Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

As online advertising becomes more measurable, marketers continue to focus on conversion rates as metrics for effectiveness. Conversion rates, while important metrics to consider in a campaign’s overall evaluation, often credit the user’s final action with the completed goal (purchase, registration, etc.). The problem occurs when a user takes a longer path to purchase: going online, clicking on a recipe display ad, searching for a different recipe, clicking on a sponsored result, and buying the necessary ingredients, for example.

The question becomes, how do you know which action caused the sale? Was it the display ad that initially sparked the user’s interest in finding a recipe? Or was it the search result that influenced which recipe was ultimately selected?

Most likely, the answer is both.

In a new study based on 12 months of proprietary Specific Media Ad Effectiveness research, backed by comScore, consumers exposed to display advertising were more likely to search for brand terms (i.e. product manufacturer) and segment terms (i.e. product category) than unexposed consumers.

“There is a connection between display and search ads. Marketers know this intuitively. Often it’s not the search ad alone that gets consumers to act, but the context of all the marketing that preceded it,” said eMarketer analyst David Hallerman.

The study proves what has long been theorized; display advertising significantly impacts both paid and organic searches and clicks, and, ultimately, search-driven sales.

“As advertisers look to control their media spend, measure impact and validate the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, strategies that lift organic traffic are invaluable,” said Chris Vanderhook, COO, Specific Media.

Advertisers looking to plan effective online media buys should incorporate both display and search advertising. Increase the frequency and variety of ways in which users are exposed to campaign messaging and improved brand favorability and greater ROI will follow.

Rachel

The new Whopper advertising campaign has caught the attention of many.  Television advertisements stating “what if we had a taste test between the Whopper and Big Mac with people who have never experienced either”…who would win?  The “Whopper Virgins” campaign leads people to the website with a fun video of their experiment.  However, what Burger King failed to do is register their keywords for their campaign efficiently.  When “Whopper Virgins” is “googled” it is in top rank and leads the online user to the correct video and page.  When “Whopper Virgin” is “googled”…..zilch,zero, nada….until three google pages later.

As stated by Advertising Age, “This is a major missed opportunity. Google Trends shows that recently, the volume of searches for the singular and plural versions have been nearly equal. ‘Whopper virgin’ searchers must either go to an intermediary site or refine their search. Why can’t consumers ‘have it their way’ and get to Burger King’s site even if they’re off by a letter? This multimillion-dollar branding campaign could have covered all its bases with a $10,000 search marketing investment. As it stands now, Burger King risks frustrating consumers instead of serving up one whopper of a video.” read the whole story here

from Burger Kings Whopper Virgins campaign

The lesson?  Test your keywords.  You’re paying for them so you might as well make sure they work.  The “Ad Preview Tool” in Google AdWords is quite a helpful.  It shows you where you ad will appear and in most cases, where it is missing with certain keywords.  From there you can decide to place bids on these keywords….which in the end is what Burger King should have done.

Cheers!

Courtney

According to a recent Hearst Electronics Group and Golden Group Communications survey of business-to-business marketers, half of all business media budgets are now spent online. The reason, according to respondents, is because online marketing including display and search advertising, website design, development, and webcasts generates better quality leads than marketing in traditional media.

“When web development, search engine marketing and webcasts are combined, marketers today are spending 47 percent of total budgets on online tactics,” Golden Groups Communications President Joel Goldstein says. “The sense of urgency to move to online marketing has been felt by leading marketing organizations for some time now, but the extent to which budgets have been re-defined is dramatic. While traditional media still play a role in building a balanced program, clearly online spending for webcasts, search engine marketing and generating online content are now seen as the primary drivers of branding and lead generation for most companies.”

24% of respondents said their primary lead source was their own website and 19% said the same about search engines. 15% of respondents cited online and trade shows as the sources of their best leads.

Paid and organic search marketing account for 11% of the typical business-to-business media budget, which is nearly as much as direct marketing, including email. Direct marketing accounts for 12% of business-to-business budgets, while 17% of the typical business-to-business marketing budget still goes to trade shows.

But while trade shows continue to see high attendance, their high cost when compared to online and direct business-to-business marketing efforts could prove detrimental in the long term. It’s no surprise marketers have embraced the internet as their main vehicle for business-to-business marketing. Don’t expect the trend to change, either. Just as many experts are predicting, affordability and accountability are going to be the main focus in 2009.

Rachel