Media Buying Series (Continuel Optimization) – Part 5
Out of all the topics we’ve covered, in the last four parts (including the one I mentioned was most critical)…I believe, what were about to discuss is the pinnacle of all online advertising: Being able to not only decide which campaign to run, or where to run it and set the right budget…but continuing to manage your ads in a profitable manner, not getting lazy once you reach a certain level, and looking for new ways to expand.
As I mentioned earlier, the true definition of marketing is: Testing. Even if the existing campaign is going well, and you decide to leave it “as is”, you’re not a true marketer. Marketing is not being satisfied with the current results… but, looking for new market share, and finding ways to capture it:
Be Aware of Your Surroundings
Getting back to our example of Black & Decker Drills, we start out targeting males of all ages, who live in the United States….but, as the campaign rolls forward it’s a good idea to keep your eyes open and see who else is “around the corner.” Quantcast.com, a company who I believe is ahead of their time when it comes to identifying new visitors, calls these “Look-a-Likes.” Once you find out who’s visiting your website, clicking your ads, and buying your products…the goal is to find out EVERYTHING you can about them…and buy related traffic.
Let’s explore a few concepts:
# 1 – When using a network, if your campaign does well on “AskMen.com”, (and this is a benefit of using networks)…most of the time, they’ll be hundreds of other related sites with similar demographics capable of running your ads. However, just because the sites target males, does not mean your site (which also targets the same gender) will do well. You need to look for the same group who is looking for YOUR product. This is where testing comes in. The first campaign started with a budget of $500.00….start a another campaign budgeting at $100.00 – any less amount – spread it evenly and study the results. I’m sure this can go without saying, but if the $500.00 campaign was a mistake…don’t keep throwing money at the problem….if you do that, than get out of online marketing and run for congress.
# 2 – I won’t leave you hanging by simply stating to “study the results,” the point is to know what your looking at:
* CPA (Cost Per Action): After the campaign is completed, this is where the optimization process starts…are you profitable? It’s all about the hard questions… If the goal was to get within a $22.00 – Cost Per Action, and it turned out to be $37.00, this doesn’t mean the campaign was a failure. And let me clarify the “Don’t throw money at the problem” statement…it’s OK to fund the campaign again while targeting the same audience…you may just need a little fine tuning. You’ll start to experience complete and total failure (cool adjectives huh) when you make no changes after seeing sub-par results.
* CPC (Cost Per Click): The CPA is a direct result of the CPC…however, in a micro fashion. When studying the CPC it gives a better understand of how much each visitor will cost you vs…a combination of data. Drilling down to the click level will allow you to make a quicker decision in determining which ads to buy.
* CTR (Click Through Ratio): How many visitors view your ads, but don’t click on them? Well, probably more than you think. This is especially important on CPM based campaigns. However, viewing this stat in any situation gives you an idea of how your campaign is doing at the root level….Ad vs..Visitor. Looking at your CTR helps you make educated decisions about creatives: don’t fall in love with your ads to the extent of not being able to make changes. If that ad doesn’t perform…fix it. In a text based campaign – write new copy if visitors arn’t responding.
# 3 – More than knowing statistics about the campaign, it’s just as important to see what visitors are doing once they land to your site. You might have the perfect ad copy, keywords and target audience…but overlooking small website details can derail a good campaign. In the first section I spoke about making the “home” ready for visitors. However, you really don’t know how they’ll respond until they’ve been in your house. Driving traffic to a website does more than sell a product…it tells you whats working and also things needing to be changed.
Identify Strengths…and Weaknesses
As your campaign continues to mature, you’ll begin to identify and obtain a clearer focus on your target demographics and marketing categories. Even though you”ll always be testing and researching new ideas…the newness of the exploratory phase will end. A marketer will develop confidence in the ads that convert, and somewhat of a “6th sense” will come to fruition. Someone who runs a strong media buying campaign will be in tune to the past failures as well as success. It’s said investment bankers give more attention to risk over reward….knowing where your ads don’t convert is just as important as being aware of places your ads havn’t don’t so well. Again, let’s look at a few details of this concept:
# 1 – Growing too fast and over extending yourself can be just as dangerous as running a mediocre campaign…and, at times, even worse. Eventually, there will be a ceiling of who you can and can’t reach. Also, growing an online ad campaign too fast will sometimes compromise the service your offering…especially in dealing with a physical product. Getting sales is good…but don’t ruin the experience of the user for the sheer desire to “send traffic.”
# 2 – Don’t stop learning. I’m sure this was covered in each of the sections…but the more data you discover, and, ways to find it…the stronger your media buying will be. It was IBM who coined the phrase “Continuel Optimization…According to the research department of their website, “We use the term “continual optimization” to refer to the application of advanced analytic methods, such as mathematical optimization and special purpose heuristics, on combinations of real-time and historical data, to update business plans and make decisions that are communicated in real time for the purpose of optimizing business objectives.” They went on to say, “Often these plans and decisions involve the allocation of scarce resources.” For the sake of looking at what a successful Fortune 500 company says about Optimization…let’s break a few things down:
* Combinations of Real-Time and Historical Data: How did your campaign perform last year…compared to this year? Even though you might be targeting the same audience…human’s wants and needs continually change. In Henrik Vejlgaard’s book, The Anatomy of a Trend, He poses the questions, “Why do millions of people end up wearing the same style of clothing?”…”Why do people change their tastes in clothes and food?” Without going into all of the responses, the point is – likes and dislikes…trends and fads are always changing. Just because Visitor A bought Product A…does not mean it will be repeated. Stay on the lookout for discrepancies in your data to stay ahead of the curve.
* Update Business Plans and Make Decisions: This is the sole purpose of optimization. There’s no reason to track data if you’re not going to do anything with it. It’s your best friend..and will serve you right if you use it for the intended purpose. I know I’m making it sound like a pet…but the proof will be displayed in how successful your campaigns are. “Update Business Plans,” can be changed to “Update Advertising Campaigns.” This goes with keyword creation, designing outdated banners, or finding new marketing streams…etc. Making decisions is whatever you want it to be…I can’t help you with this one. What you do with all of the above is totally your call.
* Allocation of Scarce Resources: Paying attention to detail. It’s been said, nine times out of ten…the answer is right in from you. However, at times, it’s a good idea to give that 1/10th a second look. This could make or break an advertising campaign. I encourage you to go back and take another peek at your analytics program, and research a stat you’re use to overlooking. Ever wonder why they call it a “bounce rate?” (Please tell me you havn’t ignored this.) But, for the sake of example…the Bounce Rate is the % of visitors that land on your homepage and leave without viewing other links. How about taking a look at the “Funnel” of traffic (the path users take before they visit a specific page.” The list goes on. The magic is in the details.
Taking into account everything we’ve covered, I hope you have a better understanding on the basics of Online Media Buying. Even though some points were deemed as “critical”, with others blended in as good ideas and recommendations…the truth is, (referring back to Part 1)…you can’t stop asking hard questions. Starting with: what, why, how, which one, where…you’ll notice things you havn’t seen…and start making decisions based on data commonly dis-regarded.
Good luck.
