The Message Matters!
11/10/2009 09:59 Filed in: Thoughts
on Internet Marketing
A recent examination of some of my clients' text ads,
and their positions on the search engine results
pages, brought back an age-old advertising truth:
the message matters. Despite the
technologies and targeting abilities of today's
Internet marketing platforms, advertisers must always
provide a compelling and relevant message. If your
message resonates with a customer, they're likely to
click on your ad and visit your web site, no matter
where the ad appears on the page.
I wanted to know if my clients' lower-positioned ads were being clicked less frequently. I plotted click-through rates for a series of text ads, against the positions of those ads on the search engine results pages. I expected to see a basic, inverted curve, with higher-positioned ads enjoying higher click-though rates, and click-through rates diminishing as the positions of the ads became lower. This theory makes sense, right? If an ad isn't at the top of the page, weren't users more likely to ignore it?
To the contrary, my simple chart showed that ad position was less important than I'd assumed. Click-through rates for this particular group of ads varied, with no negative effect on the lower-positioned ads. In fact, some of the highest click-through rates were for ads that had the very lowest positions!
The moral of this story? A few things...
Of course, the message matters above all else. If your [text] ad is compelling enough, and relevant enough to the users' intent, they'll click on the ad no matter where it appears on the page.
Secondly - and no less importantly - this was one study of an isolated group of ads. Each campaign may be different and users may react differently to another series of ads.
In the world of Internet marketing, there is a wealth of detailed data available to advertisers. This data should be used to drive decisions, write ads, select keywords and optimize your campaigns in response to real-world, real-time results. Our assumptions may help us get started, but as our marketing campaigns evolve, we should follow the paths that our customers' actions lay out for us. What works for one campaign may not work for another - but we'll have the data and evidence to tell us the difference.
Thanks for reading and good luck with your Internet marketing efforts!
- Jeremy
I wanted to know if my clients' lower-positioned ads were being clicked less frequently. I plotted click-through rates for a series of text ads, against the positions of those ads on the search engine results pages. I expected to see a basic, inverted curve, with higher-positioned ads enjoying higher click-though rates, and click-through rates diminishing as the positions of the ads became lower. This theory makes sense, right? If an ad isn't at the top of the page, weren't users more likely to ignore it?
To the contrary, my simple chart showed that ad position was less important than I'd assumed. Click-through rates for this particular group of ads varied, with no negative effect on the lower-positioned ads. In fact, some of the highest click-through rates were for ads that had the very lowest positions!
The moral of this story? A few things...
Of course, the message matters above all else. If your [text] ad is compelling enough, and relevant enough to the users' intent, they'll click on the ad no matter where it appears on the page.
Secondly - and no less importantly - this was one study of an isolated group of ads. Each campaign may be different and users may react differently to another series of ads.
In the world of Internet marketing, there is a wealth of detailed data available to advertisers. This data should be used to drive decisions, write ads, select keywords and optimize your campaigns in response to real-world, real-time results. Our assumptions may help us get started, but as our marketing campaigns evolve, we should follow the paths that our customers' actions lay out for us. What works for one campaign may not work for another - but we'll have the data and evidence to tell us the difference.
Thanks for reading and good luck with your Internet marketing efforts!
- Jeremy
What's it worth?
08/05/2009 04:39 Filed in: Thoughts
on Internet Marketing
The beauty of Internet marketing is the ability to
measure everything about your campaigns. Marketers
can see real-time data showing the costs for each web
site visitor, lead or sale.
But flip this equation around: what is the value of your web site or e-mail database? If Internet marketing can tell you how much it costs to gain each web site visitor or e-mail subscriber, are you receiving a good value for your Internet marketing efforts?
For example, let's say a minor league baseball team conducts a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign to acquire more subscribers to its e-mail newsletter. Those fans can certainly be considered good season ticket sales leads. Let's suppose the team's PPC campaign results in an average cost-per-click (CPC) of $0.95 and they received 750 web site visitors as a result. Of those 750 web site visitors, 50 signed up for the e-mail newsletter. The team's cost-per-conversion is $14.25 ($712.50 campaign cost / 50 conversions = $14.25 per conversion).
So the team paid $14.25 for each e-mail newsletter subscriber. Is the average e-mail subscriber worth $14.25? Are individual web site visitors worth $0.95 each? How to tell?
Fan surveys would go a long way to answer this question. If the team asked its e-mail subscribers if they planned to purchase a season ticket package, they could determine a reasonable estimate of the average subscriber's value. Let's say our hypothetical team conducted such a survey and found 15% of their subscribers planned to purchase season tickets. Let's suppose that the team's total e-mail database includes 600 fans and season tickets cost $500. (Totally hypothetical numbers here, folks!)
In our example, the average e-mail subscriber has a potential value to the team of $75 ($45,000 in potential season ticket revenue / 600 subscribers = $75 value per subscriber). And the team spent $14.25 to acquire each new subscriber. In this case, the team's Internet marketing campaign could be considered a success!
The same exercise could be conducted for single-game sales, or based on web site visitors instead of e-mail subscribers. Knowing this information should make any marketing campaign more successful. Do you know these numbers for your organization's web site or e-mail list? Something to think about, perhaps...
Thanks for reading and good luck with your marketing efforts!
But flip this equation around: what is the value of your web site or e-mail database? If Internet marketing can tell you how much it costs to gain each web site visitor or e-mail subscriber, are you receiving a good value for your Internet marketing efforts?
For example, let's say a minor league baseball team conducts a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign to acquire more subscribers to its e-mail newsletter. Those fans can certainly be considered good season ticket sales leads. Let's suppose the team's PPC campaign results in an average cost-per-click (CPC) of $0.95 and they received 750 web site visitors as a result. Of those 750 web site visitors, 50 signed up for the e-mail newsletter. The team's cost-per-conversion is $14.25 ($712.50 campaign cost / 50 conversions = $14.25 per conversion).
So the team paid $14.25 for each e-mail newsletter subscriber. Is the average e-mail subscriber worth $14.25? Are individual web site visitors worth $0.95 each? How to tell?
Fan surveys would go a long way to answer this question. If the team asked its e-mail subscribers if they planned to purchase a season ticket package, they could determine a reasonable estimate of the average subscriber's value. Let's say our hypothetical team conducted such a survey and found 15% of their subscribers planned to purchase season tickets. Let's suppose that the team's total e-mail database includes 600 fans and season tickets cost $500. (Totally hypothetical numbers here, folks!)
In our example, the average e-mail subscriber has a potential value to the team of $75 ($45,000 in potential season ticket revenue / 600 subscribers = $75 value per subscriber). And the team spent $14.25 to acquire each new subscriber. In this case, the team's Internet marketing campaign could be considered a success!
The same exercise could be conducted for single-game sales, or based on web site visitors instead of e-mail subscribers. Knowing this information should make any marketing campaign more successful. Do you know these numbers for your organization's web site or e-mail list? Something to think about, perhaps...
Thanks for reading and good luck with your marketing efforts!
Read This First
07/21/2009 02:37 Filed in: Thoughts
on Internet Marketing
Since it's the only blog entry so far, I guess there
isn't much of a choice. But you're here, so I'll
assume you have some interest in Internet marketing
for your business. First and foremost, thanks for
visiting to see what we have to offer!
Internet marketing can include MANY things. The options and new technologies can be overwhelming, and so is the amount of data that comes with it. For example, if you're advertising your business through search engine marketing, you can test and tweak your keywords, ad copy, landing pages, messaging, offers, web site copy, contact forms, site design, colors, graphics, images, navigation and more - to see what your customers respond to. And you can break down the results of these campaigns into detailed reports showing every possible angle. Adding social media to your marketing mix creates another layer of results to be analyzed.
I can't honestly say I was always a "numbers guy," but I'm a huge believer in doing business efficiently. Today's technology allows everyone a chance to be more efficient. You can figure out how to spend less to acquire new customers, by taking time to study how they became your customers. I believe that Internet marketing is the best way of doing this, with detailed tracking available at nearly every level of the sales process.
As you read this, I hope you are considering what brought you here. What is your organization trying to accomplish? More merchandise sales? More season ticket sales leads? Better, more qualified season ticket sales leads? More participants for your marathon, triathlon or tournament? The data available from an Internet marketing campaign may answer the questions that other advertising missed.
I could go on all day. We're new here, and ready to grow with you. We'd love to share more thoughts and ideas (seriously, I could go on all day. You've been warned!). Please do get in touch or download our list of Internet marketing ideas for sports businesses. They'll be more later and I wish you the best of luck with your marketing efforts!
Thanks for reading.
- Jeremy
Internet marketing can include MANY things. The options and new technologies can be overwhelming, and so is the amount of data that comes with it. For example, if you're advertising your business through search engine marketing, you can test and tweak your keywords, ad copy, landing pages, messaging, offers, web site copy, contact forms, site design, colors, graphics, images, navigation and more - to see what your customers respond to. And you can break down the results of these campaigns into detailed reports showing every possible angle. Adding social media to your marketing mix creates another layer of results to be analyzed.
I can't honestly say I was always a "numbers guy," but I'm a huge believer in doing business efficiently. Today's technology allows everyone a chance to be more efficient. You can figure out how to spend less to acquire new customers, by taking time to study how they became your customers. I believe that Internet marketing is the best way of doing this, with detailed tracking available at nearly every level of the sales process.
As you read this, I hope you are considering what brought you here. What is your organization trying to accomplish? More merchandise sales? More season ticket sales leads? Better, more qualified season ticket sales leads? More participants for your marathon, triathlon or tournament? The data available from an Internet marketing campaign may answer the questions that other advertising missed.
I could go on all day. We're new here, and ready to grow with you. We'd love to share more thoughts and ideas (seriously, I could go on all day. You've been warned!). Please do get in touch or download our list of Internet marketing ideas for sports businesses. They'll be more later and I wish you the best of luck with your marketing efforts!
Thanks for reading.
- Jeremy