If emails and banners don’t achieve immediate response...
Sometimes when looking through reports on marketing/advertising performance for example of emails and display banner ads not all achieve an immediate response, rather they do leave that first impression in peoples minds.
However, we know that no-one was necessarily looking for that advert (rather than keyword 'search' advertising), it just appeared on the page they were looking at and although it may be interesting, the customer may have other priorities or just not need to buy from you right now. If they’ve seen the message, they’ll be more likely to look for you when they do need a related product or service – instead of going to a competitor, for example if someone is moving home, they will need to use various services, but maybe not instantly.
Increasing brand awareness
So if you are not already doing so, give a thought for banners and emails to your audience. Don’t think of increasing brand awareness as a pointless exercise, because although it’s not direct response, it will help you to achieve a response - creating interest; desire and finally action.
Think of banner advertising as planting that first seed in your garden – perhaps to begin with you are planting on stoney ground, then gradually with assistance plants grow, your 'garden' will flourish faster with advertising and marketing.
When clients come to know your brand or recognise your brand it creates a level of confidence and trust and this means that when they search for products or services in Google or Yahoo they’ll click on your advert and not a rivals.
Future customers - where will your new clients come from? If you limit your advertising portfolio to purely direct response campaigns (keyword search) – you will only ever advertise to people who are looking for you. In order to expand and grow your client base, you need to attract customers from fresh sources and inspire potential customers who wouldn’t have chosen your service over a rival.