Recently Gord Hotchkiss wrote a column titled ‘Doing Search’ Only Counts if You’re Seen for MediaPost’s Search Insider, in which he takes Ontario Tourism, and specifically Nick Pedota, to task for not “…clueing into the power of search” and “managing search campaigns to budgets not objectives”. While I agree with much of what Gord says in his column, the tough love approach highlights an important subtext of online marketing’s evolution - the common struggle between agency and client to do things well.

Gord’s approach went right to the crux of the argument for many on the agency-side of online marketing:

Where’s the Money Going?
But in this case, are budgets really limited? Let me share some things I was able to dig up on Ontario Tourism’s site. First of all, the tourist bureau is doing print (lots of print) and TV (lots of TV). The goal? To drive people to its Web site. Full-page 4-color ads are running multiple times in over 70 dailies and weekly newspapers and 9 magazines. One 4-color full-page ad in the Toronto Star would run about $54,000 (there’s a certain amount of guessing here, as print rate cards are really a mathematical exercise in confusion and frustration). Circulation of the Toronto Star is 350,000 (on an average day). An excellent conversion rate for a newspaper ad would be 0.5% That means, ideally, 1,750 people would actually visit the Ontario Tourism website. Now, I have never in my life seen a newspaper ad convert this well, but even if it did, that would be a cost per visitor of $30.85. If the ad doesn’t work that well, the average cost climbs dramatically. And you pay whether or not the ad works.
What People Actually Use
Now, courtesy Yahoo Canada and a recent survey, let’s look at what actual travelers cite as the most important influencers in making travel plans. Search and Web sites are tied for number one and two, used by 51% of respondents in a recent survey. Newspapers and print? Only used by 7%. But yet, only 2.1% of Canadian ad budgets get spent on search, and 42% gets spent on newspapers and magazines. I couldn’t get any specific percentages for Ontario Tourism, but one only has to look at their campaign page to see that search is very likely getting only a fraction of what’s going to newspapers and magazines. And don’t even get me started on the TV buys.

The logic is sound and the facts have not been denied. In truth Ontario Tourism would most certainly benefit greatly by shifting more of their budget from offline to online media investments. But Gord’s assessment fails to fully understand or empathize with all the factors behind Nick Pedota’s and Ontario Tourism’s activities. As online marketing professionals it is our responsibility to be fully immersed in the details of our practice, and to do so on behalf of our clients. As such, it is unfair and unrealistic to expect that all advertisers and clients have the same appreciation and confidence we have for the medium’s abilities. Further, it’s imprudent for us to assume that the factors driving a client’s decisions are the same as ours, in most cases we’re not privvy to the politics, legacy management, and other influences that affect their ability to do online marketing well.

In fact, while many advertisers are not fully capitalizing on the Internet’s marketing potential, most are trying to do so. I was glad to see that Nick replied to the accusations with honesty and class giving us all insight to this fact.

So much of the discourse about online marketing is taking place between ’sell-side’ professionals, (this post is a case-in-point) it’s what we do, but it’s quite refreshing to hear from the ‘buy-side’ clients who fund the work we do. After all, the coming together of priorities and perspectives on both sides defines the parameters of our joint efforts and ultimately creates the opportunity for success, don’t you think?

Ontario Tourism Toronto Star