Earlier today I had a conversation with a business about using good old fashioned, traditional local radio to help promote their products. Unfortunately I didn’t get passed the ‘gate-keeper’, nothing new there. They automatically told me that they were not doing any advertising as they were relying on their website. I tried to explain that it would both compliment this strategy and help generate leads from their website. However, I knew I was talking to the wrong person so I politely ended the conversation.
I had a very similar conversation with a Marketing Manager about two months ago. I asked what they were doing in terms of their advertising. The reply was ‘we are concentrating totally on our SEO’. It had been a highly successful exercise and they were ranking highly on Page 1 of Google (other search engines are available!!). I then asked if they would consider something else to help them stand out in the crowded marketplace they were in. I was told that all their time and effort was going into maintaining this as they could see the results of their work in the rankings.
It was at this point I said ‘So how do you get people who have done an on-line search to click onto your link and not your competitors?’ The Marketing Manager paused, smiled and said ‘Good point’. She was a very good marketing person so I knew that our conversation didn’t need to go much further to start to make their current strategy look a little flawed. Knowing I wouldn’t change her mind, we agreed to keep in touch.
The point I am trying to make is that yes, getting your on-line presence right is absolutely essential. Ranking highly on page 1 of all search engines is the ideal position all businesses want to get to.
But how do you get your link to jump out of the page?
How does the person who has done the search for your service, see you first, especially if they don’t actually know who you are?
We all know, people will go to businesses they are aware of first because they think they trust them.
This is where having a complimentary traditional advertising strategy sat alongside your on-line one will really come into its own. A creative and memorable message seen or heard in everyday life gives people a reason to look on-line. So whether they look specifically for your business or your product or service, you will jump out. Even when they see a list of options all promoting the same thing. They do this because they are ‘brand aware’.
If they like your product or service they will become brand loyal, but they need to be brand aware first!
Here’s an easy way to look at this. You buy a new car and you believe it is different from everyone else. Then when you drive it, you start to see other people in the same type of car as you. Worse still, its in the same colour!! The simple fact is they were already doing it, you just weren’t aware of them before.
So, does traditional advertising still work? Yes it does!
If advertising is a journey, then traditional forms such as radio, bus, billboards and print need to be there throughout.
At the beginning to inform, in the middle to reassure and at the end to reaffirm.
So next time you are thinking about your advertising, think traditional aswell as on-line.