Don’t Settle for the Proverbial End of the Year Top 10 List

It is a rite of passage in every facet of life, in every genre of business, in every bit of personal reflection and in every David Letterman episode. As the year comes to a close, clichéd top ten lists abound. In performance marketing, the following top ten lists are most prevalent:
The Top Ten Email Marketing Campaigns
The Top Ten Search Initiatives
The Top Ten Affiliate Programs
The Top Ten Moments in Social Media
Yada Yada. Yawn.
Top Ten lists do have a way of wrapping up the year into a tidy bow of performance. But online performance marketing is not that simplistic. A performance campaign, regardless of the channel, should never be wrapped up. It must be continuously improved upon, optimized and tracked. In this way, the campaign never completely comes to an end. There should always be an improvement strategy in place.
This calls for something akin to an Anti-Top Ten List. Not just for the end of this year but for years to come.
The Top Ten List of Performance Marketing Dont's
1 - Don't settle for your current conversion rates. Rely on performance expertise to conduct continual testing and drive better results
2 - Don't sit back and rely on the status quo. Revise and optimize your content to increase relevant traffic
3 - Don't join the first affiliate network you find. Connect with a robust, trustworthy network to successfully expand your reach
4 - Don't link for the sake of linking. Implement a sound link building strategy to improve popularity and authority
5 - Don't begin an email marketing campaign without proper targeting. Hit your target audience and drive conversions-to-sale
6 - Don't launch dynamic banner ads without a plan. Get the data needed to find the audience that will click and convert
7 - Don't create a Facebook page and call yourself a social media expert. Leverage knowledgeable social media professionals to drive traffic to your site and engage actionable consumers
8 - Don't lose sight of the profit potential of the Internet. Publishers must utilize digital marketing expertise to properly monetize their email lists, data acquisition campaigns, affiliate networks and display markets
9 - Don't neglect your lead database. Incorporate lead management strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your existing customer list and to better oversee your customer procurement approach
10 - Don't forget online performance marketing is about driving results. Make sure clients understand what they have to gain from incorporating expert digital marketing solutions into their campaigns
So as you pop your champagne corks and turn the calendar to 2011, keep this list top of mind. It will likely help you maximize your online reach, conversions and ROI in the present and future.

The Tangled Web of Net Neutrality

In today's political climate, it's not often that both sides of the congressional aisle spew their vitriol at one issue. And then this Net Neutrality thing took center stage last Tuesday.

"Net Neutrality" is both vague and intriguing. People love the Net. It has been a highly influential, innovative and inventive communication and profit generating tool for over twenty years. People like, in theory, neutrality. It suggests impartiality; a level playing field for consumers and corporations. Put the two terms together and you get, again theoretically, an "everybody wins", open yet protected Internet.

That's what makes Tuesday's Pro-Net Neutrality ruling so disconcerting. It doesn't go far enough in protecting the rights of users from Internet and mobile giants like Time Warner and AT&T. Transparency regulations are blurred. Content blocking rules differ along fixed, wireless and mobile lines. But the most striking faux pas of this ruling is the potential to implement a paid prioritization system, which would enable broadband providers to charge consumers in order to access certain programs and applications. And though the FCC on Wednesday came out strongly against paid priority citing language in the ruling to prevent such a measure, only time will tell if loopholes in the ruling will free communications corporations up.

The same can be said about the FCC's Net Neutrality regulations as a whole. With plenty of fist slamming being done on both sides, it's likely we haven't heard the last of this. Stay logged in.

Internet Users + Television Viewers = Equal Engagement

A new study released by Forrester finds that the average US household spends as much time online as they do in front of the tube or flat screen. With only a couple of weeks to go until the start of 2011, these findings may give proponents of Internet TV something worthy of a champagne toast.

Since 2005, internet use has skyrocketed by 121% while television usage percentages have remained consistent. The easy accessibility of the web is a major factor; people go online at home, at work and via mobile phones. Now add TV to the mix. Accessibility to the web via your television beings convenience and user reach to a whole new level. This is an important consideration for advertisers and marketers looking to effectively target audiences for products and services.

As Google TV and other Internet TV options emerge in the coming year, digital and traditional marketers should think about joining forces to maximize consumer reach leveraging this new medium. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that the engagement ability of Google TV is hard to quantify. But on the heels of this Forrester study, I believe it makes the case for investing in Google TV easier to support.

Social Media’s Impact on the CPG Industry

By: Mitch Tuch, MediaWhiz GM of Data Acquisition

According to a recent Forrester study, people are no longer steadfast in their support for certain Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) products. This finding in particular should be of grave concern to the CPG industry. Shoppers could potentially favor private store products over established brands.

In lieu of the Forrester study, a significant number of CPG corporations are making the shift toward social media to expand their online reach, engage their once loyal brand base and launch new products. Although this is certainly great news for CPG, it could be better news for performance marketers tasked with helping CPG brands evolve with and improve upon their image.

The first positive impact social media will have on CPG involves “recency” and scalability. Social media “recency” not only offers instantaneous communication to the public, it also goes part and parcel with scalability. A website’s ability to grow at a rate comparable to its business is highly dependent on social media channels. For example, a Facebook user opting to “friend” or “like” a brand on his or her page increases exposure and can step up buyer intent exponentially.

Utilizing social media also brings consumer loyalty back to the fore. CPG products and brands have been around for a long time. They have a definite generational fan base. Social media allows this loyal base to discuss their favorite products and/or contribute ideas on how to improve upon lesser products as if they were extended family. Engagement sparks interest and drives demand for both consumers and retailers. It also enables marketers to precisely target and optimize campaigns saving time and money.

CPG does have one major hurdle to jump en route to establishing a fully integrated online presence: measuring ROI. That’s where proactive client services management comes in. Client services should conduct testing before, during, and after a campaign. They can analyze performance metrics along multiple channels, increase conversions by focusing on user engagement and improvements to landing pages, and streamline the sales process. Maximizing returns will help brands launch new products, thus, providing new avenues of engagement, demand, and profitability.

CPG needn’t completely abandon traditional media. But by incorporating a social strategy, the industry can spark significant growth in customers, awareness and brand value.

Drive Email Engagement, Drive Results

Ensuring the effectiveness of your email messaging is paramount to short and long-term success. In the first of a five part series highlighting email marketing campaign best practices, we focus our attention on HTML initiatives with some tips and guidelines designed to maximize deliverability and functionality:

Best Practices for HTML Campaigns

1 - Use Basic HTML

2 - Do not use rich-media functions such as video, inline audio or Flash

3 - Do not use JavaScript or HTML layers

4 - Simplify the coding process - If using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), choose the inline embed within the two body tags and not within the header

5 - Avoid background images

6 - Create HTML using a maximum pixel width of 600 - no horizontal scrolling is required - HTML width should be tested for look and feel for as many email clients (AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail) as possible

7 - Keep files to a reasonable size - In the teens for images, emails under 50KB

8 - Design your email with the Outlook preview pane in mind - Make sure the top portion of the email carries your key message

9 - Design your email to read top to bottom and left to right

10 - Avoid 1x1 pixel spacer gifs – These may flag your email as spam

11 - Link to a web version of your email message - This benefits recipients whose email clients fail to properly render your email. Add a link to the top of your TEXT version to maximize visibility

12 - Use image alt tags and action-oriented text - For example: Click here for 25% off; Sample alt tag: <img SRC="link.ixs1.net/site/5459/images/imagename.gif" alt="Click here for 25% off" BORDER=0>

13 - Provide subscriber management – Make it easy for subscribers to change email addresses, update subscriptions, unsubscribe or contact your company right from their email

14 - Do not use forms – Will eliminate messaging errors and functionality issues

15 - Avoid making your message one big image - Incorporate some HTML text into the message so readers can clearly see what you have to offer

For more information on these and additional email messaging best practices and how they can help you drive results, please contact a MediaWhiz Account Representative.

Does Call-Tracking Move the Needle?

By: Adam Scott Riff, MediaWhiz GM of Search

Google has decided to move forward with its call tracking strategy making offline metrics available to AdWords advertisers. This is a significant shift from what has been Google’s staple, quantifying ad success by the number of clicks generated. The search engine giant should be commended for reevaluating its long practiced methodology in order to drive better results for advertisers. Tapping into call metrics can generate thousands of dollars in what would otherwise be lost revenue.

However, its implementation into Search campaigns is not new among online performance marketers. Today, most performance search marketers allocate unique tracking phone numbers at the search engine level or, at most, their highest volume keywords.  This is a strong advantage over search marketers or advertisers that don’t track any calls.  Having said that, it still leaves long-tail keywords, which can number in the thousands untracked.   The reason this happens is simple – a technology gap.  Most search marketing firms don’t have the tech to track tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of keywords by call.  The ones that are able to leverage keyword-level call tracking, like our Continuous Improvement Engine (CIE), have a tremendous advantage.  Having access to that degree of technological advancement and being able to track and optimize to that level of granularity allows the search marketer to bid for his client with more data than their client’s competitor.

What this also does is allow search professionals and their bidding technology to make decisions faster.  The system can optimize non-branded keyword bids more precisely and more rapidly creating efficiency, i.e. lowering CPA.  The lower your CPA is the more initiatives you can test and the faster you can grow.

With engine-level call-tracking, search professionals can move the needle.  With keyword-level call tracking, they can change the game.

The Advantages of Advergaming

Performance marketing is going mobile. It has been for quite some time. Findings from media research firm BIA/Kelsey show that United States-based mobile advertising will hit $790 million in 2010. This makes targeting actionable consumers via Smartphones and other mobiles devices imperative. One major way to go about doing this is through mobile games.

Mobile gaming is about more than feeding virtual crops or creating interactive potions with Papa Smurf. These games allow advertisers to immediately tap into the user experience as well as user habits. Ad-funded games enable brands to drive real-time promotional messages to the user through the game. This is akin to the area-based social media model, which customizes advertising based on where users are currently located. But unlike location-based media that is highly effective at near zero cost, creating games specifically designed to engage a core audience can be fiscally irresponsible. So how then can mobile gaming drive campaign results?

First, choose a popular game to advertise on. Second, leverage social media to improve relevant targeting. Social networks can cost-effectively drive relevant users of similar interests to games. Relevant in-game ads, ads that successfully engage can dramatically improve opt-ins, brand awareness and consumer loyalty.

For performance marketers accustomed to continuous testing, assessing and optimizing, mobile gaming is an industry whose time has come.

Performance Getting its Groupon

Though they were ultimately unsuccessful, Google’s attempted purchase of Internet couponing success story Groupon clearly indicates that the Search Engine is strategically positioning itself as more of a Local Search force.  Prior to making their six billion dollar Groupon offer, Google sought to effectively leverage the local market via Google Places, a revamping of its Local Business Center and Place Pages. The goal of Google Places was to simplify advertising and better target local consumers. With Groupon, Google hoped to heighten engagement and consumer intent to act for local businesses with a proven, successful model. It made sense for Google. But in hindsight, did the offer ever really make sense for Groupon?

Groupon's ability to drive local growth is about more than Search. Customer acquisition for companies also helped deliver profitable results for local businesses en route to making Groupon a couponing giant. Google had the right idea going after Groupon, seeking to leverage the site as a Search and Lead Generation asset attracting performance marketers, consumers and companies alike. But by confidently walking away from six billion, Groupon is making a bold statement to those same marketers, customers and corporations – We’ve been driving results without Google and will continue to do so. It may be the perfect time for those in performance to get their Groupon.

The Who, What, Where and How of Online Privacy Protection

By: Andrew Chou, MediaWhiz GM of Display Advertising

In 2010, the issue that was top of mind with display advertisers was online privacy protection. Privacy is a touchy subject for those in the display industry being that geographical, demographic and behavioral targeting success is dependent on precisely knowing audience habits. Web users and online consumers are justified for harboring information sharing concerns. Ensuring privacy is essential. However, knowing your audience isn’t about names, addresses and faces. It’s about recognizing buyer trends, properly categorizing data and targeting impressions efficiently and effectively.

Display advertisers are able to accurately classify and identify data based on prior user engagement. They are not infringing upon privacy rights because the information is readily available online. Online advertisers utilize social media registrations, email profiles and online purchase information to monitor interest and intent. They track ad clicks, site visits and the amount of time spent on a particular ad or site.

We go from understanding the “who” to tracking the “what”. Edible cookies taste good. Digital cookies give advertisers a good indication of user tastes. Cookie storage is entirely controllable by the user. If a user is concerned that her habits are being monitored by advertisers, she can clear them from her cache. When it comes to cookies, privacy worries are rather half-baked. Let’s say you frequently visit Las Vegas travel sites. Cookies could prompt advertisers to target low airfare deals to Sin City. This is cookie tracking working in favor of the user.

Now this brings us to the “where” of online privacy protection. Again, digital display advertisers are using categories to determine the right banner ads and dynamic media to use for targeting. They do not know you as 33 year old Tara from Brooklyn or 45 year old John from Chicago. Instead, advertisers are seeking to engage “woman from Brooklyn, age 18-35” or “man from Chicago, age 21-49”. Advertisers might hit these respective targets with display ads for feminine hygiene products or leading beer brands, products relevant to each prospective category customer.

Obviously, it is the right of the consumer to protect personal information online. There are laws on the books to aid in this process. Still, users and consumers should think twice before discarding all track-able data. When warranted, privacy protection is crucial. But too many safeguards will shield users from relevant display ads and a better user experience.

Taking Your Online Learning Program to the Head of the Class

By: Daryl Colwell, MediaWhiz VP of Business Development

The online education vertical is highly competitive. That’s great for web-based learning programs as long as they target the right student. It all starts with partnering with the proper affiliate, one with proven qualified lead generation experience and knowledge of the marketplace.

Qualified leads delivered exclusively to your online education landing page from a robust affiliate network are what drive results - increases in callable rates, hot transfer rates and student enrollment and decreases in enrollment costs. Still, it is important for online education programs and portals to be fully aware of their goals. Knowledge is power. Understanding what you hope to gain will help trustworthy affiliate networks improve offer targeting. Aligning with a reliable affiliate network with access to Email Marketing, Search Marketing, Data Acquisition and Display Advertising is critically important to success in the online education vertical.

Unfortunately, shady affiliates do not adhere to lead exclusivity. They often sell and resell leads to reduce internal expenses and heighten their own ROI. In order to maximize the effectiveness of marketing spend, online education portals must distinguish crooked monetization practices from above board affiliate networks.

When conducting affiliate research, there are several factors that will distinguish a good fit from a bad fit. The right network should be technologically savvy. It should be equipped to build and host select microsites dedicated to your vertical as well as be able to leverage proprietary and 3rd party technologies. Such advancements improve lead filtering, qualification and validation. They also allow for continuous testing and optimizing of your campaign, which can drastically lower enrollment costs and help you acquire qualified enrollment leads more profitably.  It bears repeating that perhaps the most important factor in generating qualified leads within the online education vertical is ensuring the exclusivity of your leads. Exclusivity means quality. Quality drives results.

It’s Monetizeit General Manager Peter Klein’s Time to Shine in the MediaWhiz Spotlight

The decision to join MediaWhiz did not come to Peter Klein overnight. After the affiliate network he created and oversaw for three years was acquired, he chose to come onboard and help build out a full-service performance marketing agency. “This has turned out to be a great decision both personally and professionally.” Peter is especially proud of MediaWhiz’s ability to “bring a client into the online performance marketing world” via its robust media channels and technology. “We can service a client from beginning to end and continue to drive results more profitably for them.” As GM of the Monetizeit affiliate network, Peter has witnessed many positive growth oriented changes. He believes increased brand awareness of ROI is the industry’s most significant change. “Major brands are beginning to understand the value of marketing with a focus on ROI. This means more money flowing into CPA-based marketing.” But with change comes challenges. According to Peter, compliance is the largest hurdle faced by the performance marketing industry. “We need to start forming real self-regulation measures and standards to provide more transparency to advertisers… before the government does this for us.” Further, with Google and Facebook implementing tough restrictions over the years, Peter contends that it will be harder to conduct scalable marketing campaigns if you aren’t representing a brand as an agency. All things considered, he feels the industry’s future is “extremely bright, as more dollars will continue to shift from traditional/offline media to online.” Peter is quite fond of toasting to this bright future every Thursty Thursday at around 7PM.

Just Another Manic Cyber Monday

It's Cyber Monday, the online shopping cousin of Black Friday. Historically, this is a day when Internet retailers pull out all the online sale stops to engage consumers to act. But more than any year in recent memory, the day after Thanksgiving seemed to have the same goal. Online holiday shopping powered by social media check-ins and blowout price reductions seems to have fared well this Black Friday. So why the fuss over Cyber Monday? Considering the propensity for heavy shopping traffic to effectively shut down websites, the answer ironically might be a more reliable customer experience.
Let's take in-store check-ins for instance. In order for these types of online to offline social media campaigns to be successful, employees of participating retailers must be kept in the know. The Gap recently launched a social media campaign offering free jeans to the first 10,000 people to check-in at Facebook Places. According to some shoppers, several Gap employees were completely unaware of the free jeans promotion. Though a full scale revolt was prevented, those customers that did not score swag were displeased. Needless to say, this is the not the kind of brand awareness businesses are looking to generate especially around the holidays. For online shoppers, check-ins could generate coupon codes or increase sale offerings. The incentives are optimized and tested within the website. This provides customers with cost assurance, alleviates stress and makes for a more merry and bright shopping experience. Though I doubt The Gap will be offering free pants anytime soon.

Should Performance Marketers Get on Google TV?

Google TV is expanding its reach just in time for the holiday season. Alert the media. Well, actually the media has been alerted. So have advertisers. According to an announcement made by Google last Thursday, the Google TV ads platform, provided by Verizon FIOS, is currently hitting well over three million households. Early next year, that number will skyrocket to thirty five million homes. And while there are still Google TV detractors, this expansion demands attention from online performance marketers.

The goal of online performance marketers is growth through efficiency, advancing the client's ability to acquire customers more profitably. This strategy was effectively implemented by Search professionals in the early days of Google Adwords, which enabled them to target mass audiences at a low cost-per-click. The network's popularity, driven in large part by forward-thinking performance marketers, has made Adwords Google's main revenue source. Performance marketers could drive the same results for Google TV.

Advertising on Google TV will require continuous video and display optimization, dynamic approaches that those of us in the performance space successfully leverage on a daily basis. The level of user engagement Google TV generates is something of a great unknown. But quantifying risk in order to realize measured returns is nothing new to industry experts. It would be ill-advised for to double down on Google TV but a strategic investment in the technology could make Google TV “Must See Money Making TV” for online performance marketers.

Are We Still Talking About Privacy, Really?

When Forrester speaks, people in the industry listen. That’s what makes its latest report on privacy and social media so intriguing. Privacy concerns among social users in age groups 30 to 43, 44 to 53 and 54 to 64 have risen by an average of nearly 10%. Forrester deduces that the over-saturation of the social space - countless blogs (this one doesn’t count of course), discussion groups, forums and social networking sites – could be a factor. The over-saturation argument is hard to dispute; however, it isn’t fair for social users to fret about privacy when they're the ones who opened the too much information flood gates.

Another aspect of this report that is both troubling and perplexing is the omission of couponing data, a growing strategy that is driving results for marketers leveraging social media. For users looking to score hot deals, especially with the holiday shopping season around the corner, they will have to give a little to get a little. Based on the growth of online and mobile couponing, privacy concerns don’t appear to be much of an issue here. Perhaps privacy only becomes a concern when users realize they can’t capitalize on it.

Email Campaign Management – Three Rules of Engagement

While many email marketers focus solely on issues of deliverability, sophisticated companies know they need to understand the customer to bring their promotions to the next level. With Internet service providers cracking down on bulk mailers and the need for CAN-SPAM compliance, relevant and engaging messaging are necessary to drive results.
Here are three rules for email marketing engagement to drive consistent profits when targeting a prospect over the lifetime of that relationship.
• Know who they are, not just where they are. Geographical targeting is the first and most common form of campaign audience engagement. Typically, geographical targeting is determined by such data as address and ZIP code to tailor information crucial for promoting local events or services that take place in certain areas.
It's important to send potential customers promotions they can take advantage of, not ones out of geographic reach. Let's say you're promoting workshops in 13 states. Based on research, you know that the average distance someone will travel to a workshop is 20 miles. If you neglected to implement this data into your geo-targeting, a potential customer 100 miles out of range might sign up only to find out the workshop is too far away to attend. This disappointment can result in negative feedback, adversely affecting your company's reputation and deliverability objectives.
Demographical targeting has been used for many years to personalize the marketing message to customers, but it's surprising that email marketers rarely combine more than a few demographical attributes when planning a campaign. Most reputable list-owners have dozens of data points on given customers and there is real value in merging as many as possible.
Chaining data attributes can only help create and maintain a relationship with your customers. It can also enable your promotion to stand out from the crowd.
• Know what they want and what they don't. Behavioral targeting is quite common in display and search advertising, less so in email marketing. But by using an aggregated database of customer buying habits, you can target those who will be interested in your material and exclude those who would either ignore your products or provide negative feedback.
Utilizing buyer history, and conducting database searches to find products that are typically purchased together, is nothing new to direct mail, retail and retention campaigns. With acquisition email campaigns, however, prior purchases often go unexamined when discussing strategies for crafting a campaign.
Though the benefits of applying a relevant purchase history to customer targeting are well-known, many email marketers still don't exclude those who have already purchased the same or similar products. Ineffective targeting equates to inefficient marketing. It can also drive more negative feedback.
While chaining companion products is frequently discussed in email campaigns, it is rarely acted upon. Follow-up must be timely, as you have a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of an opportunity.
• Know when they want it and when they don't. Situational targeting, also known as just-in-time targeting, is the most underutilized form of focusing your message; it may also be the most promising. This form of targeting is based on the premise that events such as time, day of week, holidays, weather, etc. can trump normal customer behavior.
Customizing your campaign based on whether it's a weekday or weekend can be important as well. Some companies do 80% of their business on Saturday. If this sounds like you, why would you promote your wares on a Monday?
The real value proposition of effective email marketing engagement is found when these three rules are incorporated into campaigns as a whole instead of individually.

Art Director Jessica Murray is in the MediaWhiz spotlight

It may come as a surprise to learn Art Director Jessica Murray was initially uncertain of her career path.  “I loved doing photography and laying out spreads… but it took me a few years to realize I wanted to do that as a career.” It wasn’t until she enrolled in a college design program that creative became her professional focus, a focus she has since brought to MediaWhiz. Jessica is particularly fond of MediaWhiz’s “work hard, play hard culture”, which she believes can be a real difference maker with clients. “Whether our clients are a nationally recognized brand or a startup with no online presence…we just help them sell more.” Creative plays a unique albeit important role in driving campaign results, one that requires talent and thick skin. “Creative work is always judged subjectively, which can be challenging”, she explains. “We try to take out the subjectivity and look at the results, which is the best indicator of a successful creative campaign.” Jessica says she loves being creatively challenged, constantly busy and always being first in line for beer on Thursty Thursday. And as the newest Whiz bike commuter, she is not yet ready to challenge Chris MacMurray or Tracy Norton to a race. “I’m not quite a triathlete since I tend to swim sideways.”

Working with brands online - best practices and procedures

By: Peter S. Klein, GM of MediaWhiz Affiliate Network Monetizeit



During my years of experience in developing broad agency relationships with mid-to-large brands, it has become clear that as budgets become bigger, so does the need for efficiency, transparency and ROI measurement increases. But on their own, they are not enough.

What is needed to a perhaps even greater extent is for executives and agency personnel to be educated in online marketing best practices. To be clear, it’s not that the marketing folks and performance agencies running these programs aren’t very smart. It’s just that online and affiliate marketing has grown and changed immensely over the past 10 years and it’s unlikely that they are entirely up to speed with such a fast-moving industry.

So what is important for marketers, online customer acquisition managers and agencies to keep top of mind when constructing new campaigns? Here are 5 key points to consider.

Education – Marketers need to go a step further than the standard business development call. Get out there and meet onsite with a session that educates the client on your company and the type of marketing you conduct - especially if you have an affiliate network. You need to communicate that affiliate marketing is constituted of all forms of media, not some unexplored unique channel, albeit through partners rather than internal traffic. You also need to stress that affiliate programs are scalable well beyond the scale of their internal operations, given that networks can access millions of people.

Transparency – It is important to share all of the compliance measurements of your company/network and information on media placements. This data is needed to provide reassurance that the brand’s image will be protected. Data sets could include keyword monitoring/jump pages in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), seeds and test messages in email, or banner placements on websites and social sites like Facebook. It is also useful to show the partner which Affiliate ID (SubID to them) is responsible for what kind of traffic, along with the sample placements and tests.

Budgets – Brand owners and merchants often have very large budgets to work with, but results don’t necessarily come overnight and all sides should be prepared to show patience. Typical IOs start at $50K for the first few months, which is an appropriate amount for testing and understanding each other’s metrics. Once baselines are established, partners need to work together on landing page optimization and payouts, which are critical to optimizing results. It is important to be patient and gain mutual trust. Everyone wants million dollar budgets and million dollar results - the end goal of the scalable CPA model – but to achieve those kinds of goals one must continuously work at improving results while the campaign is in progress.

Overcome Fear of the P&L –Advertisers often have concerns as to which of their internal departments the revenue will be attributed, given that there is such a variety of media used by affiliates. This issue can be dealt with by showing through education that in fact the entire affiliate channel is under their domain – be it email, social media, display, search, etc. Networks absorb the risk via the CPA model, so as long as the client is reassured and all parties are transparent with each other, there should be no concerns other than focusing on performance.

Conversion from Risk-Aversion to Heroism – The final step and overall goal of the relationship is to deliver high quality, measurable, and scalable results that go beyond initial expectations. This means making the marketing decision maker or online acquisition manager a hero. Give them such great results that they look like a genius for taking the chance on you. Give them daily metrics that can be merged with their own, as well as quarterly presentations and regular visits for strategic planning sessions. The aim is to build a bond, show each other in a good light and educate senior executives with regard to the success of the business relationship.

Whether you occupy the role of marketer, agency or the customer acquisition manager for the brand, remember that the online and affiliate space is constantly changing and growing. In a dynamic and fast-changing landscape, these five points can be used as a framework for for success in campaign creation and management.

The Highs and Lowes of Black Friday

Perhaps September was a bit early to start planning for Black Friday. That annual rite of shopping passage was the focus of a blog written by yours truly two months ago. I suppose I couldn't help my enthusiasm. The holidays do it for me. And now that November has arrived, they do it for big brands looking to effectively leverage social media as well. 

Retail Giant Lowe's is making a major PPC Search and Display Advertising pre-Black Friday push to drive customers to its Facebook Fan page. There, loyal Lowes consumers can take advantage of coupon codes and discounts for upwards of 90% off. Take that Home Depot. After hearing their Black Friday social strategy, I couldn't help but wonder if the Lowes powers that be read this blog. In the September blog post I wrote "Online coupons figure to be used heavily by savvy shoppers but focusing primarily on this tactic to generate new business could alienate existing customers." By rewarding their current consumer base, Lowes is keeping their loyal customers top of mind and simultaneously creating buzz to attract newbies through online performance channels.

The Black Friday Sneak Peak campaign certainly is an inspired idea. However, it has experienced some technical hiccups. Traffic to the Lowes Facebook hosting party on November 4th was so robust it took down the online shopping site. When the site was functional, check-out times were impossibly long. Customers got cranky. Yes, this could be par for the Black Friday course but it would be interesting to know whether or not Lowes consulted an online performance marketing team to run the campaign. After all, inspired ideas could only benefit from continuous optimization and improvement strategies.

Performance in the Media Mix

Being top of mind with existing and potential clients is essential for driving campaign results. Those of us in the online performance game understand that maximizing brand messaging across all channels will greatly enhance the consumer experience. Customers won’t have to look for you. You’ll always be able to find them. Some marketers believe the only way to garner such exposure is through social media. But the digital marketplace is far too complex and progressive to hedge all of your campaign bets on Facebook and Twitter. It is important to utilize social media within a proper media mix.

Ineffective implementation of social media is a growing and problematic trend among digital marketers. Incorporating social media into a marketing campaign for the sake of using social media may get you “Friends” but it will fail to deliver revenue.  It should be a complimentary component to your performance media mix, which should consist of email marketing, data acquisition, affiliate, search and display advertising. By adding social to your media mix, your campaign will leverage consumer interest, heighten engagement and strengthen branding.

Let’s think of social as a trendy sports car. It looks good and gets attention. But the car is useless without a skilled driver; someone who understands how it handles, knows when to power it up and appreciates the importance of continually improving it for maximum performance. Social should drive results for campaigns as a vehicle for user engagement. It can aide email marketing and data acquisition initiatives by featuring buttons and links to opt-ins, subscriptions and sign-ups to deliver new conversions. Affiliates can better direct, track and monetize sales by steering the social conversation to their sites. Social media can benefit a comprehensive search campaign in the short-term and long-term. It can help engage consumers and drive relevant traffic for a Paid Search program, increase natural search rankings for SEO and enable performance marketers to establish positive messaging and branding as part of an Online Reputation Management process. Online display advertisers can target active consumers on social sites for their dynamic campaigns.

Making social media a part of your media mix will allow for better optimization of campaigns. Still, social media alone will fail to drive conversions, revenue or results for your online performance marketing programs. It must work for you within a fully optimized media mix. Getting the most out of your complete media mix requires specialized expertise across all channels. Leveraging this knowledge will facilitate branding, engagement and keep you top of mind with consumers and clients.

Driving Display Results with the Right Data

Today, online display advertisers are looking for more demand for their dollar.  A good way for advertisers to reach their target audience is by using online and offline behavioral data. The strategic targeting of potential consumers is at the heart of the data revolution. It involves bringing the appropriate ad to the right user at the right time. If properly purchased and placed, data can drive increases in click-throughs, conversions and revenue. But the trick is navigating the vast data landscape by using it effectively with scale.

Data has always been part of the online advertising discussion. The major question was, “How do we use it?”  Today, a variety of data partners and exchanges, including BlueKai, Exelate and dataLogix are giving advertisers a way to better target their ads. Incorporating geographical, behavioral and demographic targeting greatly increases the probability of engaging relevant consumers.

Not sure how data targeting works? Think of your last search. Maybe you are a thirty-something female living in New York. You might see a banner ad promoting women’s apparel sales. Believe it or not, this ad was targeted specifically towards you. If data targeting were not in effect, you might have seen ads for NASCAR or menswear sales. This would not be cost-effective.

Data does have its share of question marks. What is the value of data? How much data are websites willing to release in lieu of privacy concerns? The best way to quantify what data is worth is to leverage the expertise of a robust ad network.  A leading ad network will adhere to best practices improving targeting, information management and monetization. As for privacy issues, a top-tier ad network will implement enhanced privacy protections without hindering the user experience. 

Display advertising is expected to grow by 60% in 2011, according to advertising consultants Borrell Associates. Therefore, investing in data-driven media buying is a sound strategy – as long as you have the right network to help you hit the right target.

Bridging the Culture Gap: Pitching Online Performance Marketing Abroad

Driving revenue through Search rankings requires specialized expertise in Natural Search and strategic link building. Online performance marketers based in the United States often focus their attention on procuring domestic clients. This is understandable and profitable. The number of American advertisers, publishers and SEO agencies looking to outsource SEO is stout. But as Organic Search continues to evolve globally, online marketers would be wise to expand their sales approach to target clients internationally.

As is true of any successful Search initiative, appearing relevant is essential. Online performance agencies should make a concerted effort to expand international hiring practices. For example, if you want to explore business opportunities in Italy, it would make sense from both a sales and marketing standpoint to have a Italian speaking representative make the initial introduction. The next step would be to personalize the site experience. Agencies should create translated versions of their websites, which would not only make it easier for potential clients abroad to acquaint themselves with your services but hopefully facilitate referrals. 

This past summer, Text Link Ads invested in the international hiring market with great success. After adding German and French speaking account representatives to the team, we have seen our monthly revenues in Germany and France grow by 24.7% and 57% respectively. Our reputation among existing clients in those countries has also improved significantly.

Regardless of the performance channel you are preparing to pitch abroad, making a relevant approach is important. It will help you drive revenue through rankings but also through cultural respect and familiarity.

Logo a No Go – The Gap and Online Brand Worth

In a classic branding example of “If it ain’t broke, why in the world are you fixing it”, Gap changed its logo last week and search space exploded with negativity. Gap’s Facebook page fanned the flames of logo anger with the vast majority of users opted to “Like” the old logo. Though Gap CEO Marka Hansen wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post defending her decision, the social outrage appears to have taken its toll. Hansen is inviting loyal Gap customers to come up with replacement logo concepts. While that is a clever corrective marketing strategy, Hansen should be more concerned with the damage this logo fiasco has caused the Gap brand online.

It would have behooved Hansen to consider what the Gap’s brand image was worth before she put this marketing mishap in motion. If she utilized a brand calculator to gage the value of the Gap’s online reputation, perhaps she would have thought twice about revamping the logo. Online performance marketers should utilize a brand calculator to help their clients, small and large businesses alike, avoid a similar, unnecessary rebranding nightmare.

That Movie about that Facebook Guy

This weekend, The Social Network opened in theaters nationwide. You would have to be living under a rock not to know its Aaron Sorkin’s take on Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to Facebook power. Apparently, the Zuckerberg “character” comes off as a bit of a manipulative meanie . He double crosses his friends, actual human friends, and business partners to keep Facebook his baby. Whatever. Let’s face facts – the movie is gonna make a bejillion dollars.

I don’t have a Facebook account so I’m not Zuckerberg’s friend. I doubt I’ll fork over the $10 to see the film. Those two statements put me in smack dab in the public minority. In fact when I first heard a Facebook movie was in the works, I was tempted to place myself under house arrest. But love him or loathe him, (I’m rather apathetic to him myself) Zuckerberg tapped into something huge. The term “game-changer” is often frivolously tossed around in marketing circles. Facebook has been that in spades.

Indeed, it seems like social media is everywhere. Those of us in the performance marketing game understand its usefulness better than most to leverage audience engagement and enhance brand worth. While it’s true that Facebook has undergone its share of drama this year in lieu of privacy issues and “Open Graph” features, it is still a juggernaut that has helped drive campaign results.  And now it’s driving movie profit results. Good for Hoodie, though I’m sure he’s not going to “Like” his new cinematic fame.

Don’t Do Social for Social’s Sake

Using social media in a marketing campaign for the sake of using social media is about as nonsensical as many Facebook wall posts. Ineffective implementation of social is a growing and problematic trend among traditional and digital marketers. However, recent findings released by Econsultancy.com may put a stop to the social madness.

According to the Econsultancy.com report, paid search eats up the bulk of online lead generation spend. Online lead generation makes up nearly half of B2C sales. What does this have to do with social media? Nothing and everything. It’s about refocusing social media to effectively engage audiences.

Incorporating social into an online lead generation campaign or any performance marketing initiative can leverage consumer interest and be a great branding tool. But having a Facebook or Twitter page to promote your products and services is worthless without utilizing performance marketing expertise to drive conversions and results through those social networks. Social media can benefit your paid search and online lead generation campaigns in the short-term and long-term as long as you are using them for engagement’s sake.

Email Messaging on Target

Advanced deliverability and functionality are essential to a high performing email marketing campaign.  Immediate and intelligent engagement is similarly vital for establishing a fully optimized lead generation and CRM program - as long as it is done right. The goal of driving leads and conversions can be compromised if messages are viewed as SPAM, a major threat to efficiency. Also, some initiatives lack precise and timely reporting to track and explain the delivery fail. The majority of publishers and performance marketers are painfully aware of such email marketing shortcomings. As is true of every performance channel, a program of continuous improvement must be implemented to proactively address deliverability and functionality.

Incorporating an audience-specific proprietary messaging tool into your campaign will alleviate many common email marketing challenges. For instance, MediaWhiz Messaging™ enables advertisers to qualify leads and effectively manage the consumer experience at the highest level. It delivers a cascade of multiple dynamic emails, each with increased urgency, providing the right message to the right consumer at the right time. But a powerful targeting and retargeting strategy must rely on more than a forward thinking messaging tool. It must include a forward thinking client services team.

Leveraging consultative email marketing expertise while optimizing the entire lead generation marketplace will increase conversions and improve cost-efficiency by eliminating unresponsive consumers. Client services and account managers can obtain client information while identifying and recommending unique multiple domains to your client increasing the likelihood of lead generation and lead conversion.

A technologically advanced, proprietary messaging program can drive conversions and increase overall email marketing efficiency. This is more important than ever in the fast-paced, continuously evolving world of online performance marketing where delivering the right message the first time around is what matters most for a high performance campaign.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holiday season is fast approaching. You know what that means – turkey (or tofurkey depending on your culinary preference), football and online shopping. Black Friday, traditionally regarded as a nationwide day after Thanksgiving raid on retail storefronts, is becoming more of a digital force. Based on the number of Black Friday sales offered online, Black should be replaced with Bargain. Friday branding aside, performance marketers across all channels should begin tailoring highly targeted campaigns for the day after Thanksgiving and the holiday season as a whole to drive results for advertisers and publishers.

Online coupons figure to be used heavily by savvy shoppers but focusing primarily on this tactic to generate new business could alienate existing customers. Media buys on top-performing, contextually and lifestyle relevant sites must target shoppers with purchasing intent, not passing site visitors. Opt-in campaigns must be more dynamic and consumer friendly. Banner ads need to be more engaging to increase conversions to sale. For seasonal Search initiatives, driving highly relevant traffic is key.

The strategies outlined are consistent with those of performance marketers year round. However, the holiday season presents digital marketers with a shorter window of opportunity to drive ROI. Hitting the right target, whether that is a new or current consumer, is essential.

Corporate America Embraces ORM

To paraphrase Warren Buffet, it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to ruin it. This has long been the rallying cry for performance marketers pitching Online Reputation Management (ORM). According to a recent published report in AdWeek, the message is resonating.
This summer, much maligned oil producer BP drastically increased its Search advertising spend from around $60,000 a month to over $3.6 million in June. Of course, this investment in ORM was in response to the devastating Gulf oil spill. The bulk of BP's initial spending on advertising after the disaster was targeted toward traditional mediums. The company was forced to adjust its strategy upon realizing that people were actively seeking information on BP and openly expressing disdain for BP. BP wasn’t controlling their brand message effectively. They weren’t being proactive.
Had a robust ORM platform been in place for BP ahead of the spill, negative user posts on blogs, social media networks and websites would have been better monitored. Though the disaster still would have occurred, the aftermath in search space wouldn’t have been as far-reaching nor would the investment to clean up BP’s online reputation been as costly.

Search Results in Real-Time – The PPC Effect

The trend of the moment in Search is speed. Projects like Google Caffeine are designed to make the web a faster place. A byproduct of a speedier search is the generation of the immediate, real-time result – being able to see Search working for you as you type. Google has adapted this concept into a new live update metric that revises search results as keywords are entered into a search box. I’ve watched the update do its thing on YouTube. You should look for it. It’s pretty trippy.

Search professionals that struggle with motion sickness may have to brace themselves before utilizing the new feature. The page changes with each character entered into the search box. The innovation has some Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search experts concerned fearing fickle potential customers may shift their click focus in mid-search decreasing click-throughs. This would be true if PPC campaign success was dependent on a fly-by-night consumer. People intent on looking for a particular product will conduct a search for that product and click accordingly. For example, if a user is searching for jeans, the user is unlikely to be swayed from PPC jean ads in favor of ads for JetBlue simply because they both begin with JE.

Though a web page may be faster and more real-time based, that doesn’t mean a serious, relevant user will fail to convert. If anything, Google’s new live update feature will ensure PPC campaigns are effectively leveraging the right audience.

What Exactly is the New Reality?

Recently, Adweek published an article titled “CMO’s Face New Reality”, which chronicled the struggles of marketers post economic slowdown. It reported on the challenge marketers are facing with regard to engaging new and existing customers as marketing budgets decline. Improving customer retention and loyalty, acquiring new customers and increasing sales to current customers were named the three most important issues facing marketers today. Interestingly, these same marketers indicated that they were rather lackluster in leveraging digital marketing and performance strategies to achieve their core objectives. This is difficult to reconcile considering that the hallmark of online performance marketing is continuous improvement, growth and efficiency. What exactly is the new reality CMO’s are facing and is it reality after all? It shouldn’t be that marketing budgets need to decrease. It should be the realization that marketing budgets are no longer the litmus test for an effective campaign.

Online performance marketers know that improving customer retention, acquiring new customers and increasing current sales requires a multi-channel approach that maximizes spend through continuous improvement and optimization. Marketers who are gun shy about investing in digital may believe that such optimization will cost more than it is worth. If done right, shifting to an online performance model will ultimately demand more from your marketing spend. It will enable companies to effectively target and re-target new and current customers, get the most out of your leads database and promote growth through cost-efficiency. Performance marketers know this. It’s time they spread this knowledge to recession-wary CMOs.

Email - The End or a New Beginning

At a Nielson conference held last month, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg raised eyebrows by declaring the impending demise of email as the primary messaging platform. Her reasoning was based on a published Pew report, which stated that only 11% of teens utilize email every day.  Those numbers certainly suggest that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the platform of choice for that segment of the population. They are indeed growing in popularity across all age groups but to outright declare that the end of email is near is a bit short-sighted, especially with regard to corporate communications.

A case can be made that email is the original social media network. Before Facebook and Twitter came along, email was driving targeted messaging results. It remains a pivotal component to any business marketing strategy. It shouldn't be thrown to the scrap heap in favor of Facebook or Twitter. It should be incorporated into your social networking platform. Email should be used for engagement across the entire social consumer landscape. By incorporating Facebook and Twitter into your messaging campaign, you can extend your reach to users likely to disregard promotional emails by including such offers on your social networking pages. Once the social user is engaged, subsequent emails will sustain and grow interest maximizing spend and driving ROI.

A continuously improving email program, one that implements social networking, will most assuredly make those questioning the life span of email rethink their position. By combining it with social media, email will not be facing its end but a new beginning.

Generic Keywords – Key To Search Positioning

In a recent study conducted by Covario, a surprising number of global online retailers ranked poorly in Google searches due in large part to a lack of generic keyword optimization. For instance, Home Depot ranked 16th in keyword search for “home repair.” Considering the retailer is a home repair and home improvement juggernaut, its paltry position seems pretty illogical. But it proves that even the most successful brands need help getting their message across and understanding the value of search.

According to Covario, the top four spots on Google can be worth upwards of $100 million in annual revenue. Performance marketers should digest the findings in the Covario study and incorporate them into an overall sales strategy emphasizing the search value proposition. We need to stress the value of click-throughs as positions fluctuate; they can increase ROI. In terms of tracking processes, Paid Search is highly measurable and easy to monitor. As for Organic Search, enhanced Webmaster Tools on Google make it possible for clients to see the breakdown of impressions and conversions on their site.

The value proposition of search begins and evolves with continuous optimization. Any plan for improving search optimization must include generic keywording. The value of search to a brand is undeniable but only if that brand can be found.

The Implications of Do-Not-Track

Every week it seems a new wrinkle in the privacy debate makes the news wire. Late last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced preliminary plans for the creation of a Do-Not-Track list. The goal of Do-Not-Track would be to levy stricter regulations on behavioral online ad targeting. Is that a collective gasp I hear along digital advertising channels? Grab a paper bag and take some deep breaths. Upon further examination, there’s not much cause for alarm.

Online advertisers are not telemarketers. They are not hamstrung by the telephone. And their processes for the consumer, notably opt-in and opt-out functionalities, are already user-friendly making Do-Not-Track more of a political tool than an advertising detriment. Do-Not-Track will not reduce the number of ads consumers see. It would prevent ads from being targeted to sites a user has visited. But if a user likes receiving targeted ads, he or she simply wouldn’t subscribe to the list.

Given the attention privacy issues have received this year, it is understandable and somewhat commendable that the government wants to act. But by drafting up weightless and needless legislation, continuing to focus on platforms like Do-Not-Track does not make sense.

Taking Thought Leadership on the Cyber Road

Performance marketing thought leadership articles are a great resource for those interested in learning from the experts.  They offer valuable insight into the business strategy of the thought leader in question. Articles have tremendous upside but they can be rather impersonal.  Also, depending on the personality of the writer, they can be boring or teeter on the brink of self-aggrandizing. Nobody likes a know-it-all, even an expert know-it-all. Even the most charismatic thought leader can have a hard time communicating his or her experiences and knowledge in a few paragraphs. Ideally, experts should engage people on a one-on-one basis or in a manner befitting a town hall meeting but these options are often logistically impossible and financially irresponsible. But in the constantly evolving and continuously improving worlds of social media and digital marketing, this may no longer be the case.

Social media allows users to put the direct back in direct marketing. On Twitter and YouTube, people proactively market themselves and their special skills. Some users do exhibit a high degree of talent in a number of areas; i.e. singing, dancing, art, technology. Others, on the other hand, offer mediocrity to the masses. And yet both messages connect with people, sometimes in real-time. They are visual; therefore, more immediately memorable. Now take that one step further by utilizing YouTube as a vehicle to drive thought leadership through the web. Why couldn’t, why shouldn’t thought leadership go viral?

I, for one, will never call for the death of the written word. Thought leadership in print is most certainly an important marketing resource. Still, thought leadership articles, regardless of topic or author, can’t help but lack the appeal of a personal appearance, even if it’s remote. If you were interested in affiliate marketing, would you rather read an article authored by Monetizeit GM Peter Klein or would you prefer to sign into a cyber town hall and have Peter answer your question directly? If you were intrigued by the latest advances in search, would you favor accessing an article by MediaWhiz GM of Search Adam Riff or downloading an informal yet informative dialogue featuring Adam on YouTube?

One could make the argument that preparing for these virtual appearances would be a hassle, that the back and forth involved in scheduling them would become a time efficiency nightmare. There is truth to that - much the way meeting written deadlines, rewrite deadlines and unexpected editing revision deadlines can incite stress related hair pulling. But the end result, the spreading of specialized expertise, makes the process well worth it.

When it comes to promoting thought leadership, I’m not advocating one against the other. At the end of the day, it is a matter of individual preference.  Articles and “live” appearances each have their place and should complement each other. Perhaps performance marketing should take a page out of its own playbook, creating something akin to a targeted, audience-specific thought leadership campaign. This would enable savvy marketers and thought leaders to expand their reach, spark discussions and potentially drive results.

Twitter Programs Give Wing To Data Gathering and Display Ad Strategies

By: Mitch Tuch, MediaWhiz GM of Data Acquisition

The Twitter advertising revolution is in top flight. Fresh off its Promoted Tweets revenue earning initiative, Twitter is appealing to consumers and advertisers once again with its new @earlybird feed. The @earlybird program allows participants to opt in to receiving coupons and marketing messages.

For advertisers and performance marketers, the data acquisition and display advertising implications of Twitter’s move into advertising are positive. The goal of any data acquisition team is to find a relevant target audience to effectively market client products and services. Engaging consumers through using a robust data acquisition service can be a highly effective method for building a customer database.

Here's how it works: Consumers sign up to receive exclusive offers and deals from advertisers. For a nominal fee, advertisers will tweet these offers to @earlybird followers. The key is making the consumer feel in control of the information he or she is seeking. By incorporating Promoted Tweets and/or @earlybird into a client data acquisition program, performance marketers will benefit from social media’s ability to influence buyer intent allowing users to proactively research companies before deciding to opt-in. With Twitter, the opt-in becomes the conversational tweet.

Like Promoted Tweets, @earlybird will work for data acquisition purposes for three reasons – it engages a relevant target audience, enhances brand awareness and increases buyer intent. It is also simple, fairly unobtrusive and expected to drive results.

Profitability wise, it's a win-win for both advertisers and Twitter. Well, for Twitter it's presumed to be a win. The Blue Bird is being tight-beaked about how much it stands to gain financially from the service. Considering Twitter wasn't earning anything before Promoted Tweets came along, even modest revenue streams would be considered quite a coup.

The benefits to data acquisition are fairly obvious, but that is not the only area poised to profit from Twitter. If strategically implemented, Twitter advertising can drive increases in display advertising revenue. Effective performance marketing relies on recognizing and utilizing trends. Twitter is all about trending, being of the 140 character moment. According to a recent Nielson social media study, social brand advocacy increases ad awareness and quadruples buyer intent. Where does Twitter advertising fit in?

Yahoo! Finance reported that twenty four hours after purchasing their Promoted Tweet, Coca-Cola drove 85 million ad impressions with an engagement rate more than 5.5% above normal levels. With that kind of increase in brand awareness, it is hard to imagine that @earlybird will not be able to, at least, duplicate the success of Promoted Tweets. Disney agrees, becoming the first @earlybird partner.

Enhanced profitability and improved audience targeting methods aside, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Twitter’s latest advertising announcement is the lack of a public uproar. If you recall, Twitter Nation alleged that Promoted Tweets would be intrusive to users ultimately ruining the social network. Such talk died down pretty quickly when folks realized they could actually profit from these tweets in the form of drastically slashed airline tickets or exclusive retail sales.

If marketers strategically implement Promoted Tweets and @earlybird into their data acquisition and display advertising platforms within client campaigns, they’ll be chirping with the little blue bird all the way to the bank.

Mitch Tuch is the leader and general manager of MediaWhiz's Data Acquisition team.

Google Me or Not

When I first heard about Google Me, the search engine’s latest foray into the social media space, I thought of the numerous times I have googled myself. Though I never knew what I was looking for or hoping to find, I was confident in and trusting of Google to come through on page one. With Google, reality and perception have proved to be one in the same. Google Search’s propensity toward reliability and relevance could turn out to be the keys in making Google Me a success, even in what is becoming an over-saturated social environment.

Simplicity and user-friendliness are what set Google apart from other search engines. There’s nothing flashy about the homepage. It’s not cluttered with celebrity news, sports scores or trending alerts. It’s a search engine. People find that comforting. Advertisers are rather fond of it, as well, especially when it comes to ad dollars and cents. Mirroring Google Me after the search engine should drive similar results for individual users and those controlling ad spend. Yet, many industry insiders are concerned about Google’s chances of making a dent in Facebook’s stronghold of social media. There is no arguing that in spite of its recent privacy kerfuffle, Facebook remains the social network of choice for individuals, businesses and advertisers. But in the seemingly infinite online space, it’s hard to imagine that anything Google related would have a difficult time catching on.

Getting in Tune with Music Search

Search always seems to be searching for the next big thing to drive traffic and results. This time, it’s music.  Microsoft states that 10 percent of online searches are entertainment-based. Nearly three quarters of that percentage pertains to searches of music lyrics. That may not seem like much but it is enough of a sampling to propel Bing and Google into music search. Both Bing and Google will look to include song streaming, tour dates, lyrics and link acquisition opportunities within their search capabilities. For performance marketers, link acquisition’s role in music search is most important.

With the popularity of online song streaming on the rise, music downloads have stalled. Stalled downloads mean diminished returns. The logical next step in streaming is an ad-supported system. The music industry as a whole is still reeling from piracy issues, which threatened to permanently cripple record labels. The emergence of an ad-supported system has prompted some record executives to develop their own ad-supported streaming websites. As the music industry prepares to go digital by necessity, digital marketers and SEO link acquisition teams should collaborate with record executives to ensure they buy relevant ads that will target the right audience. The music industry has lost millions via illegal downloads. The pitch from link acquisition experts should focus on helping record executives sing a happy authority song.

Freedom from Ineffectual Email Marketing

Email marketers, welcome back from your July 4th break. Rest assured - email didn’t cease to exist while you were stuck in traffic en route to the beach or at home watching fireworks in HD. Email is here to stay. That’s what everyone says, at least for the foreseeable future. But as Facebook and Twitter drive improved email marketing results and higher click-throughs by way of "like" features and non-intrusive engagement strategies, standard email marketing systems must evolve. Performance marketers fresh from the Independence Day holiday should take a moment to thoroughly assess their email marketing programs, freeing themselves from inefficient, inoperable systems.

When evaluating an email marketing platform, performance marketers should consider the following – the strength of their opt-in, the overall design and content, whether the SPAM police have issued an APB, the importance of continuous testing and optimization, and perhaps most importantly integration into social media channels. By ensuring the functionality of their email marketing systems, performance marketers will increase the likelihood of driving higher ROIs. Driving those kinds of results will make future holiday traffic jams all the more tolerable.

Trailing Display Engagement

The entertainment industry is getting quite a boost from display advertising, especially films. The popularity of movie trailers make them a perfect fit for video display.

It used to be that people only saw trailers on television or at the theatre. For some people, a movie preview can actually be better than the film they bought tickets to see. With that in mind, bringing movie trailers online through display and banner ads simplifies the user engagement process. For movie trailers, successful engagement means that upon viewing the online trailer, the user is more likely to go to the theatre to watch the film. How are display advertisers able to obtain this information?

Having the right technology in place is important. In a recent comScore study, it was reported that Flash and Rich Media Ads make up 40% of display impressions. It is unclear if online video display was included in the study. Regardless, QuickTime and other dynamic technologies enable display advertisers to accurately gauge engagement. When users view the trailer, interest in the film can be measured through changes in volume, the number of times it is played and the format it is in.

To further illustrate the significance of video display advertising on engagement, the aforementioned study showed that over 90% of those users served entertainment ads and trailers converted on the ad rather than through a dedicated website. Leveraging this type of technology has an initial cost, but the eventual benefit – increased conversions and enhanced engagement – make incorporating it into a display campaign hard to argue against.

Themes of Legal Tech

Recurring themes of Legal Tech West, held last week in Los Angeles, were privacy, risk management and demands for cost efficiency. Sound familiar? It turns out that online marketing trends are mirroring the needs of the legal sector, perhaps more than initially thought.

Privacy, Security Breaches and Accountability was the title of the Opening Day Keynote Address delivered by David Lazarus, Business Columnist with the Los Angeles Times. I was not in attendance to hear the speech though I can surmise it at least touched on the rise of social media and its impact on promoting and protecting the reputations of law firms both domestically and abroad. The speech preview posted on the Legal Tech website stated his intention to discuss whether or not traditional business best practices are enough in dealing with these issues.  I’m sure Mr. Lazarus gave an informative, thought-provoking speech. However, I believe the message might have resonated even more had it been delivered by an expert in Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Legal Tech New York will not commence until late January 2011. It is widely and rightfully regarded as the most important law-based technology event of the year. As the digital landscape continually changes and improves across all genres, Legal Tech should leverage the knowledge and experience of ORM marketers for its East Coast Convention. Obviously, the overriding focus of Legal Tech should remain law-specific but increasing the number of panel discussions centering on social media, search and ORM would stress to law firms the importance of implementing digital strategies into their marketing plan.

Legal Goes Social

An increasing number of plaintiff law firms are leveraging social networking to cultivate their client base with highly targeted campaigns and profitable results. Firms are creating websites, blogs and news sites highlighting a practice specialty, marketing initiatives that are attracting visitors and prospective clients. For example, Parker Waichman Alonso LLP has created three websites, bigspills.com, oilspillclaims.com and oil-rig-explosions.com, to attract potential clients to the firm. The strategy is driving results. More than 1000 people have filled out contact forms and close to a dozen law suits have been filed. The firm’s approach is intriguing; a balancing act between utilizing social reach and exploiting a catastrophe. The latter of the two speaks to the need of law firms to invest in Search and Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Law firms like Parker Waichman Alonso may be tempted to implement Search and ORM within their internal marketing structure citing the success of Parker’s website launches. Regardless of their size or ranking, law firms must not take their reach or reputation for granted. Outsourcing Search and ORM to knowledgeable performance marketers can provide firms with a cost-efficient, fully optimized keyword research program designed to maximize marketing spend and drive relevant traffic to their site. Implementing a robust ORM system will provide firms with continuously improved monitoring of and protection from negative user posts. It will also enhance positioning of positive and negative results on the first page of major search engines, generate online buzz through blogs and reviews and offer better communications management of social media sites.

Performance marketers attending LegalTech West on June 23rd and 24th should take this opportunity to promote their valuable services to law firms. By outlining the value proposition of Search and ORM and their clear results-driving benefits, the legal community should have little objection.

Getting On Board With Metrics

Next time you board a plane embarking on your dream vacation, take a moment to consider the metrics that will get you to your desired location; thorough testing, proprietary evaluations and performance analytics before and after takeoff. These metrics along with campaign analysis, optimization and reporting are just as important for marketers looking to keep their campaigns on course for success.

Metrics for campaign effectiveness need to be maintained since they are constantly changing and continuously improving. And there are proven methods that will help you determine whether or not your ads are clear for take-off.  A proactive approach is your best approach. Staying on top of sales leads, click-throughs and traffic before and after a campaign takes off will help you track its effectiveness. Offering incentives and creating a sense of urgency sparks consumer interest and prompts action. Perhaps most importantly, tapping into the power of social media outlets enables clients to target a relevant audience and generates buzz. According to Nielson research, social advocacy is responsible for a 4x increase in buyer intent.

So before you prepare your next campaign for takeoff, remember to consider the metrics in order to ensure optimum campaign performance.

Multichannel Integration: Making it Work, Live at DM Days

Trying to grow a business in an uncertain economy is never easy, especially when the products and services needed to drive growth are luxurious in nature. Steve Strauss, CEO of American Laser Centers (ALC) was faced with this dilemma late in 2009. Marketing tactics that had worked in the past now lacked potency. Marketing spend reflected the financial climate.  ALC couldn’t run the risk of creating a campaign that lacked efficiency and a high-level message. Enter MediaWhiz.

ALC accepted MediaWhiz’s proposal to deliver not only growth but to continuously improve performance. ALC provided MediaWhiz with sales data to determine what was working and what wasn’t. Daily contact between ALC and MediaWhiz as well as continuous analysis revealed that user experience and a concise sales process were important to successful campaign execution. The MediaWhiz Program of Continuous Improvement optimized ALC’s multi-media marketing strategies while streamlining the ALC sales process. ALC doubled their online marketing budget and increased profitability. MediaWhiz successfully developed and implemented a Performance Marketing Program of Continuous improvement that drove unprecedented results for ALC including a 20% increase in lead volume, a 22% increase in bookings, a 9% increase in the show rate, and a whopping 58% increase in conversions to sale.

Come to Digital Marketing Days this Wednesday, June 16th for a 2:30 session with ALC CEO Steve Strauss and MediaWhiz CEO Jonathan Shapiro to learn more about this successful online performance program and how to make multichannel integration work.

Privacy Moves Beyond Facebook

It has finally happened – privacy now transcends Facebook. Potential congressional legislation spearheaded by Virginia Democrat, Representative Rick Boucher, would require ad networks to obtain user consent to track their third party activity by way of an opt-in option.  Ad agencies are understandably miffed by Boucher’s proposal fearing it will stifle their ability to market brands and services in what has always been a free-flowing Internet.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is also up in arms over the proposed legislation, especially the section that calls for consumer consent when agencies collect information via cookies, IP addresses or unique user names. On the flipside, consumer groups fear the legislation does not go far enough instituting protections. In this curious game of privacy 'He said, she said', one must ask why this is a relevant political hot potato.

Rick Boucher uses Twitter. He is on Facebook. How can someone clearly trying to benefit from social media, so-called privacy infringing social media, be so hell bent on passing this type of bill? Welcome to campaign season. Representative Boucher is facing a serious challenge to his seat. Positioning himself as a champion of the people could serve him well in his campaign. Considering Facebook came out of its privacy battle relatively unscathed, Boucher's fight could help him without adversely impacting the digital landscape.

Interactive should take a collective deep breath. In a world where people routinely divulge their location via mass tweet or subscribe to mobile applications trading personal info for a great deal on designer shoes, Boucher's bill - pass or no pass - will go a long way toward eventually killing itself.

The Impact of IPv6

It turns out the infinite online space is anything but; the Internet is going through something of a cyber jam. By September 2011, the final extensive batches of addresses will be distributed. Yes, final. A few months later, there will be no new addresses available. I can sense the creation of 2000glitchredux.com rapidly approaching. But in all seriousness, the ramifications of IPv6 could ultimately prove devastating – to some.  

While the major search engine and online presences are ready for the switch, small businesses in particular are wary of the new technology from financial and systemic standpoints. But they aren’t the only ones feeling the heat. Content providers also need to get with the IPv6 program. And did I mention performance marketers?

IPv6’s impact on a full-service digital marketing suite of products and services may be hard to quantify but it is necessary to understand. Now is the time for digital agencies to leverage the power of IPv6 and implement it into their marketing strategy. Developing expert knowledge relevant to the coming internet protocol will foster trust with customers, essential for improving optimization, increasing consumer profitability and driving results.

MThink’s Blue Book Top 20

Affiliate marketing fraud, or at the very least the perception of it, remains an industry-wide blight. Regardless of federal regulations and threats of increased government oversight, affiliates, advertisers and publishers continue to do themselves more harm than good playing a constant game of one-upmanship. Whether it’s buying bad conversions, deceptive ads and links or charging for clicks that haven’t been used, affiliate marketers must cease and desist with these irresponsible practices.

The temptation of affiliates to adopt new traffic sources without considering the effect they will have on advertiser conversions is an example of individual greed undermining industry growth. But affiliates are not solely at fault. Advertising and publishing networks have their own bottom lines to meet. As profits and conversions rise, networks tend to concern themselves less with the long-term health and tricky legalities of affiliate marketing. But this needs to change.

Affiliates, advertisers and publishers need to resist the temptation of the quick money fix. Business owners rely on sound publishers just as publishers rely on legitimate network offers. Advertisers, publishers and business owners must view themselves as being part of a trilogy responsible for driving results and continuously improving profitability and the industry as a whole.

Though affiliate marketing fraud is a problem, all is not lost. The release of the Blue Book’s Top 20 performance marketing networks proves that following the rules can maximize profits. Still, these performance marketers must apply the best practices they used in achieving their top 20 rankings to put an end to the misleading affiliate offers currently polluting the online space. Affiliate abusers have been one step ahead of the game for far too long. As skilled marketers, this is one game of one-upmanship we need to win.

Email and Engagement: The “E’s” Driving Economic Recovery

As we tip toe toward economic recovery, marketers would be wise to remember the role email marketing played in making the recession a wee bit more tolerable. It was one of the few strategies that effectively drove profitable results both globally and domestically. The news that the recession is over is certainly welcome but simply announcing that its end is here doesn’t guarantee that consumers will get the memo.  After all, it’s true what they say about assuming. Taking a passive approach will fail to engage potential customers.

Email marketers must engage and involve consumers by giving them more control of information by emphasizing social networks, Email Preference Centers, (EPCs) and the overall value of sharing data. Sharing is caring. Continuous improvement means continuous metrics advancement. Marketers need to strengthen email marketing usability and functionality across channels. While digital and traditional markets haven’t always been simpatico with regard to email marketing, leveraging e-commerce along with in-store promotional strategies can enhance email marketing capabilities. Ultimately, the better your email marketing methodologies, the more advanced your data acquisition and lead generation systems will become.

Can Startups De-FaceBook?

Some call themselves social operating sites or people platforms. Others stick to the widely accepted social media and/or social networking nomenclature. You say tomato, Steve Jobs says apple. Regardless of classification, newbies to social like Pip.io, Diaspora and OneSocialWeb are pitching their sites as untainted alternatives to Mark Zuckerberg’s privacy invading juggernaut, FaceBook. The ire over FaceBook’s controversial Open Graph application and its “Like” tool has spawned QuitFaceBookDay.com, a campaign calling for users to cancel their accounts on May 31st. Be that as it may, if people are so up in arms over FaceBook, why are these new sites struggling to get off the ground? Why have only 13,000 of FaceBook’s 400 million members vowed to sever ties with the social network?

I think the inconvenient truth of the matter is that for all their complaining, users are experiencing a crisis of conscience and a struggle for identity. FaceBook initially marketed itself as a place for friends. Those friends created the rules of the game. Users started marketing themselves, their interests, their industries, their affiliations. It should not be called invasion of privacy if you’re doing the striptease. And stripteases get noticed.

Companies, large and small, caught on to the power of social networking and influencing in marketing their products and services. The place for friends changed into the home for honchos. FaceBook traditionalists, if they could really be called such, may hate the thought of sharing face time with big business but that’s the price of innovation.

I’m sure many FaceBook users are tempted to test the social waters, whether or not they completely opt to jump from Zuckerberg’s ship. But the reality is FaceBook successfully separated itself from the pack by continuously improving its model, not settling on one formula or aspect of social networking to survive. For social newbies to truly compete with FaceBook, they would be wise to forego an independent strategy. They should outsource digital performance marketing expertise to draw from what Zuckerberg has mastered and invest in innovation, improved analytics and optimization to drive results far greater than 13,000.

Will Click-Through Rates Get Caught In the Web App? Does It Matter?

Native apps still hold many advantages over emerging web apps. Depending on publisher size and industry, native apps provide better bang for the click with greater monetization and value among smaller and pay-per-download providers. But according to findings in a new Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) whitepaper, it’s only a matter of time before the native app gives way to the webbie.

The paper theorizes that web apps will become a superior publishing platform able to increase and improve developer attention. User tracking and engagement are its strengths. By 2013, web app functionality will rival that of native apps on multiple channels. GIA believes that its tracking and engagement advantages along with its versatile functionality will decrease the native apps mind-share by 1/5th, down to 24%. Large publishers are big fans of the web app. Web apps fit in nicely with their business philosophy – distribution and development cost control.

If the web app has an Achilles heel, it’s the click-through rate. By and large, native apps generate better CTRs. But in lieu of cross-channel attribution and the multi-channel effectiveness of the web app, does the native apps click-through advantage really matter? And when you throw the cost, speed and simplicity of the web app into the mix, those smaller and pay-per-download providers may get caught up in the web app sooner than expected.

Privacy’s Impact on Display

Online advertising has taken a direct hit to the solar plexus with the current privacy debate sweeping digital marketing. Facebook is the obvious place to lay blame but the reasoning behind the decline in online behavioral advertising goes beyond whether or not you “Like” Mark Zuckerberg. The Ponemon Institute, a privacy research group, finds that marketers are 75% less likely to track a web user’s browsing habits for campaign targeting. Privacy and transparency have display advertisers running scared. This trend needs to change. It’s time to get proactive.
It’s not good enough to wish the privacy hysteria away. While it’s true that mass panics tend to quell over time, especially those involving Facebook, a passive approach shouldn’t be the first option. It’s like waiting for the three run homer in baseball. Sometimes you get one but it still means you had to get a few runners on base to make things happen. How should display advertisers go about their rally?
Don’t shy away from transparency, embrace it. Mapping out precise, explicit data detailing buyer intent ensures accuracy and establishes client trust. And though privacy advocates will continue making waves, technologically advanced user-metrics designed to target the right audience will alleviate any fears the general public may have. After all, they will be shown ads that interest them, which should ease the notion of privacy invasion.
The onus is on display advertisers to make clients and consumers understand the benefits of online behavioral tracking. There’s revenue to be made and customers to generate.

Accentuate the Positive – Combating Shared Negative Brand Experiences with ORM

Social media users get a kick out of feeling important and influential without the risk of face to face confrontation. The relative anonymity of the web makes it a breeding ground for complaining consumers, especially in the realm of social media.  Negative comments about a particular brand or product can be severely detrimental to a company’s short-term and long-term growth and profitability. This seems like a common sense deduction but a recent Opinion Research study suggests that companies have missed that memo.

According to the survey, 20% of those polled have used social media to speak negatively about a brand. Shockingly, 64% of companies do not have a social media policy or structure in place to combat such negative reporting. And in keeping with the non-confrontational benefits of spewing negativity online, 18% of those surveyed admitted to using an alias in social media circles exclusively. These findings scream out for Online Reputation Management.

The numbers don’t lie, which should make it easier for digital marketers to explain the advantages of instituting an ORM platform into a client’s business model. It’s all about accentuating the positive – controlling the branding message, generating buzz around a product or service, monitoring user postings and improving visibility and enhancing their page one search engine position. By employing this level of due diligence, existing and potential clients will experience the short-term and long-term growth and profitability currently eluding them. But it is up to those in the digital marketing industry to get this positive message out.

The MediaWhiz Manager Spotlight

Director of Business Development for Monetizeit Adam Trentacoste is the first team member profiled in The Manager Spotlight

Recently promoted to Director of Business Development for Monetizeit, Adam Trentacoste wasn’t familiar with affiliate marketing and knew little about online advertising when he started working with MediaWhiz in 2007. His rapid climb up the ladder is indicative of his core business values - ‘hard work, dedication and trust’. In keeping with his business philosophy, Adam believes MediaWhiz’s knowledge of email and list management, data acquisition, search and display set us apart in building ‘that ever important trust factor with your clients’. Adam explains, ‘We are not just an affiliate network’ adding that MediaWhiz is able to ‘…leverage our expertise in all channels of online performance marketing’. Adam sees a ‘bright future for affiliate marketing’ citing traditional and online advertisers shifting budgets toward online performance as well as government regulations undercutting dishonest affiliate and online marketing practices as keys to his belief. Adam hopes this bright future will translate to the continuous improvement of the MediaWhiz softball team and drive positive results for MediaWhiz during an upcoming “Thursty Thursday” performance marketing agency beer pong tournament.

Open Graph – Facebook’s Map to Rule Search

Privacy be damned. With Open Graph, Facebook’s addition to its online platform, the social networking giant is making a thinly veiled play to steal the search crown from Google. Open Graph will allow users to tailor social features on any website and share their modifications through Facebook. For publishers, Open Graph is a search marketing coup d’état allowing them access to Facebook’s four hundred million users whether or not they possess a brand page. For performance marketers, this unprecedented amount of information could improve targeted advertising. Oh and then there’s that little privacy thing.

Open Graph offers a “Like” button, which enables users to put their stamp of approval on certain products and services. In actuality, this feature enhances search utility. Why is this important? Well, in lieu of the recently revealed Nielson Facebook study results, social advocacy on ads increased buyer intent fourfold. The privacy implications of Open Graph may come back to bite Facebook but if it doesn’t, lead generation experts should send Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg a Christmas card. While Google’s philosophy is to improve the way the world accesses and searches for information, Facebook adheres to the belief that social advocacy in the extreme is the key to online advertising dominance.

Accentuating the “Negative” – Why negative keywords could drive very positive results

You know the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? Well, in the world of PPC search, negative keywords make the perfect thirst quencher.  By incorporating negative keywords into your pay-per-click campaign, you ensure that you don’t come up in searches for that term.  Confused? Don’t worry.

Let’s say you were running a search campaign for Bank of America. They may fear that Bank of America financial crisis will appear in searches. Adding “financial crisis” as negative keywords will put an end to your search concerns. By going negative, you will generate relevant searches keeping your traffic on target. Qualified leads will save you money by preventing unwanted clicks. Negative keywords also protect your online image and the value of your brand.  Save money, increase brand value, enhance online reputation; sometimes you have to go negative to be positive.

Dissolution or Revolution – Will Traditional Advertising Agencies Finally Get Onboard the Digital Bus?

The traditional advertising agency is in a state of flux. Long accustomed to creating campaigns for print, radio, television and direct mail clients, the traditional agency model has been slow to adjust to the demands of digital advertising, namely online, viral and mobile marketing. When you consider that advertising is rooted in creativity, that outside the box strategy drives success within the medium, the unwillingness of, or perhaps more frighteningly the ineffectualness of traditional markets to evolve is rather mind-boggling. But on the heels of the Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) Council’s latest State of Marketing survey, the potentially devastating financial fallout to conventional advertising agencies may be precisely the spark the genre needs to get with the interactive age.

The survey reveals that senior marketing experts are anticipating a significant shift away from traditional agencies in favor of increases in digitally-minded hires, in-house training solutions and working relationships with digital agencies. In keeping with the study’s findings a new breed of consultant is springing forth to provide systemic, infrastructural and technological advances to marketers in lieu of old-fashioned advertising agencies. Given that the CMO manages nearly $200 billion is annual marketing budgets, the figurative dark cloud hovering over the traditional model is becoming more demoralizing by the minute.

Traditional advertising’s dilemma has been performance and affiliate marketing’s gain. PPC and SEO are not only cost-effective alternatives to conventional advertising, they bolster visibility increasing ROI. And yet with all the gloom and doom talk, traditional advertising has not picked out its coffin just yet. Last time I checked, television watching and radio listening hasn’t gone the way of the dinosaur. The T-Rex never did get with evolution. It didn’t adapt. There’s still time for traditional advertising to embrace digital. But it would be unwise to wait much longer.

Making a Good Overall Impression on Facebook

We’ve all heard the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Now, before you panic, this blog post will not regress into a litany of clichés. And you have Facebook and Nielson to thank for that. In a study examining the reach and effectiveness of Facebook impressions, Nielson determined that users of the social networking site were more prone to notice ads and purchase brands if they featured earned media and social advocacy. Alas, good impressions that incorporate positive word of mouth win out.

Nielson’s research involved analyzing three forms of Facebook impressions: Homepage ads, Social impressions and Organic impressions. Essentially, Nielson was evaluating the strength of paid and earned media, the former referring to advertising publicity and the latter alluding to publicity gained through favorable opinion. A “Become a Fan” ad created solely to engage the user with a brand is a homepage ad, an example of paid media. A “Become a Fan” ad that also lists the names of other fans in the user’s friend network is a social impression, a blending of earned and paid media. Lastly, an organic impression is a promotional tool that appears on a page belonging to the user’s friend. This impression announces that the friend is a fan of a brand, a type of earned media.

Nielson concluded that social advocacy in Facebook ads doubled awareness among users. More importantly, it resulted in a 4x increase in buyer intent. The lead generation significance in the wake of these findings is palpable. Performance marketers should incorporate the Nielson study into their CPM pitch. The message to advertisers shouldn’t be about making a good first impression. The message should focus on making three – creating a compelling home page to foster organic impressions, stressing the importance of social impressions by investing in paid media and giving due consideration to each impression category for premium campaign effectiveness.

Compliance in online marketing: A case for the long haul

By:  Peter Klein, GM of MonetizeIt, MediaWhiz

I started my career in the direct mail world of magazines, “As Seen on TV” products, and sweepstakes offering people a chance at riches. Probably our most questionable tactic back then consisted of making the following exciting, emotional claim; “You could almost possibly already be a winner!” Despite the hyperbole, ten million dollar and one million dollar grand prizes continue to be awarded annually to a fortunate few. It is a real testament to compliance and self-regulation.
In contrast, many of today's online marketers profit from deceptive techniques, false claims and taxation. The Internet has become saturated with fake blogs and fake articles, commonly and not so affectionately referred to as “flogs” and “farticles.” These pages not only make unsubstantiated claims that cause people to spend money and ingest a potentially toxic cocktail of unproven home remedy-type products; they also result in advertisers losing their merchant accounts. How do these companies and affiliates get away with such chicanery? They lack compliance and self-regulation.
Determining how and when to monitor publishers and ensure compliance can be a slippery slope. When these irresponsible parties get blacklisted, will the volume of companies and affiliates contract? This question needs to be carefully considered. Still, FTC involvement levying fines, handing out lawsuits, and assessing future regulations will go a long way toward instituting best practices across the varied media courses.
Compliance and self-regulation are issues of great personal importance. Having spent fifteen years working in direct marketing, I fully recognize the role I played in promoting such practices. But it is this level of understanding that has caused me to reevaluate my prior philosophy and establish better ways of doing business. For example, instituting improved monitoring tools and best of breed practices can diligently protect the brand image of the client. Making branded offers available exclusively to a select group of trusted partners who directly control the media promotes transparency and builds confidence.
Additionally, I believe that creating online governing boards is an idea whose time has come. Global blacklists, standardized regulations, and even scoring affiliates would advance financial and ethical responsibility among Internet marketers. Gravitating toward this limited inclusion model is something of a corrective shift by us “old timers” who expanded the online space over the past decade and remain committed to it for the long haul.
As more dollars pour into the online space, it is time for marketers to unite if we want to avoid the government regulations currently impacting the radio, TV and print mediums. Once that happens, progress will be slowed and all moves will be long-term by default.
Those who have spurious short-term monetary goals are often envied and, at times, held in high esteem. But in my opinion, it is more estimable to execute your wealth building strategy the right way: through compliance and self-regulation.