Let me tell you a story.
A marketing client of mine invested heavily in a local media agency.
It happened before I was on board or could have any say in the matter.
The agency in question specialized in newspaper (online / print) and the usual local business directory stuff.
The price they got out of the client for 12 content pieces and some banner ads was exorbitant.
Naturally, when I asked what the client was promised they would get out of it, the answer was vague but very optimistic.
“Great results.”
No mention of KPIs, ROIs, ROASs, or any of the reporting acronyms we love.
Just “Great results.”
Fortunately, I was able to give the agency tracking tags, URLs, and other items that would allow us to measure their results.
After all, at Acorn, we’re a data-driven agency
So anyways, I set up the tracking. It involved the usual things like setting up UTM tags, landing pages, etc.
No one, prior to my arrival, found it strange that the agency wasn’t providing these – including contacts at the agency itself.
So off we went, in our separate directions for roughly a year, while I handled my side of things and they did theirs.
When the whole thing wrapped up, thanks to the tracking, I could count the number of leads traced back to that agency over 12 months on my hands (with thumbs to spare).
By comparison, we secure more leads every 12 hours on Google Ads. For a much, much, lower cost.
For fun, I asked the media agency to send us a performance report based on their own metrics so we could assess “what worked.”
The contact cheerily replied that they’d put something together. His enthusiasm was nearly infectious.
It was the kind of enthusiasm that told you they had something big and wonderful in store.
That after a year of crickets, I would get to see what the Great Results (TM) were with my own eyes.
So then I got the performance report.
If you guessed it was entirely about “impressions” – you’re correct!
Impressions. Impressions. Impressions.
So many impressions.
They even asked if we the client was impressed enough (my pun, not theirs) to sign on for another year.
Fortunately, I had data that let us compare the results.
You probably know the answer.
The problem with impressions
So by this point, you’re either shaking your head, or wondering what the big deal is.
Maybe you’re working with a local media agency that’s not all that different from this one.
Depending on where you’re situated, maybe it’s even the same one (they’re big, surprisingly big).
Either way, if your digital marketing agency is only reporting impressions (or even just clicks) and talking about how those are great results, please fire them.
Why am I being so harsh?
Well, first tell me what’s the revenue item attached to impressions?
Or even, how much $$ does your business make per impression?
If your business is about making sales, subscriptions, generating leads, enrollments, or any other tangible thing, impressions are basically worthless.
1,000 impressions generated will always be worth less to your growth than 1 sale.
10,000 impressions always worth less than one quality lead.
Unlimited impressions, or securing even a single student to fill the seat in your classrooms?
The reason lots of bottom-tier agencies focus on impressions is because they’re easy to get.
I can go on Facebook right now, launch an ad and generate hundreds of thousands of impressions.
Will it generate even a single sale? Will I be able to tie all those impressions to even a single dollar’s increase on the bottom line?
It’s possible, but it’s certainly a lot more work doing, you know, real work.
Because at their face value, an impression is just a single view of an ad.
It doesn’t tell you if the person engaged with your ad, spent a moment considering it, or just flicked it away.
It doesn’t tell you whether that person made a purchase or signed up either.
Real metrics, the ones that matter, are the ones tied to your bottom line.
You know, the metrics you’d want your agency to improve for you.
So don’t let your agency get away with hyping up impressions, or views, or reads, or any of that jazz.
Hold them to a higher standard.
Or better yet, give us a shout.
