• by Masha Geller , July 1, 2002

The Atlas Institute released two studies last week that offer marketers new ways to increase their effectiveness when planning and optimizing online advertising campaigns.

The first study analyzes the importance of online media placement versus creative, and the second evaluates the impact of online reach and frequency forecasting.

Study findings prove that optimizing an online campaign’s media placement has six times more impact on conversion rates than creative. This shows that advertisers who optimize on both media placement and creative have a much more significant chance of generating larger performance gains than by creative optimization alone.

Additionally, marketers who utilize online reach and frequency forecasts and distribution reports can be more strategic and precise in planning and optimizing their online campaigns.

Reach and frequency have been deemed an essential component of traditional media buys for many years. However, Atlas says, most online advertisers do not currently have access to online R&F forecasting, and currently rely on average frequency distribution reports, which provide an incomplete view of campaign results and leads to misdirected planning and optimization.

To demonstrate the importance of accurate frequency distribution information in online marketing, the Atlas Institute used Atlas Reach & Frequency Reports to examine data from one month of a typical online campaign to determine exact frequency distribution. What they found is that only 17% of online users achieved a frequency level near the optimal frequency average rate of four impressions.