The Battle for Attention Online

This blog originally was on LinkedIn

In order to promote their brands, website, or products, companies are increasingly shifting budgets towards online marketing tools. Is your online strategy reaching the right audience effectively?

Banner ads, rich media ads, social media marketing, email marketing, display ads, ad networks, search engine marketing (paid and organic), and owned content are all gaining more focus as methods to connect with customers. But what is the right mix? And how do you know if you’re getting your money’s worth?

First – know your target customer. 

Discover what their online “habits” are. What do they use the web for? What do they covet the most? What do they respond to? How do they want to interact with your brand? How do they interact with competitors?

Second – create a compelling message. 

After you have segmented your customers, and targeted specific segments, develop your creative strategy that hones in on the single compelling message that will deliver on the AIDA principle: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

Third – establish metrics, and constantly review and refine your online marketing execution.

Fine tune your media plan to include the formats that best suit your audience, and will deliver on your brand promise. Make sure you have a system in place to monitor the value of the typical metrics (Acquisition, Activation, and Retention), but for that delivers true ROI on that investment.

If you are still developing your digital brand strategy, choose a partner that will understand your business strategy, your customers, and establish a plan for deliverables: define the creative specs, timeline, tracking requirements and reporting up front.

The best part is, with a plethora of mediums to reach your customers – podcasts to display, to videos, to mobile – you get to choose the message, the method, and media.

So go ahead, have fun with it – once you start getting creative, people will pay attention.

Ray Beharry is a Marketing & Sales Leader based out of the Greater New York City area. He can be reached via LinkedIn, email – [email protected], and is also on Twitter @RayBeharry.