Benchmarking the Online Magic

Every CEO and CFO wants their marketers to benchmark and measure the magic. And with the publication of MarketingSherpa's first ever Online Advertising Handbook + Benchmarks marketers will have a fighting chance.

The lovable geeks, zods and nerds at Sherpa, led by Research Director Stephan Tornquist, have collected 211 pages of data from across the advertising industry including survey data from 577 online advertisers at a wide range of companies of many sizes and sectors.

Anyone who needs numbers to sell in ideas or to justify a campaign or to learn from others' mistakes ought to have a copy of this book. At $497 this fact book is a steal. If you hired a consulting firm to get you this information, it would cost 50 times more and be half as good and much less candid.

These guys aren't afraid of the truth. They write, "online there's a great deal of bad advertising...Where there could be genuine stimulation through interaction there are bad static ads. In a medium that allows micro targeting, there is still mass advertising." They know that only by sharing ideas and information can we collectively harness the real potential of this evolving medium.

Recognizing the infancy of online advertising they have the balls to remind us that online advertising still adheres to the fundamental principles of. advertising. In the executive summary they remind us that branding, placement, frequency, content, targeting plus sight and sound are the critical variables for effective communication and persuasion. And they display, in pedestrian charts, the data to prove it.

Within the extensive data sets there is subtle and not-so-subtle guidance on issues affecting everything from creative units to targeting to media tactics. If I haven't sold you the book yet, consider these tidbits:

• No more than 28% of viewers ever see an ad below the fold
• Display ads earn half the ad revenues of search ads
• 30% of online marketers don't spend a time on behaviorally or contextually targeted ads while another 30% believe these tactics yield the greatest ROI
• Almost 70% online ad analysts say A/B tests yield the best improvements in ad effectiveness
• 53% of marketers think adding pictures make online ads more effective
• 300x250 pixel banners have the best click-thru rates
• 46% of heavy gamers see in-game ads an inevitable
• Without frequency capping you blow your ad exposure too fast on the wrong prospects