Test New Internet Marketing Channels

Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Larry Chase

You hear lots of big talk about social media, mobile advertising and other newish venues that in my mind haven’t proven themselves yet. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test new ways and channels. Usually, new channels haven’t been budgeted for in most media plans. It’s a good idea to dedicate some small piece of your budget to testing these venues. Since few are buying ad avails in the newest media, you can get them for dirt cheap. Think of it as a learning-curve cost. If you find good returns on your small investment, it could well be worth increasing that channel’s budget sooner than later. Twelve years ago, a search engine gave me exclusives on all category keywords in the travel and automotive categories for my clients in those respective lines of business, just for committing $250,000 for each buy. Some response rates doubled; some response rates tripled; some response rates even quadrupled, all due to the relevance of those keywords. The exclusive right to these keywords was a value-add for the duration of the campaign, just for spending that $250,000. This was back before our competitors thought about buying keywords. This competitive advantage lasted for less than a year. But while it lasted, we enjoyed a very prosperous media flight.

The Internet Marketing Tip above originally appeared in Larry Chase's Web Digest For Marketers which you can subscribe to at no charge at www.wdfm.com.