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Anatomy of Great Online Media PlanMy inspiration for this column was an online media plan spreadsheet. Yup, a spreadsheet representing an online media plan. You know what I call that? A media plan summary. Many times I see agencies large and small presenting the days, and even weeks, of planning and negotiating that went into creating a plan as a simple table of site names, impression levels, flight dates, high-level placement details, and creative specs and costs. The problem with this way of presenting a plan: it minimizes the effort that goes into producing an online plan (which is always underappreciated) and cheapens a process that I hold sacred. Show your clients how much thought and research goes into an online campaign. The following, though not exhaustive, are important and add depth to a successful online media plan:Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Launching Multicultural Media CampaignsA specialty at our firm is helping companies target niche audiences. One of our more challenging accounts has charged us with running a multicultural campaign targeting dozens of individual ethnic groups within the United States with just the right message. This type of campaign presents a different set of challenges from huge buys on the Web's top sites. To help describe some of the challenges and tactics associated with running one of these campaigns I interviewed Barbara Wojslawowicz, one of our planners, who does a great job managing and optimizing these difficult multicultural campaigns. Barbara Wojslawowicz: I'm an online media planner in the media department at Overdrive Interactive. I'm responsible for online, and sometimes offline, media strategy, planning, buying, and management for direct-response clients, primarily focused on multicultural advertising. Prior to Overdrive, I held online marketing positions at Digitas and First Night Boston. HG: Why is multicultural advertising so important? BW: Since each ethnic group responds to messaging differently, it's important for advertisers to tailor products and subsequent advertising campaigns in culturally relevant media segments. The U.S. has always been referred to as a melting pot of ideas, religions, and cultures, and according to a recent Pew Research Center study entitled, "Immigration to Play Lead Role in Future U.S. Growth," the pot is going to get even bigger. According to the study, "the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants...The Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, will triple in size." This population boom will inevitably lead to increased spending on consumer goods from ethnic Americans. This presents a huge opportunity for companies to expand their product offerings and target their ad campaigns by ethnic group. HG: In your experience, what channels have been the most successful in reaching your client's ethnic markets in the U.S.? Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media A Primer on Social Media Marketing Components and TacticsWhen it comes to social media marketing, there's one three-letter abbreviation that I can't stand: SMO (social media optimization). Why don't I like that term? SMO implies that leveraging social media in your marketing efforts is a cousin of SEO or, even worse, an adjunct that is simply about getting more inbound links to build your search engine prominence. Marketing your site with social media is much more than optimization. Social media marketing (SMM) is an entire channel that allows marketers to build communities of "friends" and then socialize with those friends in their chosen online environments. It's about leveraging a whole new platform and environment to galvanize and communicate with your customers (and potential customers) and to let them communicate with you. Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Social Media How a Social Media Campaign Fits into a B2B Media PlanLet's explore a facet of social media that's often ignored -- B2B (define) social media. Last month, my agency ran a social media seminar at the New England Direct Marketing Association Conference. When an audience member asked about B2B social media, Bianca Garcia, one of our star media planners, jumped right in with a lot of good information. She has a special gift for navigating the social media landscape, so I interviewed her for more information.Harry Gold: Who are you and what do you do? Bianca Garcia: I'm a media planner for Overdrive Interactive, and my job includes planning, buying, implementing and optimizing online and social media campaigns. I first joined the search marketing team at Overdrive before moving to the media department. I have an MBA and prior to working for Overdrive, I worked for "Cosmopolitan" magazine, "Seventeen" magazine, and Leo Burnett. My background in search and traditional media has greatly contributed to a well-rounded understanding of online campaigns. HG: We all know that social media marketing is good for B2C (define), but are there any sites that are good for B2B? BG: LinkedIn would be an obvious choice, but there are also industry-specific networking sites like ITtoolbox (where you can tap into a huge professional IT community), the Minyanville Exchange (a financial social networking site), Designer Pages (for architecture and design), and lots of others. However, keep in mind that "traditional" social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, even Twitter have B2B profiles and profiles where people often list their professions. So you can do certain kinds of B2B targeting by profession. Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Social Media Listen to Your EnemyMy father always told me that everyone is worth listening to -- even if it's only to learn what not to say. As I grew older and more experienced, especially in the advertising field, I came to truly see the simple wisdom in that piece of advice. People whom you think are great can clearly show you the best way to do something. And those whom you think aren't as good as you, can show you how not to do something. (Of course, it could be the opposite: people you thought were great really don't know what they're doing, while those with a lesser reputation are the true luminaries.) What does this have to do with online media? This week, something happened that really blew my mind. We recently lost the online display portion of an account (c'mon, it happens to the best of us), and we learned the new firm isn't delivering the value to the client that we did. In fact, the firm is delivering exactly 66 percent less value. How do we know this? Because some media invoices were accidentally delivered to us. Turns out, the new agency is paying three times the rates we were paying for the same placements! Read more...Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Tips for Marketing on the Social WebSo, all the chatter about social media and user-generated content is nothing new, right? What's new: a lot more companies of all stripes are waking to the fact that customers hang out in online gathering places and very often talk and post content about them. It's much like what happened with search a few years ago, and business executives said, "Hey, I think this is important and there's opportunity here." A lot of agencies say they know social media. In reality, they're only buying advertising and branded pages on social sites like MySpace and Facebook. Meanwhile, other firms perform social media optimization (SMO). However, both services miss the point of what social media and user-generated content is about. Social media marketing isn't about optimizing or advertising. It's about socializing!
It's about weaving your content and messages into the social Web, making friends and fans. It also means talking to and listening to friends and fans and measuring the impact the social Web has on your business. It's not one campaign on MySpace or Facebook with a cool page that makes a few friends and is later abandoned when the campaign's over. Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Social Media Questions to Ask Your ClientsSo often people say, "In sales, listening is as important as talking." I couldn't agree more. While media planning isn't selling in the traditional sense, it's very much still sales. We all must actively pitch our services, ideas, and ultimately our plans to clients; we truly need to sell the merits of our recommendations. But more important, we need to make them want to buy. Even with the best fact-based decision-making methodology, we need to make the client very comfortable with a plan or strategy. To do this, the client must feel like you're providing them with exactly what they need. And to give them what they need, you must get them to tell you what their needs are. You must ask the right questions. Sometimes you can determine what you'll get from a vendor based on the questions she asks rather than the presentation she eventually gives you. Many times, asking the right questions early in a relationship not only arms you with information to create a successful marketing strategy or media plan but also gets the client thinking along the same lines as you. It helps the client look at success in the same way you do and aligns your priorities. It gets a client thinking about things you think are important early in the process. Boosting Your Media Buy's PerformanceOK, the online media guy is commenting again on creative. Over the last few weeks, we've received several rounds of banners from a few of our clients' "creative" agencies (or agencies of record). These banners were consistently missing applied best practices, inspiring me to offer these tips. Remember, and I've said this many times before, well-planned media will only put your creative in front of your target audience. It won't get people to do what you want them to do. Only good creative can encourage desired behavior or emotion. It doesn't matter if what you want the consumer to do is on- or offline. It's your messaging, offerings, and imagery that get people to do what you want them to do. If you're trying to encourage an immediate online conversion, direct is best. Get right to the point and be pragmatic. When we launch different banner concepts online, we always have a group we actually call the pragmatic concepts. Nine times out of 10, they're the best performers. If you have the best price, lowest rate, a great coupon, free sample, or informative whitepaper or free guide, make that the point of the banner. Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Seven Ways to Boost Campaign PerformanceYou may have heard me say this before, but I'll say it again: when it comes to online media, always say it's a branding campaign until the client looks at the report.What I mean by this is, of course, it's a branding campaign. But short of an awareness study, clients (and we agency people) are trained to judge the success of an optimization campaign by a narrow set of KPIs (define) -- basically impressions, clicks, CPCs (define), actions, and CPAs (define). While home page buyouts and premium real estate get you the high-visibility placements, they're more often than not very expensive from a CPM (define) standpoint. As a result, they typically have very high CPC and CPA stats. When a client sees those stats on a report, the placement's branding value often goes out the window. Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Mapping the Complete Path to SuccessOK, I know I'm supposed to be an online media guy and this is supposed to be an online media column. But, I just have to speak up here. Far too often, advertisers who base the success of their online campaigns on hard conversion and action metrics forget that media will only do one thing: put your ads in front of the right people. It won't make people, desire, click, or convert. It's the job of the creative to encourage desired behavior -- and it is some form of desired behavior (clicks, actions, or conversions) that success is typically based on.The funny thing is when our firm just does the media buy for our clients, and doesn't do the creative (banners and landing pages), we can usually tell whether something is going to work before the first impression has even been served. We can always tell when creative was done without the final metric for success in mind and wasn't mapped all the way though to the desired action or behavior. Read more... Labels: Analytics, ClickZ, Online Media Preparing an RFP for Interactive Media BuyingThis week, I thought I'd deliver a pragmatic column: a sample RFP for online media buying.The idea came to me after a client asked me about my firm's planning process. The discussion centered on the amount of time it takes to do a good plan. The client had been doing its online media buying in-house and to them, it was a quick, simple process of calling the reps, getting the rates, doing the buy, and placing the ads. I politely wondered out loud if that approach to media planning might be the reason the firm's online campaigns could have been doing better and why we were being brought in. I told them that after we utilize all the research tools and processes to create a total universe of opportunities (basically an RFP list), we like to issue RFPs to the properties and give them a fair amount of time to respond. By doing so, we get much more detailed information about placements and, more important, provide media reps more time to come up with something innovative that's more likely to succeed. Click here for the rest of the article and sample Online Media Buying RFP Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Playing the Game With MomBy Harry Gold, The ClickZ Network, Feb 5, 2008Following up on an earlier column's theme, "Playing the Game," I wanted to cover the other end of the gaming spectrum: the millions who are online and aren't fighting in futuristic battles or driving stock cars through city streets. I'm referring to the moms and grandmas who are engaged in Scrabble and solitaire. I know because my own mother burns through hours and hours flipping through cards in tournaments that have thousands of players. She battles with an equal amount of engagement and zeal as your most avid 17-year-old gamer. After exploring the online gaming industry, I realized there are more branding and advertising opportunities woven into online games than just in-game sponsorships. In a very real, way the program sponsorships, especially for these casual-game tournaments are massive experiential and event marketing programs. People aren't just viewing impressions or clicking on banners; they're truly interacting with the brand, feeling such emotions as fun, competitiveness, excitement, even elation, and they're doing it for hours at a time! Furthermore, these online events have the potential to spill into offline championships to be broadcast on television and Web alike. Read More.... Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Remote Control to Mouse: TV and Web IntegrationFor years, we've been hearing about how one day television and the Internet will come together and your set-top box will act as a gateway to Web-based content and services in addition to your favorite shows. That day is much closer than you think, and for many people, including myself, it's already here and has been for quite a while. If it's not happening for you yet, it will. You're most likely already being trained to use your remote control as a mouse. Do you have cable? Just look at the remote. A typical remote these days has buttons that include "up," "down," "left," "right," and "OK" (great for navigating a menu screen), as well as selections that include "menu," "guide," and more.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628155 Labels: ClickZ, Integration, Online Media Playing the Game, Part 2A year ago, Cory Van Arsdale was named CEO of Massive, an in-game advertising network with more than 40 publisher partners. Its network includes Xbox and PC video game titles such as Electronic Art's "Madden NFL 08," Funcom's Anarchy Online, and Activision's "Guitar Hero III."In part one, Van Arsdale discussed online gaming's potential, Massive network's audience, and the different types of game advertising. Here, he describes marketers doing a good job advertising in online games and outlines some best practices. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627839 Labels: ClickZ, Integration, Online Media Playing the Game, Part 1The definitions of online and digital marketing are broadening, blurring the lines between online, in-game, and in-content advertising. Content digitally delivered and consumed through many different vehicles brings together video, gaming, and ads through a range of platforms, from desktops to set-tops and game consoles. Labels: ClickZ, Integration, Online Media What Bubble?The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers came out with amazing news about the digital advertising industry recently.On November 12, they issued a news release headlined: "Internet Advertising Revenues In Q3 '07 Surpass $5.2 Billion, Setting New High." That was followed by the subhead: "Industry Maintains Record-breaking Trend; 2007 Q3 Revenues Up Over 25% From 2006 Q3." Wow! If that doesn't say it all and validate the hot air we've been blowing all year, I don't know what does. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627684 Marketing With Podcasts, Part 3Last time, podcasting guru, Podtrac CEO Mark McCrery discussed his firm's work. Here, McCrery describes best practices and offers tips for sponsoring podcasts.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627434 Marketing With Podcasts, Part 2Last week, we talked with Greg Cangialosi, author of the podcasting bible, "Podcast Academy: The Business Podcasting Book." This week we continue the conversation with another podcasting guru, Podtrac CEO Mark McCrery. Podtrac is a leader in creating podcast networks using dynamic ad-insertion and measurement technology.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627430 Marketing With Podcasts, Part 1Let me confess: I'm not an expert in podcasting. But I recognize the potential of having so many viewers and listeners consume self-selected media in this very intimate way. So today and next time, I'll explore the online media and marketing opportunities around podcasting. Get Ready for the Good News and a Lot More WorkAre you busy? If you're like most shops, including my own, I'm sure you are. Brace yourself. You're about to get busier. Whether you call it the coming "digital storm" (as Sapient's Gaston Legorburu calls it), the digital tidal wave, or even the Internet's second coming, one thing's for sure: marketers of all stripes have woken up to the Web's power and promise of the Web, and online budgets are growing. We now ask ourselves whether this bountiful harvest will last, especially those of us who witnessed the last bubble burst.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627166 The Rise of Online Video AdsA while back, I examined an interesting Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA)/William Blair study showing that rich media growth had outstripped search for the first time and that much of the growth was driven by traditional big-brand advertisers, such as those in auto and finance.Why is rich media drawing big brands and big dollars at such an accelerated rate? Broadband penetration and video. Video is central to rich media, and more people are consuming a major portion of video-based media online. We love hitting that "play" button! EMarketer projects U.S spending on online video advertising will rise to $4.3 billion in 2011, from $410 million last year. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627030 Labels: ClickZ, Online Media, Video Performance Media Planning and Buying, Part 2: Paying for Leads and ActionsThe first part of this column covers the opportunity represented by performance-based buying: how it's different from affiliate channels, how to think about leads and actions from a qualitative standpoint, what data hygiene methods and technologies the properties you deal with should be using, and musts to avoid, such as properties using malware, spyware, and spam. The discussion continues with how you should think about launching a performance-based campaign.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626783 Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Performance Media Planning and Buying, Part 1: Paying for Leads and ActionsIn performance-based lead buys, we like to is ferret out all the cost-per-action, cost-per-sale, and cost-per-lead deals we can and include them in the mix. The list of networks, Web 2.0 businesses, and individual sites offering cost-per-lead or cost-per-action deals grows daily. Often, this includes some of the most premium sites on the Web.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626782 Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Going Local on the WebEvery so often we're asked to launch a localized online campaign by an organization wanting to create more presence in a particular market or one that offers products or services in a very specific geographic footprint. Usually, they're educational institutions that want to capture a non-traditional student market. Localized campaigns with tight geographic footprints can get be very challenging on the Web. Just look at the name; it's the World Wide Web, not the City Wide Web or the State Wide Web. However, just because consumers seek local information doesn't mean they're not turning to the Web for information. The reality is the world includes the 10-mile vicinity around your house, right? Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626627Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Pros and Cons of Ad ExchangesAn ad exchange is a marketplace in which publishers and advertisers can participate in an auction-based system for buying and selling online display advertising from a large group of participating sites. Publishers place their unsold inventory on the exchange, and buyers place bids to purchase the leftover inventory through an easy-to-use interface (kind of like paid search).This auction system creates a competitive environment in which each bidder has equal access to the media, so relationships and budget sizes typically have no bearing. Ad exchanges are generally open to all ad agencies, advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. (Although publishers do have the right to reject ads they don't want to run on their sites.) Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626493 Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media The Pros and Cons of the Google NetworkGoogle is headed full steam into display advertising with its Google Network. The search engine is offering a full array of online media products, including regular GIF and Flash banners (image ads in the AdSense network), streaming video ads, and rich media ads (Google Gadgets, currently in beta). Through its AdSense network, Google has basically created a huge network of sites. Now its reps are actively selling CPM (define) based banner and video ad packages to clients and agencies alike. These are also available to self-serve clients, of course.Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626369 Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media, Search Tracking: A Double Edged SwordThe good thing about online is you can measure everything. The bad thing about online is you can measure everything.When your campaign's performing, you can tell right away and share the great news with your client. When your campaign isn't performing, however, it can be a really hard, especially when you're the one who has to report it. Of course, if you're lucky enough to work on a campaign that has no tracking of meaningful actions and you're simply reporting on impressions and clicks, you don't have to worry about this. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626245 Labels: Analytics, ClickZ, Online Media Accessing the Critical MomentIn traditional media, planners and buyers are typically only able to utilize two targeting options to reach their audiences in any significant numbers: the "who" (demographics) and the "where" (designated marketing areas, or DMAs). That kind of media planning creates an incredible amount of waste.Sure, they may reach a lot of people, and most of them might even be in the right demographic group or geographic location. But so many advertisers are communicating with literally millions of people just to reach those precious few who actually need or desire their products. With many media campaigns, the strategy is to build a brand and create desire, but if you aren't selling products that can be consumed by anyone at anytime, offline mass media can be very wasteful. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626105 Labels: ClickZ, Online Media, Search Get Value-Added Online Placements From Offline BuysBoth full-service and exclusive online firms constantly use the term "integration." Typically what's meant by "integration" is that online is fully integrated with off-. Full-service firms say their online teams are fully integrated with their offline teams, from creative to media buying. Online firms claim they play well in the same sandbox with their client's offline agencies and that an advertising-like state of nirvana is easily achieved.The reality is though some agencies manage to pull off fully integrated campaigns, most fall short. When agencies fall short on campaign integration, the impact of the creative and the efficiencies from doing multiplatform media buys (especially from the value-added front) can be seriously decreased. Today, I'll focus on the efficiencies in media buying an agency can achieve by creating a "conversion crew."Both full-service and exclusive online firms constantly use the term "integration." Typically what's meant by "integration" is that online is fully integrated with off-. Full-service firms say their online teams are fully integrated with their offline teams, from creative to media buying. Online firms claim they play well in the same sandbox with their client's offline agencies and that an advertising-like state of nirvana is easily achieved. The reality is though some agencies manage to pull off fully integrated campaigns, most fall short. When agencies fall short on campaign integration, the impact of the creative and the efficiencies from doing multiplatform media buys (especially from the value-added front) can be seriously decreased. Today, I'll focus on the efficiencies in media buying an agency can achieve by creating a "conversion crew." Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625980 Labels: ClickZ, Integration, Online Media Pros and Cons of Google and DoubleClickGoogle, the Internet behemoth, is swallowing up a critical piece of the online advertising infrastructure -- after devouring YouTube. Not only does it want to control the Web's access points to content, it also wants to assert its control behind the scenes with the DoubleClick acquisition.Microsoft is crying monopoly (that's a new peak in irony), and most articles and points of view I've seen predict gloom, doom, and control. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625716 Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Search Where Are You Spending Your Clients' Money?I had the distinct pleasure of participating on a panel at Search Engine Strategies this week. The topic was "Where Are You Spending Your Clients' Money?" What really stood out was just how parallel the points of view were for all five panelists, representing agency media buyers from shops both large and small. Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media Capitalize on the ViewThe concept of view-based clicks and conversions has been around a long time. We online media planners and buyers love the view-based conversion -- it makes us look like heroes. Clients eat it up because they love the boost it gives campaign metrics, and publishers love it because they can use it to create better retention rates for advertisers. Overall, it lends incredible weight to the whole online advertising space and has been a significant force in furthering of our common cause: growing the percentage of the ad budget that online gets. Used correctly, view-based metrics are a win for agencies, clients, and publishers. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625449 Labels: Analytics, ClickZ, Industry, Online Media Why Online Must Lead Offline CampaignsThe push for integrated on- and offline communications is as strong as ever. Yet integration still usually means all campaign components are managed by one firm and the integration occurs on the creative level.The next level of integration will be with data, where integration can truly have the most effect. In the spirit of the hottest buzzword craze, I call this "Integration 2.0." Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625278 Labels: Analytics, ClickZ, Integration, Online Media Keep Your Media Reps CloseI was at a pitch recently, where one of our senior planners made a statement that made me extremely proud. She said, "An online channel is more than media buys and ads running on Web sites; it's the relationships your agency has with the people who work at those sites." Our company has always strived to build warm, honest, collaborative relationships with the media properties we work with, and here was one of our team members expressing that idea perfectly. It reminded me that many of our biggest success stories are due in large part to the great working relationships we have with our reps.As founder of our media department, I've always tried to have our planners and buyers bring something to the table when we're planning and negotiating media. Specifically, we try to get media reps to understand and embrace our clients' goals the way we do. If you can achieve this, you'll create a much stronger channel and, therefore, a more successful online campaign. Based on that approach, I'm going to share a couple secrets I've learned over the years, secrets at the heart of this approach that have served the agencies I've worked for and, more importantly, my clients extremely well. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625127 Labels: ClickZ, Online Media 2-D vs. 3-D CampaignsAs on online media professional, I pay special attention to the major brand ads I see flashing, popping, streaming, and inserting themselves into my online experience. The difference between 2-D and 3-D campaigns becomes very clear through this. The 2-D creative unit is offline creative that was simply resized to fit into the banner space. The 3-D unit is creative that was either conceived or redesigned to take advantage of the data capture, meaningful brand interaction, and customer analytic possibilities online media have to offer.It's really the difference between campaigns that are simply trying to get you to think, feel, or know something in which a click might be an added benefit and campaigns that accomplish all that plus encourage some sort of measurable desired behavior that escalates purchase intent or moves prospects down the sales funnel. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625011 Labels: ClickZ, Integration, Online Media |
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