March 7, 2008

• Behavioral targeting, or the use of a person's path through the Internet now has a standards body attempting to define it.  Here's what I said to them about it:  Behavioral targeting is both a method for inferring the paths people use to satisfy their needs and a method that allows a message or offer to be placed along the path.   The most significant challenge will be deciphering 'why?' from an incomplete series of actions and steps.
• Lead 'nurturing' is gaining traction and momentum in some of the most unlikely places.   Once the purview of markets with scarce or very high value contacts it is moving toward the commodity markets of mass lead generation and affiliate marketing - education and finance.   For instance All Star Directories is introducing a "Career Newsletters" to engage prospective college students.   While nurturing is often perceived as brand building it is an effective demand generation tool because it helps move your offer into the consideration set.   This now applies to affiliates and CPL models.  Key question: what information can we provide to help a prospect decide?
• The John Caples International Awards for direct marketing held its annual meeting this month.  Perusing the winners from last year should be required for everyone --- regardless of discipline.   John's "They laughed when I sat down at the piano - but when I started to play!" still ranks as one of the best headlines ever for tying emotion to sales.  The ability to test, particularly online, is getting cheaper - meaning that a) everyone else is doing it and b) the stakes are getting much higher.  In the end its all about the appeal or tug that the ad creates.  Guttural reaction is what you're after.
• Email still remains the work horse in terms of producing positive results.  Both Datran and DMA surveys rank it first in terms of 'productivity'.   The DMA suggests that email returns $45+ for every dollar spent.  What's not obvious is whether the campaign objectives are the same - display (branding), search (transaction) and email (remarketing) should perform differently since they are used for different purposes.  You can email targeted messages to your house file to cross/upsell; you can't put an ad in front of them with nearly the same effectiveness.  What is hidden in all these factoids is the point that multiple channels reinforce each other.
• In the cutting through the clutter department:  JPMorgan suggests a) CPMs for display ads to increase 4%, b) the number of ads per page to increase 8%, resulting in a 12% increase in revenue per page.   As a publisher this is mostly good; as an advertiser it is mostly bad -- you're paying more in a more competitive environment or a 13% increase in effective cost per click.   But all sites aren't created equal -- the big brands (verticals) will get bigger and command higher rates; the commodity and undifferentiated sites will move their rate cards closer to remnant pricing.  Networks, or those with access to cross-site info, will be the winners and determine pricing policies. (Adapted from OnlineSPIN).
• Display ads perform so poorly in terms of direct response metrics - John Wanamaker wouldn't have spent any advertising because 99.5% of it is wasted, not 50% - that we need to focus on two aspects.  First, time to market -- speed, variety, and action are the key words.   Second, context - the venue in which you advertise has as much to do with performance as the ad unit itself.  A recently run banner campaign used a color scheme nearly identical to the navigation bar right below it.   While the ad passed muster in the art corral, the power point presentation, and simple pages it fails miserably in situ.  
• Music yoyo:  Digital sales up 40% from 2006; total sales down 10%.  Fighting piracy as the only tactic is doomed.  Music is marketing, not the product.
• If you can't spend more because of budget freezes, then you must spend smarter:  Get rid of the sales funnel and law of numbers, 1 sale from 10 qualified prospects from 100 leads doesn't work in a targeted or customer-centric world.   Three questions:  What kind of customers are you looking for?  Does our product or service actually align with those attributes?  How do we best introduce our story to them?    Use the tactics of business networking in your marketing programs.
• The only way to keep up is to multi-task.  This has an impact on the effectiveness of various media.   Media that is useful for seeking information is rising in importance and passive media are decreasing according to BIGresearch.  Simultaneous media consumption is up across media as is surfing or tuning out.    Summary points in a Center for Media Research email:

1.  Regular simultaneous media consumption for online, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and direct mail is up from 1% to 35%, depending on the medium.