We are living in strange times! Most of us have never experienced anything like this before; we're all spending 90+% of our time at home, almost everyone is either working from home or not working at all, we're only allowed outside for essential shopping and an hour of exercise (some countries don't even have that!), the world seems full of bad news and the entire economy seems to be balancing on a knife edge. So, some would say understandably, there has been a huge reduction in companies spending money on advertising - we believe they're wrong!
At any one time Whittingham Marketing has over 50 clients in 5 different countries, and we spend a great deal of time creating innovative and exciting ways to get peoples attention on behalf of our clients; to pull them away from Netflix, phones, laptops and any other distractions and show off our clients companies & products instead. In short, we help brands and companies get potential customers attention in order to achieve an end goal i.e. sell a product, follow a page, purchase a product etc.
Right now however, for the first time in living memory, people have an abundance of time! The long commute has been replaced by a lay in, the morning meeting replaced by todays episode of This Morning, the lunch break comes and goes without anyone noticing and the end of week drinks are now taking place on Zoom, FaceTime & Houseparty! For the first time in recent history your audience is sitting at home practically begging for something to catch their eye and kill some time - that something could be your business!
Although many of our clients have unfortunately been forced to stop or minimise spending on ads, those who can afford to continue are reaping big rewards! Take Infinite Plumbing & Heating for example. Together we ran a very basic week-long advert across Facebook & Instagram. One of them (below left) offered help to anyone needing it during the lockdown period - groceries & medicines collected, DIY work carried out and emergency plumbing work undertaken. The second (below right) promoted the fact that they were still operating and carrying out emergency gas & heating works.
Over the course of the week that we ran these adverts for Infinite the response was huge. Understandably, and rather predictably, the advert offering help was the most popular, reaching over 11,000 people across Sussex (Infinite's area of operation), and racking up over 150 likes, 70 shares, and lots of comments of support and thanks from local people. Off the back of this advert Infinite helped reach the local community and offered help to those in need (which was the primary focus of this ad campaign and exactly what Infinite wanted to achieve). They helped several people with groceries, collecting medicines and a few general DIY tasks. They were also asked to quote for several larger plumbing jobs and many said that when they next needed a plumber Infinite would be who they called.
The advert shown above right may have reached less people, 8000, and had a smaller number of comments & likes, 6 & 30, but the outcome was no less pleasing. Infinite received and sold 4 jobs directly off the back of the ad - one of which was over a weeks worth of work, which during this period of uncertainty is a fantastic result for the company - and they carried out a number of free of charge work for vulnerable people too.
Ultimately the outcome of these ads did an incredible job of boosting one thing - company branding. Infinite will be remembered by those they've helped, those who saw the ads and those who shared the ads, in a positive light. Secondly they have gained new followers & a number of new customers and thirdly it has helped them to continue to generate revenue during a time that is leaving a lot of independent businesses in the dust.
The best thing about these adverts however is something we've yet to mention. They only cost £50. That's not a typo - £50 only. £25 each.
Undoubtedly these incredible results from a small budget are primary down to one huge factor that a lot of companies are ignoring right now - for the first time ever your audience is sat at home, bored, scrolling through social media and they actually want something or someone to come along and make them smile, make them feel good, entertain them, offer them a product or service that interests them or otherwise fill some time. There is no reason that this cannot be your company. With a unique approach to advertising during these strange times your company could continue to thrive!
During times like this it is those that continue to see the unique opportunities that will survive. Unfortunately for the rest, without innovation, this is going to be an extremely difficult time for them. Adapt or die.
We encourage everyone reading this to look deeper, how could you harness the incredible reach of social media to engage your audience right now? How could you use their excess time to ensure eyes are on your product or service? And for all those asking themselves "Can we afford it?", we say this - Can you really afford not too?