• by Robin Simkins , June 5, 2013

I had the privilege of virtually sitting down with Eli Goodman, media evangelist at Comscore -- with more than a decade’s worth of digital research know-how -- to discuss current trends.

So, about Google Glass, did “Saturday Night Live” get it right?

I’m not in a position to predict whether Google Glass will be a successful product or not – or even what level of adoption determines success – but there are elements of it that I find particularly interesting for certain applications. Most of the time a product is invented with a specific purpose in mind, hits the market, and then more or less fulfills that purpose.  But with something like Google Glass, it seems likely that its best potential use cases haven’t even been imagined or realized yet. 

The most immediate applications that come to mind for me would be the industrial and business uses.  Although the “cool” factor may be an important consideration in peoples’ personal lives, utility is nearly always going to be most important for business use.  So if wearing Google Glass on the factory floor delivers a cost-effective degree of utility to your job function that was unattainable before, there is no question in my mind that the manufacturing world will find a way to make it work for them.

So I think it will be interesting to see what unfolds as this innovative technology reaches the marketplace, because you can bet the market will find good use cases for it that will dictate how it will ultimately be leveraged.   

What is the best way to tap a new or larger audience, one similar to consumers already converting?

In order to tap into a new audience, you first need to quantify your existing audience and addressable market opportunity.  Often times marketers decide they need to grow their audience, but they aren’t clear on how large that potential audience is, let alone how to go about courting it.  So first things first, how many people are out there for me to sell to --and how many of those people do I already engage?

Once you understand the size and scope of your existing audience and market penetration, you need to determine if you want to grow the size of your audience, the frequency with which you engage that audience, or both (i.e. is your goal to go out and find two new people the use your deliverable one time each, or are you more interested in finding one person that will use your deliverable twice?)

The more upfront research you can do before making decisions on strategy will most certainly deliver a more efficient and effective outcome.

Does display advertising, and specifically search retargeting, provide lift to overall SEM efforts?

There is no question that a well-planned and expertly executed online campaign strategy will pay dividends.  The idea of retargeting is not a new one, and myriad studies have proven that search and display advertising prove to be more effective when used in conjunction with each other.  comScore’s “Whither the Click” whitepaper from 2008 was a starting point in the measurement evolution on this topic, and others can easily be found with a simple Internet search. 

The path to virtually any purchase, online and offline, tends to cross through search activity and exposure to display ads, so coming up with a cohesive marketing plan that takes advantage of the additive nature of these disparate investments is critical to maximizing conversion.

Where am I wasting marketing dollars? Where is my spend ineffective?

To ask “where?” is pessimistic --  it assumes that you want to simply excise part of your program. Instead, ask yourself, "Why is my spend ineffective?" and give yourself the opportunity to heal the problem rather than amputate. How is my message being perceived?  Do I have the right mix of reach and frequency?  Am I working with the right publishers to reach my target market? 

If you want to understand “why” your marketing dollars are being wasted, you must invest in measurement related to the effectiveness of your advertising.  There are so many factors that go into the effectiveness of any advertising mix, many that may be beyond your control, that it can seem almost impossible to determine what you need to change to improve. 

When putting together ad budgets, my strong recommendation is to set aside a portion of it on the front end to run effectiveness studies before going live with the entire campaign.  Going back to my earlier sentiment, a little upfront planning and research will go a long way in maximizing your advertising investment during the execution phase.