What is Advertising?
Most of the things that we see day-to-day in our materialistic society are in one way or another a product of advertising.
In order for potential customers to purchase a product from a company, the company must inform them of its existence and the ways in which it will benefit them, to ultimately generate sales.
In our advanced world, advertising has broadened in many ways that it is not restricted to billboards, posters, and journals. We can find advertisements on virtually everything such as television, radio, email, social media, and influencer advertising.
Thanks to digital advertising the reach is now wider, and businesses can easily target specific demographics with the real-time data available from online platforms.
So that begs the question, what is the science behind that?
The Science of Advertising
Tracking returns: Advertisers track the returns of their ads to understand which strategy is more successful. They use measures such as samples, audiobooks, discount codes, pay-per-click ads, webinars, and many other ways.
Focus Advertising: Advertisers think of potential customers individually, because thinking in masses gives them a foggy perspective, which would sabotage their efforts in persuading customers effectively.
With the wealth of data available today, advertisers target their marketing strategies more efficiently. For example, have you ever noticed when you search for something such as a t-shirt, you start seeing ads for t-shirts on your social media feeds? That is because ads are tailor-made for your specific needs and interests.
A/B Testing: Also known as Split Testing, it is one of the best ways to judge the effectiveness of an advertisement commonly used online. The purpose of this experiment is to determine which kind of ad works better for the marketing strategy.
In A/B Testing, two versions of the advertisement are created with a change in a variable such as a headline, lead, page structure, an image, offer layout, and even the idea. Then, measuring the performance of each version separately, to determine which one of the two serves the desired outcome.
During Obama's presidential campaign in 2008, his team used A/B Testing, testing different versions of their donation page. Changing variables such as page structure, images, and call-to-action. These changes resulted in an estimated $60 million in donations. With the following being the winning variation.1
Discrete Advertising
Some of the good and most efficient advertising is one that doesn't tell you to buy directly. This term is referred to as Brand Advertising which aims to build a prospect's engagement and awareness of a business or a product. To persuade customers to buy more products in the future.
This can be seen in company big names, such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Redbull, and many more others.
For example, here is Odell Beckham's Nike ad. Throughout this ad, we don't explicitly see Nike telling us about its product, but rather, showing us an American football player, jumping through hoops, moving forward, and overcoming obstacles which resonate with Nike's slogan Just Do It.
Part of why this type of advertising is sensational and successful is because we as people generally don't like to be told what to do directly. We are more prone to being coaxed than being instructed. As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
When Metrics Lie in Advertising
Examples of lying metrics can be seen in influencer advertising. For instance, Saweetie, a famous rapper, with a large following and engagement on her social media might seem like an ideal candidate for advertising. However, we'd be mistaken. As proven by her poorly performing album sales, despite heavy advertising efforts.
To put this in perspective, Saweetie has 12.8 million followers on Instagram, and it's not unusual for her posts to reach over 700k likes. However, she sold a disappointingly 2000 copies in her first week. She advertised her album in multiple Instagram posts, with a single post reaching over 914k like. That's a 2.2% conversion on her own product.2
It's important to note that a lot of factors play into that result. But it's obvious that there is an undeniable disconnect between the metrics and the outcome.
Important Takes
On the other hand, metrics such as social media following, clickbait, and email ads(which often end up in spam folders) can be misleading. Without a proper understanding of the fundamentals, relying solely on these metrics can lead to dissatisfying results.
As the British advertising tycoon David Ogilvy once said:
"Don't count the people you reach, reach the people who count."
3 Comments
👏👏
ReplyDeleteAdvertisement can be directed to already clients, meant to make sure they don't leave, does that require a specific strategy?
ReplyDeleteHello Dhia,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this informative article. I really enjoyed the part where you gave emphasis on the fact that metrics aren't everything. Indeed, the product must be as appealing as the way it's being marketed.