Up until a few years ago, the normal route was a locally based print campaign – newspaper adverts
– or even a good advert in the Yellow Pages. But increasingly, people are becoming more aware of online media as a more cost-effective serious contender.
A recent client of ours at www.prelovedbabyclothes.com.au decided to start some low-cost advertising – we’d created some postcard mailers, and they’d gone down well, but we needed something with more of a reach and without the larger expense of an unaccountable print campaign.
The trouble with print campaigns is the results are hard to measure – how many people came through to purchase or visit my business because of the campaign? Unless you ask everyone or stipulate terms on your advert, you simply won’t know.
We decided to go online with the client and book in some Google Adwords – some Facebook adverts and attack from an online angle; why?
Target Audience
Running an online advert is more tailored – you can choose where, when and why people see your advert. If you want to appeal to people only in the Melbourne CBD, we can target this. With Facebook, we can even delve deeper. Maybe you only need to target women aged 30-45 who work from home, play sports and enjoy listening to Madonna. With social media having this information, you can target not only the location but who within that location you’d like to show your advert to!
Timing
Timing is everything – with online adverts; you get instant feedback – who looked at your advert, how long for, did it end in a sale? You can start running your adverts at key times and working on them until you get them right. Unlike conventional print campaigns, online marketing brings your audience to you. So instead of hoping your flyers are in the right place, at the right time and being seen by the right people – get online and make sure it’s seen by your target market!
Cost
Online marketing is relatively inexpensive – tailored and can be switched on and off as you need it. Newsletter mailers are also inexpensive. Think about what it costs to design and print a newsletter – then the added distribution costs – it quickly adds up.
At www.altaimage.com.au, we offer a report-based A4-sized digital newsletter delivered to up to 500 clients from your database for just $150 – and that includes the design fee, too!
About Author Scott Swinton
As the Studio Director of alta|image, Scott Swinton started off over 12 years ago, graduating in London, England, with a distinction in Print Media/Marketing & Graphic Communications, C&G London, 07 Jun 00. He then went on to work for some high-profile digital media design companies across Europe, the US and Australia before settling in Brisbane and starting alta|image – a multi-faceted Digital Media Studio incorporating everything from web to print media. We now serve clients remotely all over the world, from Brisbane to Perth and from Texas to Orange County! Constantly striving to maintain a competitive edge in one of the fastest emerging and ever-changing marketplaces, alta|image keeps itself and its team members ahead of the game by constantly innovating and upskilling where required from new web design practices and development changes to SEO and online marketing campaigns, and even back to the more conventional changes happening within the print design arena.
