Promoting a BDA on your site not only shows your audience that the brand is developing new conveniences for them, it also appeals to early adopters.

Many large brands today are adding the word "innovation" to their marketing mantra, and for good reason. Web 2.0 technologies, interactive social media, emerging platforms and open-source applications are creating so many good branding opportunities it's enough to make a brand manager's head spin.

Desktop applications (BDAs, widgets) have become a focal point for brands wanting this interactive innovation edge, as they see how powerful persistent real estate on the desktop can be.

If you are now asking yourself "What is a BDA?" or simply need a refresher, you can find it in this quick video, or by checking out my previous imediaconnection articles.

When brands start to develop in this space, the ultimate question becomes, "What does success look like?" The short answer is that with any new technology offering, you're never quite sure.

Of course, this is not the answer anyone with a corporate checkbook wants to hear. So, we've worked with various clients to define what that initial success looks like in a BDA. Understanding your current media plan is always a good place to start.

Let's review a few basics we've experienced, and hopefully you’ll come away with a better understanding of the initial splash you'll make with a desktop widget.

Please remember that this list ends up being an extremely conservative estimate. The final determinants include at least two viral generations, since BDAs are so easily passed along. You also can't discount the effect all the PR of being an innovative brand carries with it.

Your email audience
Usually representing core audiences, email databases are often the most receptive for BDA downloads. The "Ding" from Southwest was originally geared, as are all BDAs, to help reduce or eliminate a brand's need for email as a communications channel. Southwest saw 25 percent of its email list move over to the widget right off the bat. It's safe to pencil in 18-25 percent of your email audience, depending on their level of involvement with the brand.

Your web property
This one may seem obvious but is usually overlooked. Promoting a BDA on your site not only shows your audience that the brand is always developing new conveniences for them, it also hits your core: the influencers and early adopters you'll get on board just by presenting something new and free from a brand they trust. In our most conservative of estimates, you can count on at least 15 percent of your web traffic to download a BDA.

Online banner buys
Can't live with them, can't live without them. Your online media buys will generate as many downloads as they are specifically targeted. As a ballpark for a CPG brand, some estimates go as low as one-half a percent. However, the better positioned your proposition, the better off your response rate.

It has been said that CPG brands on certain major social media sites have done as well as 4 percent clickthrough on banner campaigns. Rich media placements like PointRoll often boast clickthroughs at twice this rate.

Most brands will fall somewhere in between, with the least-altered, most traditional online buys scoring toward the 0.5, and the most specific garnering 4 percent or more of the total gross impressions over the life of the online buy.

Print
We all know that the traditional magazine buy is typically more about awareness and glossy branding than motivating specific action. That said, tagging current print creative work with a short description and URL will generate downloads. After all, no other media can sit next to a computer to remind people where to point their browsers quite like the printed page. Our conservative estimate usually hovers between .25 and .75 percent of your gross magazine impressions, without using any other incentives to specifically push downloads.

Television
The broad brush of your buy responsible for most of your reach and gross impressions is tagging the end of existing TV spots, which is a relatively inexpensive way to raise awareness of your website as well as your widget. If your TV ad buy gets an average frequency above 4 against your core, it's reasonable to expect that much like print, you'll drive approximately .25 and .75 percent of that audience to download the BDA.

Motivational frequency
This is always at the crux of – and the shortest distance to – understanding just how many people will be motivated by your media plan to download the BDA. If you're a CPG brand introducing a BDA in the time of year when you are below your MF just to maintain awareness, then it's fair to estimate lower downloads.

The best results for brands in this space is when the widget ties directly into the product you're marketing, allowing for fluid messaging that promotes both the product, and by extension, the BDA, while your frequency is at its peak.

Ask your planners and your agency
The bottom line to understanding what initial success means to your brand is collaboration between your agency creating the BDA and your media planners. The sooner you get these folks sharing data, the more targeted and relevant your content and media plan will be.

It all comes back to the basics of serving your audience and communicating effectively in the reach/frequency battle fought every day in traditional ad spaces. The more frequency brands can drive against the core, the more initial downloads they'll get.

Now your BDA starts to follow the early-adopter curve of a product introduction as opposed to the awareness curve of a marketing campaign. But that's another story for another article.

Michael Leis is VP of Publishing Dynamics. Read full bio.