Every day we roll into our office, open our accounts and face new challenges to move the needle for our clients. We do all the things that we have been taught, learned by mistake, and processes that typically have always worked. But what happens beyond that? Our metrics are looking strong, but the client is concerned that they are not growing in the way they have expected.
Has the competitive landscape changed? What about the need for the product/market? Maybe net new potential customers are simply not as aware of the true benefits of your client’s offerings.
To be successful in a fast-paced, ever-changing, and competitive market, it is imperative for brands to think beyond just CPC, CPA, and ROAS in the short term. Instead, they should be equally aware of their brand’s position in the attention amongst their prospective customers, AND increasing the customer lifetime value of their existing customers.
Understand Your Customers
The first step is truly understanding the Customer Lifetime Value of your existing customer base. By understanding this, you can identify the correct behavior signals that provide the most value to your bottom line, customize the customer experience and maintain the customer’s attention and be prepared to react to any potential competitor distraction. To gain additional understanding of how your customers behave outside of your brand, utilize your Facebook audience insights or in-market segments in Analytics.
When we understand the behavior of our most valuable customers, we can then plan and execute a strategy that will grab the attention of new customers that align with similar traits of existing customers, allowing you to grow and grow profitably.
Stop the “Spray & Pray
Today’s user has limited attention that is divided across multiple devices and channels. It is estimated that the average user is exposed to about 5,000 ads per day. With so much noise, it is imperative to ensure that you are serving your ad to the right audiences, at the right time, through the right channel.
This is not just important for products that have specific audiences who still use mass media and looser targeting, like B2B SaaS or Luxury Brands, but also for those who do fit into a one solution fits all. Deloitte estimates that around 50% of offline grocery stores are influenced by digital and those that were exposed to a brand’s targeted YouTube ads, spent about 40% more than the average consumer.
While a complete shift in this approach acquires increased tracking, risk, and often fear, it allows for the ability to reach better-qualified customers, increased reaction to lack of attention and the ability to customize the message to specific audiences.
Get Creative
Context of ad exposure is not always something that we can control. Is the user, the right user, but checking Facebook while waiting to go into an appointment, or seeing a display ad while researching for work.
One thing we can control is the way the creative is developed, it’s ability to stop the scroll and capture that attention. However, It is important that while the ad must showcase your message, but not be so sales focused that it disengages the user. It should be speaking to the customer, not about you. Create an emotional connection, not a sales connection.
A marathon, not a sprint.
With the vast amounts of data at our fingertips we often, myself included, fall into the trap of the need for instant gratification. While this does happen on occasion, it is not always sustainable. Like any good relationship, you have to nurture it, earn the attention, show that you can provide what the customer needs. If these conditions are met, you in return will maintain the attention, earn their trust and receive their loyalty.
By understanding the customer behavior, utilizing the right tools, testing creative and responding quickly to changes in markets or consumer behavior, you can create a consistent game plan to grow, earn and maintain user attention.