Companies looking to grow their brand in 2016 would be crazy to ignore the important realities of marketing themselves in a digital age. Customers demand more information than ever. Sales flows have become incredibly complex, and advertising has become much more difficult in the “Skip Ad” generation. How will your company compete and thrive in this environment? Proven, powerful digital advertising strategies are key to your company’s long-term success.
I’ve gathered seven of them to help you kick start this year’s marketing efforts.
- Cross-Device Usage
Customers are looking up your company and its products on multiple screens. Whether it’s an advertisement on TV, an online product review, or an explainer video on YouTube, customer acquisition is blurring the lines between media mediums.
To meet the needs of customers on a wide variety of screens, reactive web designs are becoming incredibly popular. A reactive site automatically adjusts itself to the size of the screen that’s viewing the information you’ve published. This helps every user experience feel tailor-fit to the way your customers want to interact with your brand. Checkout NewLab’s site if you want to see reactive web design in action.
- Content Marketing in Multiple Mediums
The content your company produces needs to have a unified theme, regardless of the medium being utilized. Advertising plays a massive role in how insurance companies gain market share, so it makes sense to look at one of the largest in the US to understand what uniform advertising across mediums looks like.
Take a moment and think about GEICO. Chances are, when you read that last sentence you had an image of a cute gecko with an Australian accent. Yep, that’s multimedia uniformity. If you’re listening to a GEICO radio spot, you’re going to hear that Australian accent. If you’re watching an ad on TV, you’ll see the gecko checking his car in with a valet, or ordering Chinese food in a small New York apartment (advertising auto and renter’s insurance). Web-based GEICO ads have a graphic with the gecko standing next to a clever quote. No matter where you look, the messaging and theme are the same.
- Social Media Giveaways and Contests
If your company doesn’t already have a social media presence (Facebook Page, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) then you’re more than a few steps behind the competition. Customers want to see the things they’re passionate about in their Newsfeeds. If you can deliver that content, with a clever angle that pushes customers towards your brand, you’ll be in a strong position to build a lasting impression in your customer’s mind.
To get the social media buzz going, host a fun contest or giveaway on your Facebook page. A brand that does a ton of this is JetStream Radio. They regularly grow their page likes and increase audience engagement by working with show sponsors to give away free goodies that are sure to grab the attention of those in their community.
- Case Studies Geared Towards Customers
Customers are wise to marketing and smooth talk. Silver-tongued sales people are so 2000 and late. Now it’s all about educating your customer and showing them how your product or service has changed someone else’s life for the better.
Bant.io uses this strategy to gain market share by sharing the before / after stories of their current customers. It helps that many of these companies are household names. A case study is all about building trust with your new customers, showing them that your product can do what you claim it will.
- Interactive Microsites
To really land a point, your company’s website needs to be hyper focused on communicating the information your customer needs in order to make a quick buying decision. Many organizations do this by creating microsites that explain their product / service / cause, allowing customers to interact with them. One of the best microsites is one used by an organization that is working to build a coalition against oil fracking in the United States.
- Influencer Relations
Who do your customers pay attention to on a daily or weekly basis? These individuals are influencers. They have the power to grow your brand recognition exponentially by simply dropping your company’s name within the context of the things they already do to appeal to their audience.
A recent example of this is Payton Manning’s post super bowl interview where he mentioned twice that he would be relaxing at home with his favorite Budweiser. The pundits value this name drop during one of the most watched sporting events in America worth around $3.2 million in advertising.
- Designing Commercials for the DVR and “Skip” Generation
Companies advertising on TV or YouTube have to deal with a stark reality of advertising today. Customers have the power to skip their ads. This means that a YouTube ad needs to grab the attention of the user immediately or give in to the “skip ad” button. For TV ads this is even trickier, as time-delayed viewing becomes the norm.
To battle the DVR wars of advertising, companies are fighting for the last slot before a show comes back from commercial break, and placing their logo at the end of the spot. This is done with the hope that customers will hit play just before their program resumes, showing their company’s logo. If you can outsmart the DVR’s and “skip ad” button, you’ll be able to count on conversions from your advertising spots on TV and online. Bonus points if you can get an influencer onboard to drop your company’s name, or better yet, fully introduce your brand to their audience.
Parting Thoughts
Regardless of the industry or the values of your organization, nothing fixes problems at corporate like sales. Use the above seven digital advertising strategies and considerations in your upcoming marketing campaigns for maximum effect. Hyper focused microsites, unified marketing across multiple mediums and in-depth case studies allow customers to absorb the information necessary to make their buying decision.
Some of our clients who inspired this.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.