How to drive conversions with high competition

Today’s consumers have come to rely on their smartphones to do almost anything: shop, socialise, read, find love, play games… smartphones are like an extension of our personal self. The average user spends 24 hours a week on their phone and screen time is predicted to continue rising year on year.

This leads to increased consumption, and as a result increased competition in the marketplace.

How can we cut through the noise in a busy marketplace?

It’s time to get personal

In the era of increased screen time, advertisers often play the game of ‘who can shout the loudest’ in terms of producing ads; however, this is not the best approach.

Advertisers should rather strive to achieve results by providing personalised and bespoke content, instead of a ‘one size fits all’ approach as seen in more traditional advertising.

As our past blog on lowering your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) reminded us, getting the best from paid media is about building brand awareness, knowing your audience and testing ads to work out the optimal strategy for your brand.

Know your audience – timing matters

In order to reach users spending a lot of time on social media, it is best to know your audience, where and when to place your advertisements – to be relevant, ads need to be more personalised than ever.

For example, there is no point in posting an Instagram story ad for breakfast cereal at 8 pm on a Saturday night. In contrast, if posting about a rideshare, this may be the perfect time.

In a world where our lives are dominated by mobile screen time, competition for ad space is high, especially during peak times. Getting your brand noticed when your audience is most active is vital in driving low-cost conversions.

Make time to get to know your audience, analyse their activity, their platform usage, times – via organic media – and even who they are interacting with. Look at lookalike audiences to find similar people and help drive conversions by using our ATOM technology to create a bespoke audience for your product.

The ATOM takes the guess-work out and simplifies the consumer pathway; it identifies what audience the customer is part of and the insights enable you to see what your customers are interested in, allowing you to retarget with greater detail.

Mix it up – leverage multiple channels

Mixing up your offering is a simple solution, although rarely utilised. Marketing doesn’t have to be limited to one format; consider mixing your media strategy with paid and organic posts and even other forms of display. In times where we are spending hours staring at screens, the ability to target users is increasing exponentially with the addition of multi-device usage.

Let’s look at the popular series of Love Island, a perfect example of how brands are interacting with current trending topics and reaping the rewards of popular associations.

Last year Superdrug turned their previous sponsorship deal to a fully integrated campaign across TV, social media and YouTube. Furthermore, they partnered with brands to create Love Island products and added real-time social media ads to help drive awareness and continue the link between Superdrug and the programme.

This sponsorship proved to be effective with 200K visits to the website after each show in 2017, a 900% increase in Superdrug brand search terms and a 9% increase in purchase intent over the period, indicating that multi-channel marketing can link in with social media to drive results.

So what can we learn from this? Superdrug states that the views from traditional sponsorship are almost as important as real-time social media.

The combination of effective community management, connecting with target audiences and conveying messages at key points can help brands drive awareness and increase their sales.

Again, it’s all about working out what’s right for you and the results you want to see. The Superdrug model may not work for an older demographic or those who don’t watch reality TV, but there are other options to mix channels – just keep on testing to find the best combination for your product or service.

Delve deeper into your audience

Look at your organic campaigns, what times are your customers most responsive? Would that be a great time to capture their attention? Look at their locations, where are your customers working/studying? Would it be worth advertising in morning newspapers or in train stations?

Once again, it comes down to knowing your audience and making sure they are engaged. There is no point having great paid campaigns and beautiful organic posts without skilled community managers – neither is it worthwhile seeing an eye-catching billboard ad without having a slick website and other ways to retarget your website visitors.

Managing mixed strategies would help you stay ahead and create balanced campaigns for the right audience.

Don’t forget the basics

Last but not least, an important thing to consider in the era of increased screen time is that consumers do not want to be bombarded with advertisements that don’t convey a message almost instantaneously.

Think about your message, your creative and the quality of your landing page. You may have the greatest, most interactive campaign – but if you forget the basics your ad won’t stand out.

Before going live, go through these questions:

“Is my audience ready to make a split second decision?”

“Is my message effective?”

“Is it true to my brand?”

“Is the pacing of my adverts effective?”

Test out a bunch of ideas, varying the timing and message and find the best solution for your brand. It may seem like a lot of effort in the beginning, but we can ensure you that testing the simple things will prove to be effective in the long run. Simplicity never fails.

Make your campaign MIGHTY

Contact us today, to make your campaign MIGHTY.

As the fastest growing social ad tech company in Europe, Mighty Social is on hand to optimise your objectives working with world-leading brands across a variety of industries.

Our team of experienced marketeers and creatives can help you achieve your business goals, through a variety of channels.

Add this to our unique targeting technology, the ATOM, which helps drive better quality leads through efficient audience identification, and you will be set to make an impact in a digital era where the odds are against you.