Many moons ago, a friend of mine was watching the Super Bowl and along with millions of other folks around the world saw a Samsung commercial for a ground-breaking new phone. And like we all do (well all of us with smartphones) he immediately Googled the name of this new phone. Alas, he was greeted with the virtual equivalent of crickets chirping.
Nothing. Sure, he could pop over to Samsung's corporate website, media sites talking about Samsung or its products and blogs doing the same, BUT nowhere did he find what he was really looking for — more detailed information, product shots, and reviews about this breakthrough Samsung phone he'd just seen during the Super Bowl.
What he, and I for that matter, didn't realize is that he had just experienced the future of advertising and marketing in a digitally centric, Google Effect world.
The Big Picture
A 2021 GE Capital Retail Bank report found that 81% of retail shoppers conduct online research before buying. And according to research from Salsify, 77% of shoppers use a mobile device to search for products, with many retail shoppers frequently researching competitor products and pricing in-store. A fact supported by data from HRC Retail Advisory, where 59% of shoppers reported using their mobile devices in-store to compare costs or research deals and coupons.
The simple fact is that today, all advertising is Direct Response advertising. A potential buyer sees your ad or hears someone talking about your new product or service and their next conversation is with Google. They consult the modern-day equivalent of the Oracle at Delphi to learn more, go deeper, and see reviews or price shop BEFORE they make a serious purchase decision.
What This Means For You
An awesome, information-rich, funnel-optimized, helpful website isn't a nicety, it's quite likely the single most important marketing tool in your arsenal. It should not only be the first thing you build but each and every time you create a piece of advertising you should consciously consider — do I have the right information on our site and is it easy to find — for each and every advertisement and campaign produced.
Your advertising doesn't need to tell the viewer to go to your website — that's so 2010 😁 . Instead, it should inspire the prospective buyer to want to learn more or go deeper so these self-educating buyers can complete their education. Then, once you've captured them on your website, funnel optimize your content to deliver an effective virtual sales presentation, supported with 2nd-Click Content to help you separate interest from intent.
And finally, develop interesting lead magnets to capture a name and email to power ongoing nurture campaigns to create propinquity — the all-important first step in every purchase process — against those prospects not yet ready to click the buy button.
The Bottom Line
Advertising and Marketing success today requires more patience and planning than it did 20 or 30 years ago. It's no longer enough to just hammer a prospect over and over and over again with advertising messaging until you finally beat them into purchase submission or win the day because you've outshouted the competition.
Nope. Those days are gladly over. Smart marketers have learned it's often more effective to whisper vs shout. And with smartphones placing all of the world's knowledge literally at our fingertips, the companies that invest their time and money accordingly will reap the rewards over the next decade or more.
This post was originally published on Painless Prospecting, the weekly sales and marketing blog created by the fine folks at Converse Digital. If you want to learn how to create, engage in, and convert conversations into new clients and customers, give them a call.
