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.
sábado, 4 de diciembre de 2010
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.
lunes, 29 de noviembre de 2010
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.
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, 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.”
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