When you drove to work this morning, you probably passed a lot of billboards. Do you remember what they were advertising? More importantly, did you buy anything on your way to work, as a result of those billboards?
Probably not.
This is not to say properly placed billboards do not work– they just may not be the most cost-effective advertising medium during a recession.
In a recession, consumers are less impulsive, so your business needs to find new ways to reach your customers.
Whether your favorite strategies involve billboards, print ads, direct mail, or some other strategy, your old advertising techniques may not work the way they used to during this recession.
In a recession you want to reach those who are ready to buy now. Easier said than done, you say? Truthfully, it is rather easy and inexpensive.
The Power of Search Engines
A search engine is the tool you use to find what you’re looking for online. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo & Bing — in that order.
Search engines offer the distinct ability to reach the base of consumers who are ready to buy your product now. This is where advertising mediums, like billboards, fail to attract customers. If real life was the internet you would have millions of messages coming at you to the point where there is no possible way to filter everything out. Though there are millions of advertisements circulating the internet, you have the ability to filter them-as a consumer and as a business. As a consumer you can direct what you search to find what you want. As a business, by placing yourself where consumers search, you find new customers who are ready to buy.
The most popular way to reach consumers through search engines is by using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. This means you only pay when the buyers click on your ad – you don’t get charged for your ad appearing in the search engines. This is another positive feature compared to traditional advertising, because they must pay whether the consumers choose buy from them or not-time is money.
Our favorite PPC advertising tool is Google AdWords.
The amazing thing about AdWords is that you create your own ads. Through a one-on-one consultation Spire can help walk you through tested marketing methods, so your ads enter the search engines looking their best, while attracting quality clicks.
These campaigns are actually pretty simple. Your ads will only show where and when you want them to. When someone searches for your keyword, they just may end up seeing your ad. The true benefit is that you can add as many keywords as you like and bid on them as high or low as you like. Every marketing decision is entirely up to you.
More Great Benefits…
AdWords can also help you manage your daily ad budget, set specific geographic locations where you ad will appear and measure your ad’s results.
- BUDGET-FRIENDLY: You never have to worry about overspending on your ad campaign, because Google AdWords lets you control the budget. AdWords even lets you know if your bi
d is too low compared to the competition. - TARGETED: Filter and focus your ad’s visibility by using location targeting. Location targeting lets your ads become visible to buyers in specific locations. For example, you could reach customers within a small 5 mile radius, or go nationwide.
- MEASURED: Measuring the effectiveness of your campaign is vital. AdWords provides valuable insight that shows you where your money is going, where buyers are clicking, and what ads are working.
You can sign up for your own Google AdWords account, or call our team to let one of our AdWords experts set it up for you.