In Sight

Since the inception of the internet, businesses and individuals have been trying to figure out how to make money off of it. One of the clearest, and sometimes most infamous, ways businesses make money off the internet is through advertising.

And one of the most exciting things the internet brought to the world of advertising was the ability for the users to interact with the advertisement. This interaction could be captured, catalogued, and tracked. This interaction was given the highly imaginative name of “click”.

Companies that eagerly moved into online advertising were excited that they could see the clicks. They couldn’t see this with television, newspaper, magazine, or billboard ads. This was something tangible, it was a step up from these other non-interactive mediums.

Online ad agencies saw the excitement that the interactive “click” brought to their prospective customers and certainly weren’t going to dissuade them. If the click was what was drawing customers in, then there was no need to tout any other values. “Yeah, the click makes us better!” they would say. And people believed them, because it was true—sort of.

But you see, hiding in the shadows, there was a stowaway—a lie that hitched a ride with the truth that the ability to track a click was a good thing. This lie was that the click was all that mattered.

Do television ads still work? The easy answer is, of course they do. Despite the fact that online advertising is growing at a rapid pace, tens of billions of dollars are spent on television advertising each year. And despite the fact that print is declining, it also still accounts for billions in advertising dollars. And you can’t click a T.V. (yet) or a newspaper or magazine. You can’t click a billboard. But it still works.

The most overlooked aspect of online advertising is the fact that ads that were seen, but not clicked, still influenced behavior. In fact, studies have shown that more money is made on ads that were seen, but not clicked than on ads that were clicked on. Let’s say that again. Most online marketing campaigns close more deals and make more money off of online visitors who saw the ad, but didn’t click than they do off of those who clicked on the ads. And here’s why:

Let’s imagine that we’re running an online ad campaign and that the click-through rate we get is 1% (which is higher than today’s industry average for click-through rates). This means that if 1000 people saw the banners, 10 would have clicked. If 30% of those who clicked on the banner purchased, then we would have conversions among those who clicked. However, we still have 990 people who only saw the banner and if only 7% of them purchase, then this means that we would have 70 purchases. Thus, the conversion rates were lower with our “Post-Impression” group, because they only had a 7% conversion rate—compared to a 30% conversion rate for those who clicked, but the actual number of conversions was higher for those who only saw the banners.  The following chart uses one of DeepTarget’s customer campaigns actual results to illustrate the larger number of conversions from those who only saw the banner.

One study, published by emarketer.com, notes that almost eighty percent of conversions come from those who saw an ad, but didn’t click (see the Post-Impression stat on the second chart):

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008045

Another study, also by emarketer.com, gives some reasons why people would be interested in the product they see in an online ad, but would choose not to click:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1008620&R=1008620

So, knowing your click-through rates is good, but if you let the story stop there, you’re missing the best part.

Did you know that younger women are now more likely than their male counterparts to hold a college degree and that the number of men and women in the labor force has nearly equalized?
Hopefully, as a business owner or marketer, you’re paying attention to that statistic and many others like it. Why? Because therein lies buying power and purchasing influence. And, as we all know, men and women are different. What appeals to one, might not to the other.
Not only are women increasing in the work force, but they are a powerhouse in the social scene. I personally have had several friends that started blogs as hobbies and have seen them turn these hobbies into well-paying careers.
What about the new social media darling, Pinterest? In the United States 83% of the users are women. Pinterest gained 13 million users in just 10 months. Most of them are women. Did you know that more women turn to Pinterest than Twitter when it comes to getting product information and advice? I for one will admit how much I enjoy Pinterest! I can’t tell you how often I have heard someone ask a question like, “How did you make that?” or “How did you learn to do that?” And then the person who was asked the question responds this way: “Are you on Pinterest? You should follow me—that’s where I got the idea.”
Have you changed your marketing plans based on any of the information above? Do you have any women centric campaigns?
I would also love to hear how you are using Pinterest to increase your company’s visibility.

Targeting and personalization are proven methods to effectively increase the appeal of your marketing efforts, and as a result, their success. However, just like so many other effective tools, these must be used correctly or the hoped for uptick in effectiveness could actually turn into a depressing downtick.

We’ve all seen personalization done wrong and I think you’ll agree, it usually comes across as a little creepy, maybe even more than a little. So, how do we know if we’re using personalization correctly?

First, ask yourself the question, why are targeting and personalization effective?

They are effective because you offer products that are more likely to appeal to the consumer and because your message is more warm and personal. Think of the old time ma and pop store where the store owners know everyone who comes through the door. They know who just got married, who might be thinking about it, who just had a baby, who is working on building another room in their farm-house, who just acquired a huge number of cattle and is working on repairing a fence.

But the reason ma and pop don’t come across as creepy is because there is a relationship there which promotes dialog and everyone involved knows they got their “data” through natural means. They either got their information straight from their customer or from another customer who knows them.

There are reports that the national retailer Target is identifying pregnant women by their purchases and target marketing to them. We see here that even big companies have trouble figuring out how to target and personalize appropriately. The point is, a pregnant woman may be keeping the pregnancy secret, but Target doesn’t know that because they gained their data through artificial means—means that some feel invades privacy. Ma and Pop would either be in the dark about the pregnancy or would know that it’s a secret and act accordingly.

Here are some simple rules to help keep your marketing warm and personal without the creepy:

1. Normally, use naturally obtained data for Targeted marketing.
2. If you use artificially obtained data for Targeting, make it subtle and seemingly random (an envelope full of baby offers isn’t subtle or random).
3. Never use artificially obtained data for Targeting if the data might be sensitive.
4. Use ONLY naturally obtained data for Personalization. Period.
5. Use opportunities provided by teller interactions, social media interactions, and online surveys to gain more data through natural means.
6. Whenever you use data that a recipient might be surprised you have, remind them how you got the data: Hey, on a recent questionnaire we sent you, you indicated you were interested in abc…or, Hey, when you were in our branch recently, you indicated you were interested in xyz.
7. Let people know you use targeted and personalized marketing and tell them how they can opt out.

There are some homes near the downtown area of the small city in which we live that are undergoing a very interesting maintenance. The homes have been moved off of their foundations so that the foundations can be rebuilt. Clearly, the homes are still viable, but the foundations are crumbling under them. Without drastic work to rebuild those foundations, the homes would be lost.

It seems to me that there is a parallel with established businesses. Each and every business had a beginning. Each and every business had to fight to convince real people to buy their products. Each business started with a foundation that allowed them to become viable. But along the way, a business can lose their focus and the foundation can begin to crumble. When a business becomes comfortable, it can begin to relax on things like quality control and customer service. As a business grows, sometimes complex bureaucracies and/or silo structures form. An established business loses the desire to take chances—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

When these things happen, a business needs leaders who can see that the foundation is crumbling, leaders that will make the decision to make drastic changes when necessary to restore the strength of the foundation. What choices can you make now to ensure you’re destined to be one of those leaders?

Websites are one of the best marketing tools any organization has at their disposal. In their most basic form, web pages can provide much needed information that visitors are looking for. However, effective web pages go much further than that. An enthusiastic and inventive marketer can use web pages to take a casual interest and turn it into a decision to buy—they can even create interest by introducing new ideas or helping a visitor to see how valuable your product or service might be for them. Ideally, the page will even give the visitor an option to take action, to take the next step or make the final purchase online.

However, website creation and design is a HUGE task that often has layers and layers of bureaucracy entwined in it. The marketing department often has to compete with other departments with regard to content and sometimes has very little influence. And once the website is built, the opportunities to change it are limited or non-existent. Because of this, landing pages are a must have for today’s savvy marketer.

Small and medium sized businesses are often saddled with websites that have too little or no relevant information on their websites—especially information relevant to current marketing efforts. Landing pages provide an easy way for the marketer to make attractive, branded pages so visitors can receive relevant up to date information.

Businesses of all sizes can use landing pages to get around the red tape involved with changes to the main website, so that even larger businesses can have online marketing efforts that are agile and responsive—something that every business needs to survive in today’s fast paced buying and purchasing world.

But how do you make effective landing pages?

The key to an effective landing page is to keep the marketing message compelling, short and focused and to include a call to action on the landing page—a signup for more information, an application, etc.

Using landing pages can help any marketer effectively convert online advertising into greater interest and closed deals. So, if you aren’t using landing pages yet, why not?