Ad Metrics to Remember
These metrics are pulled from an old Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo. I’m logging them here so that I can get rid of the slip of paper I had them manually written on. Each has a description paraphrased from the Wizard, as well as my take on each’s importance.
1) Share of Voice
The % of noise in the market that yours.
We are exposed to more than 5,000 advertising messages a day. For years, countless creative agency pieces have attempted to highlight their ability to “cut through the clutter” in modern media. This metric gives you a measurement to understand the noise you are making, and how likely it is that the market has seen and will recall your messages. The caveat with this metric is that it MUST be used in parallel with the understanding that an ad’s success is a product of frequency and salience. Share of Voice sits within the frequency piece of the equation, but owning a significant piece of the voice pie doesn’t guarantee results.
2) Product Purchase Cycle
% of the target population in the market that will buy this week.
This metric is important in trying to evaluate sales. Even though there may be 1,000 customers identified in your market, it’s likely that not everyone is buying at the same time (see: umbrellas in a rain storm). Some products have some seasonality to their purchase cycles, while others are flat year-round. This metric gives weekly and monthly dashboards a more reasonable goal.
3) Relevant Population
% of the population that will ever be in the “market” for your product.
Simply put, if you’re a gas station in a town of 10,000 people, you’re relevant population isn’t 10,000. It’s 10,000 minus the people who don’t own cars, lawnmowers, snow blowers, or anything else gas-powered. Understanding this metric allows for a more accurate sales funnel, which can improve your product pricing strategies.
4) Degree of Credible Urgency
Level of action-orientedness shown by customers.
Related to the product purchase cycle, this determines the necessity of a customer to purchase now or soon. If there is no urgency, interest falls off quickly. The Wizard also warns of advertisers’ and marketers’ addiction to increasing the urgency of a promotion, so much so that the business and promotion lose all credibility. Watch out for bad mojo associated with trying to manipulate this metric.
5) Competitive Environment
What other noise is in the market for competitor products, and non-noncompetitive products?
It’s not just about your ads or your competitor’s ads. Each ad a person sees impacts the other ads. There’s timing associated with this in high-level research, but I’ll let you Google that if you really interested. Basically, your ad needs to be seen, remembered and acted upon. Understanding not only the ads your competitors are running, but everything a potential customer is exposed to will help you leverage your creative messaging for better results.
To wrap this up, I again hold true to the fact that this is basically a brain dump for myself so I can clear some papers from my desk. I do hope, though, that if you’ve found this post insightful you’ll jump over to the Wizard’s Memo where there’s much more detail and insight than my little monologue. As always, if you have thoughts, toss them in the comments.