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Measuring Video Ad Effectiveness

Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 6:17 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

Just as with email campaigns, or any other form of advertising, it’s not enough to just throw it out there. You need to measure the results so you can track your efforts against conversions and sales. Ultimately, you want to measure ROI (Return on Investment).

Video ad effectiveness measurements are in some ways similar to other ads, but they also have their own unique metrics. At minimum, you need to measure clicks, views, and viral.

The effort put in to producing a video ad isn’t solely to provide entertainment, though that helps create search engine rank and traffic. Measuring clicks helps you determine popularity, and as with other kinds of ads, forms one component of a conversion calculation.

Unlike traditional online ads (but similarly to page views) you also want to measure the length of time viewers spent watching the video. In a 30 second video, did they ‘change the channel’ or go get a beer from the fridge after 10 seconds? That gives you a good idea about how compelling the content is, and forms another piece of an objective measurement of conversion.

Similar to email campaigns you want to measure viral quality. Did they recommend or pass the ad onto their friends? Word-of-mouth, after all, is still the most effective form of advertising by far. Nothing beats a recommendation from a trusted source.

Nielsen Buzzmetrics, and many other similar services, can give you one set of tools to make sure your video ads are doing what they’re supposed to: draw traffic, create views, generate clicks, and — the ultimate name of the game — help garner sales.

If it isn’t measured, you’re flying by the seat of your pants. And, in the hypersonic jet age, that’s a dangerous method of navigation.

Affiliate Manager Course Is Live!

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 at 12:05 pm by Anik Singal

You can now order your copy of ‘The Affiliate Manager - 1st Edition’ !

Please remember that the first 200 orders will get the special bonus “Powerful Affiliate Joint Venture Tactics” course absolutely FREE. This course will NEVER be sold again. Only 200 copies are being produced.

To order, click here now: http://www.AMClassroom.com/course

Video Ad How-To Tips

Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 6:48 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

The worth of video ads is becoming fairly common knowledge. Two basic aspects of the process, one at the beginning and one at the end, are worth thinking about: (1) What to do when you’re planning to make one, and (2) how to measure the effectiveness when you’re done.

Find some videos that have kept your attention and analyze why you were glued to your monitor.

Some are so whacky you can’t believe someone would act like that, and you hang around out of fascination. (See used car commercials, hot tub ads, some stereo store ads, etc on TV.) Some are professionally slick or show graphics that are compelling.

Some combine the two in imaginative ways. Many may have seen the Honda ad in which a hundred different everyday objects were lined up like dominoes then knocked over for half an hour. Most people wouldn’t be able to take their eyes off the show until the end. (There are 30 sec versions, as well.)

Heidi Cohen has some more excellent suggestions in a recent ClickZ column. Some of her main points, with my elaboration are:

1. Allow for a variety of players. Not everyone uses Windows Media Player. Macs and Linux may comprise smaller markets, but they are composed significantly of very graphically and/or techno-savvy users.

2. Incorporate adjacent ad units. Video and other ad forms on the same page make for a winning combinations.

3. Encourage interaction. This is incredibly important. Internet users are no longer satisfied simply to read. They want the page, even video ads, to contain elements they can operate. Toyota, for example, is running a series of car ads that allow users to select which sub-type of new model they are interested in. The ad content changes with their choice, just as you would expect from a tutorial or other kind of web content. Ads can teach, entertain, and sell all at the same time.

4. Add viral functionality. Good video ads, like any other kind, are recommended. Social networking only adds to that phenomenon. Make it easy for your creativity to be known to others and watch your sales soar.

For just one example of a video ad that we’re kind of fond of, Joel Comm’s video touting AC’s new Affiliate Manager course, see the post below.

We’ll cover the topic of measuring their effectiveness soon.

Videos Are Hot

Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 4:49 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

As Anik has so insightfully pointed out recently, video is hot. And, not surprisingly, there are several good studies that back up his intuition.

80% of TV advertisers plan to spend more on Web ads, much of that in the form of video. According to Tessa Wegert in a recent ClickZ column, 5% of Internet users currently watch video online every day.

That’s not a large percentage, though it’s bound to grow. And, since lots of video can crossover easily from one country to the next (think coffee commercial without dialogue), the potential is actually much greater.

But even restricting our focus to the current 172 million U.S. Internet users, 5% is equivalent to 8.6 million viewers. Ms. Wegert goes on to say that 39% watch once per week. That’s 67 million viewers.

Think about that. 67 million people as a potential audience for a video. Not to pull the usual multi-level marketing trick with numbers, but let’s hypothesize. 1/100th of a percent is still 6,700 people. I haven’t asked Anik, but I know I’d be pretty happy if 1/100th of a percent of the audience saw Joel Comm’s video advertising AC’s new Affiliate Manager course.

I’m betting, we’ll do much better than that, though…

Joel Comm Video Reveals ALL!

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 12:51 pm by Anik Singal

I was amazed by his video, I could not have done this any better myself…

Thanks JOEL!! Visit Joel’s Blog at www.JoelComm.com to learn more about his Adsense Empire…

Thanks Joel!

Download the June AC Magazine!

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 5:07 am by Helen Montgomery, AC Magazine

The June 2006 Affiliate Classroom Magazine focuses on marketing affiliate products in the lucrative financial products and services niche. Articles include:

How to make sure that the content you write for your financial web sites doesn’t get you into trouble down the road.
Tips for marketing a top life insurance pay-per-lead program.
Developing PPC campaigns that actually pay for themselves.

Plus you’ll get the next installment in our Affiliate Web 2.0 series on social bookmarking for affiliates. Click here to download the June 2006 Affiliate Classroom Magazine now!

Boosting Open Rates With Authentication

Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 3:43 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

Technology is beginning to lend a hand to beleaguered email marketers. A recent study by Iconix suggests that open rates increased substantially when visual authenticity icons were used, as much as 404% in one case. (As reported by Pamela Parker on ClickZ.)

Since Iconix sells authentication services, the study will need to be corroborated independently, but the results are in line with similar studies carried out by others. And the results are promising. Results tended to be largest for sites that were most frequently the tools abused by phishers. But even online retail sites’ missives saw a healthy 40% increase.

Users tend to open mail from sources they trust. This is one more way to put more trust into the system. And all ways are welcome. (Affiliate Classroom magazine devoted an issue to email marketing in March, 2006. Some other authentication methods were discussed there.)

If you’re using any authentication methods, let us know how that’s working for you.

Teen Surfers

Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 4:44 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

No, not that kind, the online sort. You know, the kind that always manage to get to the Xbox two minutes before you planned to. And the kind that do homework while watching TV, while visiting MySpace and YouTube, blogging, and picking their favorite stocks. Huh, stocks? What’s up with that?

Personally, I find teens annoying. They always manage to get to the game console just when I want to play. Or, here I am trying to use the phone to arrange a golf game. But I can’t hear because they’re making so much noise emailing their partner via the cellphone about some silly merger. And just when I plan to watch CSI they flip the channel to the Nightly Business Report.

Sheesh, can’t they grow up already?

Teens have monetized MySpace in ways I never would have thought of. Darn them. They put Google ads on their blog. Why didn’t I do that? They rush off to TeenAnalyst.com to share their latest stock picks. Like, oh yeah, I’m supposed to understand the difference between a debenture and a denture.

What next? Pretty soon they’ll be running behaviorally targeted ads for surgical gowns on TV, just while I’m trying to hear who did it.

Man, teens are irritating. Especially rich ones who earned it by being foresighted and clever and hard-working and tireless and dedicated. Why can’t they take up surfing? You know, the old-fashioned kind.

Moms Surf The Internet Waves

Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at 4:37 pm by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine

Moms and teens now have one more thing in common: they both spend lots of time (and money) online.

Females as a whole make up a slightly larger percentage of the Internet population: 51.4%, according to eMarketer. Of those, 32 million are mothers, and the number is expected to rise.

Common sense — and several studies — make clear what they’re doing with that online time. Scouring for parenting and medical advice, seeking time-saving tips, and just enjoying communication with friends and family.

But they’re also spending money.

Mothers, obviously, have special needs that go beyond the games, music CDs, travel, jewelry, and other items that are popular across all demographics.

More than men, or females in general, mothers spend more money on others as a percentage of income. That means they’re invariably going to be shopping for ways to make the most of those dollars.

Affiliates who can most effectively direct mothers to merchants that offer them what they are looking for, when they are looking for it, are going to — as the saying goes — clean up.

And, isn’t that what your mother always told you to do — clean up after yourself?

Videos, Videos and MORE Videos!

Monday, June 12th, 2006 at 4:56 pm by Anik Singal

Ok…common sense right? More people want to watch videos rather than read some report? The first phenomenon was AUDIO - everyone was all “goo-goo-gaa-gaa” for audios. Now that that has become common place, everyone is targeting videos now.

I knew it all along, but finally decided to do a test.

On a recent promotion to one of my lists, here are the results I saw:

Week 1 - Promo for a “pdf report” - 2,356 clicks
Week 2 - Promo for a “video” - 3,870 clicks

That’s 64% more clicks! To the same list basically on the same topic.

So, affiliates, I don’t know where, but find some videos to put on your site!

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