Television? Radio? Billboards? Those are so yesterday. You can’t even measure their effect directly, so how would you even know if they are working? Why would you continue to pump money into the unknown abyss of their ineffectiveness?
Do you watch TV commercials? Or are you watching the content available to you via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, etc? Even if you are watching television live as it airs, aren’t you picking up your phone, iPad, or laptop to monopolize your attention until the show comes back?
Do you listen to the radio in the car? I can’t remember the last time I drove without having a podcast, streaming music, or an audio-book playing. I couldn’t even tell you a single local radio station for the last two major metro areas I’ve lived.
Billboards require capturing attention to be effective. The next time you’re driving, take a look at the cars you pass on the road and those that pass you. The passengers nearly all hold the familiar pose. Head down, eyes locked on the screen in front of them. The kids are watching Frozen in the backseat for the 116th time, and the driver HOPEFULLY has his or her eyes on the road and isn’t engaged reading something on their phones or responding to their latest text. Who’s going to see your billboard?
Get Their Attention
Digital marketing, on the other hand… It’s 2019, and everyone, including your parents or grandparents, uses the internet in some capacity. The key here is understanding how to harness the power of it.
You have the ability to truly examine the return on investment for each ad you run, down to a granular level to examine your geographic, demographic, and psychographic impact. While your organic content for many platforms is somewhat “spray and pray” in regard to how it’s displayed, your paid advertising is very specific, down to a microscopic level.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the platforms outside of advertising, however. Your efforts there should be engaging and listening in nature. You have a FREE focus group that will freely tell you about your business. They will tell you what they love, so you can keep delivering in those areas, and they will tell you what they hate, so you can shore up a deficiency and invite them back to show them you care enough to fix it.