[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
Ask a building product marketer about their advertising. They’ll usually picture an ad in a trade journal\u2019s printed or digital magazine. They\u2019re hoping to catch their prospect\u2019s eye while flipping through pages to get to the next feature article.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s an expensive way to get customers. Think of the money you pay to make it happen:<\/span><\/p>\n And that\u2019s all for a single ad. You might run the same ad several times, but you\u2019ll pay the ad space cost each time. It adds up fast. <\/span><\/p>\n So why do some companies go with this as their knee-jerk reaction to marketing their products and leave it at that? <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not their fault. It\u2019s just how a lot of marketers were programmed to think… \u201cLet\u2019s get our brand in front of as many eyeballs as we can and we\u2019re golden\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But I\u2019ll bet you\u2019re better than that. Read on for some ideas to help you expand and scale your advertising efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n The very bottom line of any marketing action you take \u2013 online or offline \u2013 is you have to answer \u201cYes\u201d to the following question:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDoes it advance the making of the sale?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n This is paraphrased from direct response marketing legend, Dan Kennedy. He was talking about when to use humor in a sales presentation. But it\u2019s a simple question you can and should use to stop throwing your budget into the marketing money pit.<\/span><\/p>\n Before you run another ad, put it to this test. Does it have the elements to move your ideal prospects in the right direction toward buying or specifying your product?<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ve surely been in a conversation about a clever or funny Super Bowl ad, but nobody remembers what product the ad was selling. <\/span><\/p>\n This is a prime example of an ad that <\/span>doesn\u2019t pass the test<\/i><\/b>. It\u2019s not moving anybody toward the sale of anything. <\/span>(And that company paid a LOT more for the TV ad than your trade journal ad costs\u2026)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n So, if you\u2019re game, let\u2019s use this question to\u2026 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My goal isn\u2019t to convince you to quit advertising in trade journals. Quite the opposite. I\u2019m showing you how you can do it <\/span>better<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n In <\/span>another post<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> \u00a0we talked about how you can leverage high-quality images and video to synergize your marketing efforts. If you haven\u2019t read that one and seen the examples of how some of my clients are doing it right, go ahead and read it. <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll wait for you\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u2026You\u2019re back? Good. I hope those examples gave you some ideas for your marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s look at how you can use those images and videos to scale up your other marketing efforts. Specifically, how you can combine the power of high-quality product renderings and animations to supercharge your offline advertising. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In most cases, your ultimate goal for your magazine ads should be to give your prospect a compelling reason to go from the magazine to your website. Or your social media pages. Or to send you an email. That\u2019s what I\u2019m calling offline-to-online.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you drew a simple cartoon strip of the ideal progression from your prospect (an architect for our example) finding your building product ad in a magazine. It might go something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/www.visualconstructionmarketing.com\/2014\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/thepath.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”off” animation=”left” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n But we both know <\/span>about 1,001 things could go wrong on that path<\/i><\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n He might\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n We can\u2019t cover all 1,001 fixes in this post. But we can look at how you can create better ads to create a \u201cgreased slide\u201d to get him from Step 1 to 6 as smoothly as possible?<\/span><\/p>\n Flip through any trade journal and you still see so many companies missing the mark of an effective ad. <\/span><\/p>\n Most ads won\u2019t get a prospect engaged enough to make it through the \u201c<\/span>gauntlet of distractions<\/i><\/b>\u201d to even reach Step 2 or 3 of your comic strip above.<\/span><\/p>\n Most ads have an eye-catching image of some kind, along with the company or product name taking up most of the ad space. But you\u2019ll usually get lost figuring out what the image has to do with their product. And how it can benefit you.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, if you\u2019re lucky, the ad includes a web address. But guess where it takes you? <\/span><\/p>\n The company\u2019s home page. And that home page is full of <\/span>distractions<\/span><\/i> to lead you astray. <\/span><\/p>\n So how can you make your ad better than the rest? Let\u2019s start with that image\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been reading any of my other posts, or are at all familiar with my work, you should already have some ideas on how to improve the image.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t just throw up a pretty picture of a completed building and hope your prospect can figure out what role your product played. You need to <\/span>help them bridge the gap<\/span><\/a> with an image that makes it crystal clear how your product will help make their building a success.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
The most important question you must ask<\/b><\/h3>\n
Scale-up your marketing<\/b><\/h3>\n
The perilous path of offline-to-online\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Creating ads that work for you\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n