I-Marketing Interview: Intel
By Mark W. Vigoroso, www.EcommerceTimes.com
When you think of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news), you cannot help but conjure images of lovable aliens or of the Blue Man Group raising the giant number "4" when the Pentium 4 came out. That is thanks largely to a marketing machine that is as lively as ever, despite this recession-hindered economy.
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Even with 2001 revenues expected to fall slightly short of the nearly US$34 billion posted in 2000, the Santa Clara, California-based Internet architecture leader continues to innovate with pace and determination.
Intel chief executive officer Craig Barrett has made it clear that the only way through a recession is by persisting with the introduction of new technology, as seen in this year's launch of the Pentium 4 microprocessor and a parade of networking and communications products.
The forward-looking mindset at Intel has kept director of corporate Internet marketing Shawn Conly very busy during his five years with the company. Conly recently spoke with the E-Commerce Times about the risks and rewards of using the Internet to forge deeper connections with customers.
Mixed Messages
ECT: What advertising advantages does the Internet offer that other media do not provide?
Conly: Its primary advantage is the speed of feedback from targets and customers, in terms of how they are reacting to our messages. That immediate input is phenomenal and helps us to craft our messages and strategies towards what pushes the buttons for customers.
We find the key strength of the Internet to be at the tail end of the sales curve -- when it comes to building preference and conviction and driving customers towards a transaction -- versus the front end of the sales curve, where it's about awareness.
ECT: What steps, or series of steps, do you take when planning an online advertising campaign?
Conly: We do it in a holistic way, and take a very disciplined approach to looking at our total media mix and marketing strategy for a particular product launch or a new campaign launch. We look at how to use the Internet in conjunction with our offline advertising activities and our event activities.
The Blue Man Group campaign was one of the best-integrated campaigns that we've ever done, from an offline to an online standpoint. We did everything from retail, to online, to television, to events.
Divvying Dollars
ECT: Should an online advertiser choose many sites on which to advertise -- or spend the same amount for a larger buy on one site?
Conly: When we started doing this in earnest back in 1996 and 1997, we began with a very broad list of sites that we were targeting and running our advertising on. Through time, we've honed that list down to the ones that seem to be the most successful for certain marketing messages. And we continually keep the churn going on with other sites, so we can do some experimentation. So we keep the sites that are tried-and-true in our portfolio, but we keep looking for new ones to compliment those. We want to make sure we're staying on top of the latest sites and trends that are out there.
For some key sites, we see an advantage in creating a customized interaction between our content and their content. And I hope that never goes away, because I think that's the real advantage to the consumer, too. We can marry messages of commonality and give consumers information and opportunities that are directly related to their areas of interest. We did this recently with the NCAA (news - web sites) basketball finals.
ECT: What process do you use to determine how much of your overall advertising budget is allocated to a particular site?
Conly: In true Intel fashion, we have a very data-intensive process that we go through, where we look at the reach of the Web site, the demographic and psychographic makeup of the site, the quality of content on the site, and the exclusivity that we're offered in terms of placement on the site. We'll also look at our performance history on the site, not just from a click-through standpoint, but from a quality of lead and conversion standpoint.
We put that all into a complex matrix to evaluate our different site opportunities. And money of course is the other factor to consider.
Experimental Approach
ECT: What are the biggest challenges of marketing via interactive media?
Conly: You have to learn by doing in many instances, and I think that's one of the biggest challenges. Some advertisers wouldn't have these same challenges if they stick to the tried-and-true banner, but we tend to push the edges a lot when it comes to using technology and that creates some complexity.
Intel tends to be very experimental in how we're using the Web. That really gets to the core of what we are, which is a technology company, and we like to use technology to sell technology. So we've been on the forefront of adopting new advertising delivery technologies, whether it's Flash, superstitials, interstitials or skyscraper banner ads. It's still a nascent industry, and we've learned a lot in terms of how to do it and how not to do it.
Another challenge is around data and consistency of data. We have to take the plethora of data that comes out of this medium and really hone in on what's important. You can be swamped in data, so it becomes challenging for marketing managers to pull out the relevant data details, and to get enough data to be able to make smart decisions without getting overwhelmed in the morass of it.
Early in this game, it was all about click rates, and then it was about time spent and transfers to your Web site, and then page views on your Web site from ads you were running. Finally, we're closing the loop all the way down to conversion and sales. But there still are a lot of inconsistencies in how different sites measure the conversion.
Pushing and Pulling
ECT: How well-suited is the Internet for branding campaigns?
Conly: It's one of the rare opportunities where you have this one-on-one interaction with customers and prospects. From that standpoint, it's all about branding because it's about that experience and how somebody is interacting with your ad and your site. It's like having an interaction with a salesperson.
It's a brand impression. It may not be the TV-ad type of brand impression, but it's a more personal brand impression because it's that one person at one point in time interacting with your company and with your brand. So from that standpoint, the Internet is a great brand-builder and a great loyalty-builder.
ECT: How well-suited is the Internet for lead generation?
Conly: It's a very effective method of capturing specific target segments and making them aware of your product lines and your messages and getting them to take the next step with you.
We use the Internet in a variety of spots along the lead generation curve, from getting somebody interested, to the next step of getting more information, to getting them to talk to a sales representative, and getting those people to actually convert.
Trusty Tools
ECT: What advantages have you gained through running a banner ad campaign?
Conly: The key advantage is one of reach. It's very easy to get a banner campaign up and spread out across the Internet very quickly because it is standardized. On the flip side, it has become in some cases the invisible ad, as people have gotten used to them and used to blocking them out. It has that downside, but if you need to get something up and get a message out there quickly, there's nothing better than a banner.
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