Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/107829
Web Advertising means that we can no longer measure return on investment for different media sources independently. Rather, we need to understand how one media investment builds upon the performance of another. Opportunity: Use "retargeting," "pixel targeting," and other display advertising to complement basic search efforts. According to a recent Google study, adding display advertising to the marketing mix increases a customer's likelihood to purchase by 4 percent and unaided brand recall increases by 6 percent. This is the perfect example of the "Zero Moment of Truth" in action. When shoppers learn about your brand through multiple media outlets, they are more likely to remember your name and ultimately buy from you. This also exemplifies why we cannot measure search ad performance against display ad performance separately, but rather we need to evaluate how display ads strengthen your search ads. Generally speaking, your presence in display ads will drive incremental searches for the products and services offered by your dealership. There are several types of display advertising of particular note. My absolute favorite is retargeting. When a customer visits your dealership website, a cookie is placed in their browser and then they are served ads about your business as they browse the Web. The ads are not site specific; they are person specific. This recurring exposure will deliver ad impressions to thousands of potential customers, helping you increase conversions of your website visitors and top-of-mind brand recall. These ads are becoming more sophisticated not only in the delivery but in content too. Retargeting ads are not just a static banner ad anymore. You can now have an image slider ad that rotates thru several panels to tell a story, or ads that update with specific inventory. Pixel targeting is a variation of this type of approach but differs in the fact that the user did not actually visit your website, but instead visited or searched information related to your product or service. The benefits of this are that you segment and reach out only to potential customers that already have indicated a predisposition to consider your product or service, but haven't actually considered you yet. These campaigns can be geotargeted and started on a very limited budget that can be increased as they prove their success. Everything is measurable – from impressions, to views, to clicks, to action. Key Trend No. 3: Your customers are more mobile than ever before. It is reported that currently about one in five shoppers use a mobile phone to research and make a decision. While 20 percent may seem low, over the next three years, as the technology becomes more sophisticated, estimates are that mobile queries and users will eclipse those done on a desktop computer. Further, three in four of these mobile shoppers are using their device at least weekly. Opportunity: For starters, make sure that beloved website of yours is optimized for mobile users (start by pulling out that smart phone and tablet of yours and seeing how your website looks on different screen sizes). A mobile site is not a tiny version of your website. It is, instead, a site that is optimized for different screen sizes. Responsive Web Design (RWD) is an approach to Web design that provides easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing and scrolling across a range of devices. Most website providers will do that at little or no cost as part of their monthly service. Beyond just having a mobile site, consider directing a portion of that ad spend specifically toward mobile search. Studies show that this is money well spent as people searching for what you sell on their mobile device are often actively engaged in the purchase process at the time of the search. You can read more about mobile search from Google at howtogomo.com. Key Trend No. 4: Video is where it's at. By the end of 2013, it is estimated that Internet video will account for more than 50 percent of consumer Internet traffic. In one recent Google study, consumers were separated into three groups. One group was exposed to only TV ads; another to only YouTube ads, and the third group was exposed to both TV and YouTube ads. The study concluded that consumers who saw both the YouTube and TV ads had nearly double the brand recall compared to the group who saw only TV ads. Opportunity: Like "site retargeting," video can be used to target known shoppers who have been to your website with pre-roll video ads on millions of websites. You pay only when people choose to watch your ad. Other ways to optimize the use of video are to include videos on your own website, and even send videos of your sales staff, products, or sales process to customers who contact you via e-mail. In closing, digital marketing campaigns are evolving. Smart businesses are evolving with them in order to gain and maintain a critical competitive edge on their respective markets and competition. The beauty of the digital world is the abundance of available tools and data that allow you to develop, test, and refine digital marketing campaigns quickly and at a low cost. In today's business environment, this is one change you can truly be excited to embrace. n Ed Steenman is the owner of Steenman Associates, a full-service advertising and digital strategies firm that combines traditional and digital media services with a specific focus on the needs of retailers and the automotive industry. He returns for an encore presentation on digital marketing at this year's AED/Lawson Executive Forum Sept. 6-7 in Chicago. He can be reached www.steenmanassociates.com February 2013 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 41 40_Internet_Mktg_feature_KP.indd 41 1/30/13 3:13 PM