When business owners complain about low sales, you hear recommendations like “why not run a campaign”, “run an advert campaign” or “start a digital marketing campaign”. While these may be the right thing to do at the moment, there are a series of activities that have to be taken after running an ad. Otherwise, you might end up blaming the agency, influencers, or whatever media you engaged to run the ads. In many cases, the complaint is that even though people followed the call-to-action (CTA) button, they did not patronize the product/service, or even keep in touch like they said they would.
It is time to stop the blame game and start taking the right actions. Before concluding whether your advert campaign was successful or not, you should answer some questions. What are you doing with the leads generated? Are you keeping them engaged and interested? Are you still giving the value you promised when your ad popped up? Are you persuasive enough? Do you respond to their inquiries in due time? All of these questions are tied to the success of your ad and even your brand!
Our passion is to see entrepreneurs being SMART(specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). So, here are some actions you should always take after running a digital ad that leads potential customers into your space.
Connect with them.
Connecting with your new potential customers should not be introducing yourself to them alone. How you welcome them to your community when they click your link says a lot about how much you value them and hope to get to know them on a more personal level. When their messages or calls pop up, endeavor to ask them for their names, and subsequently address them by their name. Go beyond the “how may I help you ma/sir?” and get on a name-to-name basis with them. It brings about a closer bond. Introduce yourself and your brand and ask for their name so that you can address them properly. Note: it’s not always too much to do. After all, advertising is persuasive and reinforcing. Give them the information they need; Your location, your name, your brand slogan etc. Don’t just ask them for their names and say; ”saved” or “okay”. Rather, welcome them and tell them how grateful you are to them for considering having you on their platform.
Engage them.
After they come into your space, this is not the time to relax and expect them to patronize you simply because they clicked on your link. It is not the time to post memes or pictures of yourself from the last event you attended. Am I saying you shouldn’t post your picture? Of course not! But you should be consistent in posting your business. Even when you want to post fun stuff, link them back to your business. For instance, you can find some professionals like doctors and lawyers posting jokes about their profession. The idea is that even though they get you to laugh, you never forget what they represent. If you have a social life that warrants you to show yourself or your daily activities, you can create another platform for them. It is advisable and better to do. That leads me to my next point.
Choose a social media platform that can feed their eyes, and they can meet you at their convenience.
Whatsapp business: WhatsApp has created another interface that allows SME’s post their products by including them in a catalog provided. It has an automated message setting so that you can respond instantly even when offline. Customize the automated message and line up your goods on the catalog in a very appealing neat order that can be conveniently accessed when they want to buy.
Instagram: This platform has channels to help promote your business. In the case of reels, you can post a series of videos in a day making use of trending sounds that can make your page go viral. You can post on your stories and post on your page too. Instagram has not revealed a limit to daily posts yet. You can post many videos as long as you can create good content. Don’t forget to make use of hashtags and also follow brands that you are of like minds.
Websites: If you can’t afford this, then stick to the ones stated above and use them effectively. But if you can, get a website that has a good interface and accessibility, put your products and prices there, and tell them to check. We have a previous article on how to build your website from scratch, in some very easy and short steps. Check it out.
Give them Reviews/Testimonials.
People are more assured when they know that some set of people has already made use of your products or services. Let them see your reviews on your status or page. Some click your link and come into your space, with some doubts. They want to see what goes on in there and whether they can trust you. Seeing is believing, I will rather say convincingly. Today, countless people rely on online reviews when shopping for new businesses, products, and services. So encourage them to check your reviews.
We also have an article on how to play the reviews game. Use it and don’t forget to build brand credibility.
Set up a community for your brand
What is a brand community: a brand community is a group of people who share an emotional attachment to a brand and actively engage in conversations directly and indirectly; related to the brand, its products, and its values.
So how do you set up a community?
First, understand your brand’s mission values, and personality: before setting up, invest the time needed to ensure your brand values are effectively communicated throughout your customer journey.
Do not try to be everything to everyone. Know your brand. Find yourself.
Create a community content hub. Share photos, participate in contests, questions, and answers, or create conversation threads.
Create high-quality content. Use nice graphics, video backgrounds etc to create your content. Ensure that it is in line with your business. Jump on trends and be creative!
Use all your channels to drive people to your community pages. To reach more people, ensure all your marketing channels drive audience members to community spaces, be they onsite or on social media.
Be responsive. They will ask you questions, they will come to you for inquiries. Do not ignore them or keep their messages unattended for too long. Engage them in discussions.
Include a call to action in everything. Don’t just give your adverts out without a call to action. Let the new customers be triggered to either click, share, read, watch or comment on something.
Lastly, give them value. Even if they do not buy yet, do not stop sharing educative content about your brand. Let them always think of you when they need something in relation to your brand. It could be a solution, a question, etc. For example, if you sell perfumes, you can pick a day or 2 of the week to share the importance of using perfumes, the side effect of using fake ones, how to get the original ones, etc. One day, someone that needs perfumes will remember you and would be willing to buy from you because of the value you have given.
