As we saw in the “what is a TVR” post a TVR is a percentage of a given target audience in a given geographic base. But is a TVR any more than that? Well, yes it is. A TVR is an important factor in calculating how media activity builds reach and frequency. Reach is the … Read More
Author: Simon Foster
What is first, second and third-party data and how is it affected by GDPR?
First party data is data that your organisation has collected and owns about your customers. It is information that has been gathered in the course of your direct relationship with your customers. They key here is that your organisation is the owner of this data; this is your database of your leads, your enquiries, your … Read More
Advertising Response Rates by Channel
Understanding response rates by media channel is a vital component of marketing and media planning. If you know the response rates, media costs and likely conversion rates of each channel you are using, you can forecast the ROI of your planned activity – before you spend any budget. This helps to de-risk your marketing activity … Read More
What will Brexit mean for Marketers?
Whilst there may be a lot of general uncertainty around Brexit, particularly in the medium term there are some effects that can be forecast with considerable accuracy right now. By far away the biggest short term effects of Brexit will be those caused by currency changes. Since June 2016 we have seen the pound fall … Read More
2017 UK Marketing Predictions
Always fun to gaze into the year ahead. Here are my predictions for 2017: Mobile web use will be an increasing problem for Google: Mobile is now the dominant web use platform. In 2010 over 95% of web activity was delivered via PC, now it’s half that. As of this October, mobile had the edge … Read More
Examples of brilliant Direct Mail
Been digging around for examples of outstanding direct mail. If you’re tired of running emails and banners ads, and you’re looking to make a real creative and intelligent impact, you might want to consider something like this, especially if you have a discrete high value segment and want to get seriously noticed. The Australian Defence … Read More
Direct Mail Response Rates
What response rates can you expect from Direct Mail? Warm Direct Mail – mailings to your active customer file: In our experience, warm direct mail, i.e. DM sent to your customer file should deliver a response rate of between 1% and 5%. The average figure is around 3.5%. Cold Direct Mail – DM send to prospects … Read More
DRTV Response Rates
We’re often asked to forecast or estimate campaign response rates, especially in DRTV. Here are some guidelines for those who want them: Set 1 – DRTV Phone Response Rates (high to low range as a percentage of total impacts) DRTV Type 1 – Hard Hitters – these DRTV hard hitters, with no-nonsense creative, usually on … Read More
How to get the best from DRTV
Many advertisers are returning to Direct Response Television (DRTV). Whilst the goal today is to maximise web response as opposed to phone response, many of the rules of traditional DRTV remain constant. Here’s a summary of how to get the best from Direct Response TV: Remember all DRTV begins with the offer. Whilst issues around … Read More
I’ll second that B2B emotion
For some critics, B2B advertising is too rational and doesn’t contain enough emotion. If that’s the case in 2014, then something’s changed since McGraw Hill ran this, perhaps one of the most famous B2B ads in the 1960’s. This ad is 100% B2B and yet it is stuffed with emotion. It plays on fears of … Read More
Media ROI Evaluation Techniques
Techniques for tracking advertising and media ROI are often discussed by both advertisers and agencies as they seek to identify and maximise the ROI effect of media budgets. Deciding on which techniques to use can raise a number of issues depending on the data and budgets available for advertising evaluation. Before we get into the techniques themselves … Read More
What is a TVR?
This is a question that many marketers don’t want to ask, especially when they are halfway through the agency’s TV presentation. The trouble is, the agency team have been talking about TVRs for about 20 minutes, the coffee’s gone cold and you daren’t chip in to ask “exactly what is a TVR?” Put very simply … Read More
Does social media drive sales?
The question of sales generation is a growing problem for social media. Despite all the hype, it’s almost impossible to find any conclusive cross-category evidence that social media drives sales. Yes, there are some isolated examples of success; Dell’s Twitter pages announces some great deals and I’m sure ASOS can whip up a bit of extra … Read More
Would you give your agency this brief?
A few aspects of this brief make it both remarkable and very interesting reading: Mick sends Andy “2 boxes of material which you can use, and the record”. In other words some pictures and the product. Mick adds “I leave it in your capable … Read More
What is programmatic advertising?
If you are an advertiser you may have heard the expressions “programmatic buying”, “real time bidding” and “ad exchanges”. You may be wondering what all this is and what it means for advertisers, if you are then read on… “Programmatic” advertising, is effectively automated online media buying – often at large scale and at very … Read More
Advertising and Media Planning Books
Here’s a selection of must-read selection of adverting media planning and buying books for those working in advertising and communications strategy. If you click the link you can find the book on Amazon. The Communications Challenge: A practical guide to media neutral planning A practical guide to communications planning. Becoming quite collectable. Even I’m in … Read More
Facebook ‘likes’ don’t increase brand preference or sales
Here’s an iron for the fire: “Facebook ‘likes’ do not cause increased brand preference or increased sales so marketing campaigns designed to increase the number of ‘likes’ are unlikely to increase brand preference or sales.” I was moved to develop and explore this hypothesis after reading an article on the real cost of brand building … Read More
How is multivariate data analysis used in marketing?
‘Multivariate’ means ‘many variables’ and in the context of marketing it usually means analysing multiple variables from customer records to get a deeper understanding of the customer base. This increased understanding of customer behaviour permits the development of customised offers, relevant creative messaging and more accurate media targeting – particularly with techniques like email and … Read More
Social Media Metrics Made Simple: Focus on Sales and Customers
I am amazed that so many people spend so much time defining and discussing social media metrics. Why? Because the answers marketers (and shareholders) want are very, very simple. Marketers want only one thing from marketing budget investment. Marketers want sales – sales are key; almost everything else is a proxy for some point on … Read More
Is Social Media CRM’s new platform?
For many years CRM has been a “direct” channel delivering one way communications to customers. Now, with the advent and maturity of social media networks brands have the opportunity to engage in more balanced and cohesive discussion with customers and consumers. Social media with its wide accessibility and easy to use functionality offers brands a … Read More