I met @jfouts today for coffee. We had a stimulating conversation about how to achieve more effective online advertising. One of the things we spoke about was the impotence of managing information flow. Direct Marketers call this the reveal strategy. It’s a concept that leads to more effective online advertising.
Carefully consider all the information you have about the product or service you are marketing. And then carefully consider the interest cycle of your customers. Given what you know about your product, and your understanding of the needs of your best customers and heavy category users, determine when and where information should be revealed during communication/purchase process.
Consider direct mail for a moment. It usually consists of an outer envelope (OE), a letter, a brochure and a response device. The OE is the invitation. It has one job, get opened. The letter provides the argument, the rationale reasons why the reader should purchase or take action. The brochure provides the color, the background info, usually from a third person perspective, which gives the reader a richer understanding of the product or service they are considering. Finally, the response device, a clear call to action with all the information the reader needs to respond. You will see this basic structure in all well crafted direct marketing.
Now consider an online advertising campaign. There is the invitation, either display or SEM ads or now Social Media. This is analogous to the OE. It’s the invitation to interact as the consumer wishes. The landing page presents the argument, like the DM letter, and provides access to additional background information, like the brochure. The response device, in online advertising, is the shopping basket or similar resources that allow the consumer to take action.
This example uses a landing page, a website that’s the fulcrum in an online marketing effort. There are three types of websites: a brand site, a micro site and a landing page and each functions differently within an effective online advertising campaign.
Hip Shots
- Don’t give away the whole story in the banner or SEM copy. They have one job, to get clicked on. Use the information that will entice the reader into the process. No more, no less. Give them what they need to click.
- Be sure your LP focuses on the rational argument for why they should buy. Don’t tell them what they already know. If they clicked, they are in the market and already know most of what they need to know about the product. Give them a strong, rational argument for taking action, to choose your product.
- Provide access to more information if they want it. But don’t clutter up the landing page. This is a careful balance since you don’t want to provide too many exit points.
- Finally, make it easy to buy. The response mechanism should be in the middle, above the fold and to the right, with clear, easy-to-understand instructions. Click Here.
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Good points.
But it does assume that online ads require a response and click-through. What about the ads that are there to drive awareness and require minimal follow-through? Do they need a staged approach?
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I used a traditional response campaign to make the point obvious. An awareness campaign should use the same strategy in that consumers will be viewing the ad are at a certain stage in the process.
A simple message that appeals to heavy category users will keep the brand in the consideration set. Awareness. But when they engage, whether it’s through a web site as described here, or at retail the information they are looking for will be more specific to the transaction. POS and Packaging is not the place to repeat the brand message. Give them functional, practical reasons to choose the brand over competitive choices.