Where to spend your advertising budget in 2018
Advertising is one discipline, businesses regardless of their size are always looking for improved ROI. Therefore hunting down and trying new strategies for a higher rate of conversion is the overriding focus of many marketers and business owners; and in this blog article we summarise (from this article “Advertising That Works in 2018”), where you can spend your advertising dollars in 2018.
Focussed on local & fixing problems
Advertising’s guiding principles have predominately been to satisfy curiosity, fix things, and focus on local i.e. target customers within the surrounds of the business’s location. Advertising was also more about the product or service, not the audience, however everything’s changed in advertising and quite dramatically too. We now have the Internet, smartphones and social media.
Targeted Advertising
What worked for all businesses including bricks and mortar operators a few years ago using offline print advertising, that was seen by a small albeit generic audience no longer offers the ROI businesses owners need to compete and grow.
Advertising in 2018 is mostly online aka digital marketing and while it’s reach is broader and without the confines geographically, it’s actually more targeted thanks to data capture. Even with data protection laws, there’s still greater success with online or inbound marketing than outbound or offline and Google Ads is leading the charge. Then there’s social media marketing and content marketing, arguably the most effective for ROI.
Getting Found Online Is Still A Challenge
All businesses understand the power of organic search and getting found online and there’s no better performer for achieving this for a business than ‘content marketing’.
For ROI and SEO content marketing leads the charge, ahead of other strategies like online banners. It’s a huge market globally and it’s in full swing not that you’d know it here in New Zealand where it’s businesses are just starting to appreciate it’s value albeit many months after their peers in the UK, USA, Australia.
Geographically speaking, New Zealand is far away from it’s western neighbours and while the Internet brings the world closer to us, it’s as if the geographic distant has played a role in our laggard interest in new marketing strategies like content marketing. It’s taken a long time for this effective strategy to be become a major component of the marketing and advertising mix however as the saying goes: Better late than never!
Mix It Up – Online & Offline
Just like with investments where we’re told to have a ‘balanced portfolio’ and not all our eggs in one basket, arguably the same can be said for where you spend your advertising dollar. There is a place for offline print advertising with stands and banners at trade shows, plus promotional collateral including corporate branded gifts, and giveaways so it’s not a one size fits all in 2018 businesses need to spend more on online strategies now but also mix it up in some of the traditional channels like TV, Radio and print media.
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