Did My Video Ad Work? How to Use Simple Tools to Measure the Effectiveness of Online Video Ads

by Diaz Nesamoney

Published on April 7, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Brand Awareness, Customer Engagement, Economic Crisis, Lead Generation, Measurement, Metrics, Social Networking, Videos

Even as the economy sputters, marketers continue to spend on video advertising. With analyst and research firms like eMarketer and Forrester projecting tremendous growth in online video advertising, it's no wonder businesses small and large see video ads as the next wave of online marketing.

But do video ads work to turn viewers into buyers and passionate brand advocates?

Online advertising, compared with its offline cousins radio, TV, and newspapers, is attractive because it's directly measurable. And though online video advertising is more measurable than TV advertising, it still poses unique challenges to marketers who want to know whether their video ads worked.

For starters, measurement of the effectiveness of video ads gets bogged down by syndication, viral distribution, viewing via social networks, and many other factors. So how can you find out if your video ad "worked"—an even more important question in tough economic times when marketing budgets are tight?

First, let's take a step back and consider why you advertise in the first place. Businesses tend to advertise for three reasons: brand building, engagement, and lead generation—and often a mixture of all three in each campaign.

Brand-building ads are notoriously tough to measure, but there are metrics to figure out whether a campaign has boosted your brand awareness—and video ads have proven to have a very positive impact on brand image.
Engagement is easier to measure, because you can tell when someone sees your ad or clicks through to your site after watching it.
Finally, lead-generation advertising is also getting easier to measure, because you can tell when someone sees your ad, then clicks through to make a purchase or fills out an online form.

When any new advertising format emerges, marketers are tempted to use tried-and-tested metrics for measurement. However, applying old methods to new models doesn't deliver very accurate metrics.

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article

Membership is required to access this how-to marketing article ... don't worry though, it's FREE!

WANT TO READ MORE?
SIGN UP TODAY ... IT'S FREE!

Your email :

We will never sell or rent your email address to anyone. We value your privacy. (We hate spam as much as you do.) See our privacy policy.

Sign in with your existing account. Simply click your preferred account below!

Diaz Nesamoney is founder, CEO, and president of Jivox (www.jivox.com), an online video advertising service for small and medium-sized businesses.

NOTE: MarketingProfs does not allow its content to be lifted wholesale and republished elsewhere without a licensing agreement. For more information on copyright and licensing, see here.