–Karl

I have been in and around e-mail and banner advertising for 12 years. In fact one of my first jobs out of business school was the Group Product Manager for AvenueA’s new media solutions, which included its precision e-mail and mobile products. Yes, even in 2001, we thought it was the “year of mobile.”

You can find a primer on e-mail marketing, how it can be used for both acquisition and retention marketing and some of the classic advantages/disadvantages here. For the sake of this blog article, I will focus on email marketing as a prospecting vehicle and–for which–you would often rent 3rd party lists of e-mail addresses to e-mail against. Your goal is to try to convert a generic “suspect” into a semi-qualified “prospect”. This is in contrast to loyalty/retention e-mails where you are e-mailing your “house list” to share information and perhaps softly up sell current customers on new products/capabilities.

Back in 2001, I was talking to people about how they could use a combination of banner advertising and e-mail to acquire customers at low cost per leads. Although that article is not archived, a very good friend, Brady Brewer, who is now a very senior marketer at Starbucks, built on this point in an article for ClickZ. He wrote:

Rather than relying solely on banner advertisements and third-party email lists to acquire new customers, you can put into play a strategy that integrates the strengths of both banners and retention email marketing: using promotional incentives in banner ads as a low-cost mechanism for luring prospects to an opt-in page, and using subsequent email campaigns to offer greater product details and loyalty programs to close the deal and generate a long-term relationship.

Using the standard rates for banner CPMs, open rates, etc. of the day, he proved that you could reduce your cost/sale by 73% compared to banners alone and 85% compared to e-mail list rentals by using the two together—a match made in heaven.

The math has changed over the years as CPMs and open rates have dropped, but the principle has not. Even today, 11 years later, it surprises me that more people do not use a media-integration strategy that reduces cost of acquisition and cost of sales.

Fast forward to 2012 and I am back talking about e-mail and banner advertising but from a slightly different angle—i.e., using banners as a “lead-nurturing” type activity via e-mail retargeting. Just recently, I had a great conversation with Tim Peterson, a journalist for DM News, and he did a fabulous job capturing the broader strategy in his article here.

In this article, Tim quotes leaders from Responsys, which has been around FOREVER, AdRoll (an AdReady competitor) and Epsilon. While the gentlemen quoted all provide good insights and slightly different strategies to approach e-mail retargeting, we all agreed that it is surprising that there has not been more uptake on this strategy.

I told Tim that I think the major reasons this tactic is not used more often is because of marketing silos. The people, activities and budgets are often not coordinated across a marketing department. In my experience, it is rare that the marketer-at large companies–who controls the outbound “customer” communications is the same person responsible for lead generation communication with “prospects”. Interestingly, I was just reading What Sticks, by Rex Briggs and Greg Staurt last night and they were making a similar point. I.e., one of the main reasons 30% of all marketing dollars go wasted is because of the established hierarchies at large fortune 500 companies and the agencies that support them.

In this environment, e-mail is often relegated to a direct response medium. Display, until recently, has been thought of more as a branding medium. Finally, there is the reality that the set of names on an in-house list is probably small, relative to the number of visitors to one’s site—which are usually the cookies that are re-targeted. However, the value of re-targeting is directly tied to the size of the cookie pool. Thus, it makes sense to use whatever means you can to build the cookie pool.

Here is the best part. Whereas it may have been time consuming and onerous to coordinate the e-mail and retargeting strategies because of the need to integrate multiple platforms, it truly is not much work if you have a system like AdReady’s in which you can load retargeting tags directly into the campaigns.

If you are interested in learning more about how to set up e-mail retargeting today, please contact your Account Manager directly. Otherwise, stay tuned for a case study of one our clients doing this well and the step by step process on how to do it in our platform.

Onwards,
Randy

• Three Predictions for Display Advertising in 2012 from Top CEOs in the Ad Space
• In preparation for the Superbowl, we looked at 12 Ads That Changed Super Bowl Marketing
• Google announces “Search + Your World.” This could greatly influence Google+ posts in your search results and impact SEO.
• Big Data is a popular buzz word. Learn why it’s not about how much data you have, but what you do with it.
• We are entering a New Era in Display Advertising. Here are five reasons why search marketers should care.
• Facebook announced they are rolling out display ads to your news feed.
• Want to get started on a retargeting campaign? These five great tips will help improve your conversion rates.
• Display Advertising 2.0 comprises a number of advancements to the industry. Learn what these are.
• Google is poised to surpass Yahoo in display advertising. And Facebook just overtook Yahoo as well.
• AdReady and Buuteeq partner on online ad service for hotels
• Online Ad Spending to Surpass Print for First Time in 2012
• SOPA bill is removed after much deliberation and public uproar.
• AdReady drives new innovation through the Power of Two: Integrating Social Advertising with Display Platforms
• Love infographics as much as we do? This one highlights How Display Works in the Marketing Mix
• Facebook now takes a 28% share of US display ads

Hope you enjoyed this month’s AdLinks. Have a great week!

Marketing and Advertising Campaigns

Seattle, WA (January 18, 2012) — Two innovators in digital marketing, online advertising technology pioneer AdReady and buuteeq, creator of the world’s first digital marketing system for hotels, have joined forces to bring hotels new tools in their efforts to reach and convert guests online. buuteeq is integrating AdReady’s software platform into its digital marketing system to deliver effective, affordable online advertising and demand generation services to hotels worldwide.

The buuteeq digital marketing system (DMS) enables hotels to create and manage high-performing websites, iPhone and mobile device content, a hotel Facebook page and direct-to-hotel online reservations. Hotels simply upload assets and data through an easy-to-use web-based ‘BackOffice’ and populate multiple digital marketing channels automatically, using proven-effective formats. More than 1,500 hotels in 30 countries are using buuteeq solutions.

To extend hotels’ ability to reach digital consumers through the online advertising channel, buuteeq is integrating the AdReady platform. The automated solution simplifies the creation of digital display advertising, giving brands the power to connect quickly with online prospects in the right place at the right time using premium publishers such as Facebook, Yahoo!, Google and others. The simple, intuitive start-to-finish solution improves advertising ROI by successfully reaching and converting digital consumers where they live. More than 6,000 customers in the U.S. have run more than 560,000 ads across nearly 150,000 sites through the AdReady solution.

By bringing AdReady’s innovation to the hospitality industry through buuteeq, the collaboration enables independent hotels to easily and affordably employ world-class digital advertising practices previously available only to large, scalable brands.

“Guests typically spend up to seven hours researching their vacations online. Enabling hotels to connect these guests with their brand at multiple touch points helps them rise above the noise,” said Forest Key, CEO of buuteeq. “Typically, managing the multiple vendors and processes required for a comprehensive online ad strategy is too complicated and expensive for all but the largest of hotels. But by integrating the core functions of digital marketing, mobile development, a Facebook presence, and now online advertising, into a single buuteeq user interface, it’s easy for hotels to market their properties strategically and effectively across digital channels.”

“The biggest benefit that this collaboration delivers to hotels is that they can get big results from small advertising budgets,” said AdReady CEO, Karl Siebrecht. “Savvy hotels know that to reach digital consumers where they live, online advertising can be highly effective. The challenge has always been managing costs and oversight. By partnering with buuteeq, a company that has developed a comprehensive, easy-to-use digital marketing system specifically for hotels, we’re able to bring all of the capabilities and benefits of AdReady to them, on a platform they’re already using for the majority of their digital marketing.”

 About buuteeq

buuteeq is the world’s first Digital Marketing System (DMS) for hotels. It fuses technology ingenuity with online marketing savvy to help hotels increase occupancy and reduce distribution costs by converting more direct reservations through online bookings. buuteeq’s DMS includes a content management system, multi-channel digital marketing, content publishing, online reservations and integrated business intelligence. More than 1,000 hotels worldwide have adopted buuteeq solutions since the company’s launch in 2010. www.buuteeq.com
About AdReady

AdReady provides powerful software that enables any marketer to master online advertising. Unlike time-intensive, inefficient approaches that don’t get the job done, AdReady simplifies the process with an intuitive start-to-finish solution that improves advertising ROI by successfully reaching and converting digital consumers where they live. More than 6,000 customers in the U.S. have run more than 560,000 ads across nearly 150,000 sites through the AdReady solution. AdReady has been recognized for “Best Ad Delivery Platform Innovation” by the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference and “Service Provider of the Year” by the Washington Technology Industry Association. To learn more, please visit www.adready.com, follow us on Twitter @AdReady, or find us on Facebook.

# # #

Press Contacts

AdReady: Tier One PR  | Kathy Wilson  | 781.652.0499 | kwilson@tieronepr.com

buuteeq:  Raz Public Relations  | Karen Raz | 310.450.1482 | karen@razpr.com

– blog post by AdReady’s Senior Account Manager, Kingway Yeh

They say there are only two things in life that are inevitable: death and taxes.

With the explosion of social media in recent years and specifically, continued membership growth on Facebook, it can be argued that an advertising agency will inevitably encounter client questions on Facebook advertising and how to effectively run an ad on Facebook. As more and more people spend their time online and on Facebook, it becomes imperative for agencies to be able to effectively manage not only online advertising for a client, but their Facebook advertising as well. This is where AdReady’s initiative to drive Social and Display innovation step in.

Beta testing of AdReady’s Facebook Marketing API integration will begin shortly, and it brings the exciting capability of simplified Facebook campaign creation and bulk Facebook ad management. In addition to the various integrated media sources within the AdReady platform, this implementation will bring an expanded capability to manage, track and report on Facebook campaigns and Facebook Connections. No longer will you need to manage online display campaigns in one interface, then jump into Facebook’s interface to manage an isolated set of campaigns. With AdReady, you will have access to a consolidated campaign management tool and reporting interface. Keep track of the typical branding and marketing metrics while also seeing the number of Likes driven by your Facebook efforts. Get access to actionable reports that allow continuous optimization efforts based on Facebook data and so much more.

Drive client ROI by consolidating your Social and Display campaign management efforts. Contact Us today for details.

It’s not how much you have, it’s what you do with it

By now, we’ve probably all finished reading a variety of ‘2012 Predictions’ for online advertising. You may noticed that a lot of predictions looked vaguely familiar to predictions in the past. Some came true, some flopped, but one trend that is definitely here to stay is the importance of ‘Big Data.’

Everyone from the Wall Street Journal to CNN is talking about the roles of big data and how future jobs and companies will be shaped by it.

Now, how is any of this relevant to those of us working with smaller advertising budgets? I’d say it is pretty darn relevant.

Key is: big boatloads of data is not enough. Smaller advertisers need an approach that fits the unique needs of smaller advertising budgets. If you spend a few thousand dollars a month on display advertising, I’m sure it’s hard to get your calls answered from many of those ‘big data’ advertising companies.

And this is even more exacerbated if you are trying to run campaigns on large networks and exchanges – where the economics of buying large-scale, price-competitive media is very appealing. If you don’t have a solid strategy and a way to bid smartly, you can end up in a tough position.

Here at AdReady, we’re taking ‘big data’ and making it work well for advertisers with smaller budgets. In addition to doing all the basics around ensuring we are getting access to all the sources of data that work, we are building and tuning our recommendations and optimizations to help smaller budgets succeed.

That includes things like:

• So that you don’t have to figure out your bids, budget allocations and targeting, we’re taking the guesswork out of optimization
• Augmenting smaller campaigns to make them act bigger, benefiting from learnings of other historical AdReady campaigns to make you perform better immediately
• So you can make your media work for you out of the gate, we’re eliminating long test periods

One thing you can check out is a recent presentation that we did in comparing online advertising to the principles from Moneyball – the recent movie and best-selling book. Check it out! I think there are some interesting parallels and it speaks to the value of small budgets taking a different approach than large budgets. Think Oakland A’s vs. New York Yankees!

One hurdle to display advertising is that many advertisers may be apprehensive due to the potential time commitment and budget that is associated with launching display campaigns.

The prospect of launching a display campaign can seem daunting, as there are many factors to consider.

 - How should you target your campaigns?
- How will you measure success?
- How many ads should you run? More importantly, how will you allocate valuable time and resources to design several banner ads, each with multiple ad sizes?

AdReady’s display advertising solutions make display advertising much less intimidating, especially when it comes to designing, launching, and iterating upon your display ads. Through AdReady’s creative tool, you can design an ad, complete with your own images, logo, and text, in a matter of minutes.

Once you launch your display campaign, it is imperative that you monitor your creative performance. If your ads are not performing well, you will want to test new ad concepts.

 If one ad stands out, you will want to iterate on your ad to test new versions. With AdReady’s creative solutions, creating new ads and iterating upon current ads can be done in a matter of minutes, and at no extra cost to you.

 The success of your display ad campaigns hinges on creative testing. Rather than blindly designing ads, why not let AdReady’s proven display ad solutions help?

]]> http://www.adready.com/site/blog/2011/tips-for-advertising-campaigns/feed/ 0 http://www.adready.com/site/blog/2011/tips-for-advertising-campaigns/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adreadyblog/~3/LtIHx0qjzGk/ http://www.adready.com/site/blog/2011/driving-home-runs-display-advertising/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:39:07 +0000 admin http://www.adready.com/site/?p=2221 Continue reading →]]> –blog post by AdReady’s Chief Scientist, Olly Downs

Along the way we pick the 2011 World Series’ MVP, based on 2011 Regular Season Performance, and show why buying A-Rod just isn’t worth it!

If you want more information about how to increase the ROI of your display advertising campaigns and what Collective Insights is, join us on December 19th, at 10am PST, for a FREE interactive and informative webinar with Olly Downs.

Sign ups are limited, so go here to register now!

Online Advertising Technology Innovator AdReady Introduces Collective Insights™;
Extends Power to Help Small Budget Advertisers Compete

New Capabilities Enhance Clients’ Social, Display Capabilities

Seattle, Wa. – November 3, 2011 – AdReady, an online digital advertising leader whose powerful software platform helps advertisers get big results from small budgets, previewed new capability that further expands its competitive advantage in display and social media at its Partner Summit today

Termed “Collective Insights™,” the new set of services allows advertisers and agencies to amplify their smaller-budget campaigns to perform significantly better in online display marketplaces. Collective Insights relies on a wide range of aggregated insight and data mined from the AdReady platform and other sources to overcome structural challenges faced by advertisers with smaller budgets.

“AdReady is focused on removing market inefficiencies that smaller advertisers face when trying to compete in today’s advertising marketplaces,” said Karl Siebrecht, CEO of AdReady. “‘Collective Insights’ extends AdReady’s ability to improve online marketing ROI and help smaller advertisers achieve performance levels historically accessible only to larger advertisers in both the traditional and social web.”

AdReady’s new capability is rooted in three key insights:

• Focus on breadth, not depth

AdReady works with a wide range of small-budget advertisers rather than just a few large ones.  This creates the opportunity to aggregate insight across campaigns to the benefit of many through automated bid and mid-campaign optimization recommendations.

• Augment core data with external data

“Collective Insights” pulls relevant information from external, dynamic data sources.  This sometimes “non-obvious” data is a critical source of insight for smaller campaigns with small stand-alone data signal.

• Create  an accelerated “learning phase”

Optimization is not left to testing phases that are beyond the reach of small budget advertisers, or require time they don’t have the luxury to devote.  AdReady leverages historical data to help advertisers make better decisions sooner, both out of the gate with their initial bids and throughout their campaign cycle.

“Large budget advertisers have long had an advantage in building better, more effective online display and social campaigns,” said Dave Pavlu, president of AdsUpNow. “With ‘Collective Insights’ we are able to match that ability to optimize, analyze and target social and display campaigns.”  He added that AdReady allows them “to see in real time what works and make adjustments on the fly.”

The link between display advertising and social media gets stronger daily. AdReady also unveiled its upcoming Facebook Ads integration that will allow advertisers and agencies to more easily manage Facebook social ads campaigns in concert with their online display campaigns. 

“The biggest topic is how to compete not just with local competitors, but with much larger ones,” said Michael Crosson, publisher of SocialMediopolis, a social media marketing group on LinkedIn with more than 240,000 active mostly small and medium sized business members, “AdReady has an easy-to-use platform that can give them that edge.  It’s a perfect DNA match.”

Leading industry analysts credit platforms like AdReady for giving small budget advertisers the right tools at the right price. 

“We have seen the challenges that prevent smaller advertisers from realizing their full potential with online display and social media campaigns. AdReady’s Collective Insights solution goes a long way to leveling the playing field,” said Jed Williams, Analyst, BIA/Kelsey

According to Siebrecht, the setting for the Collective Insights announcement reinforced the company’s commitment to providing clients with the innovative new capabilities and insights they need to become “Masters of Online Advertising.”

About the AdReady Partner Summit

More than 100 agencies, companies and industry experts participated in the AdReady Partner Summit.  The one-day Summit’s goal was to help attendees learn about, and capitalize on, the latest trends in the industry. AdReady Partner Summit attendees benefit from previews of upcoming AdReady product functionality; the ability to gain insights from industry veterans that have helped shape digital marketing; the opportunity to extend their reach by networking with industry peers and AdReady executives and technologists; and sharing of online advertising best practices with their peers.

About AdReady

AdReady provides powerful software that enables any marketer to master online advertising.  Unlike time-intensive, inefficient approaches that don’t get the job done, AdReady simplifies the process with an intuitive start-to-finish solution that improves advertising ROI by successfully reaching and converting digital consumers where they live.  More than 6,000 customers in the U.S. have run more than 600,000 ads across nearly 150,000 sites through the AdReady solution.  AdReady has been recognized for “Best Ad Delivery Platform Innovation” by the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference and “Service Provider of the Year” by the Washington Technology Industry Association. To learn more, please visit www.adready.com, follow us on Twitter @AdReady, or find us on Facebook.

Media Contact:

Kathy Wilson
For AdReady
781/652-0499
kwilson@tieronepr.com