How to Advertise Like a Rock Star
On the surface, advertising seems simple; you show people what you have to offer and, if they want it, they come buy it off you. Right? Oh if it were only that easy. Advertising is often about educating consumers about why they need what you're offering. One great way to do that is the native advertising we talked about in Speaking Your Geek. But there are other ways to teach your fellow geeks, and other considerations that will help you do it well.
1. Target Your Audience:
No drrr...right? Except this is one of the main mistakes people make with their advertising. Just as a stand-up comic needs to read the room in order to give a stellar performance, you need to know what your potential customers respond to. And you can't just assume they'll respond the same way you do because they're interested in the same things. There are loads of ways to figure out your audience, some of which we'll discuss in more depth below, but here's a quick run-down:
Gather data and then understand it well. It's so sad in this information age when people fail to gather data and put it to good use. There are literally hundreds of methods for gathering data, but as with all business endeavors, you should find the methods that work best for you and focus solely on them. Don't overwhelm yourself, but do try to be as thorough as possible with your chosen methods. A good place to start is the Small Business Administration (SBA), where you can find a mentor who will submit a request for market research based on your needs and will then help you understand the returned data. It usually takes about 2-4 weeks for the request to be fulfilled and it's always nice to have someone to walk you through interpreting what might be dense information.
Some other methods you might choose include: surveys you conduct with the public, researching keywords and trends (as with Google Trends), looking at the statistics on your own social media pages, looking up articles that cover trends related to your product/service (chances are there are publications already talking about what you're selling), finding any academic resources that may be researching trends in your field (behavioral science anyone?)... The list goes on and on, but if you do nothing else, at least do this:
Go to where your peeps are. This is so simple and so big at the same time. Don't just huddle up with your marketing department or hide out in your office tweaking your ad campaign into the wee hours of the morning. You don't always have to go to where they physically are. These days, you can read the comments sections of articles that talk about your industry, or read comments under products like yours on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com, or you can go to the social media pages or forums for related topics and read the posts and comments there. You can even go to forums on your competitors' websites and find out what your target audience needs that maybe isn't being provided yet, or at least provided well. Be ethical, of course. Don't troll them. Just look for the nuggets of information you can put to good use.
2. Hit Peak Time, Be in the Right Place, and Worship Your Stats:
Marketing can take a lot of work. Like...a LOT. Why would you not want to get the greatest return possible on that investment? Do some research to find out what time of the year, month, and day your target audience is most likely to be paying attention, and where they'll be paying attention, whether that's on social media, the radio, a local rave, or YouTube.
Then, for the love of all that's holy, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR STATS! Look at stats on your social media pages (Facebook does great stats), Google AdWords, WordPress (use the Google plug-in for more in-depth stats here), or use a third party tool like Hotjar. Produce your own stats if your target audience is notoriously digital-shy and you'll only find them by hitting the pavement and wearing holes in your shoes. People are usually pretty happy to tell you what they're into if you ask.
You'll have to do some trial and error no matter which stats you pay attention to, but that data will be key in discovering what peak time is for your audience and what types of ads speak to them the most.
3. Don't try to do everything, but do embrace good, new tools:
We've said it before, but it bears repeating. Don't overwhelm yourself. Take baby steps. You don't need all the things and you don't need to be all the things. Specialize and be the best one thing you can be to your consumers. Also, don't try to use all the tools that are out there. As with everything, it's going to take some trial and error to figure out which tools are gold for you, but once you do, use them well! But also don't be afraid to grow out of those tools if you need to.
If your company grows, and it's safe to assume you want it to, your needs will change as well. Don't give up on a tried and true tool just because it's old news and something pops up that's new and shiny, but if something new comes along that could really help you, be flexible enough to embrace it! It might take some trial and error before you have a good grasp of this, but there's also nothing wrong with going to experts for help until you get that experience under your belt.
Speaking of tools, check out our article on Being a Savvy Digital Marketer and Speaking Your Geek for an introduction into some trending marketing tools that could change your life forever, and for the better.
Or contact us now to get help reaching and teaching your fellow geeks.