Blog posts in Advertising

Marketing has changed - have you?

We all know business never stops moving. So why are people still using traditional marketing methods to tell the world about their brand?

Why continue with those approaches when there’s another way, a way that gives more results, faster and at less cost, results like:

• Generating a business lead at 62% lower cost than with outbound marketing
• Your potential customers finding you instead of you finding them
• More leads transformed into committed customers
• A higher profile and more established brand.

The world is changing fast — and the way people buy into brands and businesses is changing even faster.

How has marketing changed?

In the past, businesses would spend a great deal on separate campaigns, almost always including a separate marketing budget that would equal (if not exceed) their other operating costs. However, a new method has emerged more recently: Inbound marketing, using social media as its platform of choice. This method is much more flexible. With social media marketing, the whole company becomes one, with people at all levels working towards the same goal: creating interest, nurturing leads that emerge, and progressing towards a sale. With the enormous added benefit of a drastic reduction in the budget.

The costs involved in traditional marketing are not inconsiderable and can often escalate over the course of one campaign. With inbound marketing and social media, it is far easier to allow for specific budgets. There are few unexpected costs, and the price of any specific campaign can be accurately assessed far earlier in the process, without fear of unexpected increases.

Inbound is the way forward. As with any new approach, there is a learning curve. But inbound marketing is intuitive. As long as you understand the key ideas, the ease and cost effectiveness it provides make it a much more attractive strategy to maximise results on a far smaller budget.

Outbound is dying

Consumers now undertake a great deal of their own research. For many people, using the internet is easier and more convenient, for example, than shopping around in the high street to find the best price for an item. Now a customer can switch on the computer and with a few clicks, find exactly what they want. This is rapidly becoming the norm for everything — from food to high-end electronics and from CDs to pet supplies.

It poses a big problem for businesses operating under the old outbound marketing strategy. Outbound is the marketing idea that most people identify with as advertising. Whether it’s newspaper or magazine adverts, roadside signs or TV adverts. But perhaps the most intrusive tactics are those such as telemarketing, postal, and email marketing — methods that actively reach out to a consumer, whether they like it or not, and require an active choice on the part of the receiver.

People often automatically sift out and reject these forms of marketing, from changing channels on TV to avoid adverts to automatically throwing away junk mail. Instead of building a positive relationship with the customer, these forms of marketing often generate a negative view of that particular company. What’s more, marketing campaigns of this scale cost thousands, and could yield very few results.

People are becoming more adept at filtering out adverts and other forms of outbound marketing.  Yet some businesses are still thriving. There are some brands whose customer base is likely to last regardless, (such as banks and supermarkets), but those who offer specific services or products have found another way of keeping themselves close to their target client base, using a far more effective (and cost-effective) method: inbound marketing, using social media.

We all know business never stops moving. So why are people still using traditional marketing methods to tell the world about their brand?

James Walters is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and is an Account Director at Inbound Marketing Consultancy, Tomorrow People.

Is traditional marketing dead? Tell us your views and experience below.

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The dark art of writing great website copy

Marketing consultant Helen Hammond explains that attracting customers online starts with talking to potential clients like real people…

I’m going to nail my colours to the mast. If you aren’t prepared to invest in great website copy then you might as well not bother. Yes, the design and functionality of your website are important… but if you don’t consider presenting what people want to hear in a way that works for them, then your beautiful website will be like buying a Ferrari that has a Smart Car engine in it.

I write a lot of website copy and the same problem comes up all the time. Managers are more interested in talking about expertise, services and values than in thinking about what the reader wants to read. Most ‘buyers’ take it as read that a lawyer knows the law, or a car salesroom sells cars. But what they don’t know is whether they like those people, trust them and ‘get’ their organisational culture. Yet, those are the elements on which buying decisions are made. Great website copy triggers these buying decisions rather than just confirming the things the reader already takes for granted.

In the majority of cases, however, I’m asked to embody values put down by the management, not by their consumers, and include trade directory endorsements out of preference to customer testimonials. The real test, however, is when you remove a logo from a website. If you did this, how many companies would you be able to identify from genuinely unique copywriting?

Great web copy talks to real people. Words have the power to put as much personality across as your visual branding does. To get your copy right, start by thinking about what triggers decision-making for your customers and clients. What values do they look for when making buying decisions? Then look online through sites of businesses in your sector for examples that present themselves well.

And, rather than simply checking out similar businesses, take a look at brands such as Tyrells crisps, Innocent Drinks, Bighams, Bensons fruit juice or Graze. They may all be food brands but just look at how they talk to specific types of customer in their own language. These businesses use words to build real trust and loyalty. Importantly, they all have distinctive personalities. Writing great web copy is as much about being brave and confident as it is about delivering information.

Helen Hammond, Elephant Creative Solutions

This post originally appeared on the Law Donut blog. 

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