In all marketing there are Three Key Elements that you must carefully consider to be successful. And unfortunately the old saying “two out of three ain’t bad” does NOT hold true. Miss just one of these and your advertising will not only be less successful than it could have been, but may actually lose you money costing you more than you receive in additional sales.
So what are these Three Magical M’s of Marketing? A long, long time ago a wise old master marketer told me that the key to all successful marketing is: “Finding where your customers are and standing in front of them with your message.” Therein lies the three secrets of Marketing. They are:
1. Use the right Media
2. Create the right Message
3. Target the right Market
Over the next three months we will take a look at each of these, beginning with your choice of media.
Your Marketing Media
As my wise marketing mentor told me, you must find where your customers are and stand in front of them. To be successful you need to know what media is most used by your ideal customer and you must be able to use that media to get your message in front of them.
Centuries ago Town Criers would stand on the street corners yelling out messages to those passing by. Before the printing press was invented there were no other media choices. However, companies today have more choices of marketing media than ever before.
Do you realize that during the Great Depression, businesses produced more millionaires than any other decade in history? Certainly the past few decades has produced more through investments, but during the 1930s more business owners became millionaires than any other time in history.
How could this happen during such desperate times when so many were losing everything they owned? Well, in great part those companies that became outrageously successful did so by exploiting a new marketing media. During the 1920s radio became popular. In the ‘30s with little else to do, families would huddle around their radio to listen to stories that were broadcast, and to President Roosevelt deliver his Fireside Chats.
During the 1960s a similar experience occurred with television, and today there is an even greater phenomena happening in media. We Are Now Living in the Single Biggest Culture Shift in History!
And no I’m not talking about the Internet! (Although the Internet did make this shift possible)
How to Effectively Reach Today’s Consumer
During the past decade, two different media have seen an explosion in growth, going from birth to consumer dominance in an unheard of short time frame. As these two media merged over the past few years a perfect storm has formed for marketers to reach consumers like never before.
In 2007 Apple released the first iPhone and Google and Microsoft released their platforms soon after. Cellphone carriers pushed the new smartphone onto consumers as their old contract expired and a new phone was needed. As a result smartphones saturated the market faster than any electronic or other device in history.
Today you cannot go anywhere without seeing numerous people on their phones. At the simplest sound of a beep or a few musical notes, people will interrupt what they are doing to see what their phones want. It doesn’t matter if they are in the middle of a conversation, eating a meal, or driving down the street, out comes their phone. After all it is “smart” so it knows better than we do, right?
The second media, Social, started earlier than smartphones with websites like LinkedIn, MySpace, Friendster, and Twitter in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However it did not gain real traction until Facebook finally switched to open registration in September 2006 from being strictly students of select universities.
During the same time frame that smartphones took over our lives, Social Media went from ‘Geeks Only’ to dominating our culture. Today more time is spent on Social Media Platforms than any other single activity including playing video games. In 2014 Social Media referred more traffic to websites than Search Engines, the only purpose the later serves. Facebook alone now outperforms Google in this task. 2015 has seen a continual decrease in search activity and an increase in social.
The Mobile Social Revolution
While integration of Social Platforms on mobile was slow at first, the past two years has seen total incorporation. Mobile smartphones power our lives and Social is the #1 activity while on them. Facebook is not only the most downloaded app on mobile, it is the most frequently used app as well, consuming 1 of every 5 minutes spent on mobile devices. Mobile Facebook users check their Newsfeed on average 14 times a day!
This merging of Social and Mobile has created what is now called the Mobile Social Revolution. These two forces have created the perfect storm for marketers! Never before could you reach more consumers with your marketing message so easily, so cheaply, and so frequently.
Facebook Ad Platform
While you must have a Facebook Business Page to access their Ad Platform, Facebook’s Ad Manager is a separate entity. Over the past two years Facebook has completely redesigned their ad platform which is administered from their Texas office. No other Facebook employees work on ads except those in this office and this office only works on the ad platform. Facebook has kept it completely separate from other operations.
Early this year Facebook rolled out their Ad Network to all advertisers. App developers can choose to place Facebook ads in their mobile app. Any business can now have certain types of their ads seen in any mobile app including video games, business tools, reference or any other type of mobile app.
In addition, Facebook recently announced they will be adding paid advertising this Fall to their mobile app Instagram. Rather than creating a separate ad platform, Instagram Ads will only be available through the Facebook Ad Manager.
This Christmas season, stores will be able to have their ads displayed in Facebook’s Newsfeed, on Instagram, and a variety of other mobile apps, simply by creating one Ad in Facebook Ad Manager.
Today retailers can find more customers and present their message to them with Mobile Social easier and more effectively than any other media available today. Currently Facebook’s Ad Manager is the leader in providing low cost advertising across this platform.
Next month we will look at the 2nd Magical M – “Creating the right Message.” For more information on Mobile Social Marketing for retail stores please visit www.FeetThruTheDoorMarketing.com
Brad Simon is co-owner of Internet 4 Jewelers and Feet Thru The Door Marketing. They provide affordable full-service Social Media Management and Facebook Ad Campaign Management exclusively for retail jewelry stores as well as online educational programs for local retail stores. For more information contact Brad at 864-680-4416 or Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com.
