Ads are great but relying on them is harmful for organic growth…
Dear Jennifer,
Admittedly, I’ve been caught with my hands in all sorts of cookie jars and I’m not talking about any good ones - chocolate chip cookies are a personal favorite of mine, but I digress. I’m attempting to run my business, motivate my sales team to sell more, crank out new ideas, all while trying to understand digital marketing jargon that often sounds like a foregin language. Needless to say, I'm way over my head but I need to generate profits, FAST.
Okay so hear me out…I want to rank and I want to rank now (says everyone). I’m thinking that my next cookie jar deep dive will be in the world of paid ads. What do you think? Should I stop with all this eating? Am I going to land in the anise cookie jar which was ranked as America's least favorite cookie? Help!
Fondly,
Desperate and Hungry
Dear Desperate and Hungry,
You’ve got me hungry with all this talk of cookies, but yeah, I’ll pass on the anise ones! I’ll be quite honest with you, if you leave your success up to just ONE cookie jar, you’re in for a world of disappointment. Both in your belly and in your pocket. Here’s why!
Pouring all your advertising money into a paid ad campaign just isn’t a good growth strategy. Time and again, companies breaking into online ads don't see success due to the same darn issue - they aren't well known to their audiences. Between the consumer and search engines alike, there is NO TRUST and no recognition from the start.
Stay with me… So let’s say you do Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and Google Ads - we know you’re hungry. They all start out with a high cost per click because it's a new campaign. Remember none of these big players have heard of you, so they have to do some vetting. Then you start finding that you have a low engagement situation because remember, not only do these online channels not know much about you, but neither do your consumers. They haven’t seen you in the organic space, why trust you in the paid space? So where does that leave you?
You’re left with a high click rate, low engagement, little to no click thrus and you’re right back to where you were. Desperate and hungry. Sorry, I just had to.
Another argument from purists like myself believe that paid ads are a little more than ‘in the moment’ marketing. You may grab the attention of your audience in that split second, but what if they don’t see your one attempt? There they go and you’ve missed them entirely. And besides, this seems dangerous, wreckless in fact. Just like eating raw cookie dough, ahem…
My recipe you ask!? Get to know your audience before you pour money & cookie batter into paid advertising. Organic advertising and connecting with your audience may seem like a ‘safer’ strategy to abide by but in the end, it’s a proven strategy that produces great results. Take time to nurture your potential customer base. Just like you’d knead the flour, gently massage your customers into trusting you through more organic methods. We’d recommend tactics like content marketing, press releases, PR branding strategies, plus so much more.
Best,
Jennifer Sargeant
Digital Sargeant