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Frequently Asked Questions |
You’ve got questions. Here are answers to the ones we hear most often.
|
| Q.
What does the average media campaign you run for clients cost?
A. The answer is: It depends. (We know that sounds like a cop-out, but it’s true.) It depends on three primary factors: 1) The scope of your campaign (i.e., how much geography you need to cover, and the size of those markets); 2) How many actions you are trying to generate with your campaign (sales transactions, leads, sign-ups, etc.); and 3) How much you are willing to spend for each desired action. Those factors, plus whether or not you need to create graphics and ads, must then be matched against the available budget you have for the campaign itself. |
Q. Do I have to be a “big corporation” to use LocalMarketMedia.com?
A. Most definitely
not. (Of course, we frequently are asked by clients to pull together
online media campaigns which are more extensive or ambitious than
their budgets would permit; and those requests are not limited
to “less-than-big” clients.) Rather, what we require,
whatever size client you are, is that the overall scope of your
media campaign be in keeping with the available budget you have
for the effort. |
Q. How are media campaigns tracked? A. Tracking of an online media campaign is absolutely critical to successfully managing your total effort. Only through tracking will you ultimately learn what’s working and what’s not. We have worked with several tracking platforms and are willing to work with others. Some of our affiliated resource partners can provide tracking solutions for all types of online media efforts. In fact, some of our clients even use the tracking platforms which are used for their affiliate marketing programs, and we know how to use them, as well. |
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Q. What about Cost Per Action (CPA) media campaigns? Do you do those? Or do you just do Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) campaigns? A. There is no
doubt that the most cost-efficient way to spend your advertising
money is when someone takes action on your communication or offer.
That is what is called a “CPA deal” or “bounty” offer.
The online media market right now is somewhat “hungry” for
advertiser revenues, and many of the larger local media sites are
willing to entertain a CPA component … but only as part
of the total buy made. In fact, we have struck several blended,
hybrid CPA/CPM deals with leading local content sites which have
been successful for some of our clients.
Nevertheless, the rule of thumb to use is: The bigger the site desired,
the less
likely that a “CPA-only” deal will be possible. Hybrid
deals, maybe; but not CPA-only. |
Q. Are banner ads the only creative units you place? Or do you use other types? A. Banner ads
represent but one of the advertising units we place for our clients.
In fact, when you want to test in different markets and you “do
the math,” we have found that other types of elements like
email sponsorships and in-context links work as well, if not better,
in terms of the resulting cost per action. |
Q. How do you evaluate media campaigns? A. The primary
factors we focus on in our evaluation of a client’s media
campaign are four in number: 1) How the campaign did against its
going-in objectives; 2) What elements worked and why; 3) What elements
did not work and why not; and 4) What changes or modifications
should be made for future campaigns. And don't forget: Write it
all down. We do. After the campaign’s
conclusion. |
Q. What about branding on the Internet? Isn’t that important, too? A. In businesses
where there are many competitive brands along with the resulting
clutter, the act of branding one’s product or service line
is always important. Recent studies have shown the Internet to
be a highly acceptable method of building brand awareness as part
of a total communications effort. However, when
implementing Internet media campaigns, especially on a local basis,
careful
attention must always be paid to measuring the effects
of the campaign without hiding behind “branding” as
an excuse for costly efforts. That’s
the best way to find out if you’re getting the most for your
limited budgets. |
Q. What about using media to the ZIP code level? A. Currently
there are very few local content Web sites with delivery capabilities
which accurately – and affordably – deliver audiences
at this level of geography. When they become more available, we
will be there to evaluate them and recommend them to our clients. |
|
Q. What about business-to-business online ad campaigns? Do you do that? And how are they different? A. Business-to-business
(B2B) advertising tends to be more focused on generating leads rather
than direct sales online. That is due to the effects of “channel
conflict,” wherein the B2B client manufacturer will forward
all Internet-generated sales leads and inquiries to the sales people,
distributors, and/or
brokers
for
their follow-up. And if such are the desired actions, then those
metrics are what typically drive the online media campaign plans.
We are also well-versed in structuring online media campaigns targeted
against very narrow B2B audiences…even when the desired geography
of these specialized audiences is limited, as well. We can also help
clients leverage the trade print monies they are spending with cost-effective,
extra exposure on the Web sites of those same periodicals. |
Q. Is media the only Internet service you provide? What about others like email marketing or search engine optimization? A. It is a rare occasion, when working with a client, that all we think and talk about is online media. More often, we are asked to help in many other areas of Internet marketing, like email marketing, search engine rankings improvement, creative and promotional development, etc. In that way, we are fortunate to be associated with several other affiliated resource firms whose services are first-rate and complement the ones we provide in the area of media support. You'll find then in the Affiliated Resources section of this site. |
| Q. Do you ever work for or with ad agencies,
or other marketing service firms?
A. Yes, we have;
and we want to continue doing so. Part of our business strategy is
to serve
as the Internet media “back room” for
ad agencies who are so busy providing their clients with traditional
media and marketing services that trying to also furnish Web-based,
highly targeted media efforts would be de-focusing and excessively
costly over the long run. For marketing services firms which fall into
those types of client situations, we have set up a comprehensive revenue-sharing
structure which we will be happy to discuss in good faith with any
interested agency, no matter where it happens to be located geographically |