Comments on: Marketing Metric of Last Resort http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/12/03/marketing-metric-of-last-resort/ sharp. social. accountable. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:11:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: limeduck http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/12/03/marketing-metric-of-last-resort/comment-page-1/#comment-1766 limeduck Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:11:44 +0000 http://www.tangyslice.com/?p=75#comment-1766 I guess it's an easy pile-on. Other commentators are spot-on, ad equivalence reminds us how worthless most ads are, and is a poor measure of PR results. If you need to track to revenue, you should pretty much give up on PR, but that doesn't mean you can't track to results. And you shouldn't let the PR firm tell you that coverage measured in ad eq is a result. What you have to do is have a real PR plan with its own desired results that you can measure. Maybe that's just plain tonnage of coverage, but more likely it's at least coverage of a particular type in particular outlets. Maybe it's blog comments or inbound links. Maybe it's mentions by specific influencers or awareness measured by some kind of survey. You have to work with your vendor to agree on metrics that matter to you. You've got to have some ends in mind, or you have no business investing in a marketing program in the first place. I guess it’s an easy pile-on. Other commentators are spot-on, ad equivalence reminds us how worthless most ads are, and is a poor measure of PR results. If you need to track to revenue, you should pretty much give up on PR, but that doesn’t mean you can’t track to results. And you shouldn’t let the PR firm tell you that coverage measured in ad eq is a result.

What you have to do is have a real PR plan with its own desired results that you can measure. Maybe that’s just plain tonnage of coverage, but more likely it’s at least coverage of a particular type in particular outlets. Maybe it’s blog comments or inbound links. Maybe it’s mentions by specific influencers or awareness measured by some kind of survey.

You have to work with your vendor to agree on metrics that matter to you. You’ve got to have some ends in mind, or you have no business investing in a marketing program in the first place.

]]> By: Dharmesh Shah http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/12/03/marketing-metric-of-last-resort/comment-page-1/#comment-1715 Dharmesh Shah Sun, 07 Dec 2008 07:00:16 +0000 http://www.tangyslice.com/?p=75#comment-1715 Another issue with the "advertising equivalents" approach is that advertising and editorial content don't have the same value. In most cases, I'd argue that a half page of real content would be more influential to prospects than a half page ad. Another issue with the “advertising equivalents” approach is that advertising and editorial content don’t have the same value.

In most cases, I’d argue that a half page of real content would be more influential to prospects than a half page ad.

]]> By: dshugrue http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/12/03/marketing-metric-of-last-resort/comment-page-1/#comment-1703 dshugrue Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:40:31 +0000 http://www.tangyslice.com/?p=75#comment-1703 "advertising equivalents" is a slightly dumbed-down way of calculating "Reach" or CPM. CPM is an "old world" Advertising 1.0 measurement. Imperfect in the past, and even less perfect in a 2.0 world. But....it's all we've got. Your PR investments are measured first and foremost against reach -- as in: "what was the circulation of the pubs you got yourself in?" Reach is a bit better than advertising equivalents b/c you might be paying more/less for your media buy relative depnding on the type of media you're in. Next in the sales funnel is retention -- how many of the people who bought/received that mag remembered your ad. Retention is partially a function of segmentation - is the pub you got yourself in part of a target audience that is likely to be moved by FirstGiving? This is an assumption that the "pointy heads" will likely test, but so be it -- at least you've got them in a conversation about what is/isn't effective. Finally we all make assumptions about what is the "purchase intention rate" for those who remember our marketing. For different types of marketing, different intention rates apply. What each rate is is difficult to agree on, but the conversation about what is more effective, if centered on intent, is the right conversation to have. Some good writing on this is over at BzzAgent: http://tinyurl.com/bzzvalue “advertising equivalents” is a slightly dumbed-down way of calculating “Reach” or CPM. CPM is an “old world” Advertising 1.0 measurement. Imperfect in the past, and even less perfect in a 2.0 world. But….it’s all we’ve got. Your PR investments are measured first and foremost against reach — as in: “what was the circulation of the pubs you got yourself in?” Reach is a bit better than advertising equivalents b/c you might be paying more/less for your media buy relative depnding on the type of media you’re in. Next in the sales funnel is retention — how many of the people who bought/received that mag remembered your ad. Retention is partially a function of segmentation – is the pub you got yourself in part of a target audience that is likely to be moved by FirstGiving? This is an assumption that the “pointy heads” will likely test, but so be it — at least you’ve got them in a conversation about what is/isn’t effective. Finally we all make assumptions about what is the “purchase intention rate” for those who remember our marketing. For different types of marketing, different intention rates apply. What each rate is is difficult to agree on, but the conversation about what is more effective, if centered on intent, is the right conversation to have. Some good writing on this is over at BzzAgent: http://tinyurl.com/bzzvalue

]]> By: JoRhi http://www.tangyslice.com/2008/12/03/marketing-metric-of-last-resort/comment-page-1/#comment-1696 JoRhi Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:30:13 +0000 http://www.tangyslice.com/?p=75#comment-1696 Ad eeuivalents is nothing more then vooodoo math with so many holes no PR person worth their salt subscribes to this urban legand methodology. Share of discussion & share of voice are two proven methods..but it all goes back to your plan. What were your objectives & that will tell you what to measure. Ad eeuivalents is nothing more then vooodoo math with so many holes no PR person worth their salt subscribes to this urban legand methodology.

Share of discussion & share of voice are two proven methods..but it all goes back to your plan. What were your objectives & that will tell you what to measure.

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