ClearSaleing media attribution research: The return of display and its reemergence as key revenue driver

ClearSaleing, one of the key media attribution providers, just released an interesting new research study hinting at the return of display advertising and its reemergence as a key revenue driver (as long as companies can accurately track display impact). 

Granted, this is probably old news for advertisers that have already reached a point of diminishing returns in channels such as paid search a while ago and are now heavily relying on display ads to continue to grow. However, what might still be news is exactly how much revenue they might have been missing out on by only optimising for the last campaign touch point or the 'last click' before a sale which misses 9 out of 10 ad engagements and is unlikely to be a display ad.

The ‘last-click gets all the credit’ attribution model introduced by Google and favoured by so many others over the years is just not representative of how consumers interact with advertising, which is especially true for display ads that are hardly ever clicked on but nevertheless significantly influence consumer's purchase decisions over time.

To shed some more light on this issue, ClearSaleing analysed over 1.1 billion impressions, 81.5 million clicks and 3 million conversions between January and April 2011 and found that multi-step purchase paths (as opposed to last click only) are responsible for a full third or 36% of total revenue - and exactly that revenue is threatened (or unrealised) if your company only relies on last click attribution. In addition to the above, it also seems that multi-step purchase paths are likely to increase average revenue per order by 41% which is another great reason to invest in display advertising.

(download)

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New LinkedIn DirectAds platform provides amazing ad targeting opportunities for B2B marketers

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Most of you probably already know that LinkedIn now offers an advertising platform called Direct Ads similar to Google Ad Words and Facebook Advertising but I just launched a test campaign for Datalicious and was impressed by the targeting options the LinkedIn ads offer for B2B marketing.

LinkedIn not only allows you to target your ads by gender, age and geography but also company size, job function, industry and seniority (see below). From a B2B lead generation perspective these kind of targeting options seem amazing, however I cannot comment on ad effectiveness yet. 

From what I can read online so far, people seem to think Linkedin ads are too expensive and not providing enough value for money but I'll give it a try anyway. If you have any comments or experience with LinkedIn ads please let me know, would love to hear your stories.

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Dwell rate: New display advertising metrics and benchmark report from Eyeblaster

Eyeblaster just launched an interesting new report that shows a correlation between dwell time for interactive ads and  increased conversion rates. 

The connection is sort of obvious but nevertheless good to see some confirmation and wonder if we will see some more mini applications within display ads now comparable to Facebook apps.

Highlights of the report include
  • Ads with a high Dwell Rate are more likely to have a high Conversion Rate.
  • A new study by Microsoft, comScore and Eyeblaster shows Dwell’s effectiveness.
  • High Dwell triples brand related search, increases traffic by 69% and brand engagement.
  • Placements in which users spend ample time on the web page increase Dwell Rate.
  • Ads that are more visible over the publisher’s content have a higher Dwell Rate.
  • Combining video into creative increases Dwell Rate by 29% and doubles Dwell Time.
Download the full research report here.
http://bit.ly/benchmarkByEb
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AdGooroo search advertising report: Bing fails to translate traffic to increased share of advertisers

The guys at AdGooroo have published another one of their search advertising reports which contains some really interesting data. 

Especially the share of advertisers by search engine and most expensive keywords reports are worth having a closer look. They show a constant decline in advertiser market share for Bing after an initial spike as well as significant differences in keywords by search engine hinting at different user segments.

Apart from the above the report also contains the following.
  • Monthly Change in First Page Advertisers
  • Avg # Ads/Keyword (US & International)
  • Avg # Ads/Keyword (US only)
  • 2009 Retailer Search Spending (Top 80 retailers, Google US)
  • Top 25 US Advertisers by Search Engine
Download the full report here.
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Contentinople: social networks, who owns the message?

I've spent a lot of time thinking about social networks and their marketing (revenue) model, and I've recently drawn an ugly conclusion: They're flawed.

Why is that? Traditional media operates in two channels -- content and marketing. Think about watching TV. You watch your entertainment program, and then there's a commercial. Church and state. You always know where you stand with the marketer. Everybody's happy.

On social networks, the content and marketing have become inextricably intertwined. Sure, there are fenced-off areas where ads inserted in context, but at the same time, half of the alleged "content" is really just people promoting themselves or products. It's marketing.

I call this the "BS" factor. In a traditional media model, it's incumbent upon the content producer to craft the content and filter out the BS. On a social network, because it's self-serve, you are expected to be your own BS filter.

I also believe that audiences are not stupid. One thing I've learned over many years in the media is that they know how to call the BS. But when they see it, they don't like it, and it has in impact on their perception of the brand or the channel they are using. The more BS they see, the more the brand degrades.

That's fine, as a utility or a free communications software model. But as a marketing channel it's pretty dubious.

Social networks, if they really want to develop a viable marketing model, are going to have to figure out a way to clean this up, better filter messages for their audience for their use, and deliver real marketing value that preserves the integrity of the content. They might also have to decide whether they are primarily a communications tool media network.

via contentinople.com

 

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