With online transactions on the rise, getting your brand name out there is imperative. But it’s a real challenge given that the average person is bombarded with between 4 000 and 10 000 ads per day.
Experiment: search for financial consultants. How many results are there?
240 million (at the time of this publication in my region).
Standing out among competitors is no easy feat, particularly for smaller ventures that don’t have the reach or budget of giants like Coca-Cola.
But it can be done. Here are 3 tips to get you started.
Keep it simple, keep it clear
TIP #1: Sum up what you’re selling in four to five words, tops. What solution does your product or service provide?
Anyone in your company, from your C-suite to administrative assistants, should be able to concisely explain what you’re selling or the service you provide. If that’s not the case, your customers might not have a clear idea either.
A prime example? EY is one of the world’s largest consulting firms, but when they launched EY Parthenon in Africa, they had to let their clients and prospective clients know exactly what the new division does.
Strategically be everywhere, at the right time.
TIP #2: Instead of waiting for customers to come to where you’re advertising, let your adverts find them.
Yes, it is important to find your customer’s watering hole. When you want to get the right message to the right customer at the right time, you have to know where they’re likely to be, right?
Maybe.
With this approach, you’re putting your effort into choosing the correct platforms. Investing in advertising on mega platforms like Facebook, Google or national news sites might not be the savviest way to reach your target audience. Once you know where they are spending their time (and cash) on the rest of the internet, you can invest accordingly on those platforms.
But, here’s a crazy idea: what if you advertise on all of them?
Yes, not only is it possible, it also yields a higher ROI.
Serve your adverts to your customer no matter where they are on the internet, instead of just at certain watering holes. Show them – but only them – your carefully created ads all the time, everywhere. After all the technology exists.
It is far more important to know who the customer is than where the customer is. If you don’t know who they are, you won’t know where to find them.
Data is your friend, use it
TIP #3: Use available data to enrich your strategy, inform the customer experience and dictate how you allocate your advertising budget.
Not every trend is good for every business. But how do you predict which ones are winners? Take advantage of the data.
Survey the available data, both internal and external, to better inform every step of your marketing, from emerging trends through to your competitors’ behaviour. Optimise what’s already working and cut back on tactics that aren’t pulling their weight.
Final Thoughts?
Use data to identify who your customers are and what they really need – then make sure you’re positioning your product and service as a clear-cut solution. But, most importantly, serve them ads about your solution wherever and whenever they are on the internet.
Speak to us today so we can find your audiences, expand them and convert them – faster.