After reading Seth Godin's blog, I need to thank him for introducing me to the term "scalejacking" (coined by Dave Balter). It's a term that effectively sheds light on an antiquated thought that most marketers entertain at one point or another. This thought leads marketers to believe that it is important to get their display message in front of as many consumers as possible, no matter the cost, no matter their interest level, no matter whether the recipients are even in the right demographic. The hope is that having their message everywhere will generate enough attention, at a cheap price, that they attract and convert (read: jack) enough customers to justify the expense.
If you ask marketers who have tried scalejacking how their campaigns performed, chances are they will say that the tactic was not at all successful. Every once in a while, this type of marketing can work, but that is usually in instances when the rare infomercial-type product is being promoted. The product has to be generic and appeal to the lowest common denominator for scalejacking to be effective -- a mix that is not easily found.
Seth's thoughts on scalejacking were dead on; contrary to common belief, scale (or the quantity of people you reach) isn't what matters. Who cares if a network says it can reach 100 million unique users on a monthly basis? What network doesn't make a claim like that? It's really about depth.
Rather than focusing on scale, focus on going deep in the following ways:
- Go vertical. Scalejacking is a horizontal thought process that seduces you by the thought that after you place your message in front of 1 million people, a click-through rate of .0000001 percent, with a conversion rate of .0004 percent from those clicks, will make the scalejacking worth it. Sound like a stretch? Well, you're right. This tactic won't work.
- Boost value. Now that you are thinking vertically, you should think of going deep -- as in going deep in your product offering. What can you do to influence your organization to add more value to the product? The key here is to focus on increasing value, not increasing sales. How deep can the value-add go? Those who try to differentiate themselves by increasing volumes while lowering price end up in a death spiral and rarely position themselves for long-term success.
- Define what makes you different. Even the most commoditized of products can do it. It's not easy, but speaking to what makes you different will make you stand out. Figure out what that difference is and use it. Make it a religion in your materials. Trust me -- it's worth the time and temporary frustration in figuring it out. Once you do, it makes all the difference in connecting with prospective and current customers.
- Get repeat purchases from your existing customers. Create evangelists that will build your brand over the long term; don't just focus on the next attempt to create a flash-in-the-pan bump in sales. Customer service is not a cost center -- it's a touchpoint with your consumer and a chance to build a stronger relationship. Instead of spending time on the next scalejacking attempt, invest time in making your customer service experience more memorable.
Think about going deep versus scalejacking as though you are searching for your next employee. It no longer works to just place an ad on Monster and hope that the mass amount of unqualified responses you get will result in the perfect candidate contacting you. You have to find that perfect site or networking place where your ideal candidate exists. What's better -- getting 200 resumes from a group of people who don't know how to spell their name correctly or two resumes from great candidates? Running an ad for someone on Monster is, in essence, scalejacking. Running an ad on your local marketing website where experts visit frequently is a much more targeted approach. The results you will yield are far superior than when you cast a wider, less relevance-focused net.
Brands and agencies often ask their vendors, "How many websites will our ads appear on?" and "How many websites do you purchase media from?" As I've just discussed, these aren't the right questions to ask. Those statistics are completely irrelevant to an online behavioral advertising display campaign. The correct questions are, "How many prospects can I reach by working with you, and how many times can I, and should I, deliver an ad to them?" and "How relevant is that group of prospects that you reach with our message?"
Whether an ad gets displayed to a prospect on five sites or 5 million, it doesn't ultimately affect campaign performance. The only thing that matters is that you delivered the right ad to the right person. Worrying about how many sites your ads get placed on detracts from what you should be focused on: relevance.
To quote Seth, "It's about who you're speaking to, not how many." Be wary of attempts to scalejack and start focusing on asking the right questions of your vendors so that you get the right ad in front of the right target the appropriate amount of times.
Chad Little, CEO of FetchBack, will be presenting a free webinar on retargeting on August 18. For details, click here.
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