Question

Topic: Student Questions

Roi For Online Marketing

Posted by Anonymous on 8/5/2009 at 10:50 AM ET 250 Points
I am a college student doing research on the ROI for online marketing vs. traditional marketing for an e-commerce business. In this case, online marketing would refer to all the favorites: SEO, e-mail, social media, affiliate, PPC, etc. vs. print, promotions, etc. Does anyone have a good rule of thumb or some industry averages they can share? Thank you very much...
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 8/8/2009 at 9:33 AM Accepted
    Dear nbg2,

    Industry averages? Hmm. I'm not sure that any exist.

    But what I do know is this:

    Any online marketing that brings about a sale offers a return on its investment. But most online marketing works better when it's used as part of a whole, integrated approach.

    This means using it as part of the advertising cake, not as the icing.

    So, print, direct mail, radio, podcasts, TV commercials, lead generation ads and so on can all be used to drive traffic to a website, to a web store, and into a sales funnel.

    Now, if you're going to use this in a student paper, re write it so that it's in your voice.

    I hope this helps.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted on 8/8/2009 at 3:28 PM Author
    Thanks Gary. This makes a lot of sense and I will definitely incorporate such comments. I understand it may be difficult to give overall averages, so I may need to look for metrics for each activity individually and then roll them up. I appreciate your time and feedback.
  • Posted on 8/10/2009 at 7:30 PM Accepted
    The reason there are no useful averages is that averages themselves are useless. And the range of ROI possibilities is so great that it's hard to know what to make of an "average," even if you have one.

    It's like asking what the average temperature is in the world. If I told you that it's 58.6 degrees (F), what would you possibly do with that information? Would you wear an overcoat or a bathing suit ... or both?

    Chris Blackman (from Melbourne) tells a great story about averages:

    I am reminded of the researcher who found the Average Australian has one testicle. This is apparently because roughly half of all Australians have none, while roughly the other half have two, you see.

    So what does that tell us about the Average Australian? Not a lot, except perhaps that a man who has suffered the loss of a testicle in a croc-hunting accident, or when attacked during surfing by a Great White, is on one measure alone, still pretty average.

    Wanna find a better way to solve your problem?
  • Posted on 8/10/2009 at 7:35 PM Author
    Sure, as long as it does not involve me losing a testicle. My e-mail address is [Email address deleted by staff. This information belongs in the Member Profile, not the post]. Thank you.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Student Questions)