Intent
David Fishman
A
frequent question asked by advertisers is how do I build an
ad that does not convince people to buy but rather fits with
their already good intentions? In the media buying game, the
customers intention needs to be factored into the equation
when deciding and negotiating prices. The return on
investment is often tied directly to the potential customers
intent. The concept of intent is so important that it is one
of the underlying factors that the US criminal code is based
around. There is a concept called “mens rea”, meaning the
guilty mind.1 The idea is; did the individual intend
to commit the crime. Clearly, the punishment or result of
being considered one having a guilty mind when committing a
crime will result in a much more severe punishment then if
you committed a crime but did not intend to do so. In the
same light when an individual intends to purchase something
and an advertiser has the ability to capitalize on that
intent the resulting ROI should be that much greater.
A simple
way to optimize intent is to design your site or product so
that it receives high natural listings on search engines.
The power of search engine technology is to harness the
intent of a consumer and focus them on your product. The
technology of a search engine makes the phone book
interactive and more usable. Rather than spending 5 minutes
and wondering how to spell the name of a company or whether
they are under consumer electronics, or household items,
search engines allow for simple reactive searches that often
times result in the products one is looking for.
However
as a media buyer the use of a search engine is somewhat
limited. The opportunity to purchase on CPA or CPM, and to
buy pops, banners, emails, to buy clicks to buy impressions
etc…can often times not only be overwhelming but difficult
to understand. For example, why at two sites with the same
non-incentivized traffic the banner prices for the same
placement can be many thousands of dollars apart. Why is this
the case? Perhaps part of the key to understanding the
pricing can be based on intent, or the intention of the
consumer.
For
example, a media buyer must figure out if the placement of a
banner for a diet product will be successful on a site that
is focused on giving consumers cash back for purchases at a
specific CPM. The range of buying media is so great and
without clear standards that the only guide a buyer has to
go on is to know exactly what the acquisition cost is for
their product. The simple form of purchasing is to simply
buy on CPA only. This allows you to always hit your expected
cost. If however, you need to buy on CPM or CPC it is
absolutely necessary to understand if the consumer will be
looking at your product with the intention of buying it, or
is somehow incentivized to click on it, or any other
mitigating factor.
The more
focused the media is on gaining a customer that is intent
and focused on the advertisement or driven to that
advertisement in a clear manner the higher the return on the
investment will be. If an email hooks a consumer through an
offer of a free television, but then tells them they must
pay $100 for a set of knives to get the television, the
consumer’s intention of receiving a free TV will not be
fulfilled completely by also having to buy a knife
collection. The goal of the media buyer should be to
evaluate the advertising medium, the type of site or traffic
that is being bought and then see if that fits with the
offer media being bought for. The idea is not to find a
clear standard between yahoo.com and windaily.com but rather
to figure out what verticals fit at what price for what type
of media per product. Hopefully the more one purchases media
the easier it will be to figure out the right price on your
product.
1.
http://www.kevinboone.com/lawglos_mens_rea.html
