Advertising Restaurant Gift Certificates
December 30, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
You may have noticed that selling restaurant gift certificates has been steadily growing in popularity over the past few years and has become quite competitive lately. There are so many competitors selling their restaurant gift certificates online and the competition is so fierce that many of them are now selling them at below face value. You may wonder why they would do that. The reason is simple, they want more customers to walk through their doors and restaurant gift certificates bring customers in.
So, how do they make money on restaurant gift certificates sold below their value? In two ways, first of all the majority of restaurant gift certificate recipients will go to the restaurant and spend more than the amount of the certificate when they come in. Next, if they don’t spend the whole amount they usually tuck it away somewhere and the restaurant keeps the difference. And finally, there are some people who just don’t bother redeeming the certificate at all, which still profits the restaurant. No matter which way it goes the restaurant gets more advertising and makes money in the end.
So, what is the best way to advertise restaurant gift certificates online? You want to reach the people who are most likely to give restaurant gift certificates—foodies. Foodies are the people who love great food and dining experiences. They love to partake of them, they love to talk about them and they love to share them with others. These people spend a great deal of their time online researching restaurants, new foods and recipes. Placing your ad for restaurant gift certificates right next to food articles and online recipes is the best way to reach this highly targeted audience and sell more restaurant gift certificates.
Reaching the Main Grocery Buyer
December 29, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · 3 Comments
If you are selling grocery products you are probably well aware that successfully, reaching the household’s Main Grocery Buyer (MGB) or otherwise referred to as the primary grocery buyer has the greatest impact on sales of CPG (consumer packaged goods) or FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) products. Sometimes, however, this task can seem easier said than done. Where can you find the main grocery buyer and how can you influence their purchase decisions?
The latest research shows that the Main Grocery Buyer spends a lot of time online and can often be found researching new dishes and recipes online. Gourmet Ads allows you to target, influence and engage with the Main Grocery Buyer while they are research dishes and recipes online by placing your ad right next to these online recipes. Recipe ads are extremely effective because the Main Grocery Buyer tends to look for recipes while determining their shopping list right before heading to the grocery store. That puts your product at the top of their list and makes it likely to be one of the first items in their shopping cart when they reach the grocery store.
The recipe ads facilitated by Gourmet Ads are highly targeted and highly effective. There is no easier or more cost effective way to put your ads right in front of the people who are directly responsible for making the purchase decisions—the Main Grocery Buyer. Having your product in the forefront of the Main Grocery Buyer’s mind right at the moment they are making the purchase decision is the surest way to get your product into their grocery cart. Getting the best ROI means getting your ads to reach your target audience and getting as many of them to purchase your product as possible. Putting your advertisements right next to the recipes that contain your product for the Main Grocery Buyer to see right before heading to the grocery store is about as highly targeted and cost effective as you can get.
Advertising Grocery Coupons
December 28, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
Times are tough these days and most people are looking for ways to save money wherever possible. This includes using more coupons for grocery purchases. Particularly in America, discount coupon use is at an all time high and is only likely to rise as the economy is predicted to get even worse.
This is great news for food companies that want to sell more product. No matter how bad the economy is, people will continue to buy food, in fact we’ve seen a recent increase in grocery sales as restaurant sales decrease. Consumers will continue to seek out new recipes online and there is a great opportunity to promote grocery discount coupons along side the recipes. As a food marketer, you couldn’t ask for a more targeted opportunity than to advertise your product coupon right next to these recipes. You can’t get more targeted than that.
When you place a coupon in your ad, you are virtually guaranteeing increased product sales. Manufacturer’s coupons that are distributed in newspapers usually result in a 1% redemption rate. Why so low? These coupons are not targeted. Senior citizens receive coupons for baby formula and young mothers receive coupons for Motor Oil.
Studies have shown that people who view online recipes usually actually use them and often view them right before heading to the grocery store. Not only are you getting a targeted market, you are getting them while they’re ripe!
Finally, the greatest benefit about advertising your Grocery Coupons with Gourmet Ads is the tracking and statistics. It’s so easy to track your results of the campaign and you can truly see how successful your marketing campaign has been in a very short period of time.
To give your coupon campaign a boost, contact Gourmet Ads and request a Digital Media Plan.
Advertising Trends for 2009
December 24, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · 2 Comments
Recently I sat down with Mark Pollard and during the discussion he pointed me to guest blog he did over at Talking Digital Blog called 9 trends to look out for in 2009. This is one of a few industry players who’ve written their opinions of 2009 and the trends. Make sure you check out them here.
Inspired by Mark and the team at Talking Digital Blog, I’ve written my Advertising Trends for 2009. Mine aren’t as wide reaching as the ones on Talking Digital. I’ve tried to keep them related to the space that Gourmet Ads works in (food, wine and beer advertising) as well as reducing the focus on the downturn in economy. So here are my 9 Advertising Trends for 2009;
1. TV Budgets going to Online
Advertising budgets allocated for TV & Print will finally begin to be allocated to online. Ok, so everyone says this from year to year, but 2009 will be the year. This will be mainly driven by company management who will be required to show a return on investment in advertising during the economic downturn. Stupid and willy nilly advertising spends that can’t be measured will be the first thrown out the window.
2. Testing (or smarter media buying)
This is something that’s we’ve seen as a company during the 4th Quarter in 2008. Savvy media buyers are not just buying huge media buys upfront for their clients. Media buyers have been buying small campaigns of say $5000 with a series of different creative to see what best performs on a network. Once they know what creative works with a given audience, they’ll do another media buy which they know will perform as they require. I think given the economic situation we’ll see more testing campaigns during 2009, especially for companies that are advertising online during 2009 for the first time.
3. FMCG & CPG will embrace online
FMCG & CPG companies have for a long time resisted moving their advertising online. This is because they’ve felt it’s been difficult to reach consumers. Research has shown that in economic downturns consumers tend to buy “no name” or “private label” products to save money. Companies like Kellogg’s who’ve been through a number of recessions actually increase their advertising to ensure that their brands are top of mind when consumers are in the supermarket or grocery aisles. With this in mind I think we’ll see companies companies in the food space like cereals, pastas, tinned foods etc as well as dishwasher and cleaning goods start to advertise online in 2009.
4. Companies Buying Direct
In an effort to save money, medium sized businesses will start buying their advertising directly and avoid advertising and media buying agencies. Even though the majority of Gourmet Ads advertising campaigns come from advertising agencies and will continue to be, I think during 2009 (particularly though the 3rd Quarter) we’ll begin to deal with more companies direct.
5. Advertising doing Discounts & Coupons
No brand wants to be known as a “discounter” but given the state of the economy brand advertisers will begin running advertising with discounts, offers and deals. Companies that need to track ROI will also begin using or offering online coupons for consumers to print for redemption in supermarkets and grocery stores. This wont be something that is restricted to CPG or FMCG products, we’ll see it across a range of industries.
6. Less creative more straight to the point advertising
There is a lot to be said for actually saying what the deal is with the online advertising twisting, rotating, spinning or rolling. Related to my 2nd point above about testing, I think you’ll see more advertising that just gets to the point and says the message.
7. More companies hiring Online Marketing Managers
As companies finally decided to embrace online they’ll begin to need internal experience to either work independently of agencies or work in tandem. We’ve already seen a number of out clients in the 4th Qtr hiring Online Marketing Managers or Interactive Managers to take the pressure off the marketing manger. Not only will Online Marketing Managers be responsible for media buying and planning, but they’ll be responsible for strategising and ensuring that their product is translated to online to drive brand awareness and sales.
8. More Vertical Ad Networks
Throughout the US there are Vertical Ad Networks covering nearly ever niche. During 2009 I believe there’ll be a number of Vertical Ad Networks just like the Gourmet Ads network pop up all over the world providing advertisers a smarter avenue to reach their target markets. We’ve already seen in Australia, AdTorque which is another Adify powered automotive network. I predict that travel, finance, business, IT and other niche areas of will become a focus. With this increase in Vertical Ad Networks, we’ll also see advertising agencies understand the difference between Vertical Advertising Networks and Horizontal Advertising Networks, something that some agencies battle to understand.
9. Google will begin to acquire vertical advertising networks
I don’t think I need to add any more comments here…
10. Gourmet Ads launches new verticals networks
As mentioned in our 2009 media kit, we’ll be launching three new verticals during 2009. These will in BBQ, Restaurants and Coffee.
In Market Advertising
December 17, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Although Gourmet Ads specifically services advertisers and publishers in America and Australia, we are very much these days a global vertical advertising network. In the past few days we’ve had enquires from Singapore, Vancouver, Auckland, London and San Paolo in Brazil.
One of the advantages of Gourmet Ads for advertisers is the ability to buy advertising in a foreign country where you export to. For example we recently developed an advertising media plan for an Australian winery which exports to over twelve countries. We were able to provide them advertising in every country they export to, allowing them to create brand awareness in multiple markets. The Gourmet Ads system offers the ability to run advertising concurrently with different languages, yet the same branding, messaging and CPM pricing.
So no matter if your in are one market or multiple markets, Gourmet Ads can cost effectively reach your target audience no matter where they are around the globe. If you’d like to receive a digital media plan reaching all the counties you export to, then contact us for more information.
Adtech Sydney 2009
December 16, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
This week, I was invited to participate in a AdNetworks panel at the upcoming Ad:Tech Sydney 2009 in March next year. The event will be held at the Sydney Convention Centre from the 10th – 11th March and is essential for all those in the advertising industry online.
The panel I’ll be involved in is called “AdNetworks: Taking Advantage of Horizontal & Vertical Networks” and I’m sure the discussion will be around why Vertical Networks have seen such rapid growth over the past twelve months and why they’ll continue to grow during 2009 and beyond.
Joining me on the Ad Networks panel will be Russell Fradin, President of Adify (my advertising partner) as well as others yet to be confirmed.
Here is the panel details;
AdNetworks: Taking Advantage of Horizontal & Vertical Networks
Session Date: Tuesday – 10 March 2009
Session Time: 1:30pm – 2:20pm
For more details and tickets visit the Ad:Tech Sydney website.
No Budget! Just ROI
December 16, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Recently a prospective client said they had no budget for online advertising. I immediately thought he was trying to be misleading as this company’s advertisements appear on a number of sites on the internet. So I said to this to the company’s marketing manager that I’d seen there ads on sites on the internet and they said, we have no budget, just ROI. At the time their strategy wasn’t clear to me, but after learning and seeing it action, I now understand it backwards. Since that first conversation, I’ve heard this a number of times after talking with prospective clients and thought its worth sharing with you.
Most professionally run online stores know their conversion rates when a particular audience visits their store, ie a 5% conversion rate means that for every 100 people that visit the site, 5 actually make a purchase. Apart from conversion rates, most ecommerce managers know how many times consumers visit the online store before they purchase, how many pages they’ll look at, where they are located and how much they usually spend. Most of this intelligence can be sourced from various web analytic tools like Google Analytics or Web Trends as well as custom reports and metrics.
So after they know the kind of customer that spends, the challenge is how to find these consumers online, and then drive them to the store. Savvy advertisers will generally run a short trial campaign for say 2 – 4 weeks with a budget of say $5000 to see what kind of audience an advertiser like Gourmet Ads delivers and if they are actually buyers. Some channels drive traffic, but they don’t buy.
Once these savvy advertisers know the conversion rate, they can work out the return on investment (ROI) on the advertising costs. Once they’ve got a return on investment in mind, they’ll book ongoing advertising over multiple months, monitoring the return on investment and not the budget. As long as the sales continue these savvy advertisers purely monitor the sales and renew the advertising. The key here isn’t to get complacent; it’s essential to continually change the advertising message, branding and look and feel of the advertising as well as the deal to ensure that audiences continue to be engaged with the advertising.
Because the quality of the click in vertical advertising networks is much more qualified than horizontal networks, we can continue to drive the same levels of return on investment for advertisers over time. See a recent post titled Vertical Advertising Increases ROI.
If you’d like to learn more about the Gourmet Ads vertical advertising network, request a media kit.
Austrade EMDG
December 15, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Recently one our Australian Winery clients who uses Gourmet Ads to advertise their Australian wines in America told us about a government grant system called the export market development grant or EMDG. Administered by Austrade (Australian Trade Commission), the EMDG is a grant which supports Australian companies in their marketing activities offshore (or in market).
Every year the selection criteria for the EMDG changes, but principally this is how it works. Australian companies can apply for the grant at the Austrade website after they’ve spent the required amount to qualify for the grant (this year it’s A$10k). Then the amount over and above the threshold, the government will allow you to claim up to 50% of your approved in market spending each year for a period of up to 8 years.
The EMDG grant isnt just for wine companies, its for all Australian companies that are exporting. The benefit for Australian companies is once you’ve been accepted to receive the EMDG you can effectively increase your marketing by 50% giving you greater reach.
Make sure you checkout the Austrade website for selection criteria, visit www.austrade.gov.au/exportgrants/
Online Coupons Thrive
December 12, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
This week, USA Today wrote an article on how food and consumer packaged goods companies are using online coupons to drive sales. An interesting fact from the article is that 38.6 million Americans will use online coupons this year, up 22% from the same period last year.
Articles like this one certainly support the fact is that online coupons do drive business and sales. For companies that actually have online coupons and are seeking more promotion, Gourmet Ads can provide an ideal platform, as we reach an audience of main grocery buyers in the food and wine verticals.
The article can be read at More consumers click on ‘print’ for online coupon savings.
Advertising Online Competitions
December 11, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
One way of engaging with your brand is with online competitions or giveaways, especially if your product is a high value, sought after product like a cooking appliance or chef’s knife. When ever there is the chance to win a $1000 blender or wine fridge, you can often get some very useful information from respondents. Have consumer intelligence can be a very powerful asset. Consumers are burned out from so many spam emails and they don’t sign up for email lists with reckless abandon like they once did. You have to show significant value if you want their details and everybody loves the chance to win free stuff.
If people are signing up to win your product, there’s a good chance they’re interested in it and that they would make good prospects for future customers. Getting these people on your mailing list helps you create your own super-targeted audience to advertise to. Once the competition ends you will have a nice list to market to.
So once you’ve set up your competition, how do you get people to see it and enter the competition? Gourmet Ads can position your online competition next to recipes right where your target audience lives. Food news stories and even short cooking videos attract your target market and are a great place for your contest to be advertised. Gourmet Ads provides companies running online competitions a platform to target respondents such as females between 27 -55 years old who love to cook – see Our Audience.
These days if you aren’t hitting your target market with your advertising you are basically throwing money into the wind and hoping it lands somewhere useful. It takes a carefully planned strategy to find your customers, introduce yourself, brand yourself and make the sale. Advertising an online competition next to recipe ads and food news is the perfect way to reach your target market and build your list.
If you online competition isn’t on target and you’d like to give it a boost, contact us and we’ll quickly develop a Digital Media Plan to start driving entries.
