Ever try watching a TV show without being interrupted? Let’s face it, no one enjoys the commercial breaks just right when you’re up to the best part. Being mad at the ad, you surf the channel, or just turn off the TV. This translates into a big waste of advertising dollars.
Or how about sitting in traffic on the freeway, listening to the traffic report. Don’t the constant commercials every 3 seconds grate on your already frayed nerves? The oversized billboards screaming for your attention at every bend in the road don’t do much for you either.
This is what is referred to as “Interruption Advertising.” It has been the traditional form of advertising for years, and it is starting to lose its steam. As the consumer is overburdened with all too many marketing messages, he stops listening. Although companies will continue to market this way, the return on investment, or ROI from interruption advertising will continue to decline.
Jay Levinson, the author of the famous “Guerilla Marketing” series on small business marketing, has found that in order for your target customer to take action from your ad, he or she needs to see it 27 times! That means a typical quarter page ad in a newspaper that costs about $200 will cost you at least $5,400 just to get your customer to take their first action!
Don’t think that all hope is lost. There is a way that you can market effectively to your customers, without trying to interrupt them. You can actually market to them in a way that they look forward to receiving your messages, making the dollars spent on this form of advertising a great investment. It is called “Permission Advertising,” meaning, of course, that you have the customer’s permission to market to them.
Marketing with an opt-in email list is a prime example of permission advertising. Use content rich articles that are submitted to article directories to drive traffic to your site. When a visitor arrives at your site, you get them to opt in with a small bribe, either a download or a free guide to whatever they’d be interested in.
Now comes the critical part. Most customers won’t buy from you until they are sure they can trust you. You can build up their trust by sending them content rich information that they can benefit from. After a few messages, they will begin to trust you and actually look forward to your messages. Your ads will then be more pleasantly received, and your customer will be all the more likely to take action from them.