Monday
Beyond a Website
Marketers need to harness the power of online media to drive interested prospects to a given destination, as well as to, ultimately, drive integrated conversion.
By Joseph Jaffe
In some respect, I can’t believe I’m writing about why a Website isn’t enough for any and all marketers. However, it seems the need has never been stronger to help educate the market on why it makes sense to venture beyond the server-doors of their own Websites.
I like to use the analogy of a Website being a storefront. If you think about it, a company’s bricks store is really no different to its clicks store. After all, if a store is defined as a place to buy, browse and/or research, then where is the distinction between land and cybersea?
In reality, there are marked differences and advantages to online storefronts. For example, online possesses such characteristics as superior customer service in the form of “perfect” information, succinct return policies and inventory that’s always in-stock. There are also no dirty stores, no apathetic salespeople, no long lines.
So assuming that a client buys into the importance of an online storefront (which given Website spending certainly seems justified), why on earth would they not dedicate media resources towards promoting it?
One could ask companies where they think they’d be if they just stood in their stores and hoped people would venture in, or if they just stood outside their doors passing pamphlets to people passing by?
Their obvious response would be, “That’s why we have distributed or paid advertising” to which we should now say, “Exactly. And that’s the precise reason why online advertising makes so much sense, given your belief in your online storefront.”
Perhaps another way of stating this would be to combine two popular phrases: fish where the fish are and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. For sure, the fish are not on your site on any given day (unless of course you’re eBay or Amazon.com). Some are searching for you and for someone like you, and for these people you have search engines. However, there has to be more to online life than a text-linked existence. There has to be a richer way to communicate specific and relevant information to prospects to tempt them to visit. How else would they find out about Gap Khakis, The Matrix Reloaded, American Express Blue or the All-new 2004 Lexus RX 330 (which without advertising would be getting awfully lonely on lexus.com waiting for cyber test drives)?
We know the so-called “fish” are online in schools, so given the shortest distance between two points being a straight line, might we not want to consider elaborating on “two points” to refer to an intended audience and a destination Website, and replacing “straight line” with “click of a mouse”?
Offline is not cutting it, especially when the sum total of support is a token three-second URL at the end of a typical television commercial.
And AT&T Wireless’ mLife campaign supports this assertion.
At the end of the campaign, online advertising was responsible for 33% of all visits to the mlife.com Website, despite only 10% of total budget being allocated behind interactive.
I would be acutely remiss if I made this best practice all about clicks or visits to a Website. It isn’t. This discussion needs to be stepped up a notch to allow for and accommodate the bigger picture of connecting with consumers in their natural environments (read: not your Website), especially with the very real reality that if they are to convert, it will most likely be offline.
Like many CPG marketers, Purina had put all of its eggs into one basket by creating and maintaining more than 30 individual product sites. Purina approached comScore to help in ascertaining the power of paid media versus a menagerie of product sites. The hypothesis here was that pet lovers were alive and kicking on the Web and that by reaching them with relevant messaging, Purina could bring them closer to the brand and closer to the point of purchasing.
Program:
comScore Networks combined its panel data with Knowledge Networks’ grocery shoppers to identify 50,000 online pet-food buyers.
comSore overlaid its panel of 1.5 million Internet consumers with the Knowledge Networks’ panel of 20 million grocery shopping households to identify 50,000 consumers whose offline buying habits and Internet usage matched Purina's target audience. Those in this test cell were randomly served Purina banner ads on sites they visited, while a control group saw different (non-Purina) ads, and then a sample of both groups was surveyed afterwards.
The results indicated significant lift in awareness and other key brand metrics as well.
When it comes to driving qualified traffic to an intended location, the contention that a standalone Website is not enough is joined by the argument that offline media (for the most part) is not enough either. The best practice in question therefore, is the ability to harness the power of online media to not only drive interested prospects to a given destination, but ultimately to play its part in driving integrated conversion as well.
Next week I’ll continue the discussion by focusing on measurement and proper evaluation of online advertising efficacy, either as a driver to a Website or as a branding vehicle. I’ll also expand on the idea of fishing where the fish are by exploring the idea of “in-context” relevancy
Marketers need to harness the power of online media to drive interested prospects to a given destination, as well as to, ultimately, drive integrated conversion.
By Joseph Jaffe
In some respect, I can’t believe I’m writing about why a Website isn’t enough for any and all marketers. However, it seems the need has never been stronger to help educate the market on why it makes sense to venture beyond the server-doors of their own Websites.
I like to use the analogy of a Website being a storefront. If you think about it, a company’s bricks store is really no different to its clicks store. After all, if a store is defined as a place to buy, browse and/or research, then where is the distinction between land and cybersea?
In reality, there are marked differences and advantages to online storefronts. For example, online possesses such characteristics as superior customer service in the form of “perfect” information, succinct return policies and inventory that’s always in-stock. There are also no dirty stores, no apathetic salespeople, no long lines.
So assuming that a client buys into the importance of an online storefront (which given Website spending certainly seems justified), why on earth would they not dedicate media resources towards promoting it?
One could ask companies where they think they’d be if they just stood in their stores and hoped people would venture in, or if they just stood outside their doors passing pamphlets to people passing by?
Their obvious response would be, “That’s why we have distributed or paid advertising” to which we should now say, “Exactly. And that’s the precise reason why online advertising makes so much sense, given your belief in your online storefront.”
Perhaps another way of stating this would be to combine two popular phrases: fish where the fish are and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. For sure, the fish are not on your site on any given day (unless of course you’re eBay or Amazon.com). Some are searching for you and for someone like you, and for these people you have search engines. However, there has to be more to online life than a text-linked existence. There has to be a richer way to communicate specific and relevant information to prospects to tempt them to visit. How else would they find out about Gap Khakis, The Matrix Reloaded, American Express Blue or the All-new 2004 Lexus RX 330 (which without advertising would be getting awfully lonely on lexus.com waiting for cyber test drives)?
We know the so-called “fish” are online in schools, so given the shortest distance between two points being a straight line, might we not want to consider elaborating on “two points” to refer to an intended audience and a destination Website, and replacing “straight line” with “click of a mouse”?
Offline is not cutting it, especially when the sum total of support is a token three-second URL at the end of a typical television commercial.
And AT&T Wireless’ mLife campaign supports this assertion.
At the end of the campaign, online advertising was responsible for 33% of all visits to the mlife.com Website, despite only 10% of total budget being allocated behind interactive.
I would be acutely remiss if I made this best practice all about clicks or visits to a Website. It isn’t. This discussion needs to be stepped up a notch to allow for and accommodate the bigger picture of connecting with consumers in their natural environments (read: not your Website), especially with the very real reality that if they are to convert, it will most likely be offline.
Like many CPG marketers, Purina had put all of its eggs into one basket by creating and maintaining more than 30 individual product sites. Purina approached comScore to help in ascertaining the power of paid media versus a menagerie of product sites. The hypothesis here was that pet lovers were alive and kicking on the Web and that by reaching them with relevant messaging, Purina could bring them closer to the brand and closer to the point of purchasing.
Program:
comScore Networks combined its panel data with Knowledge Networks’ grocery shoppers to identify 50,000 online pet-food buyers.
comSore overlaid its panel of 1.5 million Internet consumers with the Knowledge Networks’ panel of 20 million grocery shopping households to identify 50,000 consumers whose offline buying habits and Internet usage matched Purina's target audience. Those in this test cell were randomly served Purina banner ads on sites they visited, while a control group saw different (non-Purina) ads, and then a sample of both groups was surveyed afterwards.
The results indicated significant lift in awareness and other key brand metrics as well.
When it comes to driving qualified traffic to an intended location, the contention that a standalone Website is not enough is joined by the argument that offline media (for the most part) is not enough either. The best practice in question therefore, is the ability to harness the power of online media to not only drive interested prospects to a given destination, but ultimately to play its part in driving integrated conversion as well.
Next week I’ll continue the discussion by focusing on measurement and proper evaluation of online advertising efficacy, either as a driver to a Website or as a branding vehicle. I’ll also expand on the idea of fishing where the fish are by exploring the idea of “in-context” relevancy
Comments:
Post a Comment
