Interactive, Online and Digital Direct Marketing Ideas

The Cost of Running A Google Adwords by Laymen

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:27:00 +0000

All too often I come across small business owners who need help with their Adwords program. Invariably they tried it, "but it did not work". After examining their campaign (usually there is only one), creative or website, I can immediately see why.
Background
In a New York Times article, dated Thursday November 1, 2012, http://nyti.ms/RJpMp6 I came across an interesting article entitled, "Mistake in a Pay-Per Campaign Leaves a Business Puzzled". The small business owner retold a story how his business had a dramatic fall off in sales as a result of his Google Adwords advertising. In spring of 2011, the owner elected to introduce a new lower cost product to their business. The owner kept track of basic metrics such as:

Web traffic
Sales
Inquiries coming in by day/week & month
How much each sales person contributes to sales total sales

After introducing the new product in Adwords, there was acceptable traffic and inquiries. However, after a few months, "..there was a worrisome trend to sales-the monthly totals was falling. ...January $193,154, February $213,677, March $135,732, April $146,677." Secondly, the mix of inquiries changed. More inquiries were coming in for the low cost product recently introduced several months earlier. Third, there was reduction in bread and butter large corporate clients.

What Happened

After examining Adwords data, the business owner discovered inquiries from the lower product were coming in the morning through mid day from schools and non-profits. According to the owner, these business types do not have a lot of money. Therefore, the inquiries were not generating much revenue. "Bosses, who actually have decent budget, tend to call in the afternoon". Examining Google CTR by hour for the more expensive product, the owner discovered the ad stopped running "...by about 2:00 PM".

His daily budget was consumed before the "bread and butter" prospects would see his ads. Since Google shows the ads receiving the most impressions and clicks, the inexpensive product was consuming most of the budget before the bread and butter prospects had an opportunity of seeing the ads. "In other words, my budget was being wasted. It was putting ads in front of people who were not as interested in our products and could not really afford them. But Google's algorithm saw the total number of clicks generated as evidence of success..."

Solution

The owner discovered you can "fragment" each product into a separate campaign with its own budget.

Cost to Business Owner

Let's examine how much it cost this business "doing it themselves".

Jan-February-$20,523 Revenue Increase
Feb-March-$97,945 Revenue Decrease
March-April -$10,945 Revenue Increase
Total-$66,478 Revenue DECREASE (January-April)

Sadly, creating a separate campaign for each product is standard operating procedure for an experienced Adwords Agency. One could also infer the extent of the loss if other owners were not as sophisticated as this one was in analyzing the problem. Other owners might not have and probably do not have the time or experience to delve into adwords metrics. They would run the ads and either accept the sales fall off (unlikely) or discontinue Adwords (likely).

Let's assume an average $10,000 monthly budget (very high for a majority of small business owners). If the agency fee is 10% to 15% of the monthly ad spend, the agency would receive $1,000 to 1,500 monthly. The normal reaction many business owners have is this is "adding to their cost". But is it? When you consider how much this business owner lost in actual revenue the answer is NO. It is a huge savings. This doesn't take into account other cost savings an agency provides in such areas as:

Landing page optimization
Keyword Analysis
Budget Optimization
Creative Testing (A/B or Multi-Variate)

Do I think many will hire an agency after business owners read this article? Maybe some, but most will do it themselves.

Is Direct Marketing Relevant 2?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:38:00 +0000

David Carr, in the Monday December 5, 2011 edition of the New York Times (Business Section), wrote an article entitled, "Print Empire Embraces a New Order." Mr. Carr discussed Time Inc. selection of Laura Lang as their new CEO. What's compelling about Ms. Lang's selection is that she does not come from a print background, but instead the former CEO of Digitas.

In an earlier blog, I posed the following question, Is Direct Marketing Still Relevant because their seemed to be the perception that "Direct Marketing" was "different" than digital. I have maintained that digital IS direct marketing. The principles and metrics found online comes right out of the playbook of any other direct marketing program. They include:

CTR=leads
CPA-conversions
CPC=short for per inquiry

Ms. Lang stated in the article that as far back as 5 years ago, "We're seeing clients shift dollars into channels that can get a direct engagement, that can get a direct, accountable experience..." This mind set runs counter to the historical run of press advertising spend in the print industry. The article stated, "Traditional media has historically done well by selling inefficiency. In order to reach those among People magazine's 3.5 million readers who were interested in buying a car or coffee pot, you had to buy an ad that everyone else flipped past."

Magazines have not been able to calculate the return on ad spend or return on investment because run of press ads were not (and not designed to be) data driven. Digital Direct Marketing, (as I call it) eliminates this. Accordingly, Ms. Lang will "help magazine publishers be part of a media age built on metrics" just like digital direct marketing has been doing for years.

So the next time someone says is is direct marketing relevant, you have the information to explain their misconception.

Twitter Introduces Analytic Tool...What's the ROI?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Twitter announced they are introducing an official analytic tool. This was reported on Social Media Today, dated September 15, 2011. According to post, Twitter stated, the analytic "tool will help website owners understand how much traffic they receive from Twitter and the effectiveness of Twitter on their sites..."
Some of the metrics include:

"See how Twitter content is being shared around the web"
"Track the amount of Traffic to a company website-including clicks per tweet"
Measure the "effectiveness" of the "official" Twitter buttons"
"An API allowing third party analytic tools to incorporate the data"

While it is premature to come to conclusions, it seems to me that the analytic tools does not provide insight into a quantifiable return on investment. My earlier blog "Use Social Media for Retention, Not Acquisition" discussed an October 2010 Gallup Poll survey of 17,000 social media users. Their findings concluded in part that the general social media metrics do not convey engagement. Therefore, the effectiveness of Twitter buttons or the level of shared content are the type of metrics Gallup's analyst believed didn't measure true engagement.

In my mind true "engagement" occurs when there is a positive financial impact or an action that can lead to a positive financial impact. While too numerous to name all, some can include:

Building an opt-in list for future communication (and sales) such as:

Mobile
Email
Postal

Referral marketing that is direct attributed to a customer "telling a friend" that buys your product or service(s).
Leveraging your existing customers onto your social media platform(s) to talk (sell) your product or service.RATHER than advertising on the platform(s) to acquire a new "like", "follower" (you choose).
Generating sales directly attributed to the social media campaign.

True analytic measurement will occur when we can follow the path of each social media engagement when it crosses over from social to a transaction. Only in this way can we really measure an "engagement". I realize social media practitioners will probably disagree. Social media, like all other advertising has costs associated with it. If we have assigned staff to handle our social media, companies want to see a return for their dollar. Without financial metrics to support the staff assigned, it becomes problematic viewing a "download" or a "like" to support continued financial outlays.

Use Social Media For Retention, Not Acquisition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:25:00 +0000

In a Gallup Poll (October 2010 Survey of 17,000 social media users), as reported by Click Z (September 9, 2011), social media is most effectively used for customer retention. The article (Aim Social Media Marketing At Loyalists, Not Prospects) reported the following:

Companies should combine Twitter, Facebook and others with offline word of mouth
"It is largely a myth that branded social media will generate sales from new customers."
Marketers should encourage customers to advocate on their behalf
Approximately 3/4 (74%) of loyal customers engage their social media in a complimentary way.
Metrics like "...Net Promoter, followership, app downloads, hashtags, and click-throughs are not useful for revealing a brand's social engagement..."

Most importantly (for multi-channel marketing), the study revealed that brands should be evaluated across ALL channels, on and offline. Gallup Analysts (Jim Asplund and Blaise James) stated, “Digital-only social media initiatives are leaving far too many prospects and customers untapped. Our analysis suggests that the most frequent type of social networking is still analog -- face-to-face or over the phone. Don't confuse the channel (social media) for the desired outcome, (social networking)..."

The take away of this is avoiding the natural inclination to silo a marketing channel. Analyze how your customers and prospects reach your company. Use the most effective media for your objective (i.e. acquisition vs. retention). Since Gallup revealed that social media metrics mentioned earlier are not useful in identifying social engagement, more traditional ones need to be incorporated. Combine social media by:

EBM's Social Media Social
Media Business Card

Creating links to a contact form
Creating links back to your website and a particular landing page with additional information about your brand
Building an opt-in email database with Constant Contact.. Embed Constant Contact's Facebook widget into your Facebook page.
Leverage customer relationship marketing by hyperlinking to a contact form triggering automatic email/direct mail for future sales.
Placing a QR Code for your twitter, facebook, linkedin and blog (or any other site) on the back of your business card like I did on mine card above. When handing it out, mention your social media venues on the back. As Gallup pointed out, social media should be combined with face to face interaction. Handing your business card to prospects and customers solidifies the process. Chances are, you'll pick up followers and they'll be impressed with your marketing creativity.

The true measure of social media (as well as other advertising channels) is your ability of calculating your return on investment. Since Gallup's survey reveals social media's metrics do not compute a brand's social engagement, incorporating these examples (and others) can provide an integrated approach to engage, reward and compute your effectiveness and ROI.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Smartphones Make Up 40% of U.S. Mobile Phones http://rww.to/orFgye

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Finally: Search Is Starting to Reward Creativity Over Shady Tactics | DigitalNext: A Blog on Emerging Media and Technology - Advertising Age http://bit.ly/nsoas6

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:26:00 +0000

Americans: Y'All Love QR Codes | Fast Company http://bit.ly/o17k5m

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:08:00 +0000

Develop a Multichannel Contact Strategy http://bit.ly/rmQ6Lj

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:04:00 +0000

Develop a Multichannel Contact Strategy: 7 steps to create a successful multi-channel solution.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:40:00 +0000

Are We Approaching the End of the Daily Deals Era? When all you offer is price? Yes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:35:00 +0000

Microsoft Insists the PC Isn’t Dead — but Doesn’t Really Believe It | BNET http://bit.ly/oFIYop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Only 50% of U.S. Adults Use Social Media http://on.mash.to/pMRBjG 150% growth in social media age 65+.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes - Search Engine Watch (#SEW) http://bit.ly/q5rUZ7

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:38:00 +0000

Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes - Search Engine Watch (#SEW) http://bit.ly/q5rUZ7

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Mobile, Local, Barcodes, and Bathroom Stalls - Search Engine Watch (#SEW) http://bit.ly/oF6H8x

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:58:00 +0000

The Lost 1984 Video: Steve Jobs Introduces The Mac http://read.bi/opDsZE What a showman in the most positive way!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:50:00 +0000

How to Find Your Twitter RSS Feed - SEO Alien http://bit.ly/qbk773

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigns - Aug. 24, 2011 http://cnnmon.ie/nSc9Dm

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:02:00 +0000

5 Ways to Grow Your Business | Inc.com http://bit.ly/py2MJn

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Build a Website That Drives More Business - BusinessWeek http://buswk.co/qkXJc7

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:08:00 +0000

Facebook Makes Massive Privacy & Tagging Changes [PICS] http://ping.fm/E5Xsj

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:03:00 +0000

Round 1 To Foursquare: Facebook Is Scaling Back Its Places Check-Ins http://read.bi/n2i9lv

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Six Tips for Mobile Marketing That's Sticky http://bit.ly/roZtTl

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:05:00 +0000

All Phone Numbers In Mobile AdWords To Become Clickable http://ping.fm/cjjiR Call tracking analysis is mandatory.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Web-Based QR Business Cards Make Networking Feel Human Again http://rww.to/riIcIQ