We’re exploring the five key factors in effective advertising. First up is visibility. What we’re talking about here is getting the ads in front of your target audience. So, the first thing to think about is who are you targeting and where do you find them? Remember to consider market segments, and this is where your personas will come in handy. Let’s look at two as examples for a cleaning business.
Let’s say that Persona #1 is Alice. Alice is retired and still lives in her own house with her husband. They have a good pension income and spend their time golfing and hosting their grandchildren for weekend sleep overs. As an older couple, they are pretty traditional in their thinking. They give money to their church for mission work, but don’t really subscribe to any causes. Alice represents your prospects for housekeeping services.
Persona #2 is Kyle. Kyle is the 35-year-old building manager for three strata complexes. He has a fixed budget for the cleaning services he needs, but is likely to sign a contract for at least a year. Kyle is no nonsense, so he’d prefer one company to all three buildings, and wants the job done right, so he’s not getting calls from the strata council after hours. Kyle lives with his wife and three children, and usually socializes with other families. Kyle represents your prospects for commercial cleaning contracts.
Alice and Kyle are not very likely to cross paths, so they’ll need different ad platforms and different pitches.
Google search ads though, apply to both. It’s by far the most visible platform of all. Ads for Alice should focus on bonded employees, high quality and reliable service. Ads for Kyle would feature the word “commercial” and contract discounts, in addition to insurance, quality and reliability.
At her age, Alice is among the 60% of Boomers and older, that read the newspaper. If she lives in a community of less than 100 thousand that has a community newspaper, the percentage goes up. Newspaper advertising can only be target to this type of extent, so is a relatively shot-gun approach. However, a few newspaper ads combined with other forms of advertising, might work quite well.
Admail is another option of Alice’s demographic – older adult living in their own home. They tend to check their mail regularly, so even if your postcard type ad puts the idea of using a cleaning service, it might be worth it.
Pinterest’s largest age group of users is those aged 50 to 64 and skews female (78%), and since Alice has grandchildren, she may visit the site for craft ideas.
Facebook would be another social media site worth considering. Although Alice is older than the highest user group demographic, Facebook allows fairly in-depth targeting, so your ad spend won’t be wasted.
In a client acquisition blitz scenario, you could also consider radio, as well as discount coupons in a cooperative advertising promotion with local golf courses.
Now, Kyle is going to be a little harder to reach, since it’s his job role that you want to target. Your best bet with Kyle is probably YouTube. He’s among the largest age and gender group of users (15-35, 54% male), and there’s a good chance that he looks up how to do some repairs in his buildings. While ads would be one way to attract Kyle, a few of your own videos about how to keep cleaning costs down, or a spray for hallway carpets that prevents stains, might also get his attention.
Direct mail addressed to the Building Manager is a way to get more information to Kyle, and perhaps an offer for a free quote after a walk-though. Meeting Kyle in person is a really great way to move him up your prospect list.
Of course, there are so many other advertising options: billboards, buses, television, radio, direct email, and many more social media sites, including LinkedIn for business people, and Snapchat for a younger demographic.
They key is to find the places that your target markets are likely to visit, in person or online, and that’s where you want your ads to be.
