Does creative advertising always translate to sales? This is a question often asked of advertising agencies. While we can’t 100% guarantee such an outcome to any client, neither can we say that it won’t turn into sales!
Twelve12 wishes to share with you some information on this topic to clarify the most common concerns.
A creative advertising campaign may inspire people and turn a lot of heads your way, however, this is only halfway (and sometimes not even half) into the purchase process. There are so many variables involved in a purchase decision (including the sales strategy) that it would be foolish to pretend that a good ad will turn into a sale every time.
From my own experience, I can assure you that, most of the time, people will visit a store with a particular brand in their minds, this is what we call “top of mind”. One way to achieve this place in your customer’s minds is through advertising.
If we, as customers, are left alone in a store to purchase a particular product, our minds will evaluate the pros and cons of the different choices available, and we usually gravitate to the “safest” choice – which most of the time is the same as the “top of mind” brand. However, if there is another variable in place, such as a highly trained and effective sales rep, the customer will take their expertise and advice into account – and there is a very high probability that they will change their mind and make a different choice.
As an example, consider a marketer whose focus was on building up a strong and reliable company recognition. They’d send experts to the stores to increase sales. Every time, this brand would come out as one of the two top sellers in a consistent fashion, and such a strategy would be proven by a considerable number of brands with similar results.
This doesn’t mean that you should change strategies right away, or that creative advertising is a waste of resources. It means that, depending on your company’s needs, it’s the mix of strategies that you should use.
If you want your brand and products to be easily identified, then advertising should be your main focus. If instead, you want to increase your sales, then promotions and added value are what you should be looking into to achieve that type of result.
So, why look into advertising if I just told you that sales experts are a sure way to increase profits? Well, the other side of using this strategy is that, as soon as you pull your reps out of the stores, the sales will drop dramatically and those brands with higher top-of-mind placement will eventually go back to lead the sales board.
If you want to know more about how advertising agencies can help you improve your business, give us a call today. At Twelve12 we will help you develop the perfect mix to achieve the results you are striving for.