Digital Advertising in 2022: Eyes of The Audience

The new age of marketing is a big pond full of small fish. Companies are in a constant battle to market themselves on popular online platforms. As a result, consumers are bombarded with ads every day. To put this in perspective, the average American is exposed to anywhere between 4,000 to 10,000 ads daily.

Our brains are wired to ignore the ones that provoke no thought and pay attention to the ones that catch our interest. So the question is how can your brand be different? What do you offer that is sure to catch consumers' attention?

Every brand has a different approach to how they want their audience to perceive them, some have online personalities, some have themes for their social media posts, approaches vary. These methods give the brand uniqueness that separates them from the rest, it can do the same for your brand. 

The first thing to do is recognize the intent of ads, to generate leads, as marketers this is the basic concept in mind when producing anything. The audiences of today aren’t going to be persuaded by a billboard. If you’re not in their social media feed, reach is likely to be limited. Being strategic in the era of dominantly virtual advertising requires keeping up with virtual trends.

Using creative video ads is the dominant approach in 2022, for good reason considering the average North American spends nearly two hours a day watching videos. Video ads have been estimated to increase sales by up to 40%, as long as they’re short and engaging. The length of video ads is important to consider since the attention span of consumers is very narrow. With video ads becoming so useful to bring in new customers, let's look at what can set your videos apart from the rest:

Define Your Audience

It’s critical to take into account the target age, location, gender, or even profession of the audience members your product is made for. If you haven’t noticed yet, most people get different ads because of the posts they engage with. These are called targeted ads, while they may sound intrusive, they are a great way to generate leads (and no, they don’t listen to your conversations). Knowing exactly who you are marketing to will make the creative process much clearer in developing ads. 

Use A Strong Opening

As mentioned earlier, the attention span of consumers is not long, you’ll have to earn their attention within the first 3-5 seconds. The best ways to do this are to connect through what your product will solve in their life. For example, “tired of bad skin?” This empathetic opening suggests that you have an answer to an issue of theirs. Someone who is trying to get rid of acne will hear this and be interested. This goes back to the basic principle of supply in demand, filling a need in consumers' lives. 

Separate Yourself From Competitors

What do you offer that is better than your competition? Establish that your product is more advanced than what is being offered already. This kind of tactic is common among advertisers, to have something that stands out about your brand.

Every successful franchise typically offers one popular product that brings people in. For example “Apple” “iPhone”, “McDonald's” “Big Mac”, the brands have established a product that their name alone reminds you of. Find something that resonates with your brand, and something that will resonate with your ideal consumer. 

Call To Action

If your audience is interested in what you’re offering, they will want to find out more. With your compelling ad, a call to action is the extra step that will turn those interested in your ad, into customers. The call to action should be simple, “check us out here to learn more” straight to the point, and suggest that there is more to what you offer. Your ad is simply the preview of what consumers are missing out on.

Conclusion 

Creating engaging ads alone will be a big separator from competitors in today’s market. However, if you can create entertaining or informative content online in general, that will be an even bigger driver in engagement. At the end of the day, people are on social media to be happy. We use it as a break from reality and the last thing we want is to be fed ads. Use your creativity to position your brand in a way that you would be interested in if you were scrolling.

Go into the mind of the consumer, these platforms are here to benefit awareness, don’t waste the opportunity to be great. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Digital Business Trends With The Times

While businesses are making strides in the dominantly virtual marketplace of today, there is the ongoing struggle of reaching your audience. With businesses popping up left and right, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate your service from competitors. This is the common focus for marketers, there is always so much untapped potential in terms of reach.

To put this in perspective, it is estimated nearly 70% of Americans shopped online in 2021. Another 25% online shop once a month. Does this emphasize the picture enough? Well looking at a larger scale, over two billion people paid for online products and services in 2020, nearly one-third of the Earth's population. Marketers are asking themselves how they can get their services out to this continually growing audience. Keeping in mind that this radical increase in online shopping is due largely to the pandemic closures, this new norm will be here for the long haul.

Now, the fact that online shopping is becoming so sought after, leads businesses to re-examine their sales approach. Businesses are developing websites, social media pages, and other efforts to appeal to this new business model. 

Business owners who are still used to the old-school methods of business must re-evaluate their approach concerning digital trends. Now, for optimistic business owners looking to capitalize in this market, some important considerations should influence your approach. Keep in mind that we are only two years into this new dominantly virtual reality so the potential it has is unforeseen. Nonetheless, it is sure to be on a trajectory that will only continue to improve.

With that being said, let's look at the key drivers in business to keep in mind this year:

Demand For Delivery

Grocery services dominated in the early days of the pandemic, the eCommerce model was a game-changer that appealed fittingly to the restrictions. This also provided ease of access, a doubleheader for grocery chains in increasing their sales which will last beyond the pandemic. Researchers found that 40% of American shoppers would rather not go into a store, and have found the delivery option to be much more comfortable. This statistic is still fresh and based on current trends, is likely to rise.

Many industries are shifting to E-commerce as consumers now think “why don’t I just have it ordered?”. This is going to be the reality of shopping in the future. No matter what you sell, if you can deliver it, do it.

You’re Not The Only Option

Consumers are rapidly becoming less loyal to brands, if one outweighs the other, there is no going back. Data reported in 2021 found that 80% of consumers chose a brand other than their usual choice. The battle of earning your customers is very competitive, with the ease of access to so much e-commerce, it is whoever has the best deal wins. This is best seen with delivery services like UberEats, Doordash, or Skipthedishes where consumers only care about delivery time and options.

Rightfully so, common sense tells us if you are going to pay for something, get the option that is going to serve you the best. The difference now is people don’t go looking for something in just one place. If you like pizza, you have your favorite pizza shop and you let them take care of you. Now you’re at home on UberEats and see 4 new spots you’ve never tried, they have better prices? Ordered. The ease of access to different options broadened the offers consumers see.

Use Content Wisely

For many businesses, marketing teams decide that just posting content will boost their SEO and get them seen. However, the algorithm is not based on quality vs quantity, or vice versa but rather the best of both, and this advice comes directly from Google. Companies must ensure that the content produced is valuable and likely to influence your audience.

Also creating diverse types of content like pictures, videos, blogs, etc. These are much more likely to engage your audience, and posting them frequently can prevent you from getting buried in all the other content being posted. Creating content is an opportunity to grow your business. Each post should involve a lot of thought and be released as frequently as possible.

Conclusion

The Internet is evolving every day, consumers are highly obsessed with new media and there is tremendous opportunity to influence. The pandemic was the shove consumer markets needed to move almost entirely online. While we’ve spent so much time in this new reality, methods continue to develop, and having the upper hand in e-commerce is a slippery slope. However, being open-minded and ready to embrace necessary change will allow your business to thrive in this new climate.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Guide to Success in The Digital Office

The recent years of remote work have allowed us to become accustomed to our home offices. No longer having to worry about commuting or getting dressed up every day has been a very pleasant change for a lot of us. As a result, many have begun to take control over their work-life balance, realizing they can have much more freedom. A recent study found that the average person now working from home is almost 50% more productive than when working in an office.

Most workers have questioned if offices are necessary any longer, considering how much more productive people are at home. This led to a realization that there are opportunities beyond physical location, which caused workers to take on jobs elsewhere. Most commonly, workers are leaving the expensive city life for less expensive suburban areas. This has led to a movement known as “the great resignation” where many are leaving their jobs to pursue other opportunities.

The movement has created a talent shortage in some areas which have made employers desperate for employees. In the United States, 4.5 million workers quit their jobs from the start of the movement. As a result, companies are becoming desperate and new hires can negotiate much higher salaries.

So, from the perspective of an employer, what can you do to ensure your organization is an enticing environment for job seekers? Those looking for jobs are not in a particular rush, leaving it up to organizations to incentivize what they can offer top talent. Based on the trends we’ve seen, these few key measures can go a long way:

Communicate Salary Expectations

Employers should be straightforward with new members, explaining that there are new policies to compensate for the remote shift. Sit down with higher-ups in the company to develop a realistic plan for salary distribution. Create a strategy for compensation based on skill, experience, location, and whatever else may be appropriate. Tailoring benefits to the location of the employee is also needed. Preplanning for this is a must and will allow you to make adjustments based on the candidates' requirements.

Outline Paths For Career Development

Employees want opportunity, if your organization can demonstrate employees moving up and that there are paths, that will be an upper hand. Positions with advancement opportunities reflect longevity in the organization, and that you invest in your people. Of course, ensure that management is transparent with this at every level. Implementing this will decrease employee turnover and motivate team members to accomplish tasks to the best of their ability. 

Acknowledge Work-Life Balance

Communicating while working remotely is critical to staying connected, and while we might see when others are active, there is still a distance. Working from home does not involve the same model as offices, employees are not working all the way through 9-5. Make sure people feel comfortable letting you know when they’re going offline to tend to personal matters. Something like this will further emphasize the freedom and understanding employers have for workers' new situations.

Conclusion

Workers have become accustomed to this new lifestyle, the flexibility and empowerment that remote work offers is a big driver in where people look for work. If your organization can create an environment that is accommodating to this new reality, you will attract top talent. You will also reduce turnover and reflect your organization's trust for the people you bring in. Accepting this new reality is the first step to building a team ready to take on today’s market. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!