Diminished Reach

I just read an article from Comcast Spotlight about diminished media reach and the challenges it creates for clients and their advertising agencies and I couldn’t agree more. It used to be that a media planner could roadblock a spot in late news across the three TV network affiliates and perhaps an ad in the daily newspaper and have a reach that stretched into 80%+. Now, depending on the DMA, the plan would deliver a small fraction of that at best. Rating points on TV used to be negotiated in half and full points. Today we negotiate down to a tenth of a point. There were often minimum ratings dependant on client and demo established by planners for media buyers of a 1.5-2.0. Prime often had minimums of a 4.0. Today, most prime programming wouldn’t even hit the minimums of even 15 years ago.




So with mass media being less massive in its reach, why do ad agencies and their clients still insist on buying advertising based on mass demographics like Adults 25-54? What 25 year old guy watches the same TV show or visits the same websites as his 54 year old mother? So with the increased media fragmentation doesn’t it make sense to narrow the demographic to that which truly represents the client’s best potential customer and purchase the media that best targets this more narrow demographic? A more narrowly defined target will allow advertisers to more efficiently achieve their desired reach and achieve frequency goals as well. Who cares if not everyone sees the ad as long as the right people do.



The challenges to changing a clients mindset are: 1. If they don’t fall into their new target demographic they will be less likely to see the ads. We all know clients feel better about their advertising investment when they see their own ads. 2. Clients have a tendency to remember the exception and not the norm. Even though 90% of a client’s customers may come from a 10 mile radius, human nature is to remember the person who drove 60 miles to shop. Or if 90% of the those who show for dresses at a particular store are business women in their 30’s and 40’s, again human nature is to remember the 44 year old gentlemen who came in and purchased for his significant other.



So it may make for less interesting conversation to talk about that which is less typical, it does make for more targeted efficient, impactful media.

Stop Poking Me Granny

I read an arcicle in this week's AdAge titled Is Facebook Getting Uncool for the 18-24 Year Old?
It quoted a statistic that 51% of 18-24 year olds surveyed by Mindshare indicated Facebook and Social Media dilutes the quality of friendships.

So, the 18-24 year old, who was initially a core Facebook user is utilizing the site less. Now their little brothers and sisters are using the site more. Because the tweens and teens are on, mom and dad need to monitor what they are saying and doing. So 35-54 is a growing demographic. And now even Granny is on Facebook playing Farmville and Kidnapped and posting comments about pictures. While it's bad enough that mom might comment, it would be social suicide to have Grandma post a comment of a picture taken at a college party.

Mom and Granny should pay more attention to the 9-17 year olds and their Facebook posts. Just like the 18-24 year olds tweens and teens view the number of friends they have accumulated on Facebook to be a measurement of their popularity. Hopefully, like the 18-24 year olds before them, they will grow to realize that if you don't communicate with your friends, they are just faces in a crowd and not friends. Perhaps this generation will come to realize Facebook doesn't replace human contact. It's more satisfying to actually hang out with friends then IM or text them. Perhaps they will realize Facebook is great for connecting with friends and family who are too far away to connect with in person. They will pare down the friend list and be able to spend time with Granny so she will no longer need to poke them.

Tweet This Marketers

Playing The Ostritch

I just read a study conducted at Penn State's School of Information Science and Technology indicating that 20% of all tweetss mention a specific brand, product or service by name. While all marketers know that not every mention will be a positive mention, isn't it better to play in a space where you can react to both positive and negative comments, than to ignore it? marketers who choose to ignore social media remind me of the ostrich with its head in the sand. His ugly tail feathers are exposed to the world yet he deliberately remains oblivious to his surroundings. The world revolves and evolves without his participation.

The web has taught us OnLine media is trackable and measurable. So the challenge is how do we measure social media to justify the expenditure? The most obvious is just simply increase activity or mentions. Has the click throu rate on banner campaigns and SEM increased? Has the coc decreased since you aded social media to your OnLine plan?

Here's the bottom line. If you aren't prepared to respond quickly and deal with some negative comments, play ostrich. Stay off the social media sites and show the world your tail feathers.

Business Etiquette Fundamentals

Call me old fashioned. Even though this post is going to date me I can't stop myself from writing it. When I went to elementary school I was taught spelling, grammar and punctuation. Then in middle school I learned the appropriate way to write a business or personal letter. In college I studied business etiquette and ethics in my marketing and advertising classes.

I feel like upcoming generations will not know it is not ok to text in a meeting. They won't truly respect or understand the importance of appropriate sentence structure, good grammar or spelling. U no wat im sayin? LOL!!! How can they learn to read voice tone, non verbal cues and facial expressions when their preferred method of communication is texting? Each generation is more technologically savvy than its predisessor. More is expected of them. They have more demand on their time. They will be far more advanced in so many ways. Yet the come so unprepared because in the business world technology is critical; but it will never replace the human relationship side.

Is It Really All About the Click?

Is there no longer any value to the branding? When evaluating OnLine media, are clicks and click through rates all that matter now?

If this is true, why would we ever run a display advertising campaign? If it is really all about the click isn't it more efficient to only run SEM and pay on a cpc basis?

Yes, you are limited in what you can say about yourself. Yes, the search engines haven't released the magical data which allows an advertiser to know exactly how to raise their score and position. Yes, you only get a small ad with a few words. That brings us to the age old question...does size really matter?

Display ads, even just animated gifs allow advertisers to be creative. They allow you more than a small headline. They allow advertisers to differentiate themselves from their competition. I see display ads as the best of both worlds. Display is just as accountable and trackable as SEM. But, instead of half a headline, advertisers can tell a bit more of a story. And for you traditional media types who remember Paul Harvey...he made a good living communicating The Rest of The Story. I'm not Paul Harvey, but this is the rest of my story.

What's Not Traditional About the Internet?

When people categorize media as traditional and non-traditional I laugh. What's not traditional about the internet? My 14 year old twins don't know life without the internet. But, other than for a school assignment, neither has ever picked up a newspaper. More and more people choose to read the news online. The newspaper at the breakfast table Sunday morning is being replaced by the laptop or mobile device at home and at the local Starbucks.

Google is a noun. Google is a verb. Google is a way of life.