Just got off the phone with the Chief Marketing Officer for Orbitz who told me they ONLY do ROI-based media buys (i.e. CPA). A thoroughly unprofessional anger rose in me on behalf of all the publishers who are fighting the fight to keep CPM alive online. (You know the arguments — branding’s not paid for, the publisher can’t control the conversion to sales or creative, it’s not fair
…. blah-de-blah ad nauseum.)
But then I forced myself to forget kneejerk reactions and really listen to his point of view (after all that’s my job.) He said something interesting, “Why should we treat online like traditional media, when it’s better than traditional media?” And I remembered our own experience recently when a newsletter publisher we run ads with decided to switch from an affiliate relationship with us to a straight pay-for-the-ad deal. After we
tallied results, that publisher would have made three times more money if they had stuck with the affiliate deal!
So, OK, thanks to Michael Sands at Orbitz, I’m now undecided on the whole CPA vs CPM front. There probably isn’t any right answer. The only real problematic spot I see is that less knowledgeable marketers than Sands may try to use his example to bludgeon media owners into accepting CPA when it’s not a good idea. Namely when the marketer’s creative or offer sucks, when the campaign is branding vs. direct response, when the landing page is a worthless conversion vehicle, or when they don’t have decent measurement systems in place.
Maybe what online publishers need to do is add a new section to their media kits specifically explaining what hoops a marketer must jump through to be considered for a CPA deal. What the ground rules are. So, if you can make more money in certain circumstances with CPA, you are set up to do so. But it’s clear up front what the ground rules are for accepting deals.
It would also be nice to see some guidance from any of the related associations to their members on which CPA deals to accept and how to do so safely. Plus an outreach educational campaign to CPA media buyers explaining what they have to live up to in terms of measurement, creative, etc., to make this work. All I see now is a lot of rearguard action — people screaming “No! No!
Today the UK’s MarketingMonitor newsletter published a really great Case Study on a viral marketing campaign that a UK-based interactive agency used over the holidays to get attention and new clients. If you’re remotely interested in viral marketing (and who isn’t?) then definitely
click here and scroll to the Case Study.
(BTW: A “cracker” is not a salty snack in the UK. It’s a brightly wrapped tube with a little gift inside. You pull at the ends, it makes a cracking noise and the gift pops out.)
OK I usually don’t do this (because it would take all day and is mean to boot), but I am outing a company for spamming us:
We just received this form letter which was mailed to an email address (ads@marketingsherpa.com) stripped from our Web site. I checked and nobody on the Sherpa side has ever personally met or contacted these people. I think in a day and age when ISPs are all desperate to stop spam, that it’s freakish that one would send an unsolicited sales note to an email harvested from our site. The note:
“National ISP Co. is a business class bulk email friendly ISP.
We are dedicated to supporting your company with your
email advertising program.
our website address is >>
WWW.NATIONAL-ISP.ORG
please call our office for more information and prices.
Phone: 336.841.5156 and ask for Paul or Len.
ask about our referral program”
PR NEWS (which I, completely coincidentally, worked for for 5 years in the ’90s) just announced that now they are accepting nominations for their annual awards, due June 1 (doesn’t that seem lightyears away?) Yes you can nominate your own firm, yes there’s a category for Best Web Campaign, and no I don’t think it costs to enter. To get the complete list of nomination categories, along with an entry form, email aurban@pbimedia.com
Wow several hundred of you have already taken the survey I published this morning. Thanks!! I’ll be posting some comments about results here for you when the survey is over. In the meantime, please be reassured that when we say that we’ll be offering an HTML version of the newsletter soon — that does not mean the text-only version will ever go away. It’s great to hear that so many people prefer text — I do too.
Which brings me to an important point for ezine publishers — HTML vs. text-only preferences are not about what the readers’ email systems can actually read. They are about what the readers themselves prefer to see on their in-box screens. And boy do people have strong preferences! You may get higher ad clicks short-term with HTML, but I’ll bet you get longer lifetime open- rates and readership if you let people who want text, get it easily.
Is your company planning to redesign the Web site this year because it looks “old”? You really should pop over to this useful article by Nua Founder Gerry McGovern first, because he explains when a redesign is a bad idea. As someone in the midst of a redesign myself, it certainly made me think.
Shame on you American Express!!! I just got a new card, and was initially psyched to see on the little “How to Activate This Card” sticker on the front that you can now activate your card online. But then I noticed that right under that, the sticker says “or Call from your home phone for added security” which pretty much implies that the Internet isn’t secure. Since research shows the reason why many folks *still* don’t buy online are fears about security, allaying such fears are a major concern to online merchants. So basically Amex is slapping online merchants in the face.
Anyway I went online to activate, which is a much harder process than it is on the phone. You have to give your current address, your previous address, your driver’s license number, your SSN, your birthday … screen after screen of forms. After plowing my way through all of that, the last REQUIRED question was for my email. And directly under the box, was the following text, “Providing your e-mail address to American Express will allow us to send you e-mails to service your account and inform you of benefits, offers and services that may be suited to your needs. Please see our Privacy Statement for details and to set opt-out preferences.”
There was no opt-out box on the page. You are forced to opt-in to get your card activated online. And then if you have time, dig deeper into the site to figure out how to opt-out again. What a big whomping example of Worst Practices in Permission Marketing.
A Sherpa reader just wrote in, “Have you written any articles or had any case studies on HTML vs. text on the b-to-b side?”
Yup, we’ve been asking every B2B emailer we talk to that question for two years now. The consensus is that HTML works far better in terms of clicks… HOWEVER, it’s dangerous to use in B2B if you’re trying to reach certain audiences —
– Anyone with a Lotus email system — Lotus gives a mistaken impression that it can read HTML and so the MIME message it shows is the wrong part… pretty awful. Lots of Fortune 1000s use Lotus.
– Anyone using Groupwise email software from Novell — a similar problem. Also larger orgs
– Anyone whose IT/MIS dept has made the unilateral decision to block or strip HTML to save their system space — happens more than you think
– Anyone who uses PDAs to read stuff (which often also give false results to MIME so it’s gobbledegook)
InfoCommerce Report, a monthly newsletter “for and about people who are building a new industry — one that merges database content with digital distribution” has a fun free map offer on their Web site. The 11×14″ map shows how the content world fits together … from owners to syndicators to Web portals. Their site is built using frames (arrrgh) so I can’t give you a direct link, just go to the home page and look for the map link on the left nav bar.
However, I was alarmed by one thing today — InfoCommerce Report emailed me a survey link to 8 “easy” questions. Aside from the fact that the questions are not easy (remind me to do a special report on user-friendly surveys), one in particular made my hair stand on end, “HOW VALUABLE WOULD IT BE FOR YOUR COMPANY . . . to find and capture Web-based information on people, including job title and email address?”
OK that would be what spammers do. Harvesting email addresses online is unsavory to say the least, selling them to others as part of your business model is beyond slimy and possibly illegal in some states and countries. I know we’re all urgently trying to find ways to make more money with content these days. But that’s no excuse.
http://www.infocommercereport.com/
Another award you can enter to win — Line56 magazine is looking for nominations for the “Top 56 E-Business Companies.” You can nominate yourself … or a friend. Deadline is Jan 31st. Results will be published in the magazine in May.
Also, Rising Tide Studios (the folks who do Silicon Alley Daily) just extended their deadline for nominations for the Top 10 Online Advertising Campaigns of 2001. New deadline is Friday January 18th and it looks like it’s free to enter. Plus, you can see who’s already entered at the nominations form too – which is kinda fun.
