Advertising and promotion are deemed the golden keys to business growth. All you have to do is let people know of your product and why they want it and the rest is history. This is not factually incorrect. There are a few things one should look at before embarking on an advertising campaign, big or small, online or offline. Let’s discuss what I feel the 5 most important things to look at before you advertise.
Product
If you’ve ever had an experience with a half baked product that was well advertised you’ll relate with this. No product is ever perfect, we get that. Fortunately, no product has to be perfect. A product does, however, have to sufficiently meet the needs of the target market. If you just want to sell your products once-off and be done that’s fair and fine but I believe most people reading this want return, repeat and referral customers going forward. So please, check your product first. Whether you use a focus group of testers plucked from your demographic target market, use friends and family to test out or offer free trials to get an idea that it works properly to make sure the product is right before advertising.
Conversion
Many times people will advertise with fancy campaigns but will not be ready for what comes next. Poor customer service, poor sales process and poor selling skills will.lead to a loss in conversions. Check your skills within your organisation. Are you ready to take advantage of increased demand and enquiries? Do you have a proven ability to convert enquiries to customers? If you’re unable to convert you may as well throw away the money rather than paying for ads.
Tracking
This relates to specific ad campaigns and is especially complicated by buyer behaviour today. Take the example of the person selling appliances who advertises products online. Consumers are estimated to make up to 6 interactions (both online and offline) with a product before buying. So while the customer may first see the product online, they may make a store visit later on and make the purchase decision thereafter. Did online advertising work? Yes. Will the business owner know? No. You need to have a system of tracking adverts and leads generated from them. Promo codes for small discounts or outright asking the customer how.they came to know.about the product even it seems like they are walk-ins as in the example above.
Processes
By processes, I’m referring to issues like delivery, payment and made to order products. How many times have you found a great product, pictured yourself owning it and when it came time to pay the process frustrated you. It happens a lot. Sometimes through unnecessary complexity. Are your processes working well enough to facilitate a smooth acquisition process?
Communication
Perhaps all the other four are intact for you but your communication may be poor. Are you responding immediately? Are you responding with relevant answers or busy making customers with enquiries feel small? There really is no excuse in the 21st century. If you’re reading this you can definitely find customer service advice. Sometimes it just comes down to how people are treated. Do you have the culture of communicating with customers in a way that makes them feel appreciated? If not, work on it.
This is not to say oke shouldn’t advertise but rather that one should not advertise before they are ready. We would love to operate in a world where we can afford to learn by failing but our environment simply doesn’t allow. Every cent, Zimbabwean or American must be spent wisely.
