Measurement…Are We Making it Too Difficult?

I finally got around to finishing this post which is why it references an article from April!  One of the writers that I follow, and who’s opinion I very much respect is Steve Rubel who writes for Advertising Age. In his April 21, 2008 column he calls out for digital industry standard metrics and indicates that until we get there, that marketers will not be truly ready to embrace the right level of digital marketing spending levels.

There is no doubt that standard metrics will make it easier for all of us. But at the same time, with all of the press regarding metrics today, you would think that the industry doesn’t know how to effectively measure digital campaigns. I would contend that we know more than we give ourselves credit for…we (collective we) have been doing this for quite a while!

So while we’re waiting for the IAB, the Four A’s and everyone else to sort through the standards that will eventually give us a common language, I’m suggesting that we keep a few of the tried and true best practices in mind:

1) Start with your business goals and objectives in mind. I would start with 3 or 4 and scale up from there.

2) Don’t start out by “measuring everything”. That never works, and you’ll get lost in the data minutia.

3) Build strong relationships with your technology team – they are critical in helping to put the tools in place in order to get the reports that you’ll need.

4) Get comfortable with some of the new metrics that are available to you — engagement time, brand interaction rates and video views. But don’t treat them like they are the be-all-end-all metrics anymore than CTR’s are. They are pieces of the puzzle.

The direct marketing world recognizes that every campaign is different. Every company is different. Although there are more options within the digital realm, if we stick with what we already know, I think we’ll be surprised how effective, and relatively painless, our measurement efforts can be.

Bring Back The Love

Geert Desager is a Trade Marketing Manager in South East Asia for Microsoft. Geert spearheaded the making of a commercial for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. The short film, called The Couple, makes a strong statement about the relationship between today’s advertiser and today’s consumer. It was a risky project considering that the ad challenges advertisers and agencies – the target clients for this Microsoft solution – to question themselves and the way they communicate with consumers.

In June, the commercial won a Bronze Lion at Cannes and we at Brunner Digital find it . . . well . . . simply hysterical and right on point. The first commercial was so successful Geert did a sequel. They both promote the advancement of one-to-one, integrated and smart digital marketing in a thoroughly entertaining fashion. Take a look below:

If you would like to learn more about the making of the commercial, check out Geert’s blog, Bring the love back. And oh by the way, Brunner Digital is here to help you bring back the love. Lot’s of love.

Vacation, Billboards and Website Optimization

I just returned to the office today from vacation. Every year since 2003, my family has vacationed in Emerald Isle, NC, an Outer Banks beach community. And each of these summers we travel the same rural Carolina route for the last 80 miles or so to get to the beach, Route 58. All along this rural road are large, and I mean Times Square big, billboards. Not old wooden, Mail Pouch tobacco types either, but rather modern, illuminated, supported by steel cylinders billboards. These things were built to survive hurricanes. Why do these billboards stay in my mind as opposed to the numerous billboards I viewed during the greater part of my drive via Interstate 95? Because they were blank. Yes, blank.

Billboard on Route 58.

The Bogue Bank is a twenty-mile islet accessible on both ends by bridges. Atlantic Beach is the eastern most community and is accessed by US Route 70. Emerald Isle is the western most community and is best entered by Route 58. Whoa, whoa, whoa . . . if the best access to Emerald Isle is by traveling Route 58, then why are those billboards blank? Good question. Route 58 and US Route 70 are connected by Carolina Route 24, previously a rural route upgraded within the last 5 to 10 years to a four-lane parkway. Route 24 follows the mainland coast between US Route 70 and Route 58. Even though it is longer both in miles and in time, it seems the majority of drivers are utilizing the 70 to 24 to 58 option rather than traveling on 58 when visiting Emerald Isle. The outdoor advertising executive who forecasted that Route 58 would by the primary gateway to Emerald Isle is probably no longer an outdoor ad exec.

What does all of this have to do with digital marketing? In my mind, a great deal. Foremost, unlike the famous line in Field of Dreams, if you build it, they might not necessarily come. Those billboards on Route 58 are like many, many brand websites that are erected with significant investment and then no efforts are made to ensure and increase traffic. That outdoor ad exec should have optimized Route 58 just like CMOs should devote resources for search engine optimization (SEO). He should have monitored what Emerald Isle realtors and tourism professionals where providing as the preferred route to Emerald Isle and then lobbied for his route. This is similar to competent digital marketers utilizing Google Alerts, Nielsen BuzzMetrics, and/or TNS/Cymfony to monitor their competitive brand landscapes on the Internet and then creating action plans for their brands to be present in relevant areas of the Internet based on the results. Finally, the outdoor ad exec should have advertised on both Interstate 95 and US Route 70 that Route 58 is the preferred road to Emerald Isle. Heck, he owns that outdoor space too. Even in 2008, we engage clients that are not taking advantage of their broadcast, print, outdoor and other advertising forms to promote their web presence, a marketing medium we know is more engaging and achieves a higher ROI than all others when executed properly.

While your website/s might not go blank like those billboards along Route 58, financial and human resources dedicated to maintaining and upgrading your site/s might decrease if you can’t generate traffic. Monitor, optimize and advertise. Sufficiently monitor your brand on the Internet so you know where to play. Optimize your website/s so people can find you. And leverage your other advertising mediums to promote your site. And oh yeah, if you’re looking for a great beach vacation along the eastern seaboard, try Emerald Isle.

Your Site — Then, Now, and From Now On.

There was a time when you needed a site because — well, because you needed a site. That seemed reason enough. The site was a catch-all for anything that felt like, maybe, it might belong on a site. You built it once, and pretty much left it alone –- except when you decided to add some more stuff that seemed like it probably belonged. That was how it was done. That was, also, then. This is not then. This is…you know.

Now your site has a specific function. A reason for being. A purpose. Yes, it might accomplish more than one task – informing customers about your product range, alerting them to useful news, helping them locate a dealer or connect with like minds – but in the end, now your site is designed to complete an over-arching, specific, marketing function. It might be growing a customer database. It might be e-commerce. It might be soliciting donations, providing directions — or it might be pure brand engagement in the form of entertainment. Whatever it is, the over-arching function for your site is the single most important influence on its design – throughout the process, from wireframe to live. That doesn’t mean it can’t do other things. It just means it should be designed with a single goal as its ultimate mission.

Some brands are in a position to build multiple sites for multiple audiences, or multiple aspects of a campaign or product – each site, potentially, with a different over-arching mission. It happens more often than you might think, and can be a good strategy for the right product, and with the right budget support. But not everyone has that luxury. More often than not, you’re building just one site. And chances are, you’re building a site you’d like to have around for a few years. So choosing a mission for your site is an important decision. You have to choose one you’re going to live with for awhile.

It also means, from now on, there’s a very good chance you’re building a site that contains a number of elements designed to keep people interested, and coming back over time. The days of “set it and forget it” are gone. The social and sharing tools of Web 2.0, along with advances in content delivery, have influenced people’s expectations for your site. They’re used to interactive experiences that feel immediate. From now on, your site is a living, breathing thing that changes and updates regularly — with new information, news, entertainment, and features that keep people interested over multiple visits. Online videos, podcasts, blogs, forums, and RSS feeds are just a few of the tools available to help keep people coming back. As technology and user preferences evolve, there most certainly will be more and different tools. But it’s a good bet they’ll all have one thing in common: They’ll only work well if the content stays fresh.

Back then, in the catch-all site days, designing a site was like decorating your office with a painting. You picked the painting, hung it on a wall, and there it was. Aside from an occasional dusting, there wasn’t much left to do. But now, and from now on, building your site is a lot more like decorating with live plants and cut flowers. You spend a lot of time choosing the right plants for the space and light, and choosing flowers for color and mood — until you get just the effect you’re looking for. But to keep that effect from withering, you need an ongoing program of maintenance, and fresh content.

From now on, a solid plan for ongoing content creation and regular updates is a critical component you can’t afford to overlook.

Adotas Posts – Views on Interactive Creative

I’m not sure why it took me so long to post this. But our Interactive Creative Director has been selected as a key contributor to the well known Adotas E-newsletter/blog. While some may have differing views of Ernie’s often strong opinions (even within our walls), we believe that healthy debate and dialogue is good, so in the spirit of transparency we thought that we would share.

http://www.adotas.com/author/ernie-mosteller/

The Year of Mobile?

One of the perks of this industry is the opportunity to go to the occasional industry conference. Besides the opportunity to connect with old friends, and meet some new ones, I’ve found it very typical to leave whatever conference du jour with at least 2 things –

1) Validation – validation that you’re on the right path, and staying ahead of the curve.

And…..

2) “THE phrase” that everyone keeps repeating over and over.

Site Design and Customer Satisfaction: A Simple Exercise

“We need a new site. The old one is ugly, buggy, and doesn’t do what we want. We want one that looks like ___________. That’s a really great site.”

I wonder how many times those words have been spoken in conference rooms across the country. Heck, across the world, even. It’s only natural. Each of us has a favorite site, or sites – we like how they look, we like how they work, we like the way we’re able to use them when we use them ourselves. So it’s only natural for us to want to re-create an experience we already know we like for our customers and prospects.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

Because your customers and prospects may be (probably are) looking for something very different from you than a duplication of your favorite website. And what your customers are looking for from you is, in the end, what you need to deliver.

Try this exercise:

My New Favorite Word

I have a new favorite word of the day: technologist. I’m not sure it should be my new favorite word so I’m on a mission to find out whether using it is appropriate or not. In most uses of this term, it is meant as someone who has specialized training in the world of technology. In academia and more international forums, this would include engineers and scientists, and it would often require specific accreditation for this label to be bestowed.

However at a recent AAAA digital conference, panelists from agencies and digital shops used this word to refer to a breadth of people working on the technology side of digital marketing, including some creative folks. So developers, programmers, IA, and the system admins were seemingly lumped into being digital technologists, if I heard this correctly.

Does this matter? It does when a panelist refers to the back-end programmers being outsourced to India as “oh those guys” instead of realizing how important it is to acknowledge everyone’s role in the building and creating of the technology we use daily. It does matter when creative designers are given props for skills and talent when the same respect is not accorded to the creativity offered by developers. And I’m sure it matters when pay raises are being sought and awarded.

But I like the word. I like the specialness that it signifies. And so I’m off to ask some of our own technologists on staff just what it means to them.

Am I An Anomaly?

A few days ago, I was sitting next to a partner of ours who works on our client’s business. He and I share a lot of similarities, including our love of technology. We were comparing each other’s laptops (I was impressed by the incredibly tiny screen on his Vaio), and we mentioned how much we love having our computers, and hence access to the Internet, with us all the time. Our conversation turned to his daughter, now a graduate with a baccalaureate degree who is learning the fine art of creative on the Internet. As he showed me her latest work, we oohed and aahed over the messaging and simplicity of design. We both agreed that we loved seeing this type of thought on the Web.

Then he said a strange thing. He said that his daughter thought of him as an anomaly. Here was this very smart gentleman, in his forties, obviously understanding and grasping how the digital world works (and playing very well in it), and yet his daughter (who has developed psychologically alongside the Internet) thinks of him as a rare species because he does. I was taken aback a bit…for I am around the same age as this suggested dinosaur and yet I am going on year 13 of actually working in this industry. Am I an anomaly, too? Is it just the cool kids out of school who really get it?

5 things you can do before 5pm today.

Being submerged in this industry, it’s easy to make assumptions about what people know and don’t know about digital marketing. Some recent conversations with clients and prospects have reminded me that while pretty much everyone has a website and knows how to use email, most are still just trying to figure out search and blogs, let alone Facebook and Twitter…

With that in mind, I thought it was a good time to step back and offer up 5 things that can be completed before 5 PM today. These are smaller parts of much bigger design and strategic picture, but they will at least get you started and pointed in the right direction; setting the stage for when it’s time to expand your digital marketing initiatives.

Let’s assume it’s 11AM…OK, go.