| From the desk
of Strategic Resources For any query, discussion or feedback, please contact Pavan Chandra, Head of Strategic Resources at pchandra@zenithoptimediaindia.com, +91-124-4195100. Office Address: 10th Floor, Vatika Tower, Block-B, Sector 54 Gurgaon -122002, Haryana, India. |
| Volume: XX |  |
February, 2009 |
In these hyper charged times where news comes in as fast as it becomes
outdated, we need a source that can keep track of what matters to us. At
ZenithOptimedia we have created Wavelength to apprise all of us of the happenings
in three areas i.e. 1. Trends in Digital, Retail, OOH, Consumers and
the International Advertising 2. Media & Advertising Research 3. Environment
Also included here are innovations and news that ZenithOptimedia is making
across its network globally, under three sections 1. ZO Zone 2. Fast Forward
3. Touchpoints.
Simply click on any of the sections on our snazzy control panel and you
will have the latest updates at your fingertips. Wavelength will reach you
in the first week of every month so that you have information that leads
to insights.
Drop in a mail at pchandra@zenithoptimediaindia.com with your suggestions
and comments.
Fast Forward
Effective Online Marketing - Leveraging Best Practices from Offline Advertising
As
measurability goes, online marketing is hard to beat but advertisers can
often get too caught up in the alphabet soup of CPC (cost per click), CPL
(cost per lead), CTR (click through rate), etc, sometimes forgetting the
basics behind good campaigns. Online marketing offers true convergence of
text, relevant banners, videos, interactive games and more, and can build
consumer loyalty and awareness like no other marketing medium can.
Unfortunately, many online campaigns focus on just bits and pieces of the
puzzle. The few online agencies worth their salt invest well in strategy,
design, execution, tracking and analytics - for the ROI (return on
investment) and to better engage consumers. Let’s forget ROI for a moment
and focus on how the best agencies do it:
1. Get educated – get to know your client’s business landscape, product,
target consumer, competing or replacement choices, competitive positioning,
advertising, pricing etc. – stuff they teach you in B-School.
2. Get strategic – talk to your client about where he is today, where he
wants to be in one year, how he plans to get there – have an open discussion
with him about his business landscape, gently argue with him if need be –
intelligent clients like that.
3. Get honest – is online marketing really a good option for your client? If
yes, to what extent and with what channels? Clients want online marketing
but can’t justify the investment and mostly end up throwing a few peanuts at
the monkey, not enough to get him to perform. Tight budgets restrict
creative options and self-fulfillingly cause performance angst within a few
months. If your client’s budget is too low, have the courage to tell him so
and walk away from the project. Don’t take on projects for short-term
revenue goals – the project won’t succeed, your client will be unhappy, your
employees will be unhappy – most importantly, your agency will be on the
painful path of sustained failure – not worth it!
4. Educate – online marketing is no magic bullet, results take time but the
investment pays handsomely over the long haul. A well-integrated and
executed online marketing program can effectively build lasting
relationships through consumers’ lifecycles. Three month pilot projects
rarely give satisfactory results; advertisers need to invest in at least six
month pilots to see results, and even then they will only see the tip of the
iceberg. Over sustained periods of time, well run programs deliver solid
competitive advantages.
5. Get cerebral – if you get the project with the right budget, think of
compelling ways to build integrated programs that engage your client’s
online audience over the long term, come up with creative strategies and
back them up with careful planning, design, execution, tracking and
analytics. This step will make or break your project so invest your time
well on this one.
6. Failure is a great option – provided you are geared to recognize it and
immediately take action. In fact, this is where online marketing scores.
Once your analytical engine is in place, have the courage to accept that one
(or all) of your bright campaign ideas just isn’t catching fire and quickly
move to experiment with changes – text, image, positioning, messaging,
usability – don’t just dump it but figure out what’s not working, share your
learning’s with advertisers, gutsily experiment then track your results –
you might just have a superb winner that needed a little nudge in the right
direction. If not, have the courage to move to something else. If your
advertiser is cool, he will thank you for stemming the money flow down the
drain and the learning’s will surely be worth the money spent.
7. Get ROI – if you have executed well on the steps above, the ROI will
come. When it does, figure out what channels are working, accordingly
increase your budget on channels that are working and improve your ROI.
8. Freshen up – if something is working, great! Energize and freshen up your
content so folks associate dynamism with your client’s brand, get bolder,
experiment more and revel in the results. (Now is also a good time to ask
your client for a testimonial.)
9. Build case studies – there is a lot to be learnt from success and
failure. Document your findings, iron out your processes, glean interesting
trends and understand patterns.
10. Let’s do it again – invest your learning’s into improving future
campaigns, strengthen your weaknesses. Present your successes and failures,
educate the world and leverage online marketing for what it’s worth and no
more (don’t push something that’s not going to deliver results for your
clients just so you can book some extra revenue).
Online marketing is wildly exciting but is often incorrectly used and
under-funded to be an effective marketing channel. Companies that have the
courage to leverage this channel well will see tremendous returns on this
investment, and now is a great time to start.
This tracker has been compiled from external sources and
does not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
Links provided will take you to the full articles appended at the end of
the file.
© 2008 Zenith Optimedia.