What Channel Do Your Customers Use?

By Michael Ferzacca, CEO, Advanced Interactive Sciences, LLC.

With ROI pressure increasing as media costs climb, you can’t afford to miss any sales.  In our “always connected” world, potential customers may respond to your ad through one of several possible channel options –telephone, online or mobile.  If you’re not actively engaged in those other channels, competitors may skim away customers responding to your DRTV ad.

 

Too often, we consider other channels as an afterthought instead of a key element of a well-coordinated marketing program.  So consider:  

• 43% of consumers were motivated to search online after viewing an ad on TV.1
• Including a URL on the television screen, “has proven potential to raise sales by 15-40%.2
• Over 4% of US mobile phone subscribers responded via SMS to a non-mobile ad.3

Capitalize on the channel crossover benefits of your DRTV advertising and increase your ROI by:

 

Focusing on search engine optimization and pay per click.  Without on-going, active management of PPC and SEO programs and mirroring advertising activities in other channels, competitors are getting clicks that should be going to you.

 

Utilizing Targeted Landing Pages.  Take visitors exactly to the product they want – and let them buy it on this page because they may not bother to search your site to find what they want.  Remember, consistency in presentation and offer goes a long way towards streamlining the sales process, so match creatives and offer specifically to what viewers see in DRTV or search ads. 

 

Supporting multiple response mechanisms.  Capture incremental sales by complementing e-commerce capabilities with a call option.  Retain potential customers who may have security concerns transacting online as well as customers who prefer to use the telephone.

 

What about Mobile?  While mobile can be a great response mechanism because of its immediacy and reach, its volume is dwarfed by TV and online activity.  You can leverage this growing market by working with a partner who is familiar with the unique considerations of this channel.

 

Integrating offline and online reporting.  With DRTV ads driving significant sales through the online channel, it is crucial to tie online sales activity back to the specific ad or media market.  “With 16-35% of DRTV campaign response coming via the Internet and the balance by phone, failing to combine these two channels for reporting purpose can make a profitable DRTV spot appear to be a disappointment.”2

 

Coordinate all aspects of your marketing program.  As you add channels and response mechanisms, the complexity of your marketing programs will naturally increase.  Working with a partner on certain aspects of your program allows you to leverage their expertise, so look for partners who provide:

• Easy integration and coordinate of order fulfillment and reporting activity – across all channels.
• Flexibility and speed to ensure online and other channel programs keep pace with your DRTV activities.
• Ability to test different offers and landing pages and monitor results real-time for on-going optimization.

 

As customers increasingly utilize multi-channels to buy, move with them so you’re on the same channel.

 

Michael Ferzacca is CEO of Advanced Interactive Sciences, LLC (www.aisvoice.com).  He can be reached at (703) 883-1144, or via e-mail at mike@aisvoice.com.

 

1 BIGresearch’s “Simultaneous Media Survey” conducted for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, March 2007

2 ERA white paper, “The Evolving Role of Direct Response Television in Multichannel Marketing Execution”, July 2007

3 M:Metrics, SMS advertising in US and Europe for Q3 2007