Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness

Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness

James F. Petrick, Ph.D.Chief Problem Solver

TourveyJim@Tourvey.com

Academic vs. Practitioner

Marketing…

“…Marketing battles are fought in a mean and ugly place. A place that’s dark & damp with much unexplored territory and deep pitfalls to trap the unwary. Marketing battles are fought….?” (Rice & Trout, ’86:169)

= image is a key construct Also “sets”, and positioning

AIDA is-a-da-key Attention, Interest, Desire & Action (How?!)

Tenured ResearchPhilosophy (Quest for Knowledge)

Research needs to answer Mgt.’s questions Research must be done scientifically Temporal differences need to be examined

One-shot studies give little insight Knowing how you’re doing is not enough Research must fund graduate students!

Methods Used to Seek Knowledge

Team of Grad Students (6 Ph.D.; 4 M.S.) Seeking state of the art knowledge

Partnerships L.I.S.T., SoluServ, eBrains, etc.

Great Clients States, CVB’s, NPS, USDA, PGA, HA, First Tee,

etc.

Case Study Example

Websites as a tool for destination marketing 55%+ of travel decisions are Web-based!

New methods needed for evaluating the effectiveness of destination websites

How do you know what’s “good”? No known benchmarks = benchmarking

needed

What is Benchmarking? “The continuous measurement and

improvement of an organization’s performance against the best in the industry to obtain information about new working methods or practices” (Kozak, 2002, p. 499)

It helps to: Learn your own strengths and weaknesses, Identify best practices or processes, Make changes and set realistic goals

Tourism Benchmarking Forum (2004)

Purposes of Study

To establish methods for conducting benchmarking analysis of State and City tourism websites

To measure conversion of Website & Materials

To synergize academic and practitioners' strengths in one project

To provide “real-time” reporting & data access

To allow initial & follow-up’s to be paired

Metrics Development

= What items do states/cities need?

Use Nominal Group Technique (NGT) With State & City Tourism People

A&M researchers as facilitators

Continual Analyses of “State of the Art”

What Makes a Website Good? -Key Metrics to Predict “Impressions”

“Informativeness”= Variety & Useful

Information

“Usability”= Info is EZ to Find

& Understand

“Inspiration”= Inspires a Visit

& Represents

“Credibility”= You are trusted& Keep promises

Beyond Impression…

How important is your web info? How did your website visitors find your website? Why are people visiting your website? What decisions made prior to visiting your

website What info do visitors hope to find on your

website? What website info was most valuable to visitors?

Other Knowledge Needed

Market Profiles (web v. + V + NV) Conversion (Net & Gross) & R.O.I. Differences Between Visitors & NV’s Tripographics Satisfaction, Value, Quality, Intent! Image Benchmarks for all the above!

Research Design

WebsiteVisit (1)

InformationRequest

Phase 1

4 months later= e-mail sent

VisitedDestination

(2)

VisitedDestination

(4)Non-VisitDestination

(3)

Non-VisitDestination

(5)

E-mails fedInto system

Hard links& pop-ups

-Website eval-Decisions made

-Profile

-Influence of Web-Tripographics

-Economic Impact

- Image & Desires

-Sat./PV/Intent

-Influence of Web-What did they do

-Image & Desires

-Intentions

-Information eval-Decisions made-Tripographics-Influence of info-Economic Impact-Image & Desires-Sat./PV/Intent

-Information eval-Decisions made-Influence of info.-What did the do-Image & Desires

-Intentions

Phase 2

Ongoing Progress

(Past Study) Has included 23 states

Approximately 300,000 Phase-One responses and 15,000 Phase-Two responses last year

Questions reviewed every year

Recently started its city version (12 participating)

Real-time Reporting and Data

All members are given a user name andpassword = they just input them here tostart the process

Select Any Dates, and Any Partners for Analyses!

Limitations & Conclusions

Coverage error Not everyone has internet access

Special type of respondents? Answer two surveys

Collection methods not standardized…yet

Implications & Recommendations For participating destinations:

information regarding self and competitors Decision making, travel behavior, and preference

profile Longitudinal changes by season, and over time Future travel trends Conversion, ROI & Economic Impact

For researchers: A feasible tool for benchmarking destination website

performance via a set of measures and metrics Data on travel motivations, vacation decision-making,

travel trends, and tourist behavior

Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness

James F. Petrick, Ph.D.Chief Problem Solver

TourveyJim@Tourvey.com