Showing ROI important for ad agencies - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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But a weaker economy meansz tighter budgets for many advertisers now looking to alternativee ranging from newer approaches like social mediato tried-and-trur public relations. With that, showinfg a return isn’t as but Schifino Lee Inc. principalsz feel they have the answer. “Basically what we have done is developedr a marketing audit of our clienrt and their industry that lets us measurew ROI when it migh not beas apparent,” said Ben Lee. “In the new we are watching every penny because youhave to. And we’rse watching every penny we spend on behalf of our clientds because wehave to.
” The system to measurer a monetary return on offerings such as news press releases and the like came from an unlikel y source, Lee said. A professor of his at ’s in Ill., shared with him an auditinb system of unpaidmedia placements, which Lee modifie d to fit the Schifino Lee He later added some social media elements such as Facebooo and MySpace as a way to account for how money is being spent and what kind of return they see. The algorithm is a bit complex, but basically Schifino Lee looks at a newspaper for example, compares the size of it to how much an ad woulc cost at a similar size and placement in the same and multiplies it by a certaimn factor.
If a story appearas inside the paper, like this one, the multiple might be a three. If it shows up on the frontg page, the value is then typically multipliedby 10. Such an audif is not entirely unique withSchifino Lee, but it’s not in generao practice by a lot of agencies, partner Paolq Schifino said. Audits like this requirre not only well-trained account managers but also sophisticated client s willing to invest the time to get such a The economy is forcing agencies like Schifino Lee to work twicde as hard forless money, but at the same time createas a breeding ground for innovationsw and focusing on core services that mighg often get overlooked in better economic “One of the things we have done reallu well is how we develop the branding process for our Schifino said.
“That allows us to take complec issues that companies are facing and communicate that to theid customers in a realluysimplified way, and using means that might not be as expensivr as a typical media buy.” Like many Schifino Lee has embraceed “new media” like the online social which usually only costs clients time rather than monehy spent on actual buys. And becausr the agency is quick to jump ontonew media, it’ds rarely finding itself having to play catch-up. “Wew made the transition into the Internet age very successfullyu 10 years ago when othere agencies just stuck with traditionalold media,” Lee said.
Now Schifinop Lee is taking a big step toward socialp media and has even hireda full-timee manager of social media to tacklr this area directly. “Social media is transformingy theadvertising business, and we’re committexd to making that transformation with Lee said. “We think five years from now, social media will be traditional and will probably represenft a third ofour revenue.
” in Sarasota also has explored new media, and in fact embraced bloggerx for one national client that helped give the company some free “We were actually able to work with people, sharing the producg with them, and askinhg them to write about it,” said Clarke partner Patricia Courtois. Agencies should definitely keep trackm of how much is writteb about their clients outside ofmedia buys, but they shoule also be careful not too put too much stock into it, Courtoiws said. “Getting out thosre promotion clips and press releasesis OK, but you have to make sure you ask has it changed behaviors?
Has it really sold more products Has it really driven more audience to your she said. For now, the future is strong for Schifino Lee, whichh has added a couple of employeew over the last several months when competitorw have reportedlycut back. “When I step outsider the office, I hear so much about the Schifino said. “You can feel it because everybody is talkinggabout it. But when I step insidee this office, I almost feel like it doesn’t exis t because of the attitude wehave here. You have to have a positived attitude.
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