Capturing Custom

Is your advertising passing on more customers to your competitors?

Just imagine… you own a shop in a prominent shopping centre. You want more visitors to come in to your store, so you decide to spend some money on some advertising. You invest in an advertising campaign which works really well, bringing in lots of new customers to the shopping centre.

But there is a big problem.

Customers are seeing other stores as they stroll through the shopping centre, and they lots of them are entering these stores before they even get to yours!

So you are losing out on new customers to your competitors – as a result of your own advertising!

Does that sound crazy to you?

To me too, and it’s happening all the time. Online.

In Google Search.

The Google Paradox

However great or significant your advertising spend, however good your commercial, mailshot or website, your customers could easily end up in the hands of your competition.

How does this happen?

Your brilliant, well-thought-out advertising campaign planted a fresh interest in someone’s mind, or watered a seed that had laid dormant for a long time. Then they decided to search – later in the day, or later that week or month – the product that you were advertising, without your name remaining in their mind. Their Google search is more generic and less specific, and gradually they fall into the arms of your competitor.

And if that competitor is running a more effective SEO or pay-per-click strategy, their site will be higher in the search engines than yours is.

And therefore you have been advertising on the competition’s behalf.

Here's how to overcome it

Beginning to run Google PPC and SEO campaigns would be a great place to start. However, there is another solution. It involves motivating the consumer to bypass search altogether and go directly to your website. This can be done through effective social media ads.

You’re probably wondering, “people on social media aren’t on there to buy. People looking to buy are on Google search.”

And that’s right.

So, they key is making them want to buy, there and then.

Here’s how…

Incentivise

Give potential customers a reason to go straight to your website. Put together a great offer, something like a 30% discount, or a freebie along with purchases.

Minimise Risk

Eliminate risk from the transaction. Typically, when buying a product, all the risk is carried by the buyer. Mitigate this by offering them a guarantee; such as a 30-day money-back guarantee if they’re not satisfied with the product.

Make It Urgent

Create a sense of urgency which calls on customers to take immediate action. This way, they’ll click straight to your website link rather than going onto search later on during the day.

Multi-channel

By instigating a direct response to your social media ads, consumers will bypass search, essentially bypassing your competitors’ websites.

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