Many of our partners came to us with a small advertising budget.
Depending on their goals, they focus their spending on one or two advertising channels.
After seeing success, they inevitably ask us “What’s next?”.
As a business grows its advertising portfolio, it can be tempting to reinvest your ROI back into existing channels exclusively.
However, oversaturation will lead to diminishing returns and missed opportunities.
You need to diversify your advertising strategy if you want long-term success.
In this small business playbook, we’ll break down how to diversify your advertising strategy, step by step.
Customer Journey
Hubspot defines the customer journey as:
"The series of interactions a customer has with a brand, product, or business as they become aware of a pain point and make a purchase decision. While the buyer's journey refers to the general process of arriving at a purchase, the customer journey refers to a buyer's purchasing experience with a specific company or service."
Where the customer journey differs from another popular term “Sales Funnel” is the focus on creating a lasting relationship with the customer instead of collecting short-term sales.
In direct-response industries, word of mouth and returning customers can make up nearly 50% of sales.
Meeting and guiding customers through every stage of this process is paramount to your advertising strategy.
There are 5 stages to the customer journey:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Retention
- Advocacy
Awareness
Awareness is the start of the customer journey.
The potential customer is aware your business exists and the solutions it provides.
Consideration
The potential customer actively researches your company (and others in your industry) to determine if it can solve their problem.
Purchase
The potential customer contacts your business and invests in your product or service, becoming a customer.
Retention
After their purchase, your business remains in contact with the customer. Additional email offers, for example, can help to provide a lasting, positive impression on the customer and entice them to return for additional purchases.
Loyalty & Advocacy
The customer is thrilled with their experience.
They return to your business for future purchases and share their positive experience with their network.
Praise from a trusted source creates new potential customers with a higher chance of buying from your business.
Advertising Vehicles
There are many different methods to reach a potential customer along their customer journey with advertisements.
These include but are not limited to:
- TV Advertising
- Radio Advertising
- Paid Social Media
- Paid Search Engine Advertising
- Over-The-Top Television
- Connected Television
- Out Of Home Advertising
- Digital Audio
- Email Marketing
TV Advertising
TV advertising excels at reaching many potential customers and getting them interested in your business.
Once a customer is considering your business, TV can contribute to brand loyalty and encourage brand advocacy.
Radio Advertising
When your favorite radio host endorses a business or product, it’s similar to a recommendation from a friend or family member.
Radio advertising lets your business lean on these established relationships to bypass the awareness stage and get potential customers seriously considering your business.
Paid Social Media Ads
People browse social media to discover new content to inform, entertain, or delight them.
Social Media ads enable you to position your business in front of your target customers without intruding on their experience (i.e. interrupting a TV or radio show).
Social media ads also allow users to purchase a product or fill out a form from their phone, without having to leave the social media platform.
This way you can position your business among content potential customers are already enjoying and turn them into customers in seconds.
Paid Search Engine Advertising
Paid Search is the best way to reach customers while they’re actively seeking your business’ products and/or services.
Whether a potential customer is specifically searching for your business or just a business in your industry, Paid Search advertising keeps your business top-of-mind during the critical consideration phase.
Over-The-Top Television and Connected Television
Over-The-Top Television (OTT) and Connected Television (CTV) describe advertising on streaming platforms such as Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, etc.
OTT functions similarly to TV advertising, reaching many potential customers and introducing them to your business alongside their favorite content.
It’s existence as a digital medium offers more tracking and insight than it’s traditional counterpart.
Out Of Home Advertising
Out-of-Home Advertising consists of any signage your target customer can encounter outside their some – the billboard being the calssic example.
Digital Audio Advertising
Digital audio ads take on two forms.
The first is In-Stream ads – ads that appear between songs or during podcasts on audio-streaming platforms such as Pandora and Spotify.
The second is Ad Reads from endorsers during podcasts and platform-hosted radio shows.
These ads exist within the audio content and cannot be avoided by a premium streaming subscription, enabling brands to connect with potential customers in environments where they’re less likely to disengage during an ad break.
Email Marketing
Most email marketing strategies involve contacting a person directly after they’ve shared their email address with your business.
This tactic is ideal for cultivating brand loyalty and maintaining contact with acustomers after a purchase.
Expanding Your Advertising Strategy – The Mean Joe Way
There are a lot of different ways your business can advertise.
Trying to build your advertising strategy and run your business can be overwhelming.
At Mean Joe Advertising, our team of advertising professionals builds full-scope advertising strategies – bringing in more customers, reducing costs, and creating more time for business management.
Chat with a Mean Joe team member to learn how you can expand your advertising strategy, today.
