OBSESSED WITH RESULTS

Great marketing minds think alike. So I would like to believe we keep in good company with renowned marketer, Seth Godin. He recently made an accurate distinction between mass marketers vs direct marketers which got me thinking under which category we, as a company, belong to.

Mass marketers such as Best Buy and Microsoft capitalize on their ubiquity. They have successfully infiltrated our homes and our spending habits and in doing so, now enjoy massive revenue.

On the other hand, direct marketers focus on a capturing a specific niche, getting terrific response rates and only then will they venture into expanding reach. They don’t need to be in every home, but they need to count in each home they actually get introduced to.

Godin says, “The key distinction is when you know it’s going to work. The mass marketer doesn’t know until the end. The direct marketer knows in the beginning.”

These things considered, Ionic Media prides itself in being prolific direct marketers – with a huge emphasis on testing creative thoughts on a well-researched niche, followed through with the ability to analyze results. Only then do we expand into a bigger reach with data at hand and calculated, educated risks. This is not to say we are unable to go big and handle ubiquity. With big brands such as B+L and Disney under our belt, we need to think like mass marketers as well. But we do so intelligently and profitably. It doesn’t always work. But it usually does. And when it doesn’t, we figure out why and do better on the next go.

Bottom line is, we care enough to do the work upfront to reap the benefits of being right (or wrong) in the end. We understand that the best mass marketers, it seems, start off as excellent direct marketers.

Ameetess Dira
Account Director

For years I’ve read articles about the lift Display provides to Paid Search. However, it’s always been difficult to nail down actual proof due to the inadequacies of tracking or the inability to measure actual impact. So the question remains: Does Display really provide Paid Search with added lift?

The answer: Yes – but it’s extremely dependent upon a wide variety of factors

Over the past six months we have been tracking lift trends for two separate clients with similar products, searching for some indication of lift, optimal frequency and seasonal trending. When results varied between the two clients we had to dig a bit deeper to determine why there was such a difference. In the end, I was able to boil lift down to the following factors:

• Marketing mix: what is the weighting between Display and Paid Search? Are there any other channels in the mix that could have impacted one or the other?
• Awareness: is the product well known, or brand new to the market?
• Constraints: low budgets? Frequency capping? Geo-targeting?
• Message: are the messages synonymous? Do they have the same tone and Call To Action? Is the creative engaging? Does it make an impact and stand out from the clutter?
• Product Type: is this a retail product that needs a credit card? Or a 5 question form that requires limited personal information?
• Buying Cycle: Is it a product that needs extensive research? Or socks?

The list goes on and on and on (envision running up and down Eschers stairs). The most definitive conclusion is that yes, there is some amount of lift and it appears to be relatively one-sided: that is to say, Display usually gave Paid Search lift, not the other way around. However, there are many other elements, such as aided and unaided awareness, that also come into play and require more extensive testing than the click of your mouse. So in the end, it’s best to have a well-rounded media campaign.

And if you’re going to set aside the extra cash to test (http://www.ionicmedia.com/contact.html), 6 months is all you really need.

Dee Dee Paeseler
Account Director
Ionic Media