Your online marketing bailout plan
The economy is not doing so hot, and a lot of experts think the not-so-hotness is going to transfer online. In other
words, you need to shore up your campaigns' profitability with some additional tactics to generate incremental revenue, and it is imperative that you can closely measure this success. One often
overlooked but vital tactic to achieve these goals is running a feeds program. Unfortunately, this particular tactic often begs the question: What are feeds?
Essentially, feeds are
structured lists of data. If we narrow the focus of the "feed" concept to online retailers, this data generally falls into one of the following classifications: product feeds, promotional feeds and
paid-inclusion feeds. So how about some tips for maximizing the revenue opportunity for each channel?
Let's start with product feeds. Product feeds are files in a structured format that
contain information about the products available for sale on your site. Retailers use product feeds to distribute their catalog information to comparison-shopping engines, affiliates, and sometimes
directly to users. Their chief strength is in their ability to increase products' exposure to online shoppers. In order to maximize opportunity, you have to tighten up the integrity of two key
aspects: data quality and structural efficiency.
Without spiraling into tech jargon: "Quality" refers mostly to communicating product availability and key attributes. Maintaining a product
database as close to real-time as possible leads to higher conversion rates. The key concept is having enough technical flexibility to deliver the same data in optimal formats for each partner.
Promotional feeds are often used to syndicate promotional content to users. Many retailers utilize promotional feeds to alert consumers of company news, sale information, new or featured
products, or as a source of specials. Promotional feeds can be integrated with news readers, home pages and widgets. Promotional feeds are a useful sidekick to re-messaging campaigns, and they serve
as another touch point with your current users. When you serve users offers they're already at least marginally interested in, their purchasing likelihood increases significantly, especially if you've
already been staying in their minds with re-messaging techniques such as targeted media buys. The best way to make use of promotional feeds is through feed and widget directories at Google, Yahoo and
other top tier sites, as well as through deal/sale aggregators DealTime and CouponCabin.
Paid-inclusion feeds provide search programs with information about a site. They are often used to
bolster rankings in natural search engines as they give marketers greater control over the content displayed in algorithmic search results and ensure that hard-to-reach pages are crawled. These feeds
are great for ensuring inclusion in Yahoo's search index, as well as for enhancing your reporting data. Detailed data includes total clicks, queries and exposures. Keyword reports are also useful when
determining the average ranking for each keyword phrase within Yahoo's search results. Making the most of paid inclusion feeds requires a bit of tweaking; you'll want to test alternate titles and
descriptions with your listings, utilize quick links and optimize aggressively to the queries that will drive conversions to your site.
Feeds are one of the least talked about components of
an integrated online campaign, but with their relative low cost, ease of maintenance and dependable ROI, you're really missing out if you don't take advantage of them. By using one or all three types
of feeds, you can keep your campaigns soaring and ensure measurability and profitability in this time of economic uncertainty.