2008 Internet Advertising Analytics

Jeff Douglas, President, MVIsolutions

Overview

In the past generating large numbers of new site visitors was the normal Internet advertising technique. Today, marketing cost and competition makes this approach prohibitively expensive. To lower lead acquisition cost, MVI employs smaller organized marketing tests to collect data about the prospects, behavior, likes, demographics and needs. Employing this data in new advertising campaigns will allow the marketer to creating the best possible prospect at the lowest cost.

This article discusses these procedures and more importantly after uncovering these facts we must be able to extract this data for use in all future marketing and sales activities. That is why in 2008, Analytics or the collection of data must be catalogued for easy use by the marketing decision makers.

The Need To Know

Decision-makers have heard this expression countless times: marketing needs to get more analytical (collect more data). The strategies, procedures and technologies used to identify, acquire and retain customers, as we now know them, are shifting. Companies struggle to find out what makes their customers "BUY" while budget constraints make finding the best customers and prospects more expensive. Add the onslaught of messages across most channels of communication and marketing becomes more difficult and costly.

Technology has recently presented multiple opportunities to capture customer data from many touch points, such as internet sites or telephone. But the data needs to be integrated into a usable format to manage and utilize this information effectively, companies are finding themselves prisoners of their databases since data in and of itself has no value.

This is where analytics comes in - advanced marketing analytics turn data into actionable facts how to target each prospect with the right promotion and message. Analytics is no longer a "nice to have" but a "must have" tool. Integrated information from the marketing campaign is necessary to improve efficient handling and tracking of all leads. The uses of data require a new type of analytic platform, one that is truly integrated with the entire marketing process and furthermore, continually updated and maintained so relevancy is assured for the marketing user. Analytics is an integral component of the marketing business and must be provisioned, integrated and structured as such.

Collection Of Knowledge

Armed with this knowledge, the marketer can better manage the entire marketing lifecycle from planning to structure and roll out. For example, in one firm we have worked with, the marketing plans for the year are based on the expected results, expected from the customer base. As a result of this new analytical model, the firm's marketing decision makers can contemplate marketing expenditures, number of leads, workable prospects, sales and return on these dollars.

To acquire the proper data a software platform must be put in place to handle the entire analytical process. The platform needs to fully support all analytical model development, scoring, accuracy checking, performance verification, and integration with the marketers toolset; campaign, measurement, ad-hoc and reporting. Furthermore, the analytical capability and integration must be truly automated, saving time dealing with data integration and scoring issues and letting the advanced analytic resource focus on providing value by developing analytics that can help support and drive the business. At MVI we call this platform Full Spectrum CRM.

The 2008 Analytic Model

Successful marketing programs require, insights into customer and prospect behavior, well before the ad is completed or the marketing program is put into action. 2008 marketers need to know more about the customer's wants, needs, and competitors then ever before. In the past, models were used to predict behavior for a program, campaign, or series of events, that model simply can't work in today's environment.

To resolve this, marketers are building up a broad array of advanced analytical knowledge about the customer. To this end, firms have deployed models that provide:

• Knowledge about a customer's who purchase the product or service
• Knowledge about customer demographics
• Knowledge why customer upgrades from a product/service to a new product/service.
• Knowledge of competitors influences
• Knowledge about a customer's value.

Best Practices

One of the most common best practices using analytics is the distribution of leads. With an integrated analytics platform, marketers can plan on the number of leads expected response and returns, and distribute marketing dollars to address their strategic needs. By adjusting the marketing plans and strategies early in the planning process, marketers we have worked with are easily able to increase their return on marketing investment and moreover, have a clear picture of expected results. During the execution stages of that campaign, the marketer can evaluate the results against expected results by viewing data from the analytical platform, and further reallocate marketing dollars while programs are currently being executed.

By leveraging the analytical platform, marketers can now optimize inbound contacts like customer service and inbound sales. MVI experience shows that optimization using the analytic tracking platform typically creates more efficiencies and the cost of such can be justified in as little as 90 days. By leveraging the platform, marketers can provide straightforward recommendations to the sales or service representative in the call center or at the retail service desk. These recommendations are often two to three times more likely to be accepted by the customer as a result of the unique combination of the analytic platform and the timing of the offer in the context of a customer initiated conversation.

Summary

While this new analytic model requires a different view on data/leads/sales/service and their deployment across the business lifecycle, today's increasing message-oriented world is making it a core necessity for direct marketers. At the same time, firms that deploy this capability with even a few best practices are likely to see payback very quickly and furthermore, be provided a platform that gives the decision maker a lever of confidence and control that cannot be achieved using traditional analytical methods or processes. Take a look at this platform www.fullspectrumcrm.com

Jeff Douglas brings a wealth of marketing and technology experience as the leader of MVIsolutions and also heads the company's marketing technology. Prior to founding MVI, Jeff owned and managed digital graphics studios in Miami and Weston Florida., and has led the deployment of advanced digital capabilities to many business-to-consumer and business to business companies.