“Why use a cannon to kill a mosquito?”
The wisdom of this Japanese proverb unveils the truth about advertising in traditional media such as TV, radio, newspapers and direct mail.
They usually quote their ad rates by CPM or “Cost per Thousand” people, to make the cost easier to digest. What they’re not telling you however is the cost to reach 1000 customer prospects for your business is actually much higher because only a percentage of their audience (often a small percentage) are qualified prospects. These outlets rely on vague demographics in hopes of reaching a specific group of people, but the targeting is often quite limited. Show us a group of 1000 “18 to 34 year-old males” in your city and we’ll show you 1000 different consumers!
Would you advertise retirement packages to teens?
Or veterinary services to consumers without pets?
It used to be you had to pay to hit tens of thousands of unqualified prospects to meet your advertising goals because there was no alternative. Like the cannon used to kill a mosquito, a lot of firepower (your advertising budget) was wasted.
With the Internet that’s all changed.
- 78% of people will check you out online before contacting you or visiting your place of business
- They use Google, Yahoo or MSN, type in words that describe what they are looking for and then visit the websites that appear (normally only on page 1)
- Consumers go to search engines 91% of the time to find and research products and services
- The internet is used by 70% of consumers vs. 66% of consumers using Yellow Pages to find local businesses.
Your Website should be one of your key marketing tools
We use the following techniques to make sure your business is found :-
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)
In the long run this is the best way to get people to your website as they have already qualified themselves as a customer or a lead by searching for a keyword or phrase that you supply. Once you have optimised your site these customer clicks are FREE.
PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING (PPC)
This is very often a great way to get customers quickly as you can be at the top or searches for your keywords within 24 hrs (SEO can take several months), however you will be paying for every click onto your website.
We very often use PPC in the short term as it provides great information to help the SEO work (i.e. which terms provide the best customers - those that end up buying, not just the largest number).
Search engine marketing has become the most cost-effective way to reach your customers and offers unprecedented targeting capabilities.
Try our interactive WSI Pay-Per-Click Calculator, on the right, to get an idea of the kind of Return on Investment you can expect from a PPC advertising campaign to increase your web site traffic.