Category Media Planning & Buying

Why it’s important to include lifetime value and offline sales when evaluating the success of a marketing plan

By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

Many people think of me as just a “sales guy” but for the sake of context, since 2000, I have successfully created, launched, and managed, hundreds upon hundreds of profitable campaigns for companies in just about every industry. I have made companies millions of dollars while saving those companies the millions of dollars they would’ve spent testing to discover and learn what I know from study with leading think-tanks, and from my years of experience.

As my friends in New York would say; “I got the bona fides from which I speak.”

Factoring Lifetime Value into Marketing Decisions

It is critically important to understand that obtaining a customer is only the beginning for a merchant. With careful, smart, strategic husbandry, a company can develop a profitable relationship that will drive revenue through several marketing cycles. The information I share will mostly be anecdotal but I will include a link to the blog of a marketer I respect very much.

Cross channel attribution modeling gives a value/weight to the first “touch” with a company’s brand, products, and or, services. In the case of a leading garden supply client that first “touch” will occur mostly through paid search.  The last click or “last touch” should be considered to be when that customer opts-out from your email list and you are no longer able to cross-sell/up-sell that person.  (As an aside, there are companies that measure and factor in ROI other than return on investment. They measure and factor in return of influence, and return on incentives as well.)

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Posted by Tom Polanski in Media Planning & Buying, Tom Polanski on July 21st, 2010

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Engaged Online Viewers Receptive to Advertising

From Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

According to a new study “Watching The Web: How Online Video Engages Audiences”  conducted by Forrester Consulting for Veoh Networks, , not all online video viewers are equal when it comes to advertising. While some online video viewers still only “snack” on short clips, there exists a large audience of young, influential, engaged viewers who watch a great deal of long-form online video and pay attention to the brand messages delivered to them in online video environments.

The study found that Engaged Viewers (viewers who watch more than an hour of online video a week) make up nearly 40% of all online video viewers and watch nearly 75% of all online video. Of these Engaged Viewers, those who spend the most time consuming and sharing long-form content:

• Are more likely to watch videos all the way through
• Pay more attention to online video more than they do TV
• Interact with and rate the videos they watch more frequently
• Are twice as likely to recall in-video ads and post-rolls than non-Engaged Viewers
• Agree more readily that advertising is fair and helps pay for their free experience
• Consider banner ads and ads that come in between videos (mid-rolls) most effective

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Posted by Tom Polanski in Media Planning & Buying on October 24th, 2008

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Gender Specific Traits Affect Web Usage, Fact or Fiction?

By Tom Polanski

I spent part of the afternoon in our library and came across an article, based on PEW studies, regarding differences in the way that gender searches. All of it is pretty obvious. It’s not rocket science. Gender traits, many of them seemingly stereotypical, carry over to the internet.

For example, women are social people who multitask and browse. A woman looks at the internet as a means to connect with others of a like mind. She is more likely to use the internet to stay in touch with family and community. Our research shows that women are more likely to belong to and participate in forum and social media sites than men. Furthermore, our testing indicates that women are more likely to shop multiple sites then men…many times simultaneously with multiple windows open. There is pleasure derived from the shopping process that is lost on men. 

In addition, the women we queried take pride in finding name brands at great prices or close facsimiles at even better prices.

Men are task oriented problem solvers. Online they have specific goals that they’re trying to meet and they want to take the shortest path possible to achieve that goal. In addition, our experiences indicate, men online, like men with the pieces of an IKEA table laid out on the floor in front of them, probably won’t read the directions. If they’re forced to, they’ll scan the directions for a highlight that will reorient their relationship to the task.  

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Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Boomer Marketing, Marketing, Media Planning & Buying, Reaching Women, Relationship Marketing on June 25th, 2008

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Top 5 Tips for Media Planning and Buying

By Tom Polanski

If you’re looking to broaden your company’s reach to hit the television airwaves, you’ll need to research media planning and do your homework before you buy. 

There are as many different kinds of media as there are groups of people – so targeting your message to the appropriate segment of buyers is crucial for media advertising success.  That said, here are five ways you can ensure that your media planning and buying work together seamlessly to produce great results: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Tom Polanski in Media Planning & Buying on April 19th, 2008

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