Delusions of Grandeur

I remember a few years back when the 100 calorie snacks started to appear that I was excited by the proposition of a treat that was only 100 calories. I also remember the utterly devastating disappointment when I unwrapped my first 100 calorie snack.

It was tiny.

I remember thinking, “I could down this thing in three bites—and that’s if I take really small bites!”

Whenever I see marketing professionals engage in digital marketing and then get their first set of statistics, I feel a little like I’m watching myself open that 100 calorie dessert. I can see it in their eyes, they’re thinking, “there’s got to be more, right?”

That’s all the clicks we got? Shouldn’t there be more? Maybe my TV and newspaper ads were better after all. I’m not sure this digital advertising thing works.

With a standard click rate for banner advertising being less than 1 click per 1000 views, it can be discouraging to the novice digital marketer who is suffering a delusion of the grand all importance of click rates. But the successful digital marketer accepts this for what it is and moves on to working hard to get the best results possible for her business-recognizing that despite this seemingly tiny click rate, there is a lot of money to be made using digital advertising.

But one of the keys to success in digital advertising is to realize that digital advertising is not a magical, one pill cure all. And our expectations likely need to be adjusted based on a real understanding of how to market effectively in a digital world, and even more importantly, how to interpret the results.

The first thing we have to understand is that if our campaign lacks passion, then our results will too. Passion motivates us to focus and to give time to make a campaign the best it can be. The best campaigns will have higher click rates and higher close rates.

The second thing we all need to understand is that newspaper and television advertising had no interaction. There was no such thing as a click—and even so, people actually bought our products after seeing our ads, even though they didn’t click on anything. That hasn’t changed in the digital channel, and in fact, most of your success in an online campaign will come from people who saw your ad, but didn’t click. So, the clicks, seemingly small or not, are just the gravy—or the extra whip cream on the sundae. They are one of the things that add value to digital marketing that more traditional channels just don’t have, but all the value that traditional channels have is still there in the digital channel—with or without clicks.

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