And as online marketing tools progress, products that deliver excellent data visualization tools will hold a significant competitive advantage moving forward. Why? Well, the ability for a planner to quickly gather the data they need to make decisions is crucial to success and a great dashboard is the lynch pin of this process.

With this in mind I started thinking about Search Marketing interfaces. The differences between many of them are minor but the experience differences are major. The ability to consume keyword group data and which keywords are performing is integral an integral function for search marketers.  But many interfaces create a complicated gossamer of reports and internet pages to give you the information you need. It can feel like Indiana Jones searching for the Ark of the Covenant to find what you need.

Many of these interfaces gives you great amounts of aggregate data but fall short in providing a great quick glance at the keyword and keyword group level. I am aware of all the dashboards that these programs have but I still need more. Its this keyword data that have been thinking about lately. What if you could quickly see in graphical terms what is performing vs. underperformers?

In the following weeks, I am going to build out a sample of this data visualization that I am talking about.

Is search the ultimate conversion driver? And does it justify the uneven amounts of money flowing into it?

Without showing the inherent role of assisting search that display and rich media assets play in the online advertising funnel you are missing part of the equation. In fact, I read an article today that emphasizes the point that most planners still view search and display as separate entities. This seems like backwards logic in today’s integrated online world. With so much Research available online that shows search and display together can lift your online performance planning these together becomes crucial. In fact, marketers are leaving money on the table when they view campaigns as separate entities.

A quick look at estimated advertising spend from analysts would appear that search alone can conquer the web without any help from display. But the truth of the web is that conversions are varied and full of many different intents and assisted from various angles. One conversion could be from search and another from email marketing. The reality is that both users were exposed to some form of branding before they actively engaged your product.

The realization that search and display work together will be a fundamental element of planning’s evolution. Furthermore as marketing progresses on the internet expect planners to begin integrating these processes much more.

Disclosure - I work for Microsoft Advertising’s Atlas Media Console.

Why are CPM’s a poor indicator of success online?

To answer that question, we first need to talk about where the CPM originated. Their origin was in print media allowing publishers to price their inventory and maximize exposure to their assets for advertisers. In short, publishers needed a way to show advertisers they were getting tons of “bang” for their buck and the CPM was born. That was all nice when you are dealing with something like newspapers and the limited metrics available to track exposure. But with online-advertising you have the ability to track in ways not available when the CPM was invented.

Pew research states that, “Fully 80% of Generation X internet users buy products online, compared with 71% of internet users ages 18-32.” With so many folks buying stuff online and searching for product information before they make the purchase, its a no-brainer to be online. In fact, the internet has become an unprecedented tool for reaching your customers. With tools such as advanced log files, marketers can now know more information than ever about the habits of the folks buying from their sites.

We can segment, re-message and apply any number of methods to the way media is delivered based on the personal histories of each viewers PC. But unless we make impressions count its useless. Instead of blasting out millions of impressions, we should attempt to blast out thousands of impressions to the right computers improving ROI and many other metrics.

Furthermore, these meaningful impressions are not blind attempts but based on actual recorded habits and can be applied in real time. With these types of advanced functionality it becomes even more important to stop our dependence on mindless blasting of users as possible and hoping one of them sticks. Its archaic methodology applied to a sophisticated system and its exacerbating banner blindness. The future is about making every impression count.

Police use fingerprints, DNA and other clues to assist in tracking down the perpetrators of crimes. Doctors use journals, colleagues, and workshops to successfully treat patients. Farmers use weather history, soil conditions and water to determine the future crops. Every occupation has its tool set and the more we evolve the more our tools for success become diverse and varied and online marketing is no different.

With this in mind, I started to think about the current model for online display ads. Where will it evolve? How will the tools effect the future? One thing is certain, if publishers continue to flood the market with a glut of inventory and continue this inflationary effect. CPM’s will continue to plummet. And publishers will fight for pageviews (probably the wrong success metric) in an overcrowded market.

CPM’s are plummeting and clients are demanding better ROI; online advertising has reached an important crossroads. The questions on everyone’s minds are. Will it face similar struggles as offline ads or will it adapt and reach its full potential? The answer to me is the whole model is broken.

Here are a few areas I think should first be examined:

#1 - Ad positioning on the page - Currently, ads seem to populate the side margins and boxes within the content, continuing to fight a losing battle with the content. Search ads were able to differ from display because they match intent with ads. If display could re-engineer its thought to match intent with content they could improve performance.

#2 - Networks/inventory - Networks need to become more transparent and let marketers know when and where they are placing ads. They also need to consider a body that can determine standards on volume and pricing similar to the IAB’s ad size standards.

#3-Targeting tools - Publisher-side targeting tools need to be greatly improved to help marketers reach the right person on the right page in the right spot. How many times do you see ads not matching the content, demographic and user? If pubs could come up with “smart-techonology” that identified layout, navigational flow and content they could better place the right ad in the right spot.

By introducing some of the above changes to the online world you would better improve the experience and performance of your media.  Can you think of some others changes that could improve the online-advertising model?

Andy Warhol once said, ”They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” So in that vain, I decided it was time to change up my blog’s look. And with every great change comes a new perspective. That perspective came to me as over the past week as I looked for a new theme. 

I penned a few more diary style entries over the past couple of months and realized they sort of stuck out on this blog about digital marketing. So I removed them and will re-publish them at a new URL apart from this blog. This primary focus here will be solely on digital marketing and online advertising.

Hope you like the new look and enjoy the focus on digital content.

Happy reading!

As part of my Mid-Year Commitments and Career Review at Microsoft, I decided I wanted to inform my colleagues on some of the industry news and company specific information that daily swims the internet. I also think it would be related to this blog and will post it here for your enjoyment.

Basically it is a list of some of the stories I read and look at daily about online marketing with a specific focus on the display ads and the Atlas Media Console from Microsoft Advertising.

Tues 3-11

It seems analysts are always saying, “we have to get the ads where they are seen by the right eyes. Its not just a matter of shear scale.” I couldnt agree more that context is missing from today’s marketplace. And getting advertisements in front of the right eyeballs will advance the online economy tremendously.

In the next few years, technology should begin to improve the relevance of what is being shown to you on any given site. But for now we all have to put up with the random ads that make no sense to us. Aren’t we all sick of the mortgage ads on every site we go too? Is the market for buying a house really that large? I think recent events tell us otherwise!

Yesterday, while I was looking at source code of a few sites, I found this very unique way to get the right eyeballs in front of an advertisement for a job opening. It was on the site Meebo and as you can see its for a posting for a programmer commented out in the source code.

I can’t think of a better way to find a unique programmer than by putting a secret job posting in the source of your website. Congratulations Meebo on being creative and unique in getting your message out there.

Perserving your brand as your market cap rises, falls on the shoulders of so many different departments these days it can be tough to get collaboration across all units. Social-media has empowered normal citizens with a power they didn’t have before and now you have to please more than just PR folks when it comes to putting your best foot forward. A dirty aisle at Target can get much more exposure than it would have 10 years ago, therefore its more important than ever to keep a mindful on all aspects of your brand.

Brands are like a sphere because they have so many sides that need to be defined yet remain nimble. Its an ultimate anomaly that marketers face everyday. When you set standards they need to be specific yet flexible and ready to grow.

Don’t get stuck in the now and forget to realize that things change fast and you need to be ready.

“Embrace things in your life that drive you to achieve, and start letting go of those things that do not. It is difficult to distinguish the category in which any of your activities belong, but paying attention to your choices and their consequences will sponsor the awareness you’ll need to make better life choices in the future. Although things that bring us happiness outside of work can be our greatest inspiration for professional success, often they are so simple, we cast them aside as inconsequential. Do not do this. Remember the small things that make you happy, and use them to battle things that loom much larger and stress you out. Consider these suggestions:”

• Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, hope, and health
• Never try to get even with your enemies
• Expect ingratitude
• Count your blessings, not your troubles
• Try not to imitate others
• Create happiness for others

Its a good reminder as we all get hammered with work and social events for the holiday season to stop and remember the small things that make us happy and remember to show your appreciation for those folks. I often forget to do this but have been keeping focused on making those that make me happy know it.