Are ads a good idea for my business?5 min read

Advertising is a good way to attract new customers and as a by-product also remind existing customers of your presence. However the goal of advertising is to inform the cusotmer of your message.
The message in ads can be of one of 4 types. See more here

Ads can be a good idea for your business if you have the following goals

+ You goal is to build brand recall

Digital display ads are a great tool when your focus is to re-engage with non-returning customers or to build brand recall

+ When ad spend meets a ROI watermark

We recommend you always have a clear ROI budget before you spend on ads. To achieve the right outcome, its equally important to be able to measure your targeted returns. As an example, if you say we want to get $1 back in revenue for every $1 spent on ads, thats an easy to achieve goal. However, are you measuring and more importantly are you able to reliably measure how much revenue you are generating from those specific ads.
At connectchief, we often find ourselves saying “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” This statement is as true for marketing spend on ads than anything else.

+ You wish to target users at a specific location or in a specific moment

Running an ad for your ice-cream parlor at or near the campus of a local community college or elementary school is a great way to be in front of your customers when they are most likely to think (students wanting to hang out or families with kids looking for a treat) of a business like yours.

Advertising a promotion is an even better way to run Ads

+ Promotions can be targeted to different user groups (aka cohorts)

Promotions give the business a lot of flexibility. You could provide incentives to users for shopping at your store or to buy a certain product or service at an advertised price or to receive a discount for making purchases on a specific day or time. The opportunities are endless and when paired with location targeting can produce phenomenal results

+ Promotions are also a great way to acquire new customers

Money spent on ads is cash spend. When money is given away through promotions, the spend is in goods or services – each of which have a higher perceived value to the consumer as opposed to the amount they cost you (the business owner to produce). Moreso, a promotion provides the consumer a way to try your product and services at a lower price point. You only spend, if they transact with you.

+ You are looking to engage with customers

Promotions are generally structured as some benefit that a customer gets in exchange for a certain action. So a call-to-action is always built-into the promotion but it may not be the case for an advertisement. The ad is simply a means of informing the target user of your message.

What budget spend should one allocate on marketing activities ?

This is an age old question. The answer is, it depends. As a thumb rule, if it costs you $x to acquire a custome through ads, are you able to generate 2x or better margin (not revenue) from that engagement? If yes, then the ad was worth it.

Both ads and promotions are marketing tools. While advertising presents a reason to buy a product, sales promotion offers a short-term incentive to purchase

The ultimate goal is to
(1) Either acquire a new customer or
(2) turn a one-time customer into a returning customer.
Achieve any of the above and you are it mostly right.

Any technology platform that offers ads allows you a lot of flexibility to experiment. Digital Ads are generally far more cost-effective over traditional media. They provide you to tune and customize your target audience. And most platforms are flexible where you can start, stop or even adjust your ad budgets at any time. The most important piece for any business (which most seem to forget is to measure if the ad or promotion is actually effective).

PromoENGINE by connectchief takes a unique approach to promotions and ads. Our tools enable the small business to promote themselves to customers not just at vantage locations but also directly within your storefront (online or offline). Learn more about PromoENGINE and how these tools help you engage better with your target customers.

How does a business turn a customer into a returning customer?

Customers only return to businesses they like transacting with. They may find your product or services to be superior to other options. They may return because you are easy to do business with. They may return because your staff is caring and listens to its customers.

To know if you are doing the right thing, you as a business owner or manager need to be in touch with your customers’ perception of the experience you and your team deliver. In business transactions, particularly service-oriented ones, customer experience issues can occur. However, a business that listens and attempts to make improvements, even if they delivered a poor experience to start, has a way higher chance of the customer returning to them vs one that seem to not care. Coming soon! with VisitXP business owners can get a quick check of their service delivery experience