The Widemile Blog

I appreciate your continuing interest in Widemile. We are in the business of helping companies make more money online – something of particular importance in this difficult economy. Widemile’s technology enables digital marketers and their agencies to maximize revenue and ad campaign performance by quickly determining and publishing the web content that delivers the highest returns.

The Year in Review. At this time last year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered above 13,000, and I certainly was not thinking about FDIC bank seizures, corporate bailouts nor Bernie Madoff. A lot has changed in our world since then and, unfortunately, much of it for the worse. However, we must not lose sight of the good things for which we have reason to be grateful. For me, that includes wonderful family and friends and the gifted people with whom I work. I’ll dispense with my traditional, more detailed year in review, since most of us would prefer to just move forward. However, I can’t resist pointing out, despite dramatic spending cutbacks most everywhere, online advertising still increased more than 17% in 2008. Marketers continued to shift spending to digital at the expense of more traditional media and marketing tactics.

What to expect in 2009. Here’s my view of the next 12 months, as it relates to digital advertising and online sales.

Business Results. Tangible business results matter now more than ever. Gone are the days a marketer can focus only on building brand awareness and generating website traffic, while ignoring customer conversions and measurable value creation. Show me a marketing professional who is not working hard to demonstrate real return on their investments, and I’ll show you a person whose job is in jeopardy. Any budget that fails to demonstrate measurable business results and value creation will be cut.

Full Funnel Responsibility. Expect to see a growing trend toward greater assumption of oversight responsibility for the entire online sales funnel (i.e. acquisition, conversion, retention), especially the conversion point, by those responsible for online media budgets, since their job performance is increasingly linked to measures like return on ad spend (“ROAS”) and return on marketing investment (“ROMI”). For instance, those responsible for managing key word budgets need to exert greater influence over the pages where that traffic converts (or not) into paying customers.

Spend Where (You Know) It Delivers Results. Since the measurable business results generated by each marketing dollar are more important now, it’s likely we will see more money spent where it is most easily measured – meaning digital and especially search. Performance metrics have been the long-time promise of digital advertising. However, during better economic times, increased accountability may actually have throttled growth of digital advertising, since the returns may not have “appeared” as rich as everyone assumed other media delivered.

Our troubled economy may finally usher in broader embrace of greater marketing accountability, which is likely to influence budgets as well. Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the IAB, in his holiday blog post reminded us that “below the line” transactional marketing increases during recessionary times. In the past, that meant more coupons and point-of-sale promotions because they are tactics closely linked to measurable results. This year, expect to see less money devoted to brand building, including banner display, and more budget allocated to online selling, especially in areas where the returns are easily quantifiable and can justify the spend.

Widemile. In light of the steady march of sobering economic news, one must remain cautious about business expectations in this New Year. However, since Widemile is in the business of helping online marketers generate revenue more efficiently, I am optimistic about our ability to continue contributing to the success and growth of our industry.

There is no question a well-tested and optimized web page targeted to specific customer segments delivers a better user experience, more conversions and increased revenue. Is there any business owner that doesn’t want to offer customers and prospects a better online experience or would say “no” to more conversions and increased revenue?

Thank you for your continuing interest in our industry and Widemile, in particular. As always, if I can be a resource to you at any time, please don’t hesitate to ask. Best wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009.