How to make the most of your AdNozzle campaign

Out there in the sunny world of marketing campaigns there are three kinds of people. Which one are you?

The players

Type 1 is the True Believer. You recognise the value of putting your name, business and message out there in the public domain. Of course it bloody works: it’s obvious. People see our message and over time they do something positive! If you don’t connect with customers, your business will die, or worse grow slower than the interest on my savings!

Type 2 is people that want Brand Awareness. We want to get our name out there and keep putting it out there. The more people see us, the more likely they are to remember us. And with that recollection comes the trust born of familiarity. Advertising builds the recognition and trust in our name.

And then there’s Type 3. Those that are Direct-Response-Need. You want new customers queuing at the door. You want sales enquiries. You want increased sales but you also want it to pay for itself so that the new revenue outweighs what it cost to get it. You want a return on your investment!

The trap

True Believers and seekers of Brand Awareness will always get what they want. It’s a self-fulfilling-prophecy. Their logic is sound and they have the courage of conviction. It’s a winning formula that ultimately pays off. We have a Brand Awareness client that books all the petrol stations around their three tyre centres all year long because the fuel nozzle messaging talks to the right people: motorists. If they are the only tyre-retailer in town using this perfect method of reaching their customers, they can’t lose. The only losers are their competitors.

We have a used car dealer client that goes a bit further than that. They are such True Believers that they book out all the petrol stations in both regions surrounding their two car supermarkets. They are a highly successful business, made more so by the fact that using AdNozzles in endless petrol stations to reach ALL the relevant motoring audience is, quite frankly, binary in its simplicity. Their competitors are a bit frustrated though because all the AdNozzle petrol stations are long-term unavailable.

True Believers and those Brand Awareness will never get a bad result. They can’t lose.

Direct-Response-Need people have much more to think about. A direct response does not happen from your target audience just by advertising. Plus, the result might not be ready to happen yet. If you want enquiries, both the timing and the attraction-method must be right for the prospect. In the case of car tyres for example, the prospect might not need any for a few months. But in the case of a car buyer, the right offer might persuade them to escalate their curiosity or even dissatisfaction with their current vehicle into action because the offer is right. DR depends on timing and attractiveness. The used car supermarket knows this so they saturate the region with the right messaging that reaches their audience over and over again. They present mighty attractive offers that cater to timing and dissatisfaction equally. The tyre dealer knows the value of reinforcing their brand in the minds of local tyre-buyers, so they do the same on a smaller scale. Both run lucrative enquiry-rich businesses as a result.

The DR-Need aren’t True Believers or Brand Aware, but want a result right now. How does it work for them? Imagine Kevin the Plumber. Here’s the good news for Kevin: his message is going to reach a guaranteed number of motorists (and therefore people with homes and plumbing), so the communication part of his campaign is already a success. Local people are going to see his message, his message and nothing but his message, even if he restricts his campaign to just one petrol filling station!

But once they’ve seen it, how will Kevin entice these plumbing-owners to enquire? Think of it another way – if YOU saw your message, what would get YOU to bite? Look at it from their point of view.

Face it, Kevin. You’re a plumber. Nobody’s going to get excited by plumbing – sorry. Even when water is pouring through the lounge ceiling they’re not going to find plumbing exciting, are they? So, if Kevin wants enquiries from a short-term campaign he’ll need to get them excited about something else. Kevin might even need to spend a little money to get the enquiries flowing.

If his offer was as YUMMY as a FREE Whopper, people would be queuing at his door, right? The thing that’s likely to attract people sooner rather than later is an AMAZING offer. One that, just like car supermarket, might cause the prospect to re-prioritise their want or need. Maybe they’ll get Kevin in early to talk about the bathroom refurb that they’re planning in three months’ time.

In this case, the advice to Kevin is: be a bit generous. LOSS-LEAD it if you must. This is the time to create some lifelong customers who keep coming back to you for all their plumbing jobs, because you do such a great job!

So, how will Kevin turn plumbing into passion? Make them an offer they can’t refuse. If Kevin can’t heavily discount his product or service as a loss-leader, he’ll need to give his public the Whopper equivalent. There are many things you can give someone when they buy from you:

Love2shop vouchers
Free wine (if you’re being generous, a case is £30)
A case of beer
Chocolate (Cadbury’s does amazing hampers from just £15)
Theatre tickets
Cinema tickets
M&S Vouchers (people love these!)

Whatever it is, make it different and desirable. If you’re selling tyres, a “free tyre check” is worthless because they can get one anywhere. 5% discounts on anything are way too small. Free-entry into a prize-draw for anything is just disappointing. Whoever wins those things anyway? If you’re going to advertise, REWARD your prospects for becoming customers, then carry on rewarding them so they recommend you other new customers.

If you’re not a True Believer, you want evidence. Your AdNozzle campaign is guaranteed to reach your target audience, so you’ve got to plan how you’ll attract them. What offer will get them biting. Then you, and everyone in your business has got to ask every single enquirer where they heard of the business while the campaign is running, and afterwards too. Write down the source of the enquiry so you can measure success. If they don’t arrive in the numbers that you expect, ask yourself why not? What was it about your offer that didn’t excite them? Did you run your campaign for long enough? Often, 12 weeks will give you much better penetration than 4. Are you visible at enough sites – does your campaign have enough scale to have a decent impact? Who designed it? Professionally designed campaigns ALWAYS gives the best impression of your business creating that all-important recognition, familiarity and trust. If you want your business to break new ground, are you giving your campaign and your future the best propellant?

Your entire existence revolves around making your product or service attractive enough and different enough to sell, then telling enough of the right people about it. With AdNozzles, you are served the perfect audience on a plate. Job done! Next you must decide how you’re going to create enough excitement around your product or service to win, keep and grow their business.