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It's been said, "The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." This philosophy has never been truer when it comes to marketing in the 21st century.
Complement Your Marketing Programs
With today’s consumer seeing 4,000 ads per day across more than 4 devices, the average marketer is using 13 different channels to reach their audience. As a result, I think we have all come to understand that while any one marketing channel may prove to be effective in driving demand, the combination of channels will drive the greatest impact on performance.
Why is this?
Some channels are more effective at driving top of the funnel activity or lead generation: awareness, education, branding. Others are better at driving bottom of the funnel activity, the purchase. In order to maximize sales, marketers need to focus on both. And not to be forgotten, are all the steps in between. Certain channels will also be more effective at nurturing the lead. Marketing KPIs have shifted over the years as advertisers have been focused on driving site traffic. But it’s not enough to drive consumers to your site, you have to nurture them to convert.
So, which channels should you use for each stage in the marketing funnel? The short answer: It varies. Different industries will find success using different channels to nudge consumers into making a purchase.
Take TV for example. TV remains the top channel for driving awareness within many industries: Automotive, Healthcare, Financial Services and CPG companies. And, according to Google, television commercials are the largest driver of search.
Once the awareness has been created, the ability to drive further engagement can be supported through channels like email and direct mail. These channels allow a format to provide targeted content, more education, product information and personalized offers.
Several traditional direct mail companies, that have historically focused on creating awareness through direct mail, have learned that complementing direct mail with display advertising leads to greater conversions. And whether the display ads precede the direct mail piece or follows as a subtle reminder, the overall response rate improves with the use of both channels.
Complementary Marketing Programs
Let’s go back to our example of television creating awareness. And television being the largest driver of search. We also know that search leads to site visits and less than 4% of site visitors actually buy during that visit. Marketers have completed the first part of their job; driving awareness and nurturing to the point of consideration. But more than 95% of those site visitors will leave without purchasing or even making themselves known.
Consider the use of television during the Super Bowl. Advertisers are betting heavily on this event to drive demand. It is a great tool for creating awareness and interest, causing consumers to visit the website…and leave without transacting or even making themselves known. Advertisers can see dramatic spikes in site traffic immediately following their Super Bowl ad but it’s not enough to drive the demand.
In fact, one client of NaviStone ran a TV ad during this year's Super Bowl. Prior to running the ad, their website traffic was comparable with other brands of their size. When the ad ran, we found their website traffic spiked significantly driving 4,000 unique site visitors within that one minute the ad ran. This means that the millions of dollars spent by that advertiser on that one spot drove incremental brand awareness via website visits alone.
That’s where web powered direct mail comes into play. Through the newest digital channel, marketers can now maximize the effectiveness of the site traffic by retargeting through the most effective channel for driving the purchase, direct mail.
Can you imagine being able to provide that additional, personalized touchpoint to that large of an incremental audience? Let your marketing channels work with each other in order to make the impact you want to make during peak campaigns.
