In my day, I’ve been on the receiving end of a frustrated business owner,
Who is chomping at the bit,
Ready to explode,
Complete livid that their ads did not result in sales.
This is a basic misunderstanding that I want to ensure you never ever make!
Ads are not sales.
Let me reiterate:
Advertising is not a sales event.
Here’s where the confusion literally always lies:
Frustrated business owner:
“But if I am putting money into the ads…
Then surely sales and revenue must come out!
Money goes in, money comes out.
That’s literally what ROI is!!”
Except that they forget ROI can and sometimes will be
A negative number.
How could that be?
If money is put into ads, then why wouldn’t money come back out?
So let’s dispel this unfriendly myth once and for all.
Ads and sales are two completely separate animals.
Let’s let marketing literacy spell this out more clearly.
Sales are conversions.
Specifically, they are Purchase conversions.
Where someone literally converts from…
An interested party – interested in your offer –
Into a buyer.
In the online marketing realm, this is a mystical and beautiful experience!
This is an almost alchemical process that you
Always want to recreate.
This is the magic that my new brand and business
Dive directly into!
And Advertising is not that at all.
As we learned last week in the branding conversation:
Advertising is getting eyes on your offer,
Ensuring that people are aware of your offer,
That it stays top of mind,
ie they will not be able to forget it is available.
In marketing literacy terms,
Advertising is Traffic.
Why is that “traffic”?
Quite simply:
You are literally moving someone through the
Customer Journey, from a lead or Interested Party
Into a Customer, Client or Purchaser
In my most common experiences this going
FROM unaware your brand exists…
TO aware of your business…
TO aware of your offer…
TO bringing you to the place you can make your Conversion,
Usually a sales page or place you might schedule a Sales Call.
In other words, Traffic literally from one light to the next to the next.
Until they have the chance to arrive at their destination:
The Zone of Conversion.
But the Traffic is not the Conversion.
It’s the vehicle that brings you to the sales opportunity.
And you truly cannot do without it, paid or not.
Oh how often have I done exit surveys to my own audience,
To find out why they decided not to buy,
Only to be told:
“Oh I had no idea that was available!”
Despite countless ads and endless emails.
For some distracted audience members,
Even endless Traffic is never enough.
Traffic and Conversion definitely go together,
They definitely influence each other, done well.
Great ads can nurture someone closer to a sale certainly.
But they are absolutely not the same.
So after a gentle and very loving conversation with said
“Frustrated business owner”…
Clarity comes upon them,
The best questions come forth,
And now we can have a realistic conversation about
What it takes to make a sale…..
Versus what it takes to keep the Traffic moving smoothly.
I love ads because it’s all about Connection.
But getting someone to open
Their wallet and exchange their money
For your product and service is a different part of the experience.
That’s why I have the best experiences with those who
Commit to a sales system or process.
Continue to work on, improve and tweak it,
And all the while use world-class advertising – Traffic –
To keep eyes on the offer, getting people
More and more excited for the offer soon to come.
Real numbers are used, to clarify every step of the experience.
Nothing – I repeat – Nothing is left to chance.
And it’s all proven,
Based on what the audience is telling us with their engagement.
This is true advertising literacy at its best.
And now, you will never even stumble into this tricky trap.
50 Weeks Of Giving!
As Peace Day is happening this week, we honor the vital work of PeaceAction. In this modern age of available warfare, and shocking international tensions, no organization feels quite as needed, to supplement the work of the United Nations, and other peace promoters, so find out more here.
