Ad Impressions, What Sells?

Ad impressions. Up till now they’ve been measured by clicks and likes. You may remember my post “Engagement Matters Most“. Adding to that fact, the next logical step is to determine what kind of engagement matters most and how brands should be engaging customers in ways that build and retain their loyalty. To do that, we have to look at what works and what doesn’t work.

What Doesn’t Work:

1) Click-Through Rates: A recent study from ComScore and Pretarget looked at 260 million ad impressions across campaigns from 18 advertisers, and found the link between clicks and conversions to be the weakest http://bit.ly/JoGqCG. Even when a user clicks on an ad, the link between that click and a conversion is virtually nonexistent. One of the original forms of online advertising, click-through rates may have been around forever but this study clearly shows it’s time for a change. The strongest link in the study was actually ad hover/interaction, when a user hovers over an ad with their cursor and engages with it that way. Brands need to be focusing more on still frame ads that attract customers or ads that activate when a cursor hovers over it for 3 seconds.

2) Facebook Likes: Studies published by Dr. Tina McCorkindale found that 75% of millenials ”liked” a profit or non-profit organization on Facebook, and 69% said once they “liked” the organization they rarely or never returned to its fan page http://bit.ly/JoGthU. McCorkindale is quoted as saying that “It’s not about the number of people that like your page, because they may not be the right people, and they may not really like you, they may just do it because of pressure from friends”. She found that millenials learn of organization fan pages through friends or stumbling upon them. The study also shows that it’s the perks, not the likes, that keep them coming back. Discounts, coupons, sample products and new information are what entice return visits. Too many emails or updates were the reason 42% of millenials said they had disconnected from an organization. Based on this, discounts, coupons, sample products and new information are the best tools to keep the lines of communication, and engagement, open.

What Works:

1) Opt-In Email Offers: A survey by Adpropo found that U.S. Internet users had the most positive attitude towards email ads http://bit.ly/KVtI06. Although it may be an older form of marketing, opt-in email still gets results. Customers look more favorably upon it because marketers contact only those who’ve given permission and the messages are more customized and personalized. It’s a model for all digital modes of communication with customers, because this format puts customers in control and gives them value in return.

2) Spotify Website Design: Spotify is known for its Facebook connection, granting users access to music and showing them what their friends are listening to while letting them share what they are listening to also. Spotify no longer relies on Facebook, they’ve shrunk its controls to a little-trafficked corner of the screen http://bit.ly/KICW1g. The first thing their users see is a large ad in its center-top position. 100% of participants in EyeTrackShop’s February 2012 study saw the ad, with only 0.4 seconds going by before they noticed it and then it grabbed their attention for 4 seconds. What’s even more impressive is that this didn’t wreck customer enjoyment. 76% said Spotify had “good” or “excellent” web page design, 81% reported a favorable overall impression of the site and three quarters agreed navigation was good. Proof that online ads can be effective and accepted if presented in the right format.

Perhaps the biggest take-aways from this are that brands need to make customers feel like they are in control and are receiving value from their engagement. Click-through rates and likes don’t predict long-term engagement, ad/hover interaction is the best indicator of engagement and opt-in email and effective website design with ads make marketing more acceptable. These findings are what sells in the world of ad formats, impressions and engagement. Customers are always looking for what makes someone or something a better deal or value than someone or something else. Making these tactics work for you can give you the edge, and that may be all it takes for you to see more customers connecting and identifying with your brand. We are approaching a new frontier in ad impressions, customer engagement and retention. It’s there for the taking, as long as you’re fishing with the right bait.

Huggies Campaign Reeks of Cause-Washing

Ah, cause-marketing. One of my favorite topics. Usually I’m spouting off on the positives of cause-marketing and ways to improve it. This week it’s all about when cause-marketing goes bad. I saw a commercial recently that just didn’t quite fit for me. Huggies was urging its customers to “Go Hawaiian for a Cause” and purchase their limited-edition Hawaiian print diapers to help diaper babies in need. What do Hawaiian print diapers have to do with diapering babies in need? There is nothing in the commercial that relates to babies in need. It’s simply a baby in a Hawaiian print diaper. No further explanation and an odd association. Hawaiian prints do not make me think of babies in need. In fact, it actually seems more like cause-washing. Zachary Sniderman defines cause-washing as “the act of hijacking important causes to sell more stuff” http://on.mash.to/Lx9zz2. The rest of his article features “5 Tips for Running Successful Cause-Marketing Campaigns”. Something I’m not sure Huggies will be doing, and here’s why.

Sniderman’s first tip is “Do Your Homework”, making sure the non-profit you want to pair up with has a good track record. What about whether it’s a fit for your brand? That’s just as, if not more, important to consider. In fact, why even look at track records before deciding whether a non-profit’s a good fit? In this situation Huggies has paired up with the National Diaper Bank Network, a non-profit dedicated to providing every child in the U.S. with the supply of diapers to remain clean, healthy and dry. Yet for every Hawaiian diaper or wipes pack purchased, their “Every Little Bottom” campaign only diapers a baby in need for one day. Wide-reaching? Yes. Long-term? Not so much. Ok, back to my point. The non-profit fits, it’s the creative that doesn’t. Sniderman’s second tip is “What Is Your Brand About?” Again, something you should figure out before deciding to partner with a non-profit and before deciding what non-profit to make your partner. He mentions KFC’s backlash for partnering with Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Just because the breast is an organ common to the chicken and the human female doesn’t make it a good idea to relate the two. Hawaiian print diapers and babies in need don’t even have a commonality like that to bond them, and it’s still a bad correlation. Huggies needs to reconsider what type of imagery goes along with babies in need, because this isn’t it. Their press release also puts a lot of focus on the Hawaiian print being cute for spring and summer and moms stylishly accessorizing, and yet that’s not the focus of this campaign http://bit.ly/JB5tbI.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Moving on. His third tip has nothing to do with my point, because involving your employees, while a good idea, does not make or break this campaign. Why? Because the cause isn’t even clearly defined in the commercial. Their press release begins to spell it out, but they forget to mention it as part of the product description on their website http://bit.ly/LKyWAy. A major blunder in consistency. That further proves my point that Hawaiian print diapers and diapering babies in need are more unrelated than related. Point four is about “Managing Expectations” as far as long-term and one-off commitments. Weird that according to their press release they’ve donated more than 60 million diapers and yet this is the first I’ve heard about it. My expectations are that the real point of this commercial will be quickly forgotten. Point five focuses on what to do if it ‘hits the fan’ and falls through. I don’t think there’s much of an ‘if’ here. Yes people will buy the diapers, but they will buy more for the cute prints than the actual cause. Cause-marketing should be measured by how successfully people buy to support the cause, not just buy because it’s cute. It all goes back to the definition of cause-washing, hijacking an important cause to sell product. This commercial is more focused on selling product than promoting a cause. Huggies should have taken the time and made the effort to put the cause first. It’s not cause-marketing if the cause is buried. Even if it’s buried under cute diapers.

Pinterest Problem Solving Sparks Potential

I’ve been reading a lot of articles about Pinterest lately, a relatively new site that a lot of companies and brands are using. The site allows you to pin pictures, videos, etc. that interest you, and repin things from others that you find interesting, ultimately connecting people with shared interests and tastes. As new as Pinterest is it’s ripe with possibility, if people can figure out how to avoid pitfalls. Everyone has questions, and the articles I found were not much different. Some wonder, like anyone would about a content sharing site, how do you drive revenue? Then there’s the fact that while they’re focusing on revenue they miss all the different ways things can be marketed via Pinterest. Pinterest is not a one-sided venture. It is about engagement on both sides. Few offer solutions, and that is what got my mind thinking. Without further ado, here’s my take.

Alexandra Samuel’s article focuses on “Moving Customers from Pinning to Purchase” http://bit.ly/MitTGq. In it she discusses a survey by Emily Carr University and Vision Critical focusing on the pinning habits of 500 select Pinterest users from the U.S., Canada, U.K, and Australia. The results are that more than 1 in 5 users has pinned an item that they later purchased. Correlation between pinning and offline purchase was 16% while the correlation between pinning and online purchase was only 12%. Overall, the number of people who pinned and purchased came to 21% (some purchased both online and offline). The problem here is how to drive online purchasing via Pinterest. I think every object that’s pinned should contain a link, so that when they click on it they’re redirected to the page where they can learn more about it and add the item to their virtual cart. If not that, there should be a “Buy Now” button that appears when they hover over it and that would lead to the same type of page with the item automatically added to their cart. Customers crave convenience, make it easy to purchase online and that percentage should increase.

While most focus on revenue, they miss the marketing opportunities of Pinterest. Pinterest is more than just brands or companies with Pinterest pages, it’s about individuals having pages too. Not just any individuals, prominent individuals. Rob Lightner’s How To article about pinning more than pictures with Pinstamatic on Pinterest shows that there’s more options out there and thus more opportunities http://bit.ly/KZFFk9. He mentions that text, URLs and music tracks can also be pinned. That means that Pinterest is also a place where music artists can create pinboards of their work, and in this way it’s a venue for promoting and selling tracks. Pinterest should not only partner with Spotify but partner with iTunes, or at least refer users hovering over tracks with their mouse or listening to iTunes to buy them. There could even be a message board devoted solely to concert appearances with links to buy tickets. Perhaps Pinterest could even receive a cut for purchases that came from their site. An additional way to earn revenue and market artists. The same goes for marketing artists and political candidates. Artists’ art could each contain a link to more information and where that item could be bought. Political candidates can feature endorsement quotes, pictures that represent their vision for the future, and URLs that link to videos of speeches on different aspects of their position. There needs to be more ways to cut through the clutter and reach your audience, and Pinterest is a way to do that. Not using Pinterest to market and engage customers with linkable content is a major mistake. Do the opposite, and they’ll keep coming back for more.

It’s about expanding the definition of Pinterest. What people first think of when they hear the word Pinterest is pictures pinned that can be shared. What they should think of is ways to not only drive revenue but to market and engage people, making it easier to find out more information about and engage in as few steps as possible. When something benefits both sides, success abounds. It’s possible with Pinterest, all you have to do is figure out how to reach out and grab it.

The Mobile Shopping Connection

More people are on their mobile phones while shopping than ever before. Not talking on the phone while shopping, although that does happen, but using their mobile as a shopping tool. Although it may seem like the enemy, as they’re usually hunting for the bigger, better deal, it’s really your best ally. That is, if you know how to make this trend work for you. Making it work for you is all about targeting your customers and getting them to tune into your channels exclusively. Your apps, QR codes and your digital coupons are your best assets for growing and maintaining your customer base. You’ve built every other kind of connection, now it’s time to build a mobile one.

First there are shopping apps, and customers are “In Search of the Mobile Shopping Companion” http://bit.ly/IHGlcZ. Mobile+Positive used the Luth Research App Traffic Index to determine the most popular apps. The index used an algorithm to do statistical analysis of app comments, ratings, pricing, category placement and release dates to index relative downloads of an app since its launch. The result? The top 5 were Target, Amazon Mobile, ShopSaavy, SnapTell and Walmart. Only 2 out of the top 5 are store-branded apps. In total, the list measures the relative popularity of 16 mobile shopping apps. Even out of those 16, only 5 of them are store-branded apps. What does that mean? It means there’s an opportunity out there for more stores to offer up their own brand of mobile app. Shoppers tend to flock to apps that are applicable across all retail stores because they’re convenient. What if a store’s own app were more convenient than a third-party app? That just may be the key. How would that be done? By having more scannable items and offering up more exclusive content experiences for your customers.

Chelan Fresh of Washington state has taken advantage of this tactic by partnering with Greenscans to make 16 varieties of its apples scannable http://bit.ly/JdKNCO. When scanned, the barcode stickers open up exclusive video content. Stickers on produce traditionally just mention something about what type it is and use the company name. A scannable barcode on that sticker is an add-on with content value. Brands should take note and work with stores that sell their products to add that same content value, releasing content that’s exclusive to that store’s app. Creating a unique experience is the way to get customers scanning, and will also increase that store’s app popularity over a third-party app as a result. Yet, scannable items aren’t the only thing a brand needs. Every store should have a mobile site that shoppers can access while shopping. Unfortunately, most stores drop the ball. Steve Smith reports that a Briteskies survey of 75 online retailers in the small-to-medium specialty segment across multiple categories came out to only 17%, or only 13 of the 75, with mobile sites http://bit.ly/LL8cyv. Whether you’re a small, medium, or large store, you need a mobile site. Whether you’re online only, a physical store or both, you need a mobile site. Every brand, yes, stores are brands too, needs a mobile site. Your customers are on mobile sites, whether you have one or not, so it’s time to meet them where they’re at and keep them on your site. A final category where brands are missing the boat is digital coupons. E-marketer cites a Yahoo! and Ipsos November 2011 study that finds electronic circulars rival their print counterparts in penetration http://bit.ly/LL9Dgo. Your customers are online searching and their demands deserve to be met.

In this mobile era, you can’t afford to miss these opportunities. Your customers are mobile customers too. Brands need to be mobile brands just as much as they are physical brands. Anything less is to risk failure, and as Ed Harris said playing Gene Kranz in the movie ”Apollo 13,” “Failure is not an option.” A mobile shopping connection is one of the most valuable and mutually beneficial connections you can have with customers.  I’d say that’s something worth fighting for.

Don’t Agonize, Humanize

That’s right, it’s time to get real. I’m not talking real as in reality TV, I’m talking real as in down-to-earth, honest, unbiased approaches. The type of advertisements that put aside all fakeness and dive into what it’s all about. So what is it really all about? Well that depends on your brand. One thing that registers with any brand’s audience is the ability to humanize. Customers are looking for that connection, they’re looking for a brand to be real and honest with them about how their product will work for them. How do you build that type of connection? In order to humanize with your audience you have to humanize across all channels, that means digital and traditional. Being consistent builds credibility and credibility means lifelong customers. This is especially important in the social media realm where brands have to show they’re being real.

Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti talks about the transition from the “portal-and-search era” to the social sharing era http://bit.ly/JV7eiy. Today customers are looking for content they can share, and for them to want to share it the content has to evoke an emotional response. In order to evoke an emotional response brands need to use emotional intelligence. By placing yourself in the position of someone reading it for the first time, you can picture their reaction, whether they would share it or not and how it makes them look sharing it. A positive reaction that triggers a share? You win. Shareen Pathak shares “Five Tips for Building Your Brand’s Social Personality” http://bit.ly/JXTlxd. Noah Brier’s second tip especially plays into the humanize concept, as it focuses on maintaining a balance between selling and non-selling messages. Brier turns that into an analogy of stock and flow with stock being the selling messages and flow being the non-selling messages. He states stock attracts customers and flow keeps them engaged. You have to have a good balance of both and one without the other won’t cut it. The non-selling messages are what humanize the brand and the selling messages are necessary elements. Not that selling messages can’t be humanizing, but that’s typically the way it goes.

Then there’s the traditional side of things, commercials and like fare. Kunur Patel notes AT&T’s recent strategy is to humanize their brand, as they’ve found customers like their phones but not their carriers http://bit.ly/K3eV4y. In an attempt to close that gap they’ve strayed from the traditional speed of network and coverage area tactics that carriers typically tout. Instead, their most recent commercial portrays the usage value of their phones and the services they offer. It shows how a woman’s phone is her means to tell the entire world she got a new acting role. Communicating the usage value of AT&T’s phones and services gives their “Rethink possibility” message a whole new meaning. One that makes customers take a second look at what AT&T is all about. Another way brands are humanizing through traditional media is by using real people in their ads instead of celebrities. Lucia Moses explains the pitfalls and pluses of having celebrities behind your brand http://bit.ly/IsNUch. A bad phase in a celebrity’s life can damage a brand’s reputation and a celebrity is not as believable as a real person. Yet when stricter moral clauses are applied, reality stars are included in the definition of celebrity, and the instant-recognition factor is needed, using celebrities can be effective. To use a celebrity or not? It all depends on the brand and the purpose, but overall the industry is trending  towards using real people more often to humanize and be relatable.

Sometimes advertising can seem fake. Advertising’s past, and some of the present, too often gets caught up presenting ideal portrayals that don’t resonate. Why don’t they resonate? Because they aren’t reality. If customers can’t relate and see the brand as accessible to their lives and lifestyle then it’s a loss. That’s why the ability to humanize your brand, and its message, is invaluable. Brands must adapt to an ever-changing customer base, and today’s customers crave brands that understand them and resemble them. To agonize is to paralyze, but to harmonize is to humanize.