In 2016, digital display ad spending will eclipse search ad spending in the US for the first time. Combined, the categories of video, sponsorships, rich media and “banners and other” will account for the largest share of digital ad spending: 47.9%, worth $32.17 billion.
But, how can we know which potential customer is better qualified than another? First, let us look at what usually happens in our business and then how to effectively manage our marketing efforts.
The wrong approach
Most businesses develop an ad with the name of their business, a pretty logo and some meaningless slogan claiming to be the leader in the industry or market. In this process three things happen:
- They spend a lot of time trying to get a new costumer and then try to close the sale as soon as possible.
- They waste time bothering people who are not interested in the services or product.
- Their advertising reeks of desperation as they try discounting and competing on price to make a quick sale.
The problem with this approach is that it is a waste of money and time. Here is an example. A company using a digital billboard to promote their services or products paid between $3,500 - $25,000 per location for a 4-week period.
First, the sign is there for those who are interested and for those who are not. Second, many of these billboards have too much information to read in less than the eight seconds it takes to pass it. Third, any passenger in the car will most likely be entertained with his cell phone.
The bad news is that the same loss of money and ineffectiveness exists in flyers, television ads and newspapers.
The right approach
Now imagine you trying to reach people that are interested in what you do, rather than trying to make an immediate sale from your ad. Better yet, when they respond to your ad (content, video, etc.) you put them on a database so that you can build value for them later.
This approach lets you positon yourself as an authority and create a relationship built on trust. The consequences of this process drives sales in a natural way.
When you try to sell something from your ad, some people will be ready to buy in a minute. But, what happen with the rest of the people that are interested in your product or service but they are not ready to buy it now? They represent 97% of potential consumers.
Let us put this in numbers. On average, at any given time, you will have something like this when you promote something in your market:
- 3% of your potential customers are ready to buy immediately
- 7% will be very open to buy
- 30% will be interested but will not buy now
- 30% will not be interested
- 30% will not be interested even if you give it at no cost
Now, what about if add the 7% of those customers that are open to buy and the 30% that are interested in your product or service but they need to get something else to be able to trust in you. That represents an increment of more than 1000%, to be exact 1233% (37/3 = 12.33 * 100 = 1233.33%).
The group integrated by the 37% might have been ready to buy from you in two weeks, one month, or six months. This is the reason why you will have wasted the opportunity to reach the 37% and that means a lot. In other words, you have turned your back on thousands of dollars in income.
The most important point here is to avoid to make a sale directly from your ads. You do not want to look desperate to make a sale. It is important not to lose the objective, which is to maximize our investment in marketing and increase your sales. Even better if it is for a long period.
The nurturing systems for better outcomes
Here is when you take care of the 37%. Do you remember the database I mentioned to you? Well that database is a software (nurturing system) that will help you to nurture and treat your leads with care until they are ready to buy.
With this system, instead of treating every prospect as equal, it filters, sorts and screens everyone, from dealing with high probability costumers, to not wasting your marketing money on uninterested prospects.
How does it work?
The most important part of this process is to attract prospects by developing extraordinary content. Why? Because the clear majority of searches are performed by people on a search engine end up reading a high-quality article.
For example, let us think we sell a hydroponic system. A user somewhere is looking in Google for a home hydroponic system to grow lettuce for the family. The user is an amateur and needs more information about how to handle a hydroponic system.
Finally, he reaches an article published on our website’s blog. In the reading process, he realizes that the hydroponics project will take more effort and time than he thought. At the same time pop-up windows show-up on the blog offering a free guide for dummies on how to grow vegetables in a hydroponic system.
As an exchange, the system requested the name and email of the user. The user took the guide, because he was interested in the material included in the guide. He did not buy any now. For now, he belongs to the 37% of user that showed interest in the product or service.
What happened here?
A nurturing system is doing its job. First, the user was in the system long enough to establish his interest in the subject. That was the reason why the window showed-up. Now the system has the user information and has targeted what interest the client likes in it. In this case is hydroponics for families.
From now on, your business can build value for him, position the business as an authority and creating a relationship built on trust. The next step could be a webinar or a white paper, something that help customers to make a decision in the near future.
The same process will apply to other prospects with interest in commercial or educational hydroponic information. For those users, the system will target in the other subgroup and nurture and care for them with a content tailored for that group.
Soon, you will gain the confidence of the prospect and you will be able to realize the sale. It is important to know that we already know the client's interests so that we can continue to create strategies to increase our sales in a long-term relationship.
The result of this process is exponential since the more prospects that are in the database, the more information you will have about the type of users viewing your website. This will allow you to improve your strategies and consequently get more sales and income.
The best thing of all is that this process establishes a great trust between your company and the client, turning your customers into promoters of your brand.
Conclusion
It is possible to increase the outcome of the investment you make in marketing by simply developing extraordinary content and establishing a nurturing lead system that help your business attract the most qualified prospects. But most important, it will be in a long-term relationship.