NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Internet Advertising Accountability
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Internet Advertising Accountability
Brad Byrd (brad_at_newgate.net)
Tue, 26 May 1998 00:50:35 -0700
Andy Bourland writes:
>
>Chris D'eon raised the point:
>
>> But the Internet must generate sales (not just
>> clicks) and be accountable for those sales.
>
>In the context of this discussion, what does it mean to be
>accountable? Who is it that should be accountable? Why
>should they be accountable? And how should they be
>accountable?
Chris is looking for a way to translate clicks into sales, because
he--like almost any other marketer with experience in traditional
(non-internet) advertising--wants to feel confident with the results of
an ad campaign. So the "who" is *us* (the online advertising
community), the "why" is because we are trying to establish a base level
of credibility to our medium of advertising, and I believe I make a
suggestion towards the "how" below...
The problem with the state of online advertising to date, as everyone
mentions time and again, is that we can't seem to find a dependable
yardstick for measuring the success of a campaign. The click-sales
approach that Chris suggests nails it down with the numbers that anyone
in *sales* (not branding) really cares about. Its not a bad model,
because it forces us (online ad community) into definite results.
Revenue-sharing based ad campaigns is another similar approach to
guaranteeing that everyone is on the same page.
There is a pretty straightforward model for tracking clicks and sales:
design multiple redundant sales pages (or custom microsite(s)) inside a
product's domain, and assign each page a unique URL. Send different
advertisements to different URLs, and compare the sales results from
each of these pages with sales from the web site's "front door" sales
page. This is roughly the equivalant of the "control" and "variable"
research approach, and parallels direct marketers' use of unique
800-numbers for distinct advertising campaigns, to check for mileage. We
used a similar approach with the IBM Aptiva launch.
A model like this--what I believe Chris is suggesting--is important
because it helps determine a *real* value to the clicks, beyond tracking
mere click-thrus or amorphous "branding". From an ROI approach,
evaluating clicks vs. sales is the best "hard value" approach, because
it gives those responsible for advertising a more tangible yardstick for
success... It never hurts to lean toward a model that traditional
advertisers and marketers are comfortable with, either.
---------------------------------------------
Brad Byrd
NewGate Internet, Inc.
Phone: 415.331.3127
Email: mailto:brad_at_newgate.net
Website: http://www.newgate.net
---------------------------------------------
========================================================================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's Online Advertising Discussion List sponsors:
Internet.com and ICONOCAST
50% of Internet.com's high tech audience does not frequent CNET or ZDNET
Reach the Internet audience you're looking for! For more info email
sl_at_internet.com or go to http://www.internet.com/mediakit/index2.html
---
"ICONOCAST is one of the best I've seen on the Net. Bravo!"
Susan Mernit, Editor-in-Chief, New Jersey Online
E-mail sub_at_list.iconocast.com with "subscribe iconocast" in SUBJECT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
Online Advertising Discussion List To Unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE
http://www.o-a.com/ to online-ads-request_at_o-a.com
