Two of the most important attributes I observe of people who are successfully promoting their goods and services online are resilience and perseverance. Many people who come to see me are both disappointed and surprised at how hard they find it to sell their products and services online. There seems to be an expectation from many, that you can build an online store/presence and voila, you will be inundated with sales.
Whilst it is of course extremely important to use the right marketing for your target customers, always remember that repetition gets results. This is essential if you hope to get your message to stick in your prospect’s minds. Always remember to keep trying even when you get disheartened! Let’s face it, we’ve all got to start somewhere!
I recently came across the following words which sum up the importance of repetition to marketing succinctly. Yes, it is of course exaggerated, but it gets the message across.
- The 1st time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
- The 2nd time, he does not notice it.
- The 3rd time, he is simply conscious of it.
- The 4th time, he faintly remembers having seen something of the kind before.
- The 5th time, he half reads it.
- The 6th time, he turn up his nose at it.
- The 7th time, he reads it through and says “Pshaw!”
- The 8th time, he yells “there’s that confounded thing again!”
- The 9th time, he wonders “if there’s anything to it.”
- The 10th time, he thinks it might possibly suit someone else.
- The 11th time, he will ask his neighbor if he has tried it or knows anything about it.
- The 12th time, he wonders how the advertiser can make it pay.
- The 13th time, he rather thinks it must be a good thing.
- The 14th time, he appears to think it is what he has wanted for a long time.
- The 15th time, he resolves to try it as soon as he can afford it.
- The 16th time, he examines the address carefully, and makes a memorandum of it.
- The 17th time, he thinks he will ask his wife about it.
- The 18th time, he is painfully reminded how much he needs that particular item.
- The 19th time, he counts his money to see how much he would have left if he bought it.
- The 20th time, he frantically rushes, in a fit of desperation, and buys it.
This was written by Thomas Smith in London in 1885 and is just as relevant today and is still used by the advertising industry. The bottom line is that if your prospects see your ads multiple times, they are much more likely to buy from you. Always keep this in mind with any online strategies.
So how can you put this into practice when marketing your wares on the internet? This is particularly challenging via a faceless medium such as the internet where you don”t have the luxury of face to face or voice communication. You’ve only got an instant to get your prospect’s attention and one click and they are gone!
Your potential customers need a lot of convincing before trusting or buying from you.
This is of course where retargeting is the clear winner and it is a very powerful strategy, producing a high return on investment when done correctly. This keeps your offerings in front of your potential customers achieving the desired repetition. This enables you to build a list of customers interested in your offerings who have not completed a purchase or other action on your website. You can use this in a number of ways including:-
- With abandoned shopping carts, targeting those who have visited your online store and added products to a shopping cart but not finalised their purchase.
- Re-visit those who have looked at your mailing list opt-in page but not signed up.
- To capture leads from those who visited your lead page but did not enter their details.
Don’t forget your past customers either! These approaches are also an excellent way to engage with them as well. Remember to encourage all of your customers to join your mailing list or add them to any retargeting campaigns you are undertaking. After all, they already have purchased from you in the past so you”ve already overcome the trust and credibility barriers with them. They are likely to be highly receptive to your offerings.
Facebook Ads is the ideal advertising platform to put these strategies to work when done correctly. Quality Website Help can set up your Facebook Ads correctly and we can tell you more in one of our free strategy sessions.