ErinIs.com

Ok Pandora. I like you; I think you like me. I don’ t mind your ads, heck as a media buyer I respect the integration and ability to target that you offer. I like you so much in fact I have two accounts and not just because I want 80 free hours of streaming music a month (40 per account) but because I have a work appropriate account and a personal one.

But, Pandora, we need to talk. I don’t know what you’re trying to say about me with your recent ads. Does my love of Dragonettes ‘I get around’ and my thumbs uping of Uh Huh Her’s ‘Explode’  imply that I’m a little bit of a whore? Do you think my recent addition of 50 Cent’s “Have a Baby By Me” is a sign that I desperately need birth control? Is that why 90% of the display ads I saw today were for NuvaRing?

I don’t know if the ads were due to behaviroal targeting (I was actively shopping for high heels and looking up bars in SF) or if Pandora was profiling my song choices (check out the above mentioned here, here and here).

One more thing, and this ones for the NuvaRing people, I really don’t want to check out how easy your product is to use. I was terrified there was going to be some sort of how to video. One of the easiest ways to  reduced CTR and decrease engagement – using the word vaginal in your copy and vaguely imply that by clicking the user will see a how to insert video.

(Aren’t you so glad I brought this blog out of retirement?)

Dear Facebook,

Your ads are creeping me out! Who cares if this image is real or fake or how many people can’t pass the illusion test. You have put an image to my head that I will never be able to unsee.

Totally Disturbed,

Erin

Maybe if advertisers created better, more interesting and less incredibly disturbing ads users would not be so against display ads on their favorite sites.

(via @jholic)

There is a great article on TechCrunch “Let’s Kill The CPM” that is a great argument to end the use of CPM (cost per thousand) as a metric to buy, sell and evaluate display ads. Shelby Bonnie makes some excellent points as to why the CPM is stunting the growth of online advertising and ultimately annoying the hell out of users. Using CPM instead of engagement, CPA (cost per acquisition) or CTR is driving  publishers to fill as much of their sites with ads which only increase users to tune out the ads.

Unfortunately CPM is going to be a hard stat to shake from a media buyers mind and impossible to remove from the publishers sales lingo. To me CPM is the same thing as traditional media’s ratings. It is a value placed on the popularity of the site/show, without considering the target audience or their ultimate actions; but target audience is everything.

Are people clicking? Does anyone notice the ad? Of those 1000 people per $30, how many are ins the market to even buy our product? And of those who is actually going to take action?

Few sites (and absolutely no traditional) take it beyond the number of eyeballs an ad reaches and determine cost based on engagement, acquisition or another viable statistic. Some might argue it is unfair that a publisher have to rely on how the capabilities of the advertiser, however I think it would push publishers to select the right advertisers and deliver them to a viable target audience. Right now, publishers are willing to let just about anyone advertise, take a look at CNN or Facebook if you don’t believe me. Spammy, bad ads which just drive down a users willingness to click on ads. Clean up the ad space and users will actually find display ads a source of information on products.

We have the technology, we have the data, we just need to push to make the ad system better, more effective and a hell of a lot less annoying.

Two thirds of all online searches are the result of offline media including TV, newspaper, magazines, word of mouth, radio, direct mail.

Of those who searched for a product or company 39% ended up buying from the brand that motivated their search (via). What happened to the other 61% and how do you keep your share (and steal some of your competitors)? How do you use those search trends to improve both your online and traditional media placement? How do you make sure your online and traditional efforts are cohesively working together?

Well I’d love to say follow a few simple steps and you’re golden, it’s not that easy. As web is almost all in real time these days, you have to consistently monitor, adjust and analyze. These are the top five things I would recommend –

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