The success of any advertising strategy depends on the
effectiveness of both the media plan and the creative strategy
that carries the message.
You need to consider the focus and readership of publications in selected media segments as well as the reach, size and frequency of the ads. And make sure your creative resonates with the audience you’re trying to reach. With advertising’s primary goals being to build brand equity, promote products and services and increase customer loyalty, the approach must be strategic and cohesive to achieve any substantial results.
The Internet has diversified advertising strategies by changing how target audiences find information—and has also changed advertisers’ expectations in terms of goals and ROI. Potential customers can now access information through multiple touch points, which didn’t exist just a few decades ago.
Digital advertising has surpassed print in overall ad spending, but it’s important to note that print is not dead. In fact, many publications are pulling best performing digital content into high quality print editions as a way of enticing even more eyeballs online. (more on this below…)
The world wide web has certainly changed the game and turned advertising into a much more multi-faceted activity that requires strategic planning and marketing knowledge to really get it right. Proper media planning, including media analysis, is a must and it’s best to incorporate a mix of digital marketing tactics that address both branding and lead generation.
Advertising isn’t just website banners or email spots. Trade publication readers and industry association audiences thrive on a mix of “advertorial” elements. Videos, whitepapers, case histories, application stories, even paid text ad placements that read like editorial instead of sales copy, reward the advertiser with high click-through rates, because the audience appreciates the effort to educate them and not just sell to them.
One of the benefits of online advertising campaigns is how easily information can be collected. With all the tracking software available, the amount of information garnered from online ads is higher than ever, so generating leads is always of primary importance – i.e. an “electronic bingo card” approach.
With relatively modest costs and high ROI, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns like Google AdWords, have become a necessity in B2B advertising. Oftentimes, we structure multiple campaigns for each business, based on a solid list of keywords and custom settings for demographics and conversion priorities.
When deciding on the tactics to use in a branding campaign or to promote a new product, don’t overlook ways to adapt some traditional forms of print advertising to the digital marketing world. Dedicated email blasts (eblasts) and co-sponsored e-newsletters (eletters) are other ways to reach your target markets. Through publication or association lists, you can broaden your reach beyond existing customers and prospects to those that may not know you.
Retargeting is an online advertising method that places ads on other sites to re-engage visitors who previously viewed your site, once they have left your page. Relevant ads persuade them to revisit your site and take action, so even if they’ve moved on to another area of research, your company is still kept top of mind (it’s those ads that seem to follow you everywhere!).
The most common goals for retargeting are to increase brand awareness and increase conversions. Although a lower percentage of conversions occurs through retargeting, you can reach visitors that are in either the awareness stage or the lead generation/nurturing stage at a very low cost, so the ROI is usually fairly good.
Let’s not forget that the internet has also changed the traditional sales and marketing funnel, so reaching potential customers at multiple points of the sales cycle is more important than ever. People come to the Internet to do research at nearly every stage of the cycle, from initial broad research through to specific product or service details, before ever talking to a salesperson.
Catching their attention with branding ads as well as technical content (paid and earned placements) helps gain their interest and eventually increases your bottom line as well as customer loyalty.
Print advertising, especially in the industrial and high-tech industries, has become more of a premium form of advertising. Sure, it’s more expensive than digital advertising usually, but it also carries with it a different weight. Seeing a full-page ad in a printed publication still draws attention, though it’s still hard to make a concrete measurement of the impact.
Print still holds significant clout in trade show or event advertising. Conference agendas, exposition lanyards, sponsorships, giveaway bags, T-shirts…the list can go on and on. These are all types of “printed” advertising as well.
Although there’s a definite trend towards obtaining information online, there’s still a large fan base for printed advertising, so you’ll probably need both print and online ad programs for a bit longer. (And don’t forget to lead every ad back to the engaging content you’ve developed for that comprehensive website of yours!)
And just like other marcom tactics, digital and print advertising still needs to work together in a cohesive, integrated plan at a high level as well as within various subsections, so that all parts are fused to the same goals, objectives, messaging and style directives.