Researched, collated and written by Michelle Naudé
Why advertise?
Is it still, in today’s age with so much opportunity to place “free” content, necessary to advertise?
Do people still consume advertising when there are so many other resources to gain insight into a brand?
Do people even trust advertising or do they prefer 3rd party content, advice and endorsement?
Social Media pages are free, doing email marketing is free (if you know how), publicity (PR) is free, networking and cold-calling is free, referrals are free. And advertising costs money! So why advertise to promote your business? Can you get away without spending a cent?
Well you know how the saying goes… “there is no such thing as a free lunch…” and even those “free” things listed, whilst no direct cost is involved, still requires an investment of some kind to create good content.
So why advertise?
You still have to advertise because your biggest success in getting sales leads is still good old advertising. All those things listed above are part of the communications package and tools that make-up your brand and builds your brand image, but nothing brings more leads in than targeted and measurable advertising.
Herein lies the truth – targeted and measurable – and the conundrum – what works, how do I measure what works and how do I get results?
If you knew that for every R1000 you spent you could earnR2000, you would get out your cheque book and spend away, right?
Spend before Results
Advertising comes with an invoice and often you must spend it before you have seen any result. See it as an investment not an expense.
Let’s unpack “targeted”:
You have to focus your advertising spend on reaching your ideal client to ensure you have high return on your spend.
This implies you have to identify very clearly who your ideal customer is, and you have to really know them. A deep knowledge of who they are and their behaviour will stand you in good stead.
Match a very personal message to a very select audience and you will you get far greater return – people are no longer happy with spray and pray – they want personalised and customised content and experiences with your brand or product.
Let’s talk about “measurable”
You need to measure your success – you need to know what worked in order to ensure your spend is in the right place to generate an “ideal client” lead.
Efficacy is the key to turn marketing and advertising into an investment, not an expense.
Not only should you track where your leads come from, but also which of them converted to a sale. You have to measure and track obsessively.
Timing is everything
You can control who sees what, when, with advertising.
Warm up your audience
Brand building and trust relies heavily on educating your ideal customer about your brand and product and paves the way for your sales message.
Warming up your audience to become aware of your solution to their problem. Advertising is a great way to help get that content found and consumed once you’ve gone to the effort to produce it.
Credibility
The simple act of advertising adds credibility to your brand – the perception that you can afford advertising means the business is doing well.
Omnipresence
Advertising amplifies everything else you’re doing – when you are using advertising to create awareness you automatically create more awareness for everything you are doing. The brand then seems to be everywhere.
Digital Advertising
Digital advertising is the most effective at targeting your ideal customer through the myriad of targeting options in for example Facebook Advertising.
It is the most effective in putting your messages in front of the right audience when they are searching for solutions.
And all these tools are ultimately trackable and measurable, so you can get results.
If you are ready to grow. If you believe in Digital Marketing. And if you need help in getting your Inbound Digital Marketing done then contact purplefirefish – we are waiting for your call.
Not sure? We offer a FREE (30 min) Strategy Consultation Call where we talk about your business, your goals and the best strategy to generate quality leads for your business. It might very well be the best 30 min you spend time on this week. Click here to set it up.
References:
https://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/advantages-of-social-media-marketing/
