I had a great time talking with the people who attended my session at the DMA!
I always find I learn more by preparing to speak and then discussing the topic than I ever would by attending even the best possible sessions. So I’m very grateful I had the opportunity to present.
Since I was talking about multi-channel marketing, it’s not surprising that I got a couple of questions about attributing results to specific channels. Sometimes this is a bigger issue than it needs to be because getting credit is a political problem within siloed organizations. But, regardless of the politics, it always seems important to know exactly who did what and got what result. You need to know if you’re spending too much or too little in a particular area.
My answer is always to establish the rules before the campaign so you don’t get bogged down in an ugly fight afterward. You may not be 100% accurate – in fact, I guarantee you won’t be completely accurate – but over time you’ll figure out what’s having an impact and what isn’t.
People were also interested in our ability to measure each channel on its own. (This is a different issue from attributing sales to a particular channel.) If you’re delivering a DRTV campaign with mail follow-up, you need to measure which one drove which phone calls or web visits. Don’t aggregate by response channel. This is how you can learn what’s driving response and what isn’t – even if you can’t completely track one responder all the way through to the sale.
Session attendees also seemed surprised to learn that mobile display ads CAN drive leads in a multi-step campaign. It’s not just a click to call idea. But you have to think through where you’re going to send your responders. Make sure your landing page is mobile-ready.
If you attended the session, thanks! I learned a lot.