 "How to get your brand noticed online")
Let's say that you are a friend of mine and are keen on helping me market a new mouth freshener candy that I plan to launch. We both agree that nothing works better than 'direct consumer experience'; hence letting potential consumers taste my new candy would be the best way to generate word-of-mouth and potential sales in the long term.
Since you are such a good friend, you agree to dress up in a coloured costume that resembles my new candy pack and stand in the middle of the railway station with thousands of free samples to give away. Even as you grow hot, frustrated, impatient and exasperated, you will have, most likely, handed over only 100 pieces of my mouth freshener to the 5,000 people who whiz past you.
What I have described is not conjecture but the best 'click through rate' of 2 per cent of banners on online advertising (2 per cent of 5,000=100) and the challenge it poses to enthusiastic advertisers.
Here are five things to keep in mind to ensure brands, products and ideas get noticed when exposed on online media:
The creative should never be better than the real thing
It is very easy to make great creatives for online campaigns given the inexpensive production tools at hand and the raw young talent available in the industry. The challenge is to make sure that the 'super creative' doesn't disappoint users when they encounter the real product.
Don't hire an agency. Hire yourself
Get your hands dirty and crawl under the chassis of Facebook, Twitter and Google to understand how advertising works on their networks. Agencies first want to make sure their pockets are lined before making sure your interest is covered. That formula may work well in the 'offline' world where a candymaker may not know how to make a television commercial, but in the online world, he can very well be the advertising agency.
The reason is that as the brand owner, you will quickly get a pulse of what works, what doesn't and then turn on the volume for the right channel. So, DIY (do it yourself) on a teeny-weeny budget and blow up your real budget on the networks that work.
Go crazy with options
One of the best tricks I've learnt about getting the creative right is to try a zillion different renditions before the real campaign breaks and nail the one that works. I'm sure you are wondering, "How can you test a fake creative on live customers?" Well, the answer is that if you create banners of various art styles and put them up, all you need to measure is which one gets the most clicks. The landing page can easily say 'Coming Soon'.
Go for video or for simple text
If you already have TVCs, then make them web and mobile compatible and load them up. Your audience will see them in both the places (offline and online) and will remember them better (if the creative is good).
If your product is a service that simply needs to be announced, then don't go all out and make super creative ads for super dull services. Simply buy text ads (you can buy plenty with the money saved) and spray them all over the web and mobile. A 'text ad' that says, "Cheapest online insurance here" makes more sense than a film about someone falling off a cliff, then wondering who will pay the bills and then having you enter the scene from the sky, etc.
TV is lucky
Television is very expensive and usually wasteful, but if your pocket allows it, then it could be the biggest way to get instant nirvana.
I firmly believe that nothing creates more awareness than a great product that serves a great need. I mean, when was the last time you saw an ad of LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook? I guess you still know and use these brands right?
Alok Kejriwal
Digital entrepreneur & founder, 2win groups
Digital entrepreneur & founder, 2win groups
