "assist" metric in Yahoo Full Analytics, which measures the number of times that display ads or search keywords contribute to the conversion of another ad or keyword.Things Have ChangedThere is no question that Pay-Per-Click search engine advertising has gained tremendous popularity over the years with the rise of the services mentioned in the introductory paragraph. In their early stages, they appeared to be a fresh alternative to banner ads that seemed to be attracting less and less attention.
Perhaps more importantly, they brought a relevancy to ads that was not really present in older display ad campaigns. The fact that they were based on searches assured a targeted audience that was more likely to be interested in the products being advertised. This concept was and continues to be a very attractive one to advertisers.
However, display advertising platforms are now offering such a concept, which combines not only relevancy and targeting, but the branding power of eye-catching visuals. In addition, platforms like the Google AdWords Display Ad Builder, MySpace's MyAds, and others allow the advertisers themselves to easily create professional looking ads without having to go through designers or ad agencies.
Many online advertisers continue to struggle with the decision to use either search engine advertising or display advertising. Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft AdCenter and the like, or good old fashioned banner displays. Both offer valid reasons, and each outperforms the other in different areas.
Why Not Use Both?Perhaps you should consider using a combination of the two to truly get the most out of you campaign. There is a common belief that search engine advertising delivers a better return-on-investment, but according to Matt Lillig of the Yahoo Analytics Team, a combination is more likely to do so.
He says that advertisers just aren't measuring display ads in the best fashion. He writes on the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog:Specifically, many advertisers primarily use conversion percentage to measure the success of their display ads and search keywords.
For example, if a display ad converts poorly (it has a low conversion percentage) then the advertiser typically lowers the budget for the ad, shifts the budget to another channel like search, or pulls the budget entirely.The problem with only using the conversion metric method is that it is a “last click” metric. “Last click” means that the ad only gets credit for the last click the visitor made before they converted. For display ad and search keyword purposes, a last-click model doesn’t reveal the true value of the ad.
For example, a display or search ad wouldn’t get the credit for driving conversions to other campaigns. This can be a major issue, as advertisers might end up cutting the budget on an effective display campaign that is driving additional conversions, brand awareness and increased visitor traffic to your web site.
He then goes on to discuss the "assist" metric in Yahoo Full Analytics, which measures the number of times that display ads or search keywords contribute to the conversion of another ad or keyword.Things Have ChangedThere is no question that Pay-Per-Click search engine advertising has gained tremendous popularity over the years with the rise of the services mentioned in the introductory paragraph. In their early stages, they appeared to be a fresh alternative to banner ads that seemed to be attracting less and less attention.
Perhaps more importantly, they brought a relevancy to ads that was not really present in older display ad campaigns. The fact that they were based on searches assured a targeted audience that was more likely to be interested in the products being advertised. This concept was and continues to be a very attractive one to advertisers.
However, display advertising platforms are now offering such a concept, which combines not only relevancy and targeting, but the branding power of eye-catching visuals. In addition, platforms like the Google AdWords Display Ad Builder, MySpace's MyAds, and others allow the advertisers themselves to easily create professional looking ads without having to go through designers or ad agencies.
Measurement of Online Advertising ROI: The 100% Solution
By Gian Fulgoni
I think it was H. L. Mencken or Albert Einstein (a quick search showed me that they are both cited as authors) who said: “For every complex problem, there is one simple – but wrong – solution.”
I was reminded of this quote when I read a blog posting on the Adify site where the discussion focused on how to measure the effectiveness of online display advertising.
For me, the quote sums up the challenge. While it’s alluring to believe that there is one simple, easily-obtainable metric that will accurately and reliably predict advertising success, I believe this is a siren’s song. And, I suspect that most experienced researchers who have spent decades searching unsuccessfully for advertising’s Simple Holy Grail have also come to the conclusion that, while there certainly are simple metrics that can give you some insight, they’re far, far from foolproof as a measure of advertising’s impact on sales. And sales, I would argue, is the one undeniably relevant metric for evaluating ad effectiveness.
Unfortunately, however, measuring advertising’s sales impact is something that’s often difficult to do – especially since it’s often vital to measure advertising’s cumulative impact on sales across time and channels and to cleanly separate this from the impact of everything else that’s going on in a brand’s marketing mix.
This brings me to the validity of the click as a measure of advertising effectiveness. For many years, the click was used as a supposedly accurate measure of the effectiveness of display advertising. Now, I would be the first to agree that – for some direct response ad campaigns – the click remains a relevant metric. However, when it comes to measuring the impact of brand building advertising, the idea that consumers’ immediate response via a click is hard proof of the effectiveness of display advertising is just plain wrong. Perhaps, in the early days of online advertising when click through rates were running at levels of 5% or so, it was easy to believe otherwise. But, as click rates have dropped to a fraction of one percent it has become clear that some other metric is urgently needed. To believe otherwise today would be to acknowledge that display advertising has no impact at all. Perish that thought!
comScore’s objective in conducting the click study with Tacoda and Starcom was to prove – once and for all – the limitations of the click as a relevant metric to use to measure display advertising effectiveness. I believe this is a critical step in the evolution of online advertising because if our industry is to continue its torrid growth, we have to look beyond direct response advertising dollars. We have to convince the brand-building advertisers that they should move more of their ad dollars from traditional media to the Internet. Rest assured, we’re not going to be able to do that using clicks as the metric of choice. Instead, we have to be able to show that display advertising increases brand sales over time and across both online and offline sales channels. I think that Einstein would agree.
I think it was H. L. Mencken or Albert Einstein (a quick search showed me that they are both cited as authors) who said: “For every complex problem, there is one simple – but wrong – solution.”
I was reminded of this quote when I read a blog posting on the Adify site where the discussion focused on how to measure the effectiveness of online display advertising.
For me, the quote sums up the challenge. While it’s alluring to believe that there is one simple, easily-obtainable metric that will accurately and reliably predict advertising success, I believe this is a siren’s song. And, I suspect that most experienced researchers who have spent decades searching unsuccessfully for advertising’s Simple Holy Grail have also come to the conclusion that, while there certainly are simple metrics that can give you some insight, they’re far, far from foolproof as a measure of advertising’s impact on sales. And sales, I would argue, is the one undeniably relevant metric for evaluating ad effectiveness.
Unfortunately, however, measuring advertising’s sales impact is something that’s often difficult to do – especially since it’s often vital to measure advertising’s cumulative impact on sales across time and channels and to cleanly separate this from the impact of everything else that’s going on in a brand’s marketing mix.
This brings me to the validity of the click as a measure of advertising effectiveness. For many years, the click was used as a supposedly accurate measure of the effectiveness of display advertising. Now, I would be the first to agree that – for some direct response ad campaigns – the click remains a relevant metric. However, when it comes to measuring the impact of brand building advertising, the idea that consumers’ immediate response via a click is hard proof of the effectiveness of display advertising is just plain wrong. Perhaps, in the early days of online advertising when click through rates were running at levels of 5% or so, it was easy to believe otherwise. But, as click rates have dropped to a fraction of one percent it has become clear that some other metric is urgently needed. To believe otherwise today would be to acknowledge that display advertising has no impact at all. Perish that thought!
comScore’s objective in conducting the click study with Tacoda and Starcom was to prove – once and for all – the limitations of the click as a relevant metric to use to measure display advertising effectiveness. I believe this is a critical step in the evolution of online advertising because if our industry is to continue its torrid growth, we have to look beyond direct response advertising dollars. We have to convince the brand-building advertisers that they should move more of their ad dollars from traditional media to the Internet. Rest assured, we’re not going to be able to do that using clicks as the metric of choice. Instead, we have to be able to show that display advertising increases brand sales over time and across both online and offline sales channels. I think that Einstein would agree.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Yahoo Launches Search Behavior Ad Targeting Features
Yesterday Yahoo announced three new ad targeting features:
Search retargeting serves display ads to users based on what they've searched for, regardless of where they are in the Yahoo network. "For example, if a user searches for the keyword 'sandals,' indicating strong purchase intent, an advertiser can target that user with a tailored display ad for footwear," the company explained in a press release.
Enhanced retargeting serves dynamically-generated display ads based on a user's activity on the advertiser's site.
Enhanced targeting is a blanket term used to describe more granular targeting capabilities on search advertising, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search.
Last week Yahoo announced its ongoing development of image/video capabilities in sponsored search. The program, Rich Ads in Search, has been in testing for over a year. It is currently only available to major clients.
"As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo's new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability," said SVP-Ad Marketplaces Michael Walrath of Yahoo.
Next month, Yahoo is also expected to launch a search advertising tool that enables users to manage what time and day of the week they wish their ads to run. Demo targeting specifics, including age group and gender, will also be incorporated.
Separately, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated yesterday that he wishes to join forces with Yahoo to tackle Google, which in December 2008 dominated over 60% of the US core search market. Yahoo followed with 20.5%; Microsoft placed third, with 8.3%.
Ballmer was careful to add that joining forces with Yahoo does not mean he is interested in buying the company in whole or in part — a suggestion to which Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, may be unreceptive.
"[Yahoo] is a fantastic Internet property and really doesn't deserve everybody trying to pick it and pull it apart," she stated last month.
Microsoft lobbed an unsolicited takeover bid at Yahoo early last year, sparking ongoing drama between the two companies that lasted for more than half of 2008. Some believe that Yahoo's poor management of the bid ultimately led to co-founder/former CEO Jerry Yang's resignation. Bartz's appointment was announced two months later.
Search retargeting serves display ads to users based on what they've searched for, regardless of where they are in the Yahoo network. "For example, if a user searches for the keyword 'sandals,' indicating strong purchase intent, an advertiser can target that user with a tailored display ad for footwear," the company explained in a press release.
Enhanced retargeting serves dynamically-generated display ads based on a user's activity on the advertiser's site.
Enhanced targeting is a blanket term used to describe more granular targeting capabilities on search advertising, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search.
Last week Yahoo announced its ongoing development of image/video capabilities in sponsored search. The program, Rich Ads in Search, has been in testing for over a year. It is currently only available to major clients.
"As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo's new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability," said SVP-Ad Marketplaces Michael Walrath of Yahoo.
Next month, Yahoo is also expected to launch a search advertising tool that enables users to manage what time and day of the week they wish their ads to run. Demo targeting specifics, including age group and gender, will also be incorporated.
Separately, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated yesterday that he wishes to join forces with Yahoo to tackle Google, which in December 2008 dominated over 60% of the US core search market. Yahoo followed with 20.5%; Microsoft placed third, with 8.3%.
Ballmer was careful to add that joining forces with Yahoo does not mean he is interested in buying the company in whole or in part — a suggestion to which Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, may be unreceptive.
"[Yahoo] is a fantastic Internet property and really doesn't deserve everybody trying to pick it and pull it apart," she stated last month.
Microsoft lobbed an unsolicited takeover bid at Yahoo early last year, sparking ongoing drama between the two companies that lasted for more than half of 2008. Some believe that Yahoo's poor management of the bid ultimately led to co-founder/former CEO Jerry Yang's resignation. Bartz's appointment was announced two months later.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Display Boosts Search Performance Display + Search > Search alone.
Display and search are directly correlated, judging by a Specific Media study of comScore data. Brand- and segment-related searches (for cars, automakers and vehicle classes) jumped by more than 100% in several categories after consumers were exposed to display ads for those brands.
“Display advertising significantly impacts search, site visitation and engagement,” said Chris Vanderhook, COO at Specific Media, in a statement.
Search clickers exposed to display advertising were 22% more likely to produce a sale than those who were not exposed, according to a September 2008 study of Microsoft’s Engagement Mapping system by Atlas Solutions.
Search clickers exposed to display advertising were 22% more likely to produce a sale than those who were not exposed, according to a September 2008 study of Microsoft’s Engagement Mapping system by Atlas Solutions.
In a ClickZ article, Microsoft’s Young-Bean Song said the study results suggested that search alone was not a cure-all for customer acquisition.
“The issue we have with navigational search is that it completely obliterates the value we’re
creating from other digital marketing we’re doing,” Mr. Song told ClickZ. “The idea that search is this magical fountain of customer acquisition—in many cases it’s not.”
David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, agreed that display can boost search.
“There is a connection between display and search ads,” he said. “Marketers know this intuitively. Often it’s not the search ad alone that gets consumers to act, but the context of all the marketing that preceded it.”
eMarketer predicts that search and display ads will retain the highest share of online ad spending formats through 2013, and will be the only formats to maintain double-digit share through that period.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
