This is the same issue that direct marketers have dealt with for years, just in a new outfit. Unless you can track down to "paid-for sales", and then accurately derive the total value of that sale (after all the associated costs of making the sale, advertising included), you know *nothing* about the effectiveness of your advertising. After 20 years of experience with so-called marketing experts, I can say for certain that most do not put in the effort to know what marketing is working for them, and what is just sucking up the money. Once you track to the total profit from each of your sources, the claimed impressions is irrelevant. Some exceptions are tied to branding and building product awareness - you may be willing to lose moeny to sway an influential niche market - but you should still know how much money that costs. Most have no idea.
1) When we went to purchase our first home, the credit report showed my wife in default on her student loans, despite her being in grad school and having a deferal. The bank holding the loan claimed that they had been unable to contact her for over a year, despite using "all resources at their command." When we asked why she was still getting her checking account statements at the apartment we had been in for over a year, the until then surly manager sat in stunned silence, looking a bit ill. He pulled up her checking account information, and saw that it had our current address. When I pointed out that their customer files might be considered a primary resource at their command, he had to agree. The next morning, the correction had been made to our Credit report. That bank has since gone out of business.
2) Several years later, my wife and I separated for awhile. I called the Cable company, and had my service moved to my new place, and told my wife that she should contact them to have her service moved into her name. The cable came up at my place, and I never thought about it again. A few months later, we reconciled, and I moved back into our house. She paid the bills that had been moved to her name, I paid the others. About a year later, I decided to move from dial-up internet access to a cable modem. I called and asked the Cable company to add broadband service. "Would you like to reactivate your TV cable service at the same time?" Huh? We already have cable, just add the broadband. "Well... I'll have someone contact you about adding that."
The next day, a cable supervisor shows up at the door, and launches into this long lecture about Cable piracy and how we were in "big trouble." Eventually, I demand they show when they disconnected the cable when they transferred the service to my new place. They, of course, discover that there was never a work order issued to disconnect the old service. Since my wife had never seen a cable bill, and I hadn't been expecting to pay one after I moved back in, we had never realized they were not billing us. Of course, we then get a bill for the 18 months, which I refuse to pay since I had canceled service for that address. Eventually, they relented and cancelled the bill when I mentioned Satellite TV.
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This is the same issue that direct marketers have dealt with for years, just in a new outfit. Unless you can track down to "paid-for sales", and then accurately derive the total value of that sale (after all the associated costs of making the sale, advertising included), you know *nothing* about the effectiveness of your advertising. After 20 years of experience with so-called marketing experts, I can say for certain that most do not put in the effort to know what marketing is working for them, and what is just sucking up the money. Once you track to the total profit from each of your sources, the claimed impressions is irrelevant. Some exceptions are tied to branding and building product awareness - you may be willing to lose moeny to sway an influential niche market - but you should still know how much money that costs. Most have no idea.
1) When we went to purchase our first home, the credit report showed my wife in default on her student loans, despite her being in grad school and having a deferal. The bank holding the loan claimed that they had been unable to contact her for over a year, despite using "all resources at their command." When we asked why she was still getting her checking account statements at the apartment we had been in for over a year, the until then surly manager sat in stunned silence, looking a bit ill. He pulled up her checking account information, and saw that it had our current address. When I pointed out that their customer files might be considered a primary resource at their command, he had to agree. The next morning, the correction had been made to our Credit report. That bank has since gone out of business.
2) Several years later, my wife and I separated for awhile. I called the Cable company, and had my service moved to my new place, and told my wife that she should contact them to have her service moved into her name. The cable came up at my place, and I never thought about it again. A few months later, we reconciled, and I moved back into our house. She paid the bills that had been moved to her name, I paid the others. About a year later, I decided to move from dial-up internet access to a cable modem. I called and asked the Cable company to add broadband service. "Would you like to reactivate your TV cable service at the same time?" Huh? We already have cable, just add the broadband. "Well... I'll have someone contact you about adding that."
The next day, a cable supervisor shows up at the door, and launches into this long lecture about Cable piracy and how we were in "big trouble." Eventually, I demand they show when they disconnected the cable when they transferred the service to my new place. They, of course, discover that there was never a work order issued to disconnect the old service. Since my wife had never seen a cable bill, and I hadn't been expecting to pay one after I moved back in, we had never realized they were not billing us. Of course, we then get a bill for the 18 months, which I refuse to pay since I had canceled service for that address. Eventually, they relented and cancelled the bill when I mentioned Satellite TV.