When was the last time you saw someone talking to a billboard?
You’re probably thinking about interactive billboards right now. But, nope… we’re not there yet.
Unless you have pockets deeper than a wishing well, you know that you’re not playing in the same marketing league as Reebok and KitKat. So interactive billboards still aren’t on the table, and effectively using every dollar of the marketing budget stays priority number one.
Most businesses are spoilt for choice with the many different methods of marketing and advertising out there. Of course, it’s the small and medium-sized businesses that struggle to extend their marketing budget to cover both – traditional and digital – methods.
So which one’s going to give you the most bang for your buck?
Simple.
People Talk to People
We’re weighing up the benefits of the digital route, and adding the element of employee advocacy so demonstrate just how easy this decision needs to be.
The Digital marketing methods we’re looking at are:
- Business networking sites like LinkedIn
- Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
- Email marketing
- Paid search/social ads
- Blogging and content marketing
Benefits of Digital Marketing
1. You reach a larger, more specific audience
As compared to traditional marketing where you have to target a very generalized demographic, you can be as specific as you want with digital marketing. Age, gender, location, they’re just the beginning.
Plus, for those small businesses that have to work with extremely tight budgets, getting your employees to share your brand message works as a great way to get your message to several of their like-minded friends and family.
2. It costs as much as peanuts, compared to its counterpart
If you’re working on a shoestring budget, you can’t beat what digital marketing can offer you. Some people may choose to invest in paid ads, but you can very easily boost the reach and engagement on your social posts by adopting an employee advocacy program.
Simply get your employees to be your brand ambassadors, and voila, you’ve got yourself an extended reach to people who will actually sit up and pay attention. Mainly because it’s coming from someone they know!
3. You humanize the brand
Statistics show that 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. But studies also show that 96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles.
Meaning? The more people see positive conversations about your brand, the more likely they are to spread the good word about you. But they won’t necessarily follow you.
Not to tout the employee advocacy horn again here, but you see how it could be handy here, no?
4. Engage your audience and extend customer support
This is something you’ll never be able to achieve with traditional marketing. People want to talk to people. They’re not going to talk to a billboard, no matter how interactive you make it. They’re not going to listen to a magazine centerfold, just because it’s shiny and glossy.
They want to have meaningful conversations. And a digital creative can do just that. It can initiate and build conversations around your brand. And the more people talk about you, the more your exposure.
Given how we discussed that people actually listen to people more than the official brand voice, investing your marketing dollars in an advocacy program only makes perfect sense.
We even worked out the math for you, in case you want to crunch some numbers.
So give us a call. Even if you haven’t made up your mind yet, a free demo couldn’t hurt!
