Marketing Impact

So I have been thinking alot lately on marketing impact and promotional goals, especially in online media buys.  It’s the constant double edged sword:

• Do you spend your money on the high traffic site that cost more but you know you will get more click-thrus, and therefore, more traffic to your site?
• Or do you spend that money on a lower traffic site that will allow you to have a deeper engagement with the members of that community?

The ideal answer is YES or BOTH!  If you have the money, you should totally go for it, as you will get the benefit of traffic AND engagement of your brand.

But the Iron Triangle of project management looms large:

You rarely are able to have all three points of the triangle in any project.

So what do you do?  If you are lacking in resources (money, usually) make up for it in features.  But before you get all tactical, make sure you are clear on your project objectives.  Figure out what is your ultimate goal?

• Is it to get tons of traffic? If your goals are about building awareness and this is but one of your plans in a long term campaign, put an ad on one of the “big guns” for tween traffic  – TV networks, gaming sites, etc.  Traffic is great and the more people see your ad on other sites then the more people you can get to your destination, the more brand awareness you spread.
• Is it to get some great quotes for sales packages, etc? Then go to a smaller community that will be able to build a deeper, more immersive experience for the users.  Many times you can organize a community or world event and get the players talking either directly to you or about your brand.
• Is it to maximize your spend? A targeted ad network might be a better idea for you.  You might not get an ad on the heavy hitters and you won’t get the engagement you would from a smaller site, but you can spread your brand around to more sites.  There are some great options out there to help you target collections of site within the demographic you are looking at.
• Have you thought about offline engagement? It’s funny, but ever since the web came around, it becomes the only thing people can think about.  But TV still dominates most peoples lives.  And don’t discount the level of engagement that a well planned event sponsorship/promotion can have.

Other factors to consider in your choice include whether this is a one time campaign or part of a larger strategy, what sorts of users you are looking for, whether you are looking for awareness, conversions or something else.

At the end of the day, it’s a question of priorities and choice.  It’s best to weigh all of your options and objectives before jumping into implementing tactics.

Turns out, this is good advice for your non-work situations as well. 🙂