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.
lunes, 29 de noviembre de 2010
lunes, 22 de noviembre de 2010
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.
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.
lunes, 15 de noviembre de 2010
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.
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.
lunes, 8 de noviembre de 2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
lunes, 1 de noviembre de 2010
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.
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.
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