Marketing Smart

It’s a sunny morning and you’re sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

As you take a sip of your morning cappuccino a rush of cool air blows through the room and you catch a movement from the corner of your eye. Like a rabbit pulled from a hat there is now an impeccably dressed stranger sitting in front of you. Surprised, you bet; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Here is the deal’

‘I am going to advertise your product on a billboard at the busiest junctions in every city of the world.’

‘I will be able to tell you how many people see the advertisement, their age, nationality and gender.’

‘I will tell you exactly what they think of your product and can even give you their contact details. While they are reading the billboard I will make it possible for them to view your website and, if they feel the urge, make a purchase.’

‘I will have all this all set up in just a couple of days and it will cost you less than what you would normally pay for a small advertisement in your typical trade journal.’

He stops for just a second. ‘Interested?’

Now you might think that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up soon or maybe that it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But let us just take time to reflect. If you are still reading this well I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I’m offering is the much underrated online survey.

Stop for a second and start to associate an online survey not with ‘market research’ but with ‘marketing’. Not any type of marketing but ‘Marketing’ with a capital ‘M’ and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is direct, effective, low cost and quick.

Publish an online survey and advertise it on a website, or via email, and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. But unlike a billboard where the number of people that see an advert has to be estimated (based on an arbitrary percentage of total volume of traffic), the online survey records the number of times a survey is started.

Online surveys can ask demographic questions such as age, gender and nationality and in doing so allows you to collate metrics about the effectiveness of your promotion and confirm that you are interacting with the target respondent on a one-on-one level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using an online survey website it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Even if you throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe invest in some Pay Per Click advertising to capture a wider, or more focused, audience you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

‘Tell me then. Is it a deal?’