|
|
Intelligent Electronics’ Internet Ad Campaign...
Finally a Home Run!
Our oldest Google Campaign client, Intelligent Electronics, shared the details of their ups and downs in advertising before they began their Google Campaign in 2007. This campaign included search engine optimization and a basic Google ad listing. During the first two years, the company was pleased to hear from a growing number of customers that they found Intelligent Electronics online.
 Even while the ads gave the user the impression they were tech savvy enough to find Intelligent Electronics, the company could tell it was the hard work on their Google Campaign that was guiding these customers to their door. Plus, the tech savvy users tended to fall right into the target demographic. In fact, Intelligent Electronics had finally found a place where they were targeting and drawing in mostly quality leads. The campaign was always successful, even from the first week the campaign was posted.
 In late 2008, Intelligent Electronics gambled on their success and decided to drop their Yellow Pages ad that was costing $1200 per month. With this extra money, they invested in expanding their Google Campaign. Google’s addition of graphic ads in 2009 opened yet another venue to expand into multiple campaigns with more targeted messages.
Today, almost EVERY customer that has not been a word-of-mouth referral comes from Google. "These campaigns absolutely work in a way that is unmatched in targeting desired demographics and increasing web visibility." The statistics show it and the web site traffic shows it. Intelligent Electronics will tell you that this is the ONLY advertising medium they have tried in 15 years that has worked PROOF POSITIVE within their budget and their goals.
Wins & Losses:
A study in reaching an elusive Target Market:
The 30-55 Year Old Male.
The Phone Book
 Phone Book sales people work hard to convince advertisers that this “traditional” method of reaching customers is still an effective tool today. After 10 years of steadily rising costs, Intelligent Electronics decided to abandon the phone book on the suspicion that it was not generating any quality leads.
Before cancellation, Intelligent Electronics was persuaded by their local yellow pages provider to continue with the claim that 80-100 calls per month were being generated by their ad. Upon cancellation, the sales supervisor revealed that they were using old statistics from the early 2000’s to generate their demographics illustration.
In reality, the phone book generated 3-5 low quality calls per month, none of which had generated a substantial sale in years. The demographic represented by the phone book had become largely age 55 and older. This demographic traditionally had little interest in new electronics, especially when paired with phone book usage.
Cost: $1200/month for 5-7 calls
Cost Per-Call: $140/call
Cons: Low Volume usage by wrong demographic
Radio Advertising
 Satellite Radio, iPod and Internet Radio have taken more listeners than the station sales staff are willing to admit.
Intelligent Electronics found that a $2000 per month campaign in a reasonable
coverage area used to yield significant interest and several quality prospects.
For the last 2 years, the same price and coverage campaign has not generated any quality leads. In fact, Intelligent Electronics believes they could not tell the campaign was running at all based on the lack of response.
Cost: Multiple years @ $2000 each per month
Cons: Diminishing listenership
Newspaper Ads
 The newspaper is another “traditional” method of advertising that has become a victim to modern advertising technology. Even after sharply declining circulation, the ads are still significantly expensive. They too seemed to be pricing from old statistics to generate their demographic effectiveness.
In reality, the demographic can be determined by the content of the ads and the size of the Classified Section. Advertisements in the newspapers include a majority of ads for retirement communities and medical supplies. Like the phone book, the demographic represented by has become largely age 55 and older with little interest in new electronics.
Cost: $500/month for 3 months, No tangible results
Cons: Low Volume usage by wrong demographic, Unqualified Data
Television
 In addition to being extremely expensive to even get in the game, 200+ channels to surf and Tivo’s that skip ads altogether have made television
advertising virtually ineffective for the small to medium sized business owner.
(There’s a reason why you only see ads from National corporations).
Intelligent Electronics ran a $5000 annual Christmas Campaign for 5 years. The first 3 years generated noticeable traffic. Customers and friends alike were eager to compliment their TV advertisements.
For the last 2 years, there was little to no return on investment. In fact, Intelligent Electronics states there was no measurable acknowledgement from anyone, much less potentially new customers.
Cost: 5 years @ $5000 each
Cons: Very expensive, difficult to hit target demographic
Multi-advertiser Post Card Mailings
 The RSVP sales people offer a slick looking product and the promise of savings with mass mailing to pre-qualified addresses.
Intelligent Electronics ran the RSVP campaign 3 times with NO SALES LEADS. Their post card offer even included a 10% off, no strings attached discount offer. This was still not enough to produce one lead or visitor to the showroom.
Intelligent Electronics suspected that there was a “hole” in the demographics information. While the packages were being mailed to homes that reached the target demographic, the mail was primarily opened by women who were keeping what they liked and discarding the rest. Upon cancellation, this fact was acknowledged by the sales person saying their more successful advertisers restaurants and home remodelers.
Cost: 3 times @ $2800 each, NO Sales Leads
Cons: Reached wrong demographic
Other Internet Advertising
 Most internet campaigns on specific web sites charge by exposures. This means you pay whether you get any response to your ad or not. Intelligent Electronics ran internet campaigns on several local news and radio station web sites. The costs generally averaged $500 per month for 50,000 impressions.
At first, the costs seemed fairly reasonable, but the 50,000 impression mark was reached much more quickly than expected. This meant that even a somewhat interested viewer exposed to the ad would not have a chance to see it again until the next month unless the budget was multiplied significantly.
Tracking records also varied significantly. Intelligent Electronics showed 3 clicks generated from one specific site. The site advertising department claimed to have recorded 250 clicks. When asked to clarify their numbers, there was no further contact.
Cost: $500/month for 50,000 impression
Cost Per-Click: 3 clicks on ad / No calls or contact
Cons: Unqualified Data, Monthly Budget used very quickly, duplicate users possibly recorded as unique impressions
|
|
