Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

Atlas' ad server data has found that 30 percent of users that see branded advertising on multiple sites account for a huge 69 percent of conversions. This also includes vistors to solo sites like portals, where users see multiple impressions. The conclusion is that looking at a final search result that results in a conversion isn't the most accurate picture of the cause of consumer online actions.

Josh Stylman, managing partner at Reprise Media, said, "Your sales are coming from people you're reaching across many sites. [The] reporting that you're using to make your media decisions is not paying attention to that."
 
In an earlier study by Atlas this year, they found that those searchers that had viewed online display ads converted 22 percent more than those that hadn't.

While people like Jeff Lanctot, svp, media at Avenue A/Razorfish, say that this probably won't cause any decline in budgets allocated to search, Avenue A/Razorfish gives the final click only 60 percent of the credit for a sale. The other 40 percent credit is given to previous interactions with ads.

At this time he said, "It's been less about saying, 'Lets move dollars away from direct response and search,' but more, 'Lets add dollars to increase awareness and intent.'"

What we need to consider is all of this works better in complementary, integrated campaigns. At the very least we need to make sure our online and offline campaigns are working together to generate the best conversions by consumers. Now we know that search alone isn't the most profitable way.

As we continually learn more, and branded campaigns increase online, we'll probably see the need to allocate our budgets differently in response to the real causes of increased conversions.