Marketing in the Digital Age is different.
It is driven by data, targeting, content and creativity.
When I was working in the pre-digital time in advertising, targeting was confined to the choice of the media channel and the programming. If you wanted to sell Crazy Prices to housewives, pay for your ad to appear in Coronation Street, if you were selling to men in white collar jobs, News at Ten was your choice. Specialist magazines worked, from Just 17, NME, Cosmo and GHQ to Business publications. Local newspapers were the place to go for classifieds, jobs, cars and property. Different people bought the Belfast Telegraph on specific nights, while lots getting it every day. I used to look longingly in the classifieds for Gibson Les Paul guitars, which I could never afford.
Now we can target audiences on Facebook to an amazing level. We can sell to women over the age of 50 who are interested in gardening, or health, or arts and crafts, with different relevant content each time.
But it all revolves around the funnel.
Awareness
It’s simple. If people don’t know about you they can’t buy from you. They will look on Google, and then will select a few to investigate, and if it’s not you, you’re not selling.
And awareness is not about having a Facebook page or a website. It is about those pages being seen. So how can grow the awareness of your business?
By renting a pitch in the Big NI Market at £10 a month, we will be creating awarenness for you. While a boosted post might get you in front of a few 1000, our marketing will show to 100s of 1000s of people. And when they visit and browse or look local they can see you.
Interest
So we have got people to see your page in the Big NI Market, but have you generated interest. Have you caught their eye with a headline, or an image, or an offer. The Market is exactly like a shopping centre, so imagine a person standing in the mall, and looking around. What is going to make them come and look at you? What have you put in your shop window?
Desire
I am a sucker for buying headphones. My kids laugh at me. But what is the cause of my desire to buy? Well, I swim, and it is boring, so I wanted a waterproof pair. I have always liked music, so I want good sound, but I am tight, so I am not going to spend a lot of dosh. I have a pair but when the battery runs out, it always seems to be when I want to listen, so I need another pair. All of these reasons translate into my desire for more headphones. So what is going to create the desire for what you sell? Think about it and make sure you connect to the desires, not simply talk about the product. “Swim longer, get fitter, enjoy it with waterproof headphones that stop your boredom.”
Action
This is when you get people to catually do something. Get them to part with their cash, by buying. It is the end game. I am sure you have got as far as putting things into your shopping basket on and off line and then put them back, or just not completed. We all do it. So getting the sale is the tough part, and if you get 5% of the people that have started at the top of the funnel, you are going well. To close the sale do something different. If you want people to visit, give them a coupon, or a buy one get one free offer if they share your page. Work for the sale. I sometimes wonder why people will protect their prices so much that a customer walks out the door, when a simple small discount will make them feel that you value them.
So that is the funnel. And in the Big NI Market you will be in two funnels, the one that we are using to bring people to the Market, and your own to close the sales.
Big NI Marketing 