Traditional Advertising’s Digital Counterpart

If you offer digital advertising to your clients, then you know that sometimes it gets overwhelming with all the new and changing digital advertising options available. So here is a “If This, Then That” guide to what you should suggest to clients, based on what they are currently doing with their traditional advertising.

“I do direct mail”  If the advertiser is doing direct mail using a list of names and street addresses, you should definitely talk to them about Household IP Targeting  and explain that it is “direct mail for the internet.” Talk about how it is more cost effective than direct mail and that instead of just hitting a household one time with a direct mail piece you could target that household up to 50 times in a month depending on their budget. And, it uses the same database list the client would use for a direct mail campaign.

If the advertiser is doing direct mail to specific neighborhoods then you should talk about Mobile Conquesting  where you can geo-fence very tight geographies.

“I do outdoor”  If an advertiser is doing outdoor they are doing so because they want to reach people in a particular location. You can do this digitally by geo-fencing devices in that same area the billboard is located. Another option would be talking to them about Facebook Local Awareness ads. These are mobile news feed ads that can be geo-fenced around an area and the ad contains a click-to-call button, click-to-map, or even a send message button.

“I do email marketing”  This means that the client has a database list of email addresses. You can take that same list and use it on Facebook to targeting those EXACT people on their Facebook account where the ad appears in their news feed. This is called Custom Audiences.   We upload the list of emails (or phone numbers) and Facebook matches it to people’s Facebook accounts and then the ad is shown just to those people on the client’s list. In addition, Facebook can create a “Look Alike” audience based on that list and find additional people to target.

Sometimes a client might wonder why they should pay to run Facebook ads when they can email someone for free. That is when you ask the client what their “open rate” is for their email blasts. Let’s say it is 20%…well, this is how you reach the 80% who are NOT opening your emails.

“I do radio”  What type of radio? Whether an advertiser is buying, Adult Contemporary, Country, News-Talk, Sports, Hot AC, Oldies, Hispanic, or Hip Hop, you can suggest an Ad Network that corresponds to that format and reaches the same type of demographic.

“I do TV/Cable”  This means the advertiser already has a ready made :15 or :30 video commercial that can be used for a video pre-roll campaign. Find out what types of shows they are advertising in and suggest a corresponding Ad Network that reaches the same type of demographic.

“I do Pay-Per-Click/AdWords/Paid Search”  As we’ve covered in previous posts, Pay-Per-Click has a lot of disadvantages for local small businesses. Usually a more effective and efficient use of that budget is investing it in Keyword Targeting. With this type of advertising the client’s display or video ad (rather than a text ad on a search page) is shown to people based on the keywords they search and the websites they visit that contain those keywords.

Another good alternative are the Facebook Local Awareness Ads as discussed above and the Facebook Lead Ads. Lead Ads are also ads that appear in a person’s news feed and when the call-to-action button is clicked in the ad, it opens up a form that the user can fill out to get more information from the advertiser.

“I do newspaper”  This would mean that the advertiser wants to reach people who are interested in news and probably an older demographic. You can suggest a News & Information Ad Network and a Seniors Ad Network.

“I do tradeshows/events”  If an advertiser is interested in reaching exhibitors or people attending the event, Mobile Conquesting is a great option. You can do a tight geo-fence around the event and even include specific hotels or restaurants nearby.

“I do yellow pages”  Talk to this advertiser about the benefits of a Search Engine Optimization campaign (hyperlink) which helps them get found online through search engines and online directories.

If a client is new to digital, make sure you start at the beginning and explain the basics of digital advertising and the importance of doing Retargeting to reach people who have been to their website.

If they are already doing digital with someone else, then talk to them about why you are better. Ask if they are using frequency caps, tracking conversions, tracking view through visits, getting in-depth reports, and of course YOUR unparalleled customer service!