Marketing has always been treated like a way to make your customers curious, and attracting their attention. In a matter of seconds you tell them what your product is offering, and why it is unique or special.
We were always used to this kind of marketing, from TV commercials to magazines or newspaper insertions. The first TV commercial is dated 1941 and was a spot for Bulova Watch Co. that cost only $9 - ah, the good old times - while today the average TV commercial price isn’t lower than a six figure sum.
The goal with magazines or newspaper insertions was to find that catchy sentence that would bring the audience to want to read or learn more about the product, and in the case of the tv spot, convince them to buy connecting the catchy sentences to images and situations the viewers could easily identify themselves with.
Today, in 2021, we also know a different kind of advertising, the digital one. While TV commercials pricing started low and grew in time, digital advertising started from a higher price and decreased to a point that it is now affordable and accessible to all businesses.
You can today quickly create a social media or Google ad and decide your spending, and that will be live and running within a couple of hours - or also days as it happens with Google. The immediate impression we have is that we can reach a lot of people with just a few bucks.
The top-down approach
While the medium of advertising has changed, the approach to advertising doesn’t seem to differ much for many businesses.
There are billions of businesses advertising online today, and probably some are even using your same target audience, your same USP, and the same channel to advertise. From early-stage startups to big corporates, many businesses choose online advertising, using different strategies and channels. Most of the time these businesses are still using the newspaper-insertion kind of messaging.
Why doesn’t the old insertion messaging work anymore in online marketing? Why should you consider changing the approach with your customers when it comes to online marketing?
The reason is simple: because there are too many ads out there, and if you want to get noticed by your customers you need to get more specific and, most importantly, empathetic.
We at Digithy are on a mission to bring empathy into the digital world. Our goal is to remind businesses that, even though they’re advertising using digital tools, on the other side of the screen there’s always going to be a person they’re talking to.
This means that it’s not enough to come out with a USP in an ad and click on Start Ad. How can you make sure that your message stands out?
Only by connecting with your audience.
Bottom-up approach: from your customers to your product
Your audience needs to feel understood and see that what you offer them is not just a product or service with a list of features, but you’re solving a problem and satisfying their need.
This is what we call the bottom-up approach: we start with understanding, using an empathic approach to connect with the audience. Only after we understand the needs and problems, we’re able to craft the right messaging and strategy and start engaging with your customers.
We at Digithy have been testing this approach with many businesses and sectors, not only in online advertising but also in social media communications, website, and especially in content strategy and content creation.
Understanding what your audience’s needs is the only way you can make sure you’re communicating efficiently and effectively anything related to your product or service.
You can test our bottom-up approach to online marketing by scheduling a free consultation. We’ll be happy to help you, by suggesting some options which you can implement, or by executing them for you.