How To Connect With Consumers To Stay Top of Mind

Recently, I read a few interesting fact in an article in Health magazine.  The article was about detoxing from “screen” usage to create healthy habits around the way we use technology.

The first fact was “‘11. The number of years a person will look at his or her phone in a lifetime’, according to data from the makers of the Moment app.”. The second: “’47. The average number of times per day we check our phone,’ per a 2017 study.”

Imagine all of the ads you are exposed to on a daily basis. Many of those ads may not even be worth your time to pay attention to. It’s just noise. But, you see them anyway!

Now, think of how many of these ads you actually pay attention to. Sure there are some that may catch your eye here and there. When you do find an interesting ad, you click on it because you are choosing to expose yourself to it.

Interruption-Based Marketing

Advertising methods like online banners, radio ads, TV commercials, etc. pop up randomly. This is called interruption-based marketing. It’s interruption-based because it is interrupting whatever you’re doing at the moment.

While you don’t think of it as an interruption to your day, it can sometimes be annoying to you. It’s annoying because you don’t have a choice about whether it is in front of you. However, you do have a choice in whether to continue listening or reading it, or not.

Since consumers can choose whether or not to block an advertisement, you’re probably wondering how marketers and advertisers can stand out and connect with their audience.

Experiential Marketing

It’s simple. If you know your audience, you can create experiences for your customer that will make you memorable. Experiences that will engage your audience so they will remember you and take action when they see your ad!

These “Customer experiences” are a part of Experiential Marketing. Experiential Marketing is more engaging and interactive with consumers. It focuses on how experiences throughout the customer journey and how consumers feel about a brand at every step.

By treating each “touch” point as an opportunity to create unforgettable experiences, consumers will base their opinion of your brand on how you made them feel.

Advertising Your Prospects Will Thank You For

In today’s highly connected world, a great way to create unforgettable experiences is to use promotional items to help build that experience in your customer’s journey. As tangible items, promotional items are not a form of interruption-based marketing. In fact, they sway towards the Experiential Marketing side.

According to the Promotional Products Association, International (PPAI), 59% of consumers feel more favorable about the advertiser who gave them the item.

They’re more likely to feel this way because

1. Promotional items don’t look like an advertisement.
2. They don’t interrupt anyone’s day.
3. And, the consumer can choose to expose themselves to the message/advertisement whenever they want.

They are the only form of advertising your audience will thank you for!

How Many People Recall Your Ad?

Reach is huge in the advertising world. Think about all the ads you are exposed to on a daily basis. How many ads “reach” you. But, back to the “noise”, reaching an audience doesn’t mean they are listening.

But, think of how many of those ads you see everyday. How many can you can recall?

While media channels like online ads, radio and TV, have high reach numbers, promotional products have a better recall rate. Depending on which media you compare it to, promotional items have a 15-20% higher recall rate than other major media.

What can they recall? According to PPAI, 6% of people can recall a company and brand advertised on a promotional product and 74.6% can recall the product, service and message.

Basically, this means more for your ROI because people can recall your brand and messaging easier when you advertise with promotional items.

As you can see promotional items are a great choice to add to your marketing mix if you’re looking to stand out from the noise, connect with your customers and stay top of mind.