Measure Twice, Cut Your Budget Only Once

The old carpenter’s saying “measure twice, cut once” is timeless for it’s simplicity and accuracy (no pun intended). But what if you are measuring the wrong thing? The debate continues about whether or not click-through is the proper measurement for online advertising. Most marketers would say no of course – a true marketer wants to measure performance in sales generated, or better still, profit. But what if you are a pharmaceutical marketer or the seller of other goods that are not purchased directly at that time, but instead require a visit to a doctor (or showroom). These marketers must often rely on proxy metrics, or extrapolated metrics from samples. This Ad Age article explores why publishers offering CPM display advertising, in lieu of cost-per-click or CPA/CPL deals, may be getting the short end of the stick when metrics are solely focused on click-throughs, since the display ad often positively impacts the clicks and advertiser gets on search engines, or the leads an affiliate program generated – yet in the world of measuring clicks – the brand value of the display ad gets no credit.