Archive for April, 20091. Branding and Direct Response are blending — this was a theme heard frequently 2. Social Media is an unknown entity to nearly everyone.
3. Local search and ad placement becoming very important as the capabilites expand and the need grows 4. Performance-based marketing is on everyone’s agenda, given the economy 5. Video is the name of the game. And on that note, my favorite video queen/reporter and social media analyst: I’m at Ad-Tech SF, blogging live — interesting to see how I do, not being the best multi-tasker. The IAB is hosting a keynote speech on the state of the industry. Below are just some of the key take-aways from this session…. Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of IAB was the moderator, speakers are Tobaccowala, Kruse, Ashe, Berman (see this link for bios on all). Question: Where are your companies investing in advertising? Asia and digital, all online media but especially search (testing brand vs dr), all digital properties, but especially mobile. Berman talks about trying to understand the whole person — behavioral predictive analytics as their focus. Most conversation was about the value and contribution of social media. Is it just PR or other — a hybrid? Old models don’t make sense any more. It’s not campaign based, but ongoing communication. Media objective in the past decisions about where to put advertising. Can Social Media be a part of a media plan – or is it rather “communications planning” or “influence planning”? You can’t do Social Media by campaign or quarter. Must be ongoing. authentic, talk about what’s great, fresh and trusted. I’ts not a media strategy – it’s service strategy, customer service, product strategy: branding, not media. How does an agency incorporate SM then? One concept was “Non-working media” vs “working media” . Agencies have to start by being agnostic. Fewer campaigns, more ecosytems. Take a “great creative idea” and take it across all media. IAB said no way to coordinate accross multiple agencies. Consumer is driving changes so fast we are all running to keep up. Chief Knowledge Officer will be sitting in the power position. Rothenberg questioned whether we have we boxed ourselves into direct response? Or is there room for creativity/branding? Are we so saddled with this burden of DR metrics. One recurring theme I’ve heard often over the past day is that it’s all going to become one — both branding and DR. The focus on metrics was to get budgets approved. Creativity will matter even more. Creativity is not just pictures. Google search is getting more and more creative. Has the definition of “the great idea” changed? Or is the palette just larger now? All agreed that the end-user/consumer is the great decider and will dictate more and more. People choose with their hearts and use numbers to justify what they just did. Tobaccowala talked about the fact that ”The hysteria of insecurity is now driving the industry.” Which channels is not the point. Content is.
I will be speaking to the Morning Forum of the SVAMA in April: “A Deep Dive into Twitter” Twitter has become the media darling in the past few months, and with good reason. Come to learn more than just the basics about creating an intelligent Twitter strategy, whether for branding, new business development or lead generation, as well as thought leadership. We will discuss: Speaker: Elyse Tager, President – Elymedia LLC Bio: Elyse Tager is founder and Principal of Elymedia, an online- and traditional-media planning and buying agency that has worked with many of the world’s most recognizable brands from Microsoft to PowerBar. With twenty years of executive marketing experience in direct response, coupled with ten years in Internet marketing, Elyse has gained a thorough understanding of all types of media and how they interact. This depth of experience and knowledge has benefited her clients as they strategize marketing objectives in Social Media. When: April 28, 2009 8:30 am – 10 am RSVP: please email info@elymedia.com or on Twitter: elysetager
It’s tempting when shopping for cost-per-lead placements to seek out the lowest-cost leads –- and hope that your sales force (or your website or follow-up materials) have enough salesmanship to convert them. But initial expense is not the only consideration — you will need to take a good look at the quality of each lead. This includes both the conversion rate and the average revenue per sale. For example, it may be that leads generated from one type of media (such as paid search), turn into actual business at a substantially higher rate than other types. Given this fact, you will be willing to pay more per lead for the better ROI…. Examples: – Campaign “A” cost = $1,500. Revenue = $3,000. The ROI ratio is 2:1. – Campaign “B” cost = $2,500. Revenue = $7,525. The ROI ratio is 3:1. The campaign needs to be followed through the complete selling to establish the best leads. How many leads are converting to a sale, and then what is that average sale? The latter two variables are as important a factor as the original cost of the lead. In a B2B Lead Gen placement, lead expense occurs in 2 areas – the amount of targeting or filtering required, and the amount of data being captured. The least expensive leads will typically be the least targeted. No filters (or few) will be applied –- this is truly putting an offer out to anyone. And anyone is exactly who will respond. Typically the only data required is a first and last name, and email address. The more targeting a publisher or ad network can provide, the more potentially targeted and hopefully responsive the lead will be. The data fields being captured will also influence the cost. Standard “business card” fields are frequently used. But it may be important to further refine the leads. Most sales people, if complaining about lead quality, would rather have fewer, but better-qualified, leads. Keep in mind, the more data fields required, the higher the “drop off” rate. People don’t want to take the time to fill out forms, so be careful to balance the amount of data that is truly necessary versus what would be nice to have. To further qualify the lead, add 2 or 3 questions to the lead-registration page. Frequently, this option is available if the upfront targeting is a bit more specific. Think about what additional information will assist your selling process. Examples would be: when will the purchasing decision be made?; what is the respondent’s decision-making role? Some tips:
If you haven’t dipped your toe in the water with Twitter, you are missing the boat. Start now! It’s the perfect tool for branding, displaying thought leadership, promotion, fund raising, and even lead generation. An odd combination, I know, but if handled correctly, and with proper tweet etiquette (hereafter referred to as TE), all can be accomplished. If you are new, Jeremiah Owyang’s very thorough version of FAQs are a great place to start. Below is my short version and key points: Its not about “what are you doing” as their tag line says, as much as “what’s important to you”. 140 characters of pithy info on what you are reading, what trade events you are attending, what speakers you are learning from etc, to get at some pithy thinking and trends Share, comment, talk. It won’t work unless you participate in both directions. Tweet and respond to other tweets. Also proper TE. If you just take, but don’t give value, you will lose credibility and followers. The beauty of the retweet. AKA share the love. Knowledge is best when shared. If you find posts that are of value to you, retweet them. Retweeting info here. The retweeter will be greatful, you will be providing further value to your followers, indicating your intelligence, and thought leadership as well as your generosity. It’s all good. The importance of your profile. I’m astounded by how many people either don’t have a profile description or don’t fill it out in a meaningful manner. The profile is key to letting people know why they should be following you, reading you, listening to you, and just caring about your tweets. It’s also branding, you can and should link to your website or blog for more credibility. Twitter backgrounds add to the branding. I’m in the process of getting my background custom designed. It’s yet another piece of real estate for branding, establishing credibility and setting a tone for who you are. Some resources for custom backgrounds are here. Have an objective. Very important. Perhaps most important. Twitter will be a silly waste of time unless you decide how you are going to use it. And we will all have to read about what you did over the weekend unless you do. If your objective is to create thought leadership, then follow people who are meaningful in your field. If you are interested in branding, be sure your profile and background speak to your brand, and tweet on topics related to your field of expertise and your products and services. (but be very careful of the hard sell – not good TE) Some very helpful Twitter tools: Tweetdeck, a way of organizing your tweets. Here also is a tutorial on how to use it – lots of info here. Tweetlater How to have presence on Twitter w/out sitting by the computer or your iPhone all day. TinyURL since you only have 140 characters to work with, making a link smaller is very useful. And the last self proclaimed Ultimate List of Twitter Tools – more applications than you could ever want, but will be glad to at least consider. Now, go play. |