Thank You For Not Being Stupid

By Digiday • March 29, 2012 •

Back when I was in college, we had a saying: “Thank You For Not Being Stupid.” Which meant exactly that – thank you for not doing and/or saying anything egregiously dumb. So, in that spirit, I’d like to thank my colleagues in the digital planning industry for not being stupid:

Thank You For Not Relying On An Attribution Model Based Entirely On Witchcraft And Sorcery
What if I proposed an attribution model based entirely on spend? So, for example, Channel A gets credit for 50 percent of each conversion, Channel B gets 30 percent, and Channel C gets 20 percent — just because Channel A accounts for half of annual media spend, and Channels B and C account for 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Does that make sense to you? Yeah — me neither. So why, then, do otherwise reasonable people surrender to the siren song of an overly simplistic attribution model?

Here’s a thought – look at your conversion data. Carefully. Analyze. Then analyze again. Read this. Then, see if a reasonable and statistically robust solution doesn’t exist.

Thank You For Not Obsessing Over Site Lists
Keep in mind that you’re not buying sites, you’re buying people — and that means targeting them wherever their browsing habits might lead. A conversion is a conversion — even if it takes place on dumage.com (Mike Shields’ chest-heaving hysteria notwithstanding, of course). I’d also suggest ratcheting down the UGC-phobia a little — if you’re trying to reach a tech-savvy audience, UGC sites like Flickr and Evite are exactly where you’d want your ads to appear (And if you’re not — well, maybe Jitterbug is hiring).

Thank You For Not Focusing On Top-Of-The-Funnel Metrics
Have you ever heard a CMO say, “We’ve reviewed this month’s results, and your conversions are down, revenue is down, ROI is terrible — but your time on site and pages per visit are fantastic! Good work, guys!” Yeah — me, neither. A recent survey of agencies and marketers proves the point — when asked to rank what matters most, conversion rates and ROI ranked No. 1 and No. 2, while page views and time spent on site ranked dead last. So, how about we all agree to focus on bottom-of-the-funnel metrics and consign top-of-the-funnel metrics to history’s dustbin where they belong? Super — thanks.

Bill Bock is senior manager of digital planning at Mediassociates, an ad agency focused on media planning and buying for TV, radio, Internet, print and outdoor advertising.

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