Is your advertising passing on more customers to your competitors?

The Advertising Paradox

Imagine you own a store located in a shopping mall. You want more foot traffic to end up in your store, so you decide to invest in some advertising. You invest in an advertising campaign which works, bringing in thousands of new consumers to the shopping mall. However, there’s a big problem…

Customers will see other stores as they stroll through the mall, whilst on the way to your store. Consequently, you could be losing out on new customers to your competitors – as a result of your own advertising!

Sounds nuts, right?

Forking out your hard-earned cash, only to be generating as much new business for your competitors as you are for yourself!

Understand that many of today’s companies find themselves in a similar situation. Only this time, it’s not happening in a shopping mall.

It’s happening on Google search.

Is Google stealing away your business?

If you land a great commercial, one capable of creating a need whilst also repeating your brand name multiple times, viewers could easily end up in the palms of your competition.

Think about it like this…

Assume that the commercial was effective enough to drive a real interest in consumers. When they decide to search (later that night, the next day, or even the next week) your brand name might not be as fresh in their mind. They therefore turn to Google and look up ‘home appliances’ or whatever product your commercial was about.

If your competitors have a more effective SEO or Google PPC strategy, their site will be ranked higher than yours. Essentially, this brings us right back to the ‘advertising for your competitors’ paradox…

Your great commercial made the consumer feel a need for the product, but you ended up losing them to your competitors on Google search.

Power Shift

Get ahead of the search engines

Beginning to run Google PPC and SEO campaigns would be a great place to start. However, there is another solution. It involves motivating the consumer to bypass search altogether and go directly to your website. This can be done through effective social media ads.

You’re probably wondering, “people on social media aren’t on there to buy. People looking to buy are on Google search.”

And that’s right.

So, they key is making them want to buy, there and then.

Here’s how…

01

Incentivise

Give consumers a reason to go straight to your website. Create a great offer, one which gets their mouths watering. Something like a 30% discount, or a freebie along with purchases. Something that is too good to miss out on.

02

Create urgency

Create a sense of urgency which calls on consumers to take immediate action. This way, they’ll click straight to your website link rather than going onto search later on during the day. Phrases like “last two hours of sale prices remaining”, or “limited stock remaining – hurry up!”

03

Power Guarantee

Eliminate risk from the transaction. Typically, when buying a product, all the risk is carried by the buyer. Mitigate this by offering them a guarantee; such as a 30-day money-back guarantee if they’re not satisfied with the product.

By instigating a direct response to your social media ads, consumers will bypass search, essentially bypassing your competitors’ websites.

So, what's the magic formula?

Ideally, your brand should create a mix between social and search advertising. Consumers are present across multiple locations, making an effective integrated strategy key to your brand’s overall marketing success.

This means investing in a multi-channel approach, combining both search engine marketing and social media campaigns. Based on the data gathered through each channel, you can then optimise your budget spend according to the ROI generated by each channel.

Also, your ads should be laser targeted, placing them in front of the right people. Tools on social platforms provide a high degree of targeting options and techniques, enabling us marketers to skyrocket responses through a more personalised approach to digital marketing. Similarly, your search marketing can be tailored to reach purchase-intent keyword searches, such as ‘buy now’.

Profit from direct advertising

When investing in your business, there’s nothing worse than having an outcome that benefits your competitors more than it does you. Fortunately, with effective strategy, great targeting, and creative tactics, you can combat this advertising pitfall.

Reach out to us to understand how your business can tap into huge profits through direct advertising.