achieving the optimal b2b media media mix
TRANSCRIPT
Eric Anderson
VP of Emerging Media
White Horse
Achieving the Optimal B2B Media Mix:
A Model for Cross-Channel Planning
B2B media planning is in crisis.
The downturn has prompted belt-tightening, but b2b
marketers lack good models for knowing which belts to
tighten and which to loosen.
The proof the crisis is the
huge disparity between
where money is being
spent and where b2b
marketers find success.
It’s easy for b2b marketers to get entrenched in poorly
performing techniques, with no good data to take them in
new directions. And who has the budget to experiment?
But as complex as b2b media planning can be, it still largely
follows the simple formula of the “S” curve.
A campaign that defines its success by lift – e.g., lead gen or brand
awareness – will have an S as its goal.
Leads
Impressions per Target
Threshold where you’re delivering the
minimum impressions to impact leads
Point of equilibrium where you’re delivering
the right number of impressions for max
ROI
But as complex as b2b media planning can be, it still largely
follows the simple formula of the “S” curve.
A campaign that defines success by reduction – e.g., in cost per lead – will
have a reverse S.
In both cases, we’re chasing that point of maximum efficiency before
performance tails off.
Cost-per-
Lead
Impressions per Target
Point of Equilibrium
The S-curve is pretty simple to manage and measure when you’re
working in only one medium – especially a measurable one.
Leads
Impressions per Target
Ramp up impressions!
Ramp down impressions!
It becomes insanely complex when you’re working in multiple
channels.
If you can’t isolate the contribution of each channel, how do
you know how when you have the right mix?
Leads
Direct Mail, PPC, Print, TV
Total Impressions per Target
Ramp up direct mail? Print? TV? A little of
each? A lot of one and a little of the others?
Yes for one customer segment, no for
others? And when will we know if it worked?
With all these channels, can we
even find equilibrium before the
campaign ends? Probably not.
Like baldness treatments, various methods have been tried –
but none of them are entirely convincing.
Method 1: In b2b marketing, as in consumer advertising, good
old-fashioned reach & frequency still holds sway.
See here, old boy – Reach and Frequency
work just fine!
You figure out your target audience, then
how many impressions each channel can
give you for that audience, then you divvy
up your media that way!
Traditional Media Buyer
Method 1: In b2b marketing, as in consumer advertising, good
old-fashioned reach & frequency still holds sway.
R&F is so last century, 1950s Guy!
B2B companies are mostly considered
about performance, not awareness. You
still need separate models to figure out what
R&F is best for your goals.
Contemporary Media Buyer
Method 2: Control for the incremental impact of adding
another channel.
You can do that sequentially…
Problem: B2B customers don’t actually consume media as if they’re wearing out
a pair of shoes.
Source: The Ephron Consultancy
Method 2: Control for the incremental impact of adding
another channel.
Or you can do it simultaneously, one channel at a time.
Problem: How expensive and complicated is this going to get when you’re
dealing with 4 or 5 channels?
Source: Avenue/Razorfish, “Actionable Analytics”
Method 3: Ask prospects which channel delivered them, then
optimize based on results.
Problem: This solution remains stuck in the “last click” rut – it only accounts for
the last exposure the user had, not the cumulative impact.
Method 4: Go behavioral – figure out how your target
consumes media, then divide accordingly
Problem: better than R&F, but it’s still directional. You don’t know how each
channel actually performed, so you’ll still waste money.
Media planners mostly agree: to truly know what works, you
need to create a backwards-looking model that analyzes the
impact of each channel.
But that can be difficult, painful, and expensive. Most media
buyers would prefer to use limited model data combined with
educated guesses.
Which is exactly why the shift to new media is nerve-
wracking: the old models were already limited for b2b, and
now those are no longer reliable.
Zenith Optimedia’s Global Ad Forecast
In digital media-buying, though, we have the luxury of
knowing (almost) exactly what works.
The real break-through came when we moved beyond the
“last click” fallacy and could measure the contribution of
every exposure.
Source: Avenue/Razorfish, “Actionable Analytics”
We can create precise sequences of ads and serve them based
on the prospect’s actions and past exposure.
We’re no longer beholden to clicks – we can measure the
actions of prospects who saw ads but showed up later.
Google search for partners
Visit partner sites
Paid Media
Impression
Visit Site
Convert
Attend webinar
Ask questions of other
customers
Check industry reviews
and forums
Connect through forum
Digital also has the ability to look at the b2b marketing funnel in its true
complexity and measure the impact of each action.
So if digital is so good at creating b2b media mix models, what can
it do for offline media?
Answer: LEAD WITH DIGITAL to create the offline media model.
Test digital venues based on goals, then map those venues to
their offline counterparts.
Awareness Preference Lead
TVRadio
Outdoor Newspaper Trade Pubs
PRDirect
Sponsored
ContentWebinarsTrade Shows Paid Search
SocialVideo
OFFLINE
ONLINE
Example: Create a digital campaign based on driving early
awareness leading to direct conversion.
Hypothetical Impression Sequence
Display Display Video Video Webinar Webinar
I see that Manufacturer
X has a new solution
coming out.
I get it – their new solution
is a whole new take on
Category Y.
I have to take a look at
this solution.
Create a 90-day test that determines the optimal number of
combined awareness and offer impressions to produce a
conversion.
Then you’ve not only got your S curve, you also know which
venues produced it.
Leads
Impressions per Target
Users exposed to a sequence of ads:
•Display
•Video
•Webinar offer
Optimal impression path:
two takeovers plus offer.
Feed this data into your cross-channel planning. Apportion
your impressions according to what actually worked.
Display40%
Video20%
PPC25%
Webinars15%
Online Model
TV40%
Video20%
Direct Mail25%
Webinars15%
Cross-Channel Mix
By using digital to model the media mix, we may finally be
able to answer John Wanamaker’s famous dilemma:
Answer: It’s the half you’re not modeling.
I know half of the money I spend on
advertising is wasted.
The problem is, I don’t know which half.
Recommendations
1. The most important thing, whether cross-channel or single-channel,
is to know your S-curve.
2. Next most important: go beyond R&F and allocate according to goals
and the behaviors that accompany them.
3. But to truly optimize your marketing mix: you need to know what
works based on real data and be able to divvy your budget
accordingly.
