Media Planning: Necessary But Insufficient
The advertising world spends approximately $5 billion annually on media buying and planning. And while that is a necessary component of marketing success, it is insufficient. Advertisers that don’t analyze customer data and use it to give their audiences a great user experience will see all that good media planning get washed down the drain.
Think of traditional offline marketing. Let’s say a retailer places an ad in the Sunday paper Styles Section describing its selection of designer couture. The retailer is likely reaching the right audience — fashionistas catching up on the latest trends. But if those consumers have difficulty finding the merchandise they want, or have an unpleasant conversation with a salesperson, again, all that planning is for naught.
And what happens after a media placement is even more important online. According to JD Power, more than 70% of all considered purchases start with online research. How well advertiser data systems manage the online conversation and the follow-on sales effort will ultimately determine the success of the marketing program and its associated media plan.
My company works with one of the largest sellers of carpet and flooring in the country. This client has improved its close rates by deploying a sales system that enables one of its more than 1,000 retail outlets to respond within minutes to online requests for information. When consumers make an online request, say, to schedule an in-home measure, their information is captured and loaded into the retailer’s account.
In a matter of seconds, the appropriate sales person is sent, via e-mail and text message, the potential customer’s contact information and specific request details. Retailers can respond in near-real time to an online customer request, and can increase the conversion of online leads to purchases by more than 20%.
Another client from the health and beauty sector generates millions of dollars in inquiries through its Web site every year. The company was able to reduce its cost per new customer by more than 15% by optimizing its landing pages. Little tweaks, such as making the 800 number more prominent and focusing the user experience to encourage an initial call, increased the conversion rate of Web site visitors into live conversations.
Jonathan Shapiro is CEO of MediaWhiz.
