My presentation is below for your viewing pleasure.  The main takeaways are as follows:

1. Media consumption and media fragmentation are making digital channels more and more important for all companies.

2. As marketers we have to create content that consumers WANT to consume, and allow them to engage us when and how they choose.

3. There are numerous examples of savvy brands using digital media to reach and engage customers in a cost-effective way.

4. Despite a complex and overwhelming set of digital media options, there are some tried and true tactics that will provide the foundation for online marketing success.

5. Social media is becoming increasingly important, but you should have a plan before you dive in.

View my presentation on slideshare:

Digital Success in Troubling Times - Steve Latham - Spur Interactive

Thanks again to AAF and HiMA for allowing me to share my thoughts. If you have thoughts, comments or questions, I’d love to hear from you! Also feel free to Join me on facebook or Follow me on Twitter.

Thanks for reading my blog!

The Wingman Effect
Another impediment to measurement is that most analytics platforms (including Google Analytics) were designed to attribute credit for an action to the last medium clicked. As noted above, user engagement typically entails multiple touch-points, both online and offline. Especially true with considered purchases, customers often make multiple visits, by way of multiple paths (e.g. display ad, search, direct nav), before taking action. Even if all of the visits are done on the same computer (and you COULD track using cookies), assigning credit for the lead or sale to the last click provides only part of the picture, and it generally rewards Search at the expense of Display, Email, Social and other media.

Using a crude analogy, consider the proverbial Wingman.  Picture two guys out at dinner and they see an attractive woman. You know the routine - one guy is the leader; the other is his Wingman.  The job of the Wingman is to support his pal.  He is often the one who initiates conversation and breaks the ice so his friend can move in for the kill. If the lead guy gets a phone number or email address, he knows he has the Wingman to thank for the assist.

In online marketing, Display is often the Wingman, the one who starts the conversation, while Search is the guy who gets most of the dates. But unlike the example above, Search gets all the credit and the Wingman’s contribution goes unnoticed. Moreover, because his contribution is not noticed, he may not be invited the next time they go out. Media planners often cut ad buys because they can’t see the supporting role they play in the engagement cycle. If they don’t drive directly actions, based on last-click analysis, conventional wisdom dictates you stop buying them. This ultimately works against you and will result in fewer conversations that lead to your desired results.

The takeaway for marketers is that you need to track interaction through the engagement cycle. Recently coined “Engagement Mapping” by Atlas (now part of Microsoft), savvy marketers are now tracking the first, middle and last clicks to determine how each media unit impacts results.

As we’ve seen firsthand on numerous campaigns, for every lead or sale you can directly attribute to an ad unit, there are 0.5 to 2.0 actions that are not traceable due to the reasons cited above.

While these are formidable challenges, do not despair – there are affordable, proven methods for overcoming both of them. Since this is how we make a living, I can’t share all the secrets with you. But I can provide some general recommendations.

First, you need to take a strategic approach to engagement mapping that will shed light on the various contributions (lead, supporting, etc.) your various online media units play in the engagement cycle. Once you understand which units create awareness, and which ones close the deal, you can produce smarter media plans.

Second, you should treat every campaign as a learning experience and make systematic media testing an ongoing program. By varying flight dates of various media, you can will gain better insights into the performance and contribution of your online media mix.

Lastly, you have to look at the overall lift in site traffic and activity, not just the visits that are directly attributable to specific ads. Don’t underestimate the tendency for people to take action on their 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th visits. Take a holistic view and you’ll see a much clearer picture.

As always, your comments are welcome, so make your voice heard.  And if you think this is great - please share with your colleagues!

]]> http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2008/10/03/making-sense-of-online-campaign-results-part-2/feed/ http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2008/09/29/making-sense-of-results-from-online-campaigns-part-1/ http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2008/09/29/making-sense-of-results-from-online-campaigns-part-1/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:04:53 +0000 Steve Latham http://blog.spurinteractive.com/?p=93 When I talk to marketers these days, one of the most frequently cited needs I hear about is the ability to measure (and make sense of) results from online campaigns. More specifically, the gap in most organizations is their ability to trace results (e.g. engagement, leads or sales) back to individual ads, email blasts or search phrases that drove the desired results. They have data but it often doesn’t make sense. While many have figured out how to use tools such as Google Analytics for measuring conversions and attributing those to the ad unit (e.g. display ad or search phrase) that preceded the conversion, the results often do not make sense, or are contradictory to what their media plan said should happen.

If you are in this category, don’t despair – you are in good company. My personal research indicates that 94.59% of marketers are struggling with the same issues. I believe the challenge of measuring results that make sense is two-fold: 1) shortcomings of cookie-based tracking, and 2) the fallacy of last-click analysis, which I refer to as the “Wingman effect”.

Crumbling Cookies

As consumers become smarter, savvier online users, they are becoming more deliberate and less impulsive in their decision process. With so many more options at their fingertips they can easily do research and comparison shopping before buying that new camera or requesting information on your services. For big purchases, they often confer with others, e.g. sending a link to that new road bike to their friend or spouse to get their input). Another issue is the growing trend of “surf at work, buy at home”, where they do research on one computer and take action on another. Since we rely on cookies to track actions for each individual, these issues impact our ability to measure results. Here’s an example:

The example above illustrates how multiple visits and machines reduce the effectiveness of cookie-based tracking. The increasing use of cookie-cleaning tools adds to the dilemma. If, as widely reported, 40% of 3^rd party cookies are either not accepted or deleted within 30 days, we’re blind to what impacts a significant portion of our results. Consequently, it’s difficult to take an accurate measure of which media buys are performing, and which are not.

So with that we conclude the first part of this subject. In my next post I will introduce the Wingman and give new hope to display media salespeople. But for the mean time, please tell me what you think! If you found this to be of value, please comment below.

Later!

• From Mike Freedman at Local Directive:
  
  • Over 60 percent of consumers search for a local business on the internet, and only 33 percent use the yellow pages. [Source TMP Directional, 2007]
  • Almost 40% of local shoppers say that a presence on the internet – or lack of presence – will affect their decision about who they do business with. [Source: Web.com, 2007]
  • In June, 2007, comScore Networks reported that 60% of local consumers now go online to search for local businesses, as opposed to 33% that go first to the printed yellow pages. That same comScore study indicated that 80% of the consumers that search online for a business, a product or a service make an offline purchase at a local store.

• From Paul Denhup at SearchRevenues.com:
  It will get uglier for YP.  Please find some useful links attached.  YellowBook is trying to capture some of the Search Marketing momentum buy attempting to set up “New Media Specialists” nationally for selling search marketing ads on Google and Yahoo! to their existing clients. For more info read Local Ad Staffs Retool (Fox News).

• From Amelia Kasse at MarketingBase:
  Simba publishes several independent studies, including Yellow Pages Market Forecast 2008. Plunkett offers stats in its Advertising & Branding Industry Almanac 2008

It’s pretty clear that YP has some tough times ahead.  While bad for them, it bodes well for search engines (maybe MSN Live still has a chance!), online marketers and tree huggers around the country.

Thanks for all for their input!  Question and comments are welcome!!!

At the recent Barcamp Houston event, I attended a session titled “Facebook App Brainstorming Session”.  I had been thinking about how Facebook Apps could be used from a marketing standpoint, and was excited by the prospect of discussing it with others.  Unfortunately, the guy leading the session was mainly interested in telling the audience about the idea he had for an app.  Being a strong Type A personality, I interrupted the impromptu focus group and asked if anyone wanted to have a more general discussion about Facebook Apps.  Since most of the people in the room also thought that was the subject of the session we were in (kudos to the organizer for drawing a crowd!) a lot of hands were raised.  Convinced I could have a discussion w/ more than a mirror, I left the room and scheduled my own session [if you don't know how Barcamp works, the attendees decide what to discuss - you just find an open slot and put your subject and name on the board].

We had about 30 people show up for our brainstorming session. i kicked it off by posing 2 questions:

1. Can you actually make (real) money from a Facebook App?

2. Can a Facebook App be used for marketing purposes?

Unfortunately, no one in the room had actually developed a Facebook App. However, there were some smart people in the room and we had a great discussion.  Here are the takeaways:

Question 1: Can you make real $$$? While it’s theoretically possible to earn some income from cpm-based ad revenue sharing, we agreed it’s hard to make real money from an App.  Don’t get me wrong - Fun Space formerly known as Fun Wall is cool, but I use it mostly as a video viewer than an App.  Michael Dalesandro had the right app at the right time with Where I’ve Been, but those examples are rare.  Like the domain squatters of 1997, they showed that first movers can sometimes win.  Earlier this year I had dinner w/ the guys (nice kids from Austin) who created the Vampire and Zombie Apps.  They admitted they had just recently started to see some income from the millions of underworld fights they created, but recognized it wasn’t going to last long.  The nights of the Vampire were fading and that they needed to come up with something new, pronto.

This week Techcrunch reported that to date, a mere $8 million has been paid by Facebook to App developers around the world - not much considering the (hundreds of) billions of page views Facebook has had.  However, the article also reports there are some app developers who are making real money (six and seven figures each month) from their apps.  But these aren’t from the traditional cpm revenue shares - read the article to learn more.

Okay, so you CAN make money with a Facebook App.  And new members LOVE APPS! Who wouldn’t want to receive a cupcake???  Well, as much as virtual cupcakes enrich our lives, the novelty eventually wears off and they become a nuisance.  If you’re like me (and at least 499 others in the Facebook group “Stop Sending me damn application requests or I’ll go ape shit on your ass“), you’ve probably removed most of the apps you added when you joined Facebook.

The implications are twofold: 1) Apps have limited lives, and 2) you might want to shoot for the over 30 crowd, as that seems to be where the growth in Facebook members is occurring (ask a 22-year old which apps they are adding these days, but be careful!).

Question #2: Can Apps be used as a marketing vehicle? As above, the answer is “yes, but…” which means it’s possible, but becoming harder and harder.  First, as mentioned, the adoption of apps seems to be inversely correlated to time spent as a member (starts off high, goes down fast).  Second, more and more people are figuring out what all that privacy talk is all about.  I you know that a server knows who you are and is tracking how often you visit “Hot or Not” to see what others think of you, it may be a little settling.

But like all things, there are exceptions. The Causes App has been very successful for many… causes.  Another example is Dell, which jumped on the Green bandwagon (scoring a perfect landing before rumors surfaced of being too young to compete) with its Regeneration contest. The eco-centric campaign relied heavily (and benefited greatly) on the Facebook Graffiti application.  I saw the case study at Ad-Tech and was pretty impressed with how Dell whipped a bunch of environmentally-friendly propeller heads into a graffiti frenzy to promote its contest.  BTW - my entry “Dude you’re getting a Tree!” was not selected as a finalist.

The lesson: why create an app when you can leverage an existing app that is already being used by millions?  This was another one of the pearls that came from our Barcamp discussion.

Charitable Donation?
While there are a few Facebook apps that make money, and others that serve as effective marketing vehicles, those are few and far between.  I’m hopeful that all other apps were conceived, built and distributed with an altruistic, “share-the-fun” objective.  If on the other hand they were built for a commercial purpose, hopefully the owners are business-savvy enough to deduct the cost of building them as a charitable donation to society.

Comments?  Questions?  Let’s hear from you!

At the event I was interviewed by local new media guy Mike McGuff who has a video blog site MikeMcGuff.com. Mike interviewed me on the topics of Social Media, our new brand and Lemonade Day.  Mike’s a pretty good video blogger and quite handy with his flip camera.  I didn’t have much notice but thought it turned out okay.  You can view the interview below. Yes, I know, it’s a very flattering title pic… (no worries Mike, I know YouTube doesn’t give you much of a choice).

I’m now wondering if I should add some video to my blog entries.  The answer is probably yes, but I don’t know what I’d shoot or how to edit it.  So I’ll stick w/ text for now, and take advantage of stuff I can find on youtube.

I realize I’m a bit spoiled by the immediate gratification I often find online; so after 15 minutes passed without a single no LinkedIn answer, I decided to do some research myself.  What I found should be of interest to all marketers who rely on Yellow Pages for local advertising.

According to Search Engine Watch: This year, local advertisers are expected to shift $13.1 billion of their budgeted funds to the Internet, according to Borrell Associates. The number is up 50% over last year. In 2009, local online ad spending is projected to grow another 40% to $18.2 billion in 2009″… “Online advertising is cheaper than traditional methods of marketing and is thought to be the reason for the change. According to Borrell, internet CPMs average $3.65, the lowest of any media, while an offline Yellow Pages ad carries an average CPM of $9.29.”

On a different note, I was very pleased to see that Media Post published my article “5 Steps to Overcoming Barriers to Online Marketing” last week.  Thanks to my handy Google alerts (everyone should track their company as well as their own name), I saw that another blog site referenced my article.  Ironically, they thought I was a Media Post writer, rather than a contributing author.  I guess that’s not a bad thing…?

If you can’t log in to Media Post, you can read the full article in the Insights section of our web site.

Lastly, I hope everyone in H-town can make this week’s Houston IMA luncheon featuring author Nita Rollins. Should be a packed house and a great event.  Hope to see you there!

Please remember your comments are always welcome.  We’d hope to hear from you!

After Kelsey spoke about social media from a sociological perspective, I presented the business case for Social Media and discussed why brands have to embrace it, and how they can measure the impact on their business. To learn more, you can view my presentation below or on slideshare. Katie then spoke about how to implement a social media program. You can view their presentations via the links above.

If you have thoughts, comments or questions regarding social media, I’d love to hear from you! Also feel free to Join me on facebook or Follow me on Twitter.

1) Figuring out what to do and where to start (paid search, natural search, email marketing, display advertising, social media (and its 31 flavors), ecommerce, video, rich media, sms, etc.). In other words they  need a Strategy.

2) Measuring activity and translating web metrics into business results (e.g. leads, sales, revenue, ROI).  This is especially challenging for those who rely on their web presence to seed and support offline transactions (in other words, 99% of U.S. companies).

3) Educating upper management on the benefits, opportunities and threats represented by digital media.

If these happen to be your pain points too, you’re in good company.  Even though we’ve been in the digital arena for a decade, most marketers are still scratching the surface in terms of maximizing value from their web presence and leveraging digital media.  Most admit there is much more to be done before they can say they’re doing a sufficient job.

The good news is that the models have been proven, the documented successes are there and the path to online marketing success is becoming much clearer.  So there is hope, and a lot to be excited about.  Now get back to work!

BTW - for some ideas on how to address the issues above read the article Overcoming Barriers to Online Investment.  You can also check out the OMS blog where I explain how to calculate ROI from online marketing.

Let’s hear from you! If you have thoughts or questions re: these issues, please comment!

And if you like what you read, please feel free to share with your friends.  Click “share this” below for details.

Thanks for your time!