With more
people now aware and appreciative of the benefits of digital marketing (mainly
due to the new normal created by COVID-19), many are asking themselves: How can
I market my products/services online effectively? If you are one of those asking this
question, I have 10 tips to help you achieve effective digital marketing.
But before
I can share the tips, I have a quick and simple assignment for you.
Assignment
Imagine you
have to create an advert for a car on sale for each of the target market groups
below. List three features about that car that you would highlight in your
advert for each advert.
- Middle
income salary earners
- Couples
with children
- Rich
celebrities
Now, the 10
tips for effective digital marketing.
Tip 1:
Point out only the key/strong facts about your product (not everything)
When
creating an advert, there is a temptation to tell your potential buyers
everything you know about the product you are selling. But telling your
potential customers everything about your product will only leave then with
more questions about it than interest in the product (that is if they have the
time to listen to everything you have to say).
Too much
information about a product will lead to more analysis of the product by your
audience and as they start to analyse your product more, they will begin
getting more logical (than emotional) about your product hence emptying your
advert of the “feel” effect a good advert should have on those who see it.
Consider
the advert above of the TECNO phone. A smartphone like one of those shown in
the advert surely has many features and functionalities and yet, all that the
advert tells us about the phone are the megapixels of the phone’s camera.
Don’t lie
to your potential customers and don’t withhold critical information about your
product from them, but, when marketing your product, don’t tell your audience
everything you know about the product.
Tip 2: Use visuals
Whenever
you visit a social media platform like Twitter, which posts get you to pause
your scrolling the most? Is it posts with only text or those with visuals?
Unlike
text/words, images and videos easily grab our attention and excite us because
we do not have to strain our minds to imagine anything. Therefore, when making
a digital marketing plan for your products, be sure to use visuals.
The visuals
you use do not necessarily have to be showing the product you are selling
because some products like voice bundles cannot be photographed but never put
out a post about your product without a visual.
For
products that can actually be photographed like a book, a phone, land, etc.,
including a visual of what you are selling adds to the credibility for your
advert.
Tip 3: Make
the information in Tip 1 most pronounced
After you
have identified the key things you want your prospective customers to know
about your product, make sure you make those easily seen and appreciated.
There is so
much information online and on social media most people do not have the luxury
of time to zoom in on your advert to read information about your product that
you made almost invisible to the naked eye.
If your
product’s competitive advantage is its lower price, make sure the price is conspicuous.
Your target audience should be able to clearly see the price of your product as
indicated on your advert at first glance.
Resist the
temptation to make other information on the advert like your logo most
prominent in your advert because your logo, for example, adds little (if
anything) to any person’s appreciation of what you are selling. Focus on the
product
Tip 4:
Speak to the needs of the market (not how you feel about the product)
This tip is
directly connected to tip 1. Quite often, people who create adverts render them
powerless in as far as getting people to like the products being advertised
because the designers focus more on showcasing their artistic/design skills.
For example, advert creators can use fonts that are hard to read just because
they consider those fonts very artistic and trendy. Sometimes, adverts are
designed to massage the egos of those who own or made the product by focusing
on what the product owner likes most about the product.
Consider
the assignment I gave you above. You cannot market a car the same way to all of
three groups (I hope you didn’t). For each group, you must, guided by your
awareness of that group’s needs, choose a few features about the car that you
are confident will get the prospective buyers excited about buying the car.
For
example, availability of plenty of sitting space may not be exciting for you as
an unmarried sales executive, but it is most likely a deal maker/breaker for a
young couple with children because most couples with children want a car with
enough space for them and their children.
They say
the customer is king so let your advert speak in the king’s language and the
king will buy from you.
Tip 5:
Include a call to action
An advert
for any product without a call to action with like a beautiful romantic
relationship between a man and a woman where the man never proposes because he
believes [in his heart] the girl knows his intention is to marry her. Another
man will likely marry that girl.
After you
have included all you must and need to include on that advert for your product,
tell your prospective customer what they need to do after falling in love with
your product. This is the “DO” part of effective digital marketing.
It is not
enough to get your audience excited about your product and not tell them what
they need to do to get that product otherwise that advert will be a waste.
An example
of a call to action is telling your audience to call a certain number to place
their orders.
Tip 6: Be
sure your advert reaches your target audience
When
selecting a digital platform to advertise your products/services, you must be
sure that platform is able to deliver your advert to your target market.
Social
media platforms like Facebook have very robust marketing algorithms that can ensure
your advert is seen by particular groups of Facebook users classified according
to their age, geographical location, sex, relationship status, etc. Make use of
this.
SIDENOTE:
Do not assume your target market is online because you are online. Always find
out where your potential customers are and market your products to them there,
even if that means you marketing offline.
I always
enjoyed putting my creative juices to use designing banners advertising MD
chapattis and sharing them on the MD Enterprises Facebook page. But after
posting those adverts for some time and not getting any orders I ditched
marketing on Facebook and went downtown Kampala to find market for my chapattis
and I was overwhelmed by the market I found there for my chapattis.
Tip 7:
Track advert reach and impact
When it
comes to digital marketing, be sure that the platform you use for airing your
advert can offer you analytics for how your advert is fairing just like
WhatsApp does for status updates.
Most
digital platforms today will tell you how many people have viewed your advert,
where those people viewed it from (the physical address of the devices they
used to view the advert), what time they viewed the advert, whether they simply
viewed or actually clicked on the advert, etc.
All the
above information is critical for you as an online marketer because it helps
you appreciate how your advert is doing so your anticipation for sales is not
wishful but rather informed by an awareness of how many people have actually
expressed interest in your advert.
With
digital marketing you must know your advert's reach and the impact it's having
otherwise you will be marketing blindly.
Tip 8:
Optimise your adverts for viewing on mobile devices
Today it is
impossible to think about digital without thinking about mobile devices. Most
people who access the Internet and visit different digital platforms do so
using mobile devices because most of them are now smart and always on us.
It is
therefore paramount that as you design your advert, you optimize it for viewing
on mobile devices. Do not put out adverts that require people to first activate
screen rotation mode for them to be able to see your advert well. Do not design
adverts that requires people to first zoom in before that can see the details
on the advert. As much as possible, ensure that viewing your advert does not
require your audience to put in any extra effort. They should be able to view
you advert as they go about their routine actions without feeling
inconvenienced.
There may
be some people who will view your advert using for example desktop computers
and laptops and it is good practice to always optimize any adverts for viewing
on different devices. But if you must error, error on the side of giving it the
best view on a mobile device.
Tip 9: Make
your advert memorable
Consider
the advert above by MTN Uganda. MTN Uganda is licensed to offer
telecommunications and banking services. What on earth is a photo of a man
fighting to get his plate of food back from a waiter doing on their advert for
Freedom Bundles? And why would they go further and offer such a photo almost
50% of the advert space? Is MTN about to start selling food also?
All that
MTN was trying to do and, to a great extent achieved, was to make their advert
memorable. The irony makes it memorable. By remembering that scene of the man
fighting for his plate of food, many people will also remember the information
shared on the right side about the Freedom Bundles.
To make
adverts memorable, some companies use famous people on their adverts, others
use tunes/beats of popular songs, some use very daring and captivating stunts
for their adverts (like Mountain Dew soda often does), etc. You too should
strive to make your advert memorable because the more people think about your
advert, the more they will think about the product you were marketing through
that advert and the higher the likelihood of them buying that product.
If you are
not as creative, it is okay. You do not have to do everything all by yourself.
You can team up with someone more creative than you are so you can come up with
the most memorable advert.
Tip 10: Be
ready to stay in people’s faces for a while before you enjoy returns on your
marketing
Think about
this: How many Coca Cola adverts do you see in a day? But who does not know
[about] Coca Cola? Coca Cola is an internationally recognised strong brand that
has been around for years. And yet, in just one day, I can see and listen to
over 15 adverts marketing Coca Cola products.
If a brand
as strong as Coca Cola is very deliberate about constantly adverting its
products, why do you think that just one advert of your products on Facebook is
enough to get you customers?
I share
this tip not to discourage you but more to encourage you and prepare you for
the long haul. As a business, have advertising as one of your daily operational
engagements with the public because for most people, decision making is a
gradual process not instant.
It is also
unlikely that you are marketing a product that has never existed. Most likely,
what you are marketing is an alternative product (hopefully a better one at
that) to the already existing options. Therefore, be patient with the market as
you convince them to abandon what they have been using for yours.
The other
reason why you should be ready and plan to advertise for some time before you
can enjoy returns on your marketing efforts is that most people are not out
there looking for adverts. Using advertising giant Facebook as an example, most
people (including you) visit the social media site to connect with friends. If
you, therefore, want them to take notice of your advert in an ocean of posts by
their friends, you must be ready to keep trying to get them “distracted” until
you succeed and have their undivided attention. And achieving this will take
time.
Effective
advertising is a marathon not a sprint.
BONUS TIP
Always
follow the rules of grammar that govern the language of choice for your advert.
If your advert is in Rukiga, write love as “Rukundo” not “Lukundo”; if it is in
Luganda, write mother as “Maama” not “Mama”; if it is in English, write “You’re”
not “Your”.
Any
questioning of what you really want to communicate through your advert takes
away from that advert’s ability to raise interest in the product being
advertised.
