While Sunday night’s Super Bowl might have been one of the greatest games ever played, there was one part of the event that left me feeling rather disappointed. It was the advertisements.
Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems advertising, especially during the big game has slipped to a level of extreme obscurity where it’s hard to tell who’s even running the Ad and what the heck they’re even trying to sell.
Super Bowl Ads will always be seen as a way to acquire huge droves customers or a great opportunity to place a message in front of a large, captive audience, or a huge platform to make a bold statement about a brand. In fact, in today’s media-driven world, this is one of the only places left to reach that type of audience.
But I struggle to understand spending that type of money to reach a new audience when those funds could be better spent engaging an audience likely to generate a far greater return on investment. Chasing new clients with high-profile and expensive marketing campaigns is thrilling, but is it worth it? Sometimes, but usually not.
You see, here’s the kicker, regardless of the business type, most businesses can already put powerful messaging in front of a highly captive audience on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis, but most don’t. They’re not doing it. They’re trying to find that elusive audience they haven’t found yet.
The sales people are saying customers are leaving because of “price,” and they’re doing an okay job on driving some new orders. The marketing team is working on the next trade show. Dollars are being funneled into new promotions. Everyone is busy. All the while, customers are seeping out the back of the bucket. It’s the perfect leaky bucket.
And that’s the key here, instead of trying to reach a new audience, spend your time and resources captivating and connecting with the audience you’ve already got. This IS the philosophy of Evergreen. And this IS one of the key concepts of powerful customer retention.
If you look at any business that’s dominating in their industry or any powerful personal brand, or hyper, teenage YouTube blogger you can quickly see that they’re continuously looking for ways to provide their audience with valuable, meaningful, and memorable messaging.
Can your business learn from this? Of course, it can and it should. Does that mean you need to be on Snapchat if you’re selling oil valves or conveyor belts? No, but you can learn from this.
The big bonus is this – people follow the crowds and go where the excitement is. That’s why we all tune into the bowl. That’s why my newsletter has continued to spread in popularity. That’s why Apple continues to dominate even when people say they’re down and out. That’s why Gaga thrives. I’m sure you can find other examples….
And that’s why you need to do it too. That’s how you leverage your efforts with your existing customers to create new ones. So ask yourself these two simple questions:
What are you doing this year to engage and captivate your existing audience? (your existing customers….)
What can you do to captivate those outside of it? (your industry, your prospects…)
Do you really want to make a big impact in your industry this year? Here’s a clue to the second question. Instead of being more of just the same old, same old in your industry, ask yourself this.
How can you be the Lady Gaga of your industry?
