This week our CEO wrote about calculating accurate ROI for your online marketing efforts and how it can be difficult to tell how well your traditional ads are doing. We agree with what he said, and many of our white label partners tell us that they incorporate these numbers into total marketing campaigns and that their clients love it.
One part of that post really got me thinking, though. He mentioned that ROI can be hard to measure for any medium because of the way advertising campaigns work together to lead customers to a purchase. In my opinion, the holy trinity of advertising is traditional push advertising, word of mouth and having an excellent website.
I like to think about it in terms of the customer journey. Take the hypothetical example of a family-owned ethnic restaurant. For the sake of this example, let’s call it Persian Kebab Cafe.
Get Their Attention
First, the new cafe needs locals and tourists alike to hear about the business and its amazing cranberry walnut sauce. This would be a great time for traditional marketing such as TV and radio commercials, print ads or outdoor billboards or even online pay-per-click ads. The cafe wants to really grab their attention and communicate your unique benefits, such as the laid back atmosphere and that wonderful aromatic sauce. Make ’em curious.
Get Them Talking
Hopefully, this push marketing will lead to customers’ talking about the amazing Persian food the cafe sells with their friends and family members. They will also likely poke around on social media to learn more before they decide to visit. This word of mouth advertising is pretty much free, but it depends on the success of the push advertising and, most importantly, on the real experiences of the hungry customers. Start the buzz.
Feed Their Curiosity
The last piece of the puzzle for Persian Kebab Cafe is having a great, informative website that matches the branding from the ad campaigns. For the cafe, a good site would include all the essential information and, since Persian food isn’t common, discuss the unique flavors and dishes. Furthermore, it would be optimized so search engines such as Google could pull important details from it such as the hours, pricing and address. At this point, curious customers are asking questions and looking to know more. Be there with the answers.
Hungry Crowds Are On Their Way
If Persian Kebab Cafe pulls off its push advertising and its pull marketing, and if it’s truly a great place to eat, it had better stock up on ingredients and maximize the seating area. Once hungry customers have heard about the hotspot, asked about it and then visited the website, they will want to try it out. That will lead to even more word of mouth and website visits. The fondness the locals gain for sweet and savory eats at the Persian Kebab Cafe will never be the same, and the owners will see their marketing ROI shoot through the roof.