Article 2 of 3: Drive Best-in-Class Results by Integrating Your Pay Per Click (PPC) with Other Online Marketing Channels
By Mary Huffman, Executive Vice President, Ionic Media
In the first article in this series, we reviewed the workhorses of online advertising:
* Pay-Per-Click search marketing (PPC)
* Search engine optimization (SEO)
* Display advertising (e.g., banners)
* Email (to house list)
Each marketing channel has a sweet spot for the type of product or situation in which it performs best. The same is true for the six marketing channels we are exploring in this article:
* Mobile
* Online PR
* Blogging
* Viral /social media
* Email (to rented list)
* Affiliate marketing
In this article, we will explore relatively new media options along with tested media vehicles like email to rented lists and affiliate marketing. At this time, the new marketing choices are riskier than the ones we reviewed last time, but there are some stand-out results that cannot be ignored (especially among the adventurers out there).
First, let’s review how the six marketing vehicles we are focusing on perform on the “Branding” vs Direct Response” two-by-two matrix.
The six marketing vehicles we are reviewing in this paper are spread out across the branding vs direct response spectrum. Now let’s review the summary and then we can dig into the detail on each of these more newly-minted marketing vehicles.
Now let’s look at each of these marketing vehicles in more detail.
Mobile Marketing:
The mobile marketing umbrella includes a number of different marketing vehicles. Let’s look at each one individually.
Banner/Text Ads On Phones:
* Using a mobile ad network, marketers can place display or text ads on websites viewed with phones or on content sent to mobile phones (like daily weather updates)
* Allows you to reach a young, tech savvy audience
* Also allows you to reach older audiences, though at lower volume
* High response rates currently (likely because the technology is newer)
* As mobile coupon technology improves, this will be a great way to push coupons to users who are in-store and more likely to purchase
SMS Messaging Campaigns:
* Using a mobile service provider who furnishes a short code, you can entice people to “Text sweepstakes to 22456 for a chance to win a new car.” It is the beginning of a mobile or email communication that must be managed carefully
* Most mobile service providers have a relatively high monthly minimum cost so it is not easy to test these types of campaigns unless you go through an agency (like Ionic Media)
* While the largest population using messaging is younger, don’t count out the 30-54 year olds, as they are the fastest growing segment for mobile messaging
Mobile Search:
* Using existing search engine ad interfaces as well as those from new companies, a marketer can choose to display a paid listing within the results when mobile users make a search
* Costs little but often delivers few leads
Mobile Applications:
* This can involve either developing a custom application, or sponsoring an existing application
* The trick is aligning the brand with an application that addresses what users care about and want to do while mobile
Mobile Website:
* Note that for many of these campaigns, you need a mobile website
* Some smartphones (e.g., iPhone, G1, Blackberry Storm) can render “regular” websites pretty well
* But most phones require a scaled-down mobile site
Online PR:
* Online PR is an easy and effective way to drive more buzz about your company
* Existing press releases can be uploaded to syndication sites that drive the story across online press sites
* Each time you upload a press release, the syndication site charges a fee (up to $200 depending on the site and the package)
* This can be an effective way to drive authority for your site (lots of relatively good inbound links) which helps with organic ranking
Blogging:
* Using easy-to-install blogging software, a marketer can create an on-site or off-site blog where one or more people can chronicle their thoughts and opinions
* A good blog with lots of followers can drive organic ranking and therefore organic traffic
* To ensure good pickup, blog often and reach out to potential readers to become loyal followers
* This marketing vehicle takes a commitment to the activity. Blogs should be updated at least once a week and better to be updated every other day or even everyday. That takes a high level of commitment
Viral Marketing:
* Viral marketing is a catchy name for an ill-defined group of marketing tactics. For example, all of the following would be considered viral marketing:
* An on-line widget that lets you upload photos to turn your friends into dancing elves a la Chorus Line
* A video of claymation bunnies frolicking in New York City to advertise the Sony Bravia television
* An email message you send to a friend with Bob Dylan holding up cue cards that display your message and which ends with a plug for his latest album
* A video of preppy white boys doing a rap about throwing a tea party (to advertise Smirnoff)
* A widget with a man dressed in a chicken suit who performs whatever action you command him to (Burger King’s Subservient Chicken)
* These are all wildly popular examples of viral campaigns. There are 2,356,744 other campaigns that companies tried to make popular but did not, in the end, “go viral.” Note: That number is approximate and might be off by a lot
* MarketingSherpa reports that the most experienced viral marketers report that only 50% of viral campaigns break even and only 1 in 80 are home runs
* So, the message when you are starting a viral campaign is to be creative, turn to the experts and run 80 campaigns at a time so you can get one home run (that would work, right?). Actually, just be thoughtful when you are planning your viral campaigns and watch your costs as most do not deliver on the hype
Email to Rented Lists
* Historically this medium has delivered poor performance to marketers
* It can be used effectively to drive awareness and action if you carefully select the list provider of the leads
* When looking for a rented list to email with your message, check for the following:
* How was the list assembled? Did they scrape websites or did people sign up for a special offer for information one individual at a time?
* Is the list single or double opt-in? Double opt-in is the gold standard. If it is opt-in, what do the people think they opted in for (information from a certain vendor, information for a series of vendors in a category or a chance to win a long-past sweepstakes)?
* How old are the names on the list? If everyone opted-in to the list within the last 30 days, you should be willing to pay more than if the list was built over 5 years ago
* How often do they mail to this list and what are the response/opt-out rates?
* Consider a co-branded email campaign with another, more established brand. Use that brand’s email list and send a dedicated email that has an implied endorsement from that brand
Affiliate Marketing:
* Affiliate marketing includes the broad reach of affiliate networks such as Commission Junction as well as working closely with a small number of “super affiliates” who carefully drive leads and sales to your business
* Working with affiliate networks such as Commission Junction and ShareASale makes affiliate recruitment easier (as they have hundreds of thousands of members) but you have less control over the quality of the affiliates and the messages they are putting out to your target market in your name
* Creating super-affiliate relationships with a handful of sites is more work but can deliver a better end result in terms of volume and quality of leads/sales
* And the bounty is often a key driver here. If you are willing to pay more per lead or sale, more affiliates are going to give you more attention and drive more volume
While these six marketing vehicles are not the online marketing staples from the first article in this series, there is a lot to be said for testing these media. Each medium listed above requires either time or money to make it happen. For any given company only two are likely to be a strong fit with the target market of that particular product.
In the last in our series on the online marketing landscape, we will be looking at how to intelligently integrate your PPC marketing with other online vehicles for maximum effect.
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Mary Kingsley Huffman is a co-founder and Executive Vice President at Ionic Media, a firm with deep experience driving bottom-line results for clients using search and online marketing. Previously, she was Director of Marketing at Overture Services where she was responsible for the acquisition marketing and communication departments, leading all advertiser acquisition efforts and customer communications. Prior to Overture, Mary was an Engagement Manager in the London office of McKinsey & Company, specializing in marketing solutions. Mary has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from UCLA.
