Pump Up Your Marketing By Using Promotions Framework Tactics

There is a great saying; we do not plan to fail, we fail to plan. Just like it isn't wise to build a house without a blueprint, you need to approach online marketing with a plan. This creates a healthy foundation. Nowadays, many companies run their media website promotions because they feel obligated to do so rather than with any particular goal in mind. This makes marketing appear as a luxurious expense that supervisors and clients do not want to incur.

Every promotion you do should have a specific purpose and goal. Approach online marketing with the mantra of strategy first, execution second. Today I would like to clarify the qualitative goals that should be considered when address your  marketing planning tips in order to building a Web site from the ground up, or optimizing an online marketing foundation that already exists.

AIDA is an old and common framework that's used to measure promotional effectiveness. It describes a theoretical path that customers follow to make purchases. You can use AIDA to evaluate a promotion, or to plan one.

A = Awareness or Attention: It's critical to make your target market aware that your brand exists. That might sound obvious to you, but it's the biggest hurdle many start-ups face: very few people ever hear of them. Companies spend millions of dollars on operations, and nothing to announce their existence. That's why many promotional media campaigns simply inform (or remind) people that a brand exists.

The key here is to attract attention in a cluttered world of promotions. Does the promotion attract your attention? The worst kind of promotion is one that nobody notices — that's just money wasted. That's why advertisers use creative tactics to get your attention.

I = Interest: A promotion might attract attention or create awareness, but it also needs to make people interested in the product. For example, you might notice a flashing banner on a website, or a loud commercial on the radio, but that doesn't make you interested in the product. One of the reasons many promotions fail to generate interest is that they're targeted at the wrong market segment. For instance before one month ago I occasionally receive ads in the mail for undergraduate degrees: "Get you B.A. now!" Obviously, an ad from another university attracts my attention, but the school just wasted its money advertising a B.A. to me. That's why a smart media-buying strategy is critical: your ad needs to appear where your target segment can see it, and where it's not wasted on too many non-targets.

D = Desire: Even if an ad attracts your attention, and it's a product you might be interested in, it has to create desire for that product. For example, I like watching movies, so an ad for a movie usually gets my attention and my interest, but not all movie ads make me want to see that particular movie. I am also interested in web development, so I will pay attention to web applications ads and have an interest in what a web people think, but that doesn't mean I want to support them. Creating desire is usually where the features-vs-benefits issue comes into play. If you can convince me that the product will benefit me more than the competition will, then your product becomes something I want.

A = Action: It's the marketer's ultimate challenge to convert someone from wanting something to actually buying it. I might want a Ferrari, but at my income level, I won't be buying one anytime soon. I might want to lose weight, but I'm too lazy to exercise. So keep in mind that sales aren't the only action: sometimes, you simply want someone to visit your website, to sign up for your newsletter, to forgive you for making a mistake, or to stop doing something bad for themselves or the environment. That's why many ads have a clear and specific "call to action" that explicitly tells consumers what to do: "visit our website for more information" or "tell a friend." Sometimes, an incentive is required to compel the action, such as a special discount, free offer or freedom from guilt.

If you are advertising to current customers, you might try to change their behavior, like getting them to consume more of your product ("Try Diet Coke for breakfast"), or having them support you during quiet times ("Visit Calgary in the summer" or "Visit Dubai in the winter"). Some bars feature "happy hours" with lower-priced drinks to get customers to come early. These are the actions you want from your target customers — can your ad or promotion persuade them to do it?

Note: not all promotions and not all campaigns involve all elements of AIDA. Some just focus on one or two elements. Also, customers don't always follow each step: they might start with A and I with one product, then go back to A and consider other products. Some customers never get to Action.

Sometimes, all you want your promotional campaign to do is enhance your brand, so no action is needed right now. At other times, a marketer will do something in an ad that actually hurts their brand.

Thank You!