I have seen this process work first hand for at least a few years now. What allows one company to steal another company’s leads (if that competitor is running a TV ad) is a simple concept. However, most client prospects of mine fail to realize this connection until I bring it to their attention.
TV ADS OR INTERNET MARKETING
Local business clients get pressured into buying TV ads on a constant basis. Maybe they like the rep from the TV station, or maybe the rep cold called on the right day and made an immediate sale. Whether it happens this way or not, I can guarantee you that the TV rep is incentivized to make the sale. When you are about to sign a contract for TV ads, they are SURELY NOT going to explain this concept to you about Internet marketing. In most cases, the rep may not even understand or acknowledge that this weakness exists.
Let’s use an example to make this easy:
Company A decides to run a TV ad during the local news. They are told the TV ad will help them market their revolutionary new product or service, and that the best way to reach their target audience with this new product is to go on TV during the news. They proceed with this marketing plan. In the meantime, they know their website is not that great and they have little to no search engine visibility for their product. However, they are intimidated by the Internet so they choose the more traditional marketing route.
Company B is their competitor and they offer the same groundbreaking new product or service. Instead of being sold a TV ad, company B schedules an appointment with my company to discuss improving their website and Internet marketing. They decide to proceed with both a website and either an SEO (search engine optimization) or a PPC (pay per click) plan with my company.
THE WEAKNESS OF COMPANY A
Where did Company A go wrong when they purchased a TV ad?
The answer is that they may not understand the buying cycle for their new product or service. Their TV ad is now running during the evening news, which is primarily on TV when households are preparing dinner or actually eating dinner. Nobody at that immediate point in time is calling to schedule an appointment for Company A’s product or service because it is now after 5:00PM.
However, the household that saw Company A’s TV commercial decides to do more homework later that night for the new product or service that they saw advertised on TV. They grab their iPad a couple hours later, go to Google, and start researching the product online.
The person in this household is now a warmer lead that has been primed to purchase this new product or service, and wherever they decide to purchase the product/service is NOT necessarily dependent on the TV commercial that they saw during the news.
Where they choose to give their business could now depend on WHO HAS A BETTER WEBSITE and WHO HAS MORE SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY.
THE STRENGTH OF COMPANY B
Company B understood that the Internet is typically the last place that a consumer will visit immediately before making a decision to purchase a product or service.
The TV commercial from Company A was successful in generating more local search engine traffic for this new product/service, but they failed to have a strong enough Internet presence to grasp their leads when they started searching Google to do their homework (as a part of the buying cycle).
Company B now has the stronger Internet presence, so they are receiving phone calls for the new product/service and the leads are mentioning that they saw the TV ad.
THE LESSON LEARNED
In summary, if you are considering advertising on TV, then make sure you have a strong presence for your products or services on the Internet.
If you have a limited budget, and cannot afford both forms of advertising, then choose a competent Internet marketing company like ourselves and invest in the Internet.
If your competitor uses TV frequently, but they fail with their online presence, then you can take advantage of the increased local search engine traffic that their TV ad is generating by strengthening your own presence on the Internet…. which will essentially allow you to siphon their leads.
If you have any questions regarding this article or this scenario, then please feel free to reach out to my company at 815.979.1229.
Sincerely,
John LiCausi