If you negotiate aggressively for online media as we do, a campaign of any significant scope is all but certain to include some number of "bonused" or free placements. These can take the form of additional newsletter insertions, banner ads, e-mail blasts, etc. that the publisher throws in to sweeten the deal.

The problem with such placements is that, if not accounted for properly, they can skew campaign results and reporting on cost per lead. For example, if a newsletter insertion is recorded at zero cost, then the cost per lead for that insertion will report at zero, even though it may not have performed as well as other publications.

Likewise, if you're measuring the cost-effectiveness of newsletter insertions versus, say, broadcast e-mail, and part of your newsletter buy was comped by the vendor, then you run the risk of assigning newsletter ads an unfair cost advantage.

One way to manage this issue is to always assign a dollar value to those placements that are bonused or comped, and pro-rate or discount other, fully paid placements accordingly.

In the example below, an ad in the publisher's weekly e-newsletter was bonused as part of an integrated media buy. The total cost of the buy was $9,500, a 36.67% discount off the total rate card cost (including the free newsletter ad) of $15,000.

By taking that overall discount, and applying it equally to the rate card cost of each line item, we end up with an "adjusted value" for each placement that enables us to properly track the cost-effectiveness of each vehicle, including the free newsletter ad.