Experimenting with Facebook Ads

I’ve run literally many hundreds of thousands of dollars ($200,000+) of Facebook Ads, and I’m still experimenting.

Yes, I have a formula that works well… and it’s called “experimenting”.

See, even the most successful mix of target, photo, image, link, landing page, etc… that works this week will lose its effectiveness over time (sometimes in a matter of weeks!)!

So, what I do is religiously experiment… to do this right, I change just 1 variable at at time.

The hard part: measuring actual effectiveness…. to do this: I try to look not just at clicks, but also at conversions.  There is a fine balance between conversion rate and click rate.  Generally you want to optimize for conversions, but on Facebook, getting a click often means getting viral impressions as well.. and that can lead to ‘pseudo-organic’ conversion that you don’t realize came from viral impressions…

Anyways, for those of you out there experimenting with Facebook Ads.. don’t give up.  Experimentation is the name of the game.

Marketing CEOs vs Engineering CEOs

There are pros and cons to both/either.

Pros:
Marketing CEOs might be more likely to inspire market/customer orientation, differentiation, and brand equity focus.  This kind of leadership might seek to inspire cooperation and collaboration across departments.

Engineering CEOs may empower development teams to be more creative, have more power, and reduce “feature creep”.  This kind of leadership might be more organized and measured.

Cons:
Marketing CEOs might put too much fluff into products, and not truly enable disruptive innovation.  This kind of leader may also have trouble leading engineers, and other technical types.

Engineering CEOs may invest too heavily in non-market-driven ideas and be inclined to ignore customer needs in favor of their own ideas.  This kind of leader may be too rigid for creative types.

Which am I?
Early in my career I would say I was definitely an Engineering CEO.  I had a vision where I wanted to go; and the market be damned (disruptive technology is like that).  Now, I lean more towards Marketing CEO… with a tighter focus on customer/market, and more faith in the power of brand.  However, having experience in both, I think I also have a good ability to know when to be which.  I can work with engineers or creative types equally well, and see a disruptive idea (and support it) when needed.

Best of both worlds? 🙂

Marketing to Adult Males…

Most of my marketing management career has been spent targeting Adult Males ages 18 to 50.  I’ve got a quick rundown here of what I’ve done that has worked, and what has not worked.  If these tips help (or if you disagree/agree), I’d love to hear from you.  Reply Below or directly in twitter @hbomber or Facebook.

What Does NOT work:

  1.  Boobs/Sex.   Unless you are selling one or the other of these, my experience is that it does not (by itself) work to sell your product.  There is a way to use sex appeal in your advertising, but it has to be somewhat subtle & connected.
  2. Alcohol.  Similar to Boobs/Sex, it does not work unless it’s exactly what you are selling.
  3. Sports.  Similar to Alcohol, unless sports is the target, this does not work.
  4. Lots of Words.  The more words, the less effective.
  5. Branded Feature Words.  Branding your features is not a good strategy for this market. (or any market really).
  6. Over-stated claims.  This just does not work; see right through it.
What HAS worked:
  1. Honesty/Directness.  Being honest about what you have/don’t have works.  People want to be informed, as fast as possible.
  2. Clever Wordings.  Being clever can get attention with this group.
  3. Good and Real photos/drawings of your products… if it involves women or boobs in some non-obvious way.. that’s fine.  You get the idea… subtle.
  4. Benefits & Features.  Being clear about what benefits and features of your product (in a brief way) works.
  5. Value.  Explaining the value/savings/math behind your products works.
  6. Passion.  Show the passion you/your team has for your products in whatever way makes sense… (yes, cool videos of you loving your products/using them works).
What works/doesn’t work for you?

Marketing to Whales

In the gaming business, a Whale is defined as the 2nd or 3rd sigma of spenders.  This means the 95th (or 99th) Percentile of your spenders.  Depending on the game, this might represent a very significant portion of your total revenue (in a Whale dominate game).  Therefor, “marketing to whales” is a very important task/challenge.  My good friend Bart Bohn at AuManil have developed algorithms that help identify and monitor the Whales in your game… but the key question I have is, how do you EFFECTIVELY market to these whales?

The Whale challenges are:

  1. How do we Identify Whales (AuManil has this solved! -Thanks! :))
  2. How do we get ATTRACT new Whales to play our game? (Acquisition)
  3. How do we get Whales who play to STAY in the game longer?  (Retention)
  4. How do we get Whales who play to SPEND more? (Monetization)
  5. How do we get Whales who have left to COME BACK?  (Re-acquisition)
I don’t have all the answers, sadly.  Each of these are very hard…  I do have some ideas, and am constantly testing these ideas while running Marketing in the real game Dungeon Overlord.  Obviously, I can’t share data or any big secrets, but I would love to hear from my friends/readers if they have any ideas on how to solve these problems.
Focusing on ATTRACTING new Whales; Facebook has some new “target” groups that let you supposedly target Whales with your ads.  Has anyone tried this yet?  I hope to try it out soon.
Targeting players of other similar games seems to work fairly well, but I wonder if “Bids” for ads effect weather or not we reach Whale players?
Thoughts?
Any ideas for the other Whale challenges?

Big Marketing Problems

When you think of businesses (startups in particular) what do you think are the big marketing problems?  I have a short list here, but I’d love to hear from you:

Tier 1 problems.  (Stuff Companies Really Need)
1. Getting the first customer of a company!
2. Getting the first customer of a new product.
3. Getting valid customer prospects.
4. Getting X customers.
5. Building a process that gets X customers per month at Y cost.
6. SCALE up the customer acquisition process.
7. Generate Repeat Customers
8. Re-acquire lost Customers

Tier 2 problems.  (Stuff that help Tier 1 Problems):
1. Improve Ads
2. Improve Website
3. Improve Positioning
4. Improve Product
5. Improve Targeting

Tier 3 problems. (Stuff that managers ask Marketers to “do”…. sometimes with no goal in mind):
1. Make a new logo
2. Research the Market
3. Build a new Ad Campaign

What problems do you think Startups Face RE: Marketing?

My Quest for a PhD. Why & How.

I love to learn.  I love to read new thing, and practice new things, and be ‘in the know’.  But the one thing I like to do more than learn is… teach.  What better way to teach, then to get a PhD from an AACSB accredited program: and become a professor?

In addition, I am a gamer.  What does that mean?  It means I HAVE to have a new challenge, not just daily, but hourly.  And big goals with big rewards, and big dragons = mega-appealing.  Is there a bigger modern day dragon then a PhD Dissertation Committee?  (maybe, if so, I’ll slay that next!).

So, My Quest for a PhD officially begins this week; and I hope to write about the journey regularly here.

So, where to begin?  This week I attend my first PhD classes.  Honestly though, a lot has happened before this week…. 

  1. I scheduled a GMAT test & took it.  (my score for my MBA was more than 5 years old)
  2. I contacted The University of Texas and researched many of their PhD programs in Marketing and Business. (including calls with teachers and current students).
    1. I rule this option out because I can’t “go without salary” or “not consult until I’ve finished”.
  3. I did lots of google searching on PhD Programs and learned that AACSB accreditation is VITAL to actually becoming a professor.
  4. I contacted several friends in PhD programs, including David Altounian, who introduced me to the three (and only three) programs that have an “Executive PhD” that is AACSB accredited.
  5. I called/researched the three programs.
  6. I went to an information seminar at Oklahoma State University.
  7. I was BLOWN away by the people, instructors, students, and program they have going on there.
  8. I applied, got references, wrote my entry essay… and then…
  9. I had to write a 14-page research proposal… just to be considered for admission. (REALLY)
    1. I like this: it separates hard workers & people who really want it from everyone else!
  10. I was accepted!!!!
  11. I decided, and NOW… this week… I begin my first week of classes.
So, for the next 3+ years, I’ll be pursuing my PhD in Business Research (where I hope to specialize in Marketing).
This means 1 virtual class every Saturday + 3 days in Tulsa Oklahoma at Oklahoma State University.  (yes, I’ll be flying to Oklahoma as often as once per month!).
Special thanks to my bosses and managers at Creeris/Night Owl Games for agreeing to let me do this.
Now… off to class!!!!
Wish me luck on my PhD adventure.  I’ll keep you updated in return.

My 2013 Marketing Resolutions

What is a Marketing Resolution?  I don’t know; I just made it up…  You tell me?  What are your Marketing Resolutions?

Here are mine:

  1. I will not say I’m in marketing any longer.  In reality, what the world calls marketing is advertising; and that’s barely a fraction of what I do.
  2. I will instead say I’m into Product Entrepreneurship -> A phrase I just made up.  Why?  Because I love to SHIP stuff… I love to help dream up a product, dream up how to position it, dream up features, dream up a launch/PR plan, and implement the research, implement the product, implement the features, implement the PR plan, and implement the Business Development, and implement, yes, the advertising.  That’s a full product lifecycle: time to face reality, I’m not a “Marketing Specialist” (e.g. not an Advertising Executive).   I’m an Product Entrepreneur.
  3. I will NOT fight over words again.  In 2012, my biggest headaches were about words.  I fought for one word over another word; thinking it was important.  In reality words are not nearly as important as data and product.
  4. I WILL use surveys more.  Especially when words are involved; I will look first to surveys to try to figure out which words are the most appealing.
  5. I WILL make more presentations.  People think they hate PowerPoint  but it does move them.  I plan to have PowerPoint ready with my salient data for as many future meetings as possible.
  6. I WILL use the phone more, and email less.
Harlan

How do you know what to work on? Engineering your Priorities

Do you find yourself often overwhelmed with the many, many things you have to do?  How do you choose what to put energy into?  How can you compare what is the more important thing, when the activities seem so diverse?  How do you justify not doing one thing and doing another instead?  This is where an engineering brain can help a marketer.  Engineers have this figured out: I bring you Engineering Prioritization.

Here is how an Engineer (myself) prioritizes, and how I apply it to Marketing work now:

  1. Calculate the estimated amount of time it will take to finish any given task or project.
  2. Calculate the expected financial contribution (savings or revenue) for completing the task/project.
  3. Use a “rough” discounted cash-flow model to estimate the impact in today’s dollars.
    1. Here is a rough way to do Present Value calculation, for an engineer.
    2. Present Value = Future Value – $2,500 * Num_Weeks
    3. If task/project is less than 1-Week, PV=FV
  4. What task will make the biggest impact for the least amount of effort? (highest Present Value)
  5. DO THAT!  If you need a break, do something that takes just a few minutes.
  6. Break long projects into 45min-2hr tasks;;; do those!
It sounds simple, but do you actually try to calculate the PV of your tasks?
Yes. I do.  
AND, You’d be shocked at how many tasks I’m assigned generate PV=0.
AND, You’d be shocked at how few of those tasks I ever do!
The 1 thing in marketing that can sometimes screw this up is research/data gathering/analysis….
to calculate a PV of these kinds of tasks, you must consider WHAT key variable are you looking for, such that if found, you could make an influence and thereby increase profits or save costs (thereby yielding a positive PV)… then I just cut that by 50%.. it’s seems like it’s usually a  50/50 effort to find data you need to make a good decision anyway.
So; get out there. calculate the potential PV of your work;and SKIP things that don’t add value.

All of Marketing by way of “Target” and “Position”

All of marketing may be explained by clearly defining and using two words: Target and Position.  Learn to use these two words correctly, and your business will prosper.  Fail in either or both, lose focus in either, and your business will die.

Target: The single very narrow, focused customer type you really, really want to love your product/service.
TO BE CLEAR: I mean +/- 5 years of age, a clear gender, and ideally also some “qualifying” attribute. (example: M/25-35/Hardcore Gamers.)

Position: The unique place in the mind of your target you want your product/service to occupy.
TO BE CLEAR: I mean a clear position that you can own in the mind: “The Best”, “The Fastest”, “The Cheapest”, “The Healthiest”, “The Most X”, etc.  (example: “The Most Hardcore Social Game Ever”)

So, how is this “all of marketing”?
Some example questions that come up in running a business should suffice to explain:

Question 1: Where should you sell your product?
Answer 1: Wherever the Target shops.

Question 2: What kind of copy should you write?
Answer 2: Whatever would please the Target while helping your product occupy a Position in their mind.

Question 3: How should you advertise?
Answer 3: Advertise wherever the Target is likely to see it; and ideally to solidify the Position in their mind, and eventually to drive buying behavior.

Question 4: Should I have a website?
Answer 4: If your Target uses the web… usually yes.

Question 5: What features should I have in my product?
Answer 5: Those features that help you occupy the Position in the mind of your Target.

Question 6: Should I partner with company X?
Answer 6: Only if company X is appealing to the Target, and can help you solidify your Position.

Question 7: What price should I charge?
Answer 7: A price that the Target is willing and able to pay, given your unique Position.

Question 8: Should I use Social Networks?
Answer 8: If your target uses Social Networks… usually yes.

Question 9: What if I have a new product?
Answer 9: Define it’s Target and Position… and STICK WITH IT.

Question 10: What if my product isn’t doing well?
Answer 10: Perhaps you need to improve the product for a better Position, or adjust the price to match your “actual” Position in the Target’s mind.

Question 11: Should I add feature X?
Answer 11: If the Target wants it.

I could go on and on… and you may say:

With such a narrow target, aren’t you losing out on sales?
Answer: NO!

You will get sales outside your narrow target, precisely BECAUSE you appeal so strongly to your target.  (e.g. imagine all the people who “aspire” to be in your target.. or who themselves uniquely identify with your message/target).  You don’t turn these sales away, nor do you let it change your focus… it is your appeal to your TARGET that lets you win other customers outside the target.

I hope this makes sense and helps!  I am a bit passionate about this.  Email me or comment with questions/feedback/ideas.  I’m always open!

Proof that Marketing needs an engineering REMAKE! Only 25% of Marketers add measurable value.

This survey, while not perfect, highlights the need for a Marketing Revival.  We need to apply engineering and science to marketing, or this number (only 25% of Marketers add measurable value to organizations), will get worse and worse.  What exactly do I mean?

I mean this: imagine an engineer who “adds not measurable value to an organization”…. while technically possible, it certainly ought to be quite rare!  Why?  Because an engineer KNOWS that what he works on does X for the company: creates a new product.  improves the quality of a product. etc…   And they know X numbers of product, or Y% of quality improvement.
Now, what about a marketer?  If you write a report, does it add value?  If you “make an ad” does it add value?  If you build a website, does it add value?  If you write Facebook posts, do they add value?  If you write a blog post, does it add value?  If you organize an event, does it add value?  If you manage a print ad, did it create value?  Did the brand you invented add value?  WOW.  If you say no to any of those… you are in trouble.  But the hard part is “how much value did you add?”.
Here is the beginnings of how to measure Marketing Value:
  1. First, establish the fact that eyeballs have a value.  (call it $0.001 or something).
  2. Establish the fact that an Email or Like/Follow has a value (call it $0.10 or something).
  3. Establish the fact that an “engagement (comment, review, etc)” has a value (call it $0.25 or something).
  4. Establish the fact that a “sale” has a value.
  5. Establish the fact that market data (if used) and brand creation (if used) adds product value.. how much?  Call it 10%.
  6. Establish the fact that we CAN measure the above (except for #5).
  7. Now, focus on 1-4.. measure, and see if the values need adjustment.
    1. IF YOU DON’T DO WORK in 1-4… you are not adding measurable value.
    2. Go do 1-4.
  8. Meanwhile, consider #5… how can you measure that?  (I’m still thinking about it; but the answer lies somewhere in the “Price” of your products relative to competition).
Now, Marketers.  GET OUT THERE AND MEASURE!  Don’t be a “no value added” employee.