Online measurement solution tool soon

An innovative solution for effective online measurement will be launched by Real Opinions, once its ongoing two-month trial is completed, according to a senior spokesperson in the specialised market research firm.

A recent survey by the research company specialising in online media, showed that 93 per cent of business people in the Middle East with advertising or marketing roles believe website advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising and marketing spend followed by television advertising with 91 per cent believing it is effective.

A majority of 94 per cent confirmed that official company or product websites are the most effective form.

But if they believe so, why is online advertising still disregarded in media plans? An online portal senior manager said online advertising barely consisted of 1 per cent of the total ad spend.

Dan Healy, CEO of Real Opinions, said: "Online advertising is the way to go but there seems to be a lag from firms to start utilising this tool aggressively. Many of them have cited the lack of transparency and proper insights of visitors' profiles as the reason for their reluctance." He added: "I believe most of the marketing professionals in local companies do realise the importance of online advertising, but they haven't been insisting on utilising it for fear of being held responsible if it failed to bring the aspired returns."

Currently, there are increasing pressures on many organisations to produce tangible results with their marketing and advertising budgets in light of the global economic downturn. Of those with advertising and marketing responsibilities in the Middle East, 58 per cent claimed their budgets had decreased, revealed the survey. As a result, 79 per cent claim their interest in the online marketing and advertising opportunities has either increased or maintained.

Healy said: "With the downturn, there is a push within companies to encourage marketing professionals to take risks and try out different ways."

Online advertising is more measured, capable of providing a tangible ROI, and more precise in messaging and targeting, he said.

"Online advertising provides a better way than the traditional billboards," said Healy.

When asked to rate their organisation's current usage of the internet for marketing and advertising, 54 per cent rated it as either very good or good with slightly less than that claiming to currently conduct advertising on websites [46 per cent]. However, there is a strong desire to do so with an additional 22 per cent claiming they are likely to advertise on websites in the future.

Healy commented: "This presents an opportunity for the internet industry to take up the challenge to help organisations harness the opportunities presented by the internet and to enter for what many is a new form of advertising. More than 9 in 10 respondents realise the effectiveness of the medium in terms of value for money, but there is a gap between what they're presently doing and their intention. Real Opinions is investigating the reasons for this to help organisations jump over the hurdles along the road of the digital evolution."

The current trial phase of the new online measurement system included 200 websites. "One obstacle stopping companies from adopting digital marketing, is their lack of trust in information provided by webistes. Of course, those websites have a certain analaytics system, such as that provided by Google, but a lot of them don't give those results to the clients", said Healy.

He suggested that many of those websites exaggerated the analytical data they receive when developing their sales presentations.

Healy added: "Our system is different. Media buyers have a direct free access to the information collected by our system, while websites pay to be measured.

"Participating websites would run a survey for each one of ten visitors asking their feedback on the website, profile information, interests and lifestyle. Then media buyers can query the specific audience they wish to target and get all lists of websites that match."

Healy said online advertising would open a door to encourage setting up new businesses as small enterprises.

A recent study by Real Opinions with expatriate employees in the UAE showed that 34 per cent were likely to start their own business in the coming 12 months with a further 11 per cent claiming to have already done so.

The results are much better than those shown in a previous survey where 4 out of 10 expatriates said they expected to leave the UAE in the next 12 months.

Healy explained: "The internet is capable of providing new opportunities in these challenging economic times for many existing organisations and also provide a viable business model for new and in particular small organisations. This is because of the comparatively low digital set-up costs and ability to target potential customers or clients in a global marketplace, earlier not economically viable with more traditional advertising."

The UAE has a 60 per cent online penetration rate, with the total Arab internet population in the region reaching 40 million people.

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