How To Start Simple: Just Start

Posted: January 20, 2012 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Branding, How To, Ideas, Marketing, Tracking

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post titled “Start Simple.” My focus was on the word “simple.” Equal attention should be given to the word “start.”

Starting is hard. It’s hard because if you haven’t done it, you won’t know what it’s going to take. Or where it’s going to lead.

A case in point comes from the eMarketer webinar I attended earlier this week – “Measuring Social Media Success.” 39% of worldwide retailers don’t measure social media marketing.

I’ve not talked to those 39%, but I would bet they haven’t started because they don’t know the right way.

Here’s the secret: There isn’t one way.

Now, there is a right way for your company. But your organization’s culture, available resources, strategic vision and short-term goals – among other things – must all be considered. And the only way to figure out that “right way?” It’s simple. Start.

Prototyping isn’t just for products. It can be used for research methodologies. For ideas. And even for processes. Processes like “Measuring Social Media Success.”

Start by being clear on goals and objectives. Start by articulating the right questions. And then start figuring out the right answers from there.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

New Year’s Resolution For Your Business: Use More Of Your Brain

Posted: December 16, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: How To, Ideas, Tracking

Do people really only use 10% of their brain? Scientific American says no. Actually, they report it as “laughable.”

Do businesses use 10% of their brain? It’s a question worth considering.

As I wrote two weeks ago, Data Is A Numbers Game. And as businesses capture more and more data, they need to be careful they aren’t just using a smaller and smaller percentage of it. Remember, 60% of respondents to a MIT study responded that their “organization has more data than it knows how to use effectively.”

So, what are the steps towards tracking your tracking? They aren’t complicated.

Take an inventory. What tools do you have at your disposal? Ask your co-workers / team members what tools they’re using, too. The demands for your attention have increased. You might be surprised at what you’ve actually forgotten.

Prioritize. What questions you are able to answer with those tools? Which matter most to your success? Call the tools that provide these critical answers your business’ “Brain.”

Be honest. How effectively are you are using your Brain? How much attention do you pay to it? How often do you access its insight? As often as appropriate? Or, maybe, sadly, less so?

Make a new year’s resolution to boost your Brain’s power. Feed it. Grow it. And make sure you are paying it its due attention.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

Track Your Tracking: Data Is A Numbers Game

Posted: December 2, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Ideas, Tracking

Seeing a story about brands embracing analytics has become nothing more than daily routine. But as Einstein famously said, “information is not knowledge.”

There is a tipping point with data where too much makes it hard to focus on what actually is important. And with 60% of respondents in a MIT Sloan Management Review survey agreeing that their organization has “more data than it knows how to use effectively,” our New Normal has tipped.

What to do? Start by tracking your tracking. We measure in order to optimize. What we measure deserves that same attention. Regular audits should consider whether what you’re measuring matters. Don’t just ask “what do we know?” Ask “what do we care?”

Too little data and you’re uninformed. But too much poses its own problems. Data is, itself, a numbers game.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

Innovation, Innumeracy and Imagination

Posted: October 14, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Ideas, Marketing, Planning / Research, Tracking

I am constantly amazed – and somewhat saddened – that numbers are allowed to be used as the weapon of choice in most incidents of Death By PowerPoint. “Professor Plum, with the 123 pages of graphs, in the conference room….”

In 1990, mathematician John Allen Paulos wrote a book called Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences. His point? Illiteracy has an equally devious sibling in the world of numbers.

As a result, numbers are far too often used for mere reporting and far too rarely used to tell stories. I think we should take the opposite approach – and use Innumeracy as an opportunity.

An opportunity to innovate. To rethink and reframe. The fact that too many eyes glaze over at the introduction of charts and graphs should not be a reason to either (a) get rid of charts and / or graphs or (b) accept subpar charts and / or graphs.

There is no one way to present numbers because there is no one way to understand numbers. So don’t feel that you have to present them one way. Strive to use numbers as a way to capture someone’s imagination. Two recent examples that captured mine:

Videos On YouTube: Earlier this year, YouTube celebrated its sixth birthday. At the time, it was announced that 48 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube every minute. Impressive. But what does that mean? Think about it this way: More video is uploaded in two months than the three major U.S. networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) combined created in six decades. Wow. I get it. And I’ve already told someone about it.

Time Spent On Facebook: It should come as no surprise to anyone that a good deal of time is spent on social networks. One widely reported statistic? Americans spend one quarter of their online time on social networks. That sounds like a big number. But @sarahvanelzen posed it this way to me yesterday: People spend 1.3 million years on Facebook every month. Wow. I get it. And I’ve already told someone about it.

As “big data” becomes the office-equivalent of a household word, we have an opportunity to make numbers meaningful. We should start by using them for what they are good for – telling stories.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

Know Your Data: Cookies May Ruin Your Appetite For Marketing

Posted: July 22, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Advertising, How To, Media, Tracking

I sat through a great webinar last week put on by Compete. I imagine my reaction was similar to what The West Wing’s CJ Craig must have felt sitting through the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality presentation. I thought I knew what I was going to see. And then I quickly realized reality looked a lot different than I’d expected.

And it started with two simple data points that weren’t the actual data, but tied directly to it. First, 35% of computers delete cookies. Second, the average number of different cookies for the same campaign among deleters was five.

Are these true of the campaign you’re running? I – obviously – have no idea. The important question is: Do you? Because it could have a huge impact on your metrics.

If you are using cookie-based metrics – and not accounting for how your users account for cookies – you may be greatly overstating your reach, greatly understating your frequency and, if you are conducting a brand study, may be artificially raising your control score.

The implications of any of those misunderstandings can steer you in a different direction. Not understanding cookies – and other variable inputs – can prematurely ruin your appetite for a further investment that might provide a greater return than you realize. It’s not that cookies are bad. Misunderstanding their context is.

The more we become dependent on data to make decisions, the more we must really understand what we do, what we don’t and what we can’t know

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

Effie, Old Spice and The Data Your Data Could Smell Like.

Posted: June 10, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Advertising, Ideas, Planning / Research, Tracking

This past week, in addition to three Effie wins, Old Spice won the Grand Effie for its The Man Your Man Could Smell Like campaign. According to the Effie case study, by July of 2010 sales had more than doubled for the body wash vs. the prior year – an all-time high for the brand. And, according to the case study, it had everything to do with the campaign.

That same month – July 2010 – an AdAge article suggested that coupons may be selling more body wash than The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. I know this because I bookmarked it, wanting to come back to it with some hindsight. Hindsight like: This campaign just won the Grand Effie.

So, was this the most effective advertising of the year or a case of coupons accelerating the growth of a brand in a growing category?

I don’t know. But, as I’ve written many times before, the long run matters. And I fear the AdAge article was falling prey to benchmark-eting, so I’d put my money on the former. That said, I’m not sitting around a conference room table with the folks who could actually know. Neither, it should be noted, were the Effie judges or the AdAge reporter. There is likely truth to both.

The bottom line is that numbers and data are what we make them. So proceed with caution. Don’t ask “what do we know?,” ask “what do I care?” And while simple answers may be comfortable, true success comes in successfully navigating complexity.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

The Essential Question About Data Isn’t “What Do We Know?” It’s “What Do I Care?”

Posted: April 1, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: How To, Ideas, Planning / Research, Tracking

Leave it to Google. The media killer just launched what could possibly be the world’s finest business magazine – Think Quarterly. It’s well-written. It’s well-designed. And it’s well-timed.

The first issue was released to the public this month. It’s dedicated to data. And, seeing as Google is addicted to data, I thought the perspective was refreshing. From the people who brought us Google Insights and Google Analytics comes a Google Pause in the form of a quote from Guy Laurence, the CEO of Vodafone UK. This should become a daily affirmation for marketers:

We were brought up to believe more data was good, and that’s no longer true.

In other words, let’s stop asking “What do we know?” And let’s start asking “What do I care?” “What do we know?” is the path to efficiency. “What do I care?” is the path to effectiveness.

It’s an essential question because it’s easy for the data we have to become the dictator of what we need to do. Tangible, easy-to-measure metrics – like click-through rates – become more important because… we have them. Now, click-through rates can be an important measure of banner success. I won’t argue that. But they are one measure. And because they are ubiquitous, they can easily become shorthand for success – the only measure consistently asked about.

Because we are asking “What do we know?,” we know the click-through rate is .X%. But what do I care? That depends on the objective. And that’s a harder question to ask and a harder question to answer.

I’ve written before about how click-through rates only tell part of the story. A piece this week from the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard confirms that, while easy to measure, click-through rate is only one part of engagement. Time-and-time again, we’ve seen that CTR ≠ ROI. So don’t give up on increasing awareness or changing perceptions or meeting whatever objective it is you care about.

A well-defined objective will make you more objective. It will focus you on the right behaviors. And that can make answering “What do I care?” much easier.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

[Editor’s Note: Not for nothing, but click-through rates may have seemed like they were picked on in this piece. It’s because they are easy to know. The question “What do I care?” can – and should – reach much farther. From reach and frequency to ad equivalency. Easy-to-measure metrics to not equate to importance.]

Don’t Forget: It’s Still The Message That Matters

Posted: February 18, 2011 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Branding, Ideas, Marketing, Tracking

With our ability to target digital media these days, it’s easy to focus on Right Place and Right Time at the expense of Right Message. The first two are just so measurable and defendable, right?

But a recent report from ComScore shows that the display ads that work hardest for brands are the ones that go beyond inviting the click. They’re the ones that consider strategic drivers in the messaging.

In a study of digital display ads (rich media, banners, rectangles), it was found that the minority featured traditional strategic drivers. In fact, only 17% of the display ads studied had a “brand-differentiating key message.” Positioning was, sadly, at a minimum.

The study found the following elements present at the following levels:

New product / new feature information – 19%
Brand differentiating key message – 17%
Superiority claim – 13%
Competitive comparison – 10%

Yet when the campaigns that contained those elements were measured on their ability to drive sales, the ads that had those strategic elements present were consistently more likely to deliver better results. The message mattered.

Every ad is a brand ad. Saying “Oh, this tactic is just to drive traffic” can undermine the overall strategy. And in our increasingly fractured media world, every opportunity needs be taken advantage of to further build the brand.

It may be easier to measure the click-through. But it’s still the message that matters.

Interested in more stuff I find interesting? Follow me @casey_flanagan on Twitter.

Good Reviews Just Aren’t What They Used To Be. Or, I Don’t Care If You Like it.

Posted: October 1, 2010 by Casey Flanagan Filed under: Ideas, Tracking

Final DVR ratings aren’t even available for analysis. But Lonestar, a mostly critically-acclaimed show, has been cancelled after just two episodes.

Two episodes may not seem like a fair shake. But, for the network’s executives, the viewers – or, rather, the numbers – have spoken. And poof. It’s gone.

First, a point of context, I didn’t watch either of the episodes of Lonestar that aired. More on that in a minute.

Second, it goes without saying that Fox never consulted with me on the show’s fate. (And I don’t blame them for it.) I was in zero meetings in zero boardrooms. There may have been very good reasons to cut the show’s cord. It did have the lowest rating of any of the new shows on the Big Four networks.

But I fear, instead, that it’s an example of numbers providing a premature sense of certainty.

Network execs have better metrics in their hands faster than ever before. Quarterly has become monthly has become weekly has become daily has become hourly. Immediacy, however, can create impatience. Improved tracking has rightfully been embraced. But context around the numbers has not. Numbers are always dangerous without context.

The old rules went like this: You’ll get less viewers on your second show than your first. But in the age of Hulu and DVR, “catching up” is not only possible, it’s common practice. It’s what my household does. We were waiting to hear the reviews for the first couple of episodes before making the decision to invest our time. By all accounts, this appeared to be a show we would end up watching. But, before we got the chance, it’s been replaced by a show we decided we didn’t like two seasons ago (Lie To Me).

I know we’ll never return to the days of The Waltons or Seinfeld – which both famously struggled in their first seasons before becoming iconic shows. But Lonestar provides an important reminder for today’s marketer:

The rules of engagement are changing as fast or faster than the consumer. Success needs to be defined clearly by all involved. As do the definitions of short- and long-term.

Laughlin Out Loud / Blog

Category Archives: Tracking

How To Start Simple: Just Start

New Year’s Resolution For Your Business: Use More Of Your Brain

Track Your Tracking: Data Is A Numbers Game

Innovation, Innumeracy and Imagination

Know Your Data: Cookies May Ruin Your Appetite For Marketing

Effie, Old Spice and The Data Your Data Could Smell Like.

The Essential Question About Data Isn’t “What Do We Know?” It’s “What Do I Care?”

Don’t Forget: It’s Still The Message That Matters

Good Reviews Just Aren’t What They Used To Be. Or, I Don’t Care If You Like it.