Different marketing efforts naturally create different results. Advertising on television, for example, may help you reach a dramatically different audience than your digital marketing efforts. How you approach your marketing efforts can make a big difference. Are you approaching marketing as a short-term proposition? If so, you may actually be harming your business. Here are the top three reasons why you should look at your advertising as more than a short-term effort:
1. You aren't giving yourself enough time to create a strong brand identity.
Your brand identity helps establish who you are and how you deliver value to your customers. Not only that, but your brand identity is also critical to consumer recognition. Ideally, you want your consumers to have a strong awareness of your brand: a solid assessment of who your brand is, what you can accomplish, and how you deliver value.
If you're only advertising in short-term periods rather than continuously, you won't get the strong, lasting brand identity you need to accomplish your goals. Take McDonald's, for example. If the fast-food giant advertised only when it had a new promotion, like a seasonal favorite sandwich, to offer, customers might not be prompted to visit McDonald's the rest of the time. Because the company advertises continually and builds strong brand identity based around its products, most consumers, even those who do not eat at the restaurant on a regular basis, have a good idea of what the company has to offer.
Presenting your brand consistently, including continuous ads across your marketing channels, can increase ROI by as much as 33%.
2. Short-term advertising doesn't bring long-term results.
Short-term ads bring in short-term results: a brief boost in sales, usually specific to a particular product, sale, or promotion. In order to see ongoing results for your business, you should advertise continuously and long-term.
Think about major vehicle retailers. They may put out promotions and ads when they're running major deals, but they also deploy ongoing brand awareness campaigns that help establish themselves. You probably know that Ford is “Built Tough,” or that Honda focuses on "The Power of Dreams," due to ongoing ad campaigns, regardless of whether or not buying a car is on your immediate radar.
Long-term advertising creates ongoing results. You're likely to see an increase in overall brand awareness and greater returns over time, rather than just an immediate reward for a specific promotion or offer.
Many marketing professionals find that long-term advertising also helps create greater consistency and predictability in ROI. Instead of having high and low seasons with customers flocking to the business in response to a specific promotion, you're more likely to see consistent business over time. Rather than focusing on short-term ads to bring in immediate traffic, brands can focus more on consumers and building customer relationships.
3. You are missing opportunities to connect with more potential customers.
Short-term ads reach only a small audience at a time. They may create an immediate sense of recognition in your customers or encourage them to come to check out your products, but they don't build a deeper connection. You'll also reach a much smaller audience than you do through a long-term ad campaign, which has the potential to reach more people over time.
Long-term ads allow you to create more connections and strengthen the ones that you already have. Companies that create an emotional connection with their customers will see 85% more growth than companies that fail to create an emotional connection. Your long-term ads create a sense of consistency. As you advertise across platforms, consumers will notice your campaigns, understand what your brand stands for, and create those vital emotional connections to your brand.
These efforts also allow for more interaction with your customers. You can chat with them on social media, get a better idea of what digital ads bring the reactions you're looking for from your customers, and deliver content that is more likely to reach your audience and help them feel a sense of connection.
Long-term advertising is a critical element of your overall marketing efforts. When you focus on only short-term ads, your business simply will not see the same results as a long-term strategy. If you want to create a better, more effective advertising plan that takes your long-term goals into consideration, consider working with a media partner to build your campaigns, improve your brand awareness, and ultimately reach your customers more effectively.
