Holy demolition, Batman, what now??
You are ranked well in relevant keyword searches. You have allocated dollars to PPC and you manage your exposure and visibility. You have well placed banner advertising on highly targeted portals that historically have delivered excellent ROI. You are feeling pretty good about your strategic plan with tactics designed to deliver specific business and increases in revenue.
But it is not working!!! Room nights, revenue, and most importantly, profit, are all trending downward, along with group, transient, and leisure business. There is increasing pressure to cut rate even though that strategy has proved futile, and a losing proposition in the long term.
What now???
Panic is beginning to creep into your lexicon, if not your psyche. The never-ending bookings faucet that worked in the past few years has run dry, and you are increasingly skeptical of the promise of online channels to effectiveness! And you were just when you thought you were beginning to master it!
Welcome to the rapid and ever-changing marketplace of the 21st Century. A time when what worked as little as six months ago is suddenly passé. Didn’t see it coming? Not prepared for what’s next? To whom do you turn for advice or a solution?
A large part of the problem lies at the feet of the SEO and Internet Marketing companies who promoted the idea of high rankings and click-throughs as the total solution to ever-lasting profitability. The very same people who worshipped at the alter of the all powerful Search Engines, Online Portals and Advertising Networks are now suddenly lacking in explanations and ideas on how to counteract the downward spiral. Are they the ones who should now be your trusted advisor and guide back to profitability and sanity?
They are if, and it is one heck of a big "if", they have consistently and reliably provided a proactive, balanced, and holistic approach to your marketing strategy. Simply put:
- Is it their strategy to spend a strong percentage of your budget spent on Pay Per Click (PPC) as opposed to maximizing organic search opportunities?
- Do they work with your Public Relations firm to create offline story ideas or package ideas based on keyword search analysis?
- Have they consistently offered A/B testing on SEO keywords and/or copy to optimize conversion rates?
- Do they recommend print ad placements from results of geo-targeting on the Search Engines?
The seductiveness of online marketing, and the pitch to use it exclusively, is its ability to cost-effectively target future best customers, and to track, measure and report how well it accomplishes that task. New media marketing firms regularly tout this fact. The problem is that consumers require multiple touch points before actually making that “last click” on the Search Engine to reach your website and book their stay.
eMarketer, Forrester, and a host of other research organizations report that the consumer visits between five and seven sites prior to making a purchase. The value of tracking this behavior and how it impacts your success in selling online now has scientific data for support.
A study released by comScore begins to explore this territory and calls the behavior “view-throughs” - impressions, whether online or offline that do not result in an immediate action such as a phone call or link click- and provides statistics on how they influence “click-throughs.” The press release states, “comScore announced Monday some new proof on the efficacy of view-through as a key performance indicator for Web advertising.” The new proof is based on a cookie being placed on a user’s computer when an online ad is viewed and then tracks that user to the associated Web site where a beacon sees the cookie. It is then determined that the user was exposed to message “a” on site “y.” The importance of this cannot be understated as comScore states quite eloquently, “The comScore Brand Metrix norms database contains the results of studies that have been conducted across ten vertical industries and includes the following metrics: top-of mind unaided awareness, total unaided awareness, aided awareness, total advertising awareness, online ad recall, favorability, likelihood to recommend, and likelihood to purchase. For a subset of the studies, the norms database also includes the important behavioral metrics of advertiser trademark searches, site visitation and purchasing-both online and at retail stores.”
Hyperdisk Marketing, Travelocity and Yahoo have all suggested for some time that a brand needs to “touch” the consumer 40 to 50 times in order to influence a buying decision. The attribution technology and comScore’s research now supports this methodology. They also suggest that the “final click” is an inaccurate metric in determining the success of a particular online effort. Does Google get 100% of the credit for a click-through that led to a sale? The evidence does not support that. “In an environment where proving the effectiveness of every advertising dollar is essential, comScore Brand Metrix gives marketers and publishers the ammunition to demonstrate the true value of their online advertising efforts,” said Evan Neufeld, comScore vice president of advertising solutions.
What is not addressed, mainly due to the lack of technology and tracking mechanisms, is how many offline impressions influenced the consumer to go online in the first place. Who is to say that a press release generated story and followed by a quick glimpse of a print ad was not responsible for the consumer to search the Internet in an attempt to learn more? Were none of these efforts valuable just because they were not tracked? It seems unlikely.
The promise of technology online has led many marketers to feel, if not act, that all of their dollars should be spent online. They say that newspapers are dying and magazine ads are not effective. Perhaps they are correct; or perhaps there isn’t an accurate method for tracking as yet. Yes, the Internet does to increase the efficacy of everyone’s marketing budget but as the comScore research demonstrates we still have a lot to learn about how the consumer reacts to and uses the Internet and how that behavior is influenced by all and online that may not lead to an immediate click-through.
The bottom line is that you do need a strategic and well balanced marketing plan, not just one based on SEO and online advertising. Use the technology of the Internet to provide you with data that enables you The bottom line is that you do need a strategic and well balanced marketing plan, not just one based on SEO and online advertising. Use the technology of the Internet to provide you with data that enables you to refine your plan and use your dollars more efficiently both online and offline. You will be much happier with the results of your efforts and reverse the apparent downward spiral as well as return some sanity to your life!
