Using Benchmarking to Examine Advertising Effectiveness
James F. Petrick, Ph.D.Chief Problem Solver
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