It’s that time of year again; the Viewers Choice Awards for best ‘big money’ television commercial are coming to a social media network near you. The Super Bowl ads will be discussed, critiqued, played and replayed for the entire world to judge. Everyone has their favorite brand that they can’t wait to see, hoping they top last year’s effort and make a play for your tears or laughter. There is a lot at stake, the cost to participate is huge and even though just making it to the big leagues to share screen time with the giants is a win, no one wants to walk away the as the dud.
Trickle down to the rest of us, where is our super bowl marketing moment? How do we make our marketing budget grant us the opportunity to reach the masses? Forget the masses, we just want to reach ‘The One.’ The customer we know we are meant for, the one who will root for us, love us and be loyal to us, if they only knew us. Without the five million dollar slush fund for a thirty-second ad on the big stage, how do we find them?
The answer isn’t sexy, hard work, research, strategy and follow thru. The rest of us have to work hard and flesh out a multi-channel plan to find our fans, woo them and create a happily ever after relationship. An approach otherwise known in the word of marketing as a lead generation strategy.
Lead-gen was the topic of a recent Demand Gen Report article focusing on what succeeds, what doesn’t, and how to make it work for you. One key takeaway from their observations and research was the importance of integrating digital and physical channels. This isn’t a new concept; research shows that multiple and varied touches are important for introducing ourselves and open a dialogue.
Cutting thru the noise of a saturated digital world is survival 101 for today’s marketers. Sending an email isn’t going to do it, adding a digital ad isn’t going to do it. We need to reach our target in various and layered ways. Creating awareness thru the inbox, reinforcing that by showing up in search results or social media feeds, and finally, garnering authority and trust by delivering a tangible and personalized mail piece.
According to Ruth Stevens, President of B2B consultancy eMarketing Strategy, “Direct mail is an effective part of an integrated outbound touch,” Stevens noted. “It’s a contact strategy. You want to reach your target through a variety of channels, including email, direct mail, phone and social media. That messaging is a means to deepen the relationship, whether you are lead nurturing on the prospect side or deepening the relationship on the customer side in order to upsell.”
No sexy Super Bowl ad for the rest of us; just good old-fashioned hard work and a solid layered strategy incorporating integrated channels. In the end, though, when executed properly, we will walk away with the real reward, “The One”. Without spending five mil.