Effective Online Marketing - Leveraging Best Practices from Offline Advertising
22 October, 2008
Adarsh Kulshrestha, CFO, RegalixAs 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 learnings 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 learnings 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 learnings 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.
Pretty Useful tips. We have been using online marketing to target international markets an have been quite happy with the results. Your idea look interesting and we shall be more than glad to see some more results form them. Thanks
Excellent post. I think this post covers the whole initial internet marketing plan, which is required before starting working for any client.
it is good for my future
Truly great insight....thanks Adarsh!
Logic is always same either you are doing normal routine off-line marketing or on-line marketing.
There are few points those should be always considered in promotional campaigns, I would like to discuss:
1- Consumer Behavior towards the industry in which you are operating and towards your brand as well.
2- Act like your own potential consumer before creating any campaign
3- Target geographical area and target customers
4- Specially for online campaign: you'll get well educated customers here so try to create true ads instead of false or shaky ones.
Sourabh - all four of your points are very valid and nicely complement my article. Thanks for your contribution. Your points are great for a follow-up article. Online marketing is an exciting industry with tremendous growth and innovation yet to take place.
Adarsh, I admit all your points, great insight!
Online marketing is definitely the easiest and the most convenient mode of marketing and advertising. But the method of marketing and the manner in which it is done should be appropriate.
Another important aspect is To Experiment as the field of online marketing is highly dynamic and needs lots of experimentation to prepare a successful strategy.
You're exactly right. If you see my point no. 6, it emphasizes the invaluable benefit of experimentation --- "this is where online marketing scores" ... "quickly move to experiment with changes". Thanks for your feedback.
Would like to add to it. The success of an effective online campaign for a client also depends on distributing the budget in the right manner within the identified online channels and executing the same.
You're absolutely right. I address this in point 3. It is, as you say, about distributing the budget AND ALSO ENSURING that THERE IS ADEQUATE BUDGET. Campaigns on inadequate budgets are doomed to fail and cause frustration.
Great post Adarsh,
Very informative and all by true itself. We have also been facing similar situations with clients, where most of the time they use it incorrectly and question the effectiveness of the online marketing. They are influenced by the alexa traffic ranking and the other statistical figures submitted by the site owners and they tend to overlook the TG & Geographical boundaries from where the Visitors come.
Your post is definitely an eye opener for the complaint boxes..!
One of the few articles which i found is genuine and without any hidden promotional stuff..!
Regards,
Shiva.
www.brokenglass.in
Thanks for the kind words, Shiva. We are in this boat together.
I think your last line says it all I would like to emphasize on the same
"Online marketing is wildly exciting but is often incorrectly used and under-funded to be an effective marketing channel."
Hi Adarsh,
Your report is highly appreciative, Could you guide me how to market bulk sms site for corporate clients.
This is an excellent report and gives a lot of detail about how to to become an authority in your niche.
The great thing is I am already doing a lot of the stuff you write about so I must be well on my way
Great! Good luck and God speed. I am a big, big fan of entrepreneurship and wish you well and hope you achieve your dreams.
I’m curious to know what your rationale for creating a new site for the report was, and whether there was some deeper strategy in your decision to do so.
Smashing blog you have on business strategies and policies. In simple words i can say that, it is really very energetic blog for business minds.
Thanks!
I agree with what you have presented and feel that this is what I have been wanting to tell people about online marketing...
I am not someone who has ventured into this field, but even lay person like me got interested into it after reading it. Cant wait to read more of you. Thanks for the post
Thanks. Just simply reminding folks that's it is not all that complicated - keep it simple and focus on making online marketing work for you.
This article provides me with an insight into how should you go about doing online marketing and promotions. Thanks.
crystal clear view on online marketing and this article proves that if startegies are used in the right flow at the right time with the right rules, they work especially in case of online promotions
This is a totally new perspective on online marketing. i loved the presentation so precise and clear
i loved the way point by point you have tried explaining the whole effective way towards online marketing...
online is not text book knowledge, sometimes you need to get your hand dirty. It's like prove and improve concept. Just have fun and enjoy the game sort of scenario.
Online marketing is wrongly being termed as ineffective by some if used wisely with the guidelines mentioned above, it can prove to be an effective marketing channel.great article...
great article especially helpful in a domain which has so many proposed theories, so much of confusion and clutter and where one can get entangled in all type of jargon...
After a long long time, I have finally come across an article which speaks my mind. I have to say that your article is an extremely helpful one for me as i have just started my career on this field.
Do keep me updated about any further posts. I would love to learn and after all learning is an endless experience
Regards,
Rahul Bhattacharya
Thanks Rahul. I can only say that online marketing, as a career option, is the equivalent of joining the automobile industry in 1910 - lots of growth and exciting innovation is yet to happen, so you've made a good decision. All the best!
Outstanding and informative article.
Online Marketing itself is now multi-channel from website, micro-sites, banner ads, SEO, paid adwords/links, electronic mailers, SMS, videos, viral ads, games, social networks, etc. Unless the advertiser strategize the channels for the reach and plan it well based on the business need and customer profile and reach, before execution is not going to yield to any results. Setting realistic goals against industry benchmarks affront, will not result in any heart burns later.
yes, a great insight into online marketing. There is no point in getting carried away with CPR, CPC, CPL. The points that you have mentioned helps a client in understanding and strategizing and using his money and investment in the right manner.
Adarsh, I admit all your points, great insight!
Please allow me to contribute little to Point No:3 - Not only the agency but the team working on the account will be unhappy as they have to do lot of work on the first place and they know at last things are not gonna happen. So, Agencies should have the courage to say a big NO or at least should educate the client to pay little more money to get ROI.
Monetary benefit for agency will end up in a soup and the agency won't get a chance to work with that client as they screwed up things on the first place.
Anyways, great article!!
Best, Ram Varma
Great article Adarsh ! Very informative.
One of the best post!
I have seen postings by "C" folks(CXO) They start well but end promoting their product/services in surrogate way!
This posting has theme to let "C" folks decide what they can do and what they can not.
If i am not wrong the underline meaning of this post is "Agency people must broaden their spectrum to decide Integrated Marketing & Communication Program. I have observed agency people promising moon in "Pilot Project" and at last face saving in delivery.
Regards,
Praveen Pandey
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