NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Measuring Impressions - follow-up
ONLINE-ADS>> Measuring Impressions - follow-up
Richard Tribe (ddrht_at_hunterlink.net.au)
Fri, 1 May 1998 15:56:08 +0000
Hi,
My name is Richard Tribe I am a publisher of a very popular
Australian snow sport web site.
I have only just joined your mailing list and the first mail
out I received was the Final on Measuring Impressions.
I really enjoyed the correspondence that was taking place
and feel compelled to add my Antipodian comments
This is a letter which is food for thought and addresses
several different subjects concurrently.
I see things diferently to this whole ROI-&-
ROT-need-to-measure-absolutely-the-results-from-and-exact-number-of
-impressions-delivered-vs-sales-created..
My first mindshift is the concept of impressions as
inventory that is to be sold by the publisher on a per
impression basis.
>From my point of view a banner position on a home page (or
even dynamicaly generated page) is more akin a billboard
(with sophisticated features) by the side of a high volume
traffic highway.
Knowing exactly how many people in what sort of cars with
what sort of agendas and demographic profiles - drive past
the billboard is good to know but never needs to be defined
more acurately than + or - 5%.
Purchasing the Billboard SPACE for my advertising poster is
not based on $0.04 per person that drives past in a BMW and
$0.02 per person that drives past in a beat up truck. I do
not get a bigger bill/invoice from the billboard provider if
more people than
projected drive past. I just buy the space for a particular
time period, say 12 months..
The billboard provider does not ensure the success of my
product, my ability to market my product, my ability to
convert marketing driven enquiries into sales (two
interdependant but very different skills/functions) or my
ability to write good copy etc etc. This is the job of my
Sales & Marketing partner/s
The billboard provider does not even guarantee how many
people in what cars will drive pass. I purchase the
billboard position on the emperical evidence and the fact
that I have driven past the billboard my self several times
and can see with a fair degree of accuracy what sort of
traffic is about. The billboard provider has data taken from
samples of the traffic and it confirms (usually) what I
pretty much already suspect.
SPACE is what I purchase. Space that is defined in value by
position and time.
Every month internet traffic goes up and banner CPM's go
down. Every publication on the web offers banners by CPM.
This is akin to every real world retail store handing out
flyers at the front door of their shop and expecting another
business to pay for each flyer that was handed out JUST
because that shop has people coming in the door. Where is
the focus and what business is the shop really in? The
internet has the ability to create inventory that is
infinite. No wonder CPM's keep going down. There IS no value
in inventory that never runs out.
Only time and (well postioned) Space has value.
Yes ... get more accurate information about the (target)
market. Yes.. there needs to by universaly accepted
standards (of measurement) that are not 'owned' and
controlled by licence agreements.
This year our Snow Sport site is going to be more popular
than last year but until it happens I dont know by how much
so I can only project potential banner inventory.
My site is not really much use to a potential sponsor during
the summer.
So I developed limited risk, maximum reward packages which
work like this.
Banners are only placed on our Web Cam pages even though
other pages are as popular or even more popular than the
Sno-Cams. (I am in the information business first)
A banner position is held for 12 months at a fixed price. A
minimum number of impressions is guaranteed and a refund at
the deemed value per impression is provided should the
minimum number not be reached in twelve months. There is no
upper limit to the number of impression that may occur in
the twelve month period. No other business has a impression
delivered to that banner positon. It is understood that
approx 75% of the banners will be delivered during the snow
season.
Quality of art, copy, click-thrus, sales is not my problem
ultimately. However, I connect banner buyers with
profesionals in these fields because I want my banner
customer to receive business results from their purchase.
All banner customers businesses have a identafiable
relationship with the content of the web page that their
banner appears on.
The banner buyer can treat the banner purchase as an
exercise in Branding or Sales equally, or weight it ether
way without changing the understood value of the banner.
I know the value of my inventory exactly and can plan
accordingly.
I have nearly sold all my inventory and I dont have inane
discussions about the value of a impression - the customer
defines the value in his own terms. Most of my banner
customers are first time internet advertisers and understand
the package as they can rationalise it against other
mediums.
I am selling Time and Space. The customer and demand (for
time and space) define the value.
A measurement report which is only 95% accurate at the end
of the snow season is more than enough information.
Especially if banner impressions exceded the guarantee. The
banner customer only needs to ask - "Is this the right
target market to do it again" & "What can we do to improve
Branding/Sales to this target market?"
This is the first time we have sold banners on our site and
I thought long and hard as to what was an attractive
package.
Early indications are that our click-thru rates will be
higher than average.
Does anybody else think like this? I cannot see a future for
a CPM based model nor can I see viability in a "revenue
generated by the banner" as a means of selling my inventory
as a publisher.
I cannot see a web publication surviving on banner revenue
alone except for a extremely small minority - Other products
need to be developed and different business models used.
No free to air TV station offers two minutes of prime time
during Seinfield based on the sales of my product. If I am
selling square wheels the TV station will be out of biz
pretty soon.
This is the way I see it.
The web site of ours I refer to is called Sno-Info and can
be found at http://www.ski.com.au
By the end of our fourth season of operation (October '98)
Sno-Info will be in the black and a viable internet
publication.
Regards
Richard Tribe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leisurenet Australia Pty Ltd
Richard Tribe, Internet Strategist
richard_at_leisurenet.com.au
Ph 02 4960 0811
Fax 02 4960 0822
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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