If there's one thing that the COVID crisis has made crystal clear, it's that businesses today must be prepared to serve their clients in two universes: a bricks and mortar universe and a virtual universe. Many businesses were not ready to do so, and some still aren't.
Over the past few years, many clients did move their advertising dollars into the digital space. It was the "shiny new object". Slowly, we have seen dollars moving back into "traditional" media, especially radio. Why? Because relying only on their digital advertising didn't work as well as they thought. Often times, they got "likes" but no sales. In the final analysis, it's all about sales. Which form of advertising would move the revenue needle? They all can, if done properly. And, if the client is prepared to capture potential customers as they contact their business and turn them into sales.
Before COVID, we began talking to our clients about CLOSING THE CIRCLE. Here's what happens many times: a digital strategy that may include social media posts, Adwords, SEO, SEM or Geofencing, has been employed to send potential customers to our client. Most of the time the potential customer is directed to their website. As you may have discovered, many of our clients' websites are not very good. They are not engaging. They are difficult to navigate. Some are not even mobile-ready. So what happens when a potential customer arrives on your client's website? We ask our clients, "What do you want them to do?"
"Can they buy off your site?" (Usually a small percentage of our clients do e-commerce.)
"Do they call you?"
"Email you?"
"Fill out a contact form?"
"Come into your bricks and mortar store?"
When you ask your client these questions, they may stare blankly at you. THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO CLOSE THE CIRCLE.
To be successful today and tomorrow, you must operate in both the virtual and the physical worlds. And, your marketing must tie the two together. You must close the circle. You must develop ways to have one-on-one contact with the potential customer's money.
Radio is an accelerator for digital, TV, newspaper. Used correctly together, we can increase results for our clients. The more we know about how to coordinate both the virtual and the bricks and mortar worlds, the more help we can be to our clients. We become their "go-to" person for all things marketing.
It begins with closing the circle. Do you know how?
Note: Closing the Circle Graph was created by Cheryl Jowitt, Rebel Media. My thanks to her for turning the concept into a visual.
