The Fine Art of Democratic Advertising

Introduction

Here’s a proposal for you.

I’ll invent an advertising system that lets you design and create ads that you can get in front of interested customers in just a few minutes. Better still, I’ll make absolutely sure that your ads only get in front of the people you want, not just any old Harry. In fact I’ll let you do this with several ads at once and tell you quickly which ones get the most attention and interest.

Nah. That’s not good enough.

Okay. How about I tell you quickly which of these ads leads to people actually spending money with you. You don’t want time wasters who respond to your ads but don’t spend any money do you?

And what if I also give you a web page where you can see how your ads are doing and make changes to them on the fly: you know, experiment with this and that; see what difference a few copy changes make. And I’ll give you all the raw data back in nearly real time.

Sounds interesting doesn’t it?

What if I also said I’d only charge you a few cents or pence a go and that you could start right now? And that you could potentially reach 200 million people every day?

Welcome to Google’s AdWords.

The Power of Democratic Advertising

The Google AdWords system is a fantastic advertising resource, available to anyone who goes online but it is totally overlooked by most marketers and whilst it’s great to be able to advertise to your chosen audience and select where that audience is geographically, there is an even more potent treasure, a golden, no platinum, nugget buried deep within the system that can literally transform the way you market.

It’s called the Power of Democratic Advertising.

Democratic Advertising gives consumers - real people - the opportunity to vote for your ads or vote them off Google. And they can do this from the privacy of their PCs and on a mere whim. This feedback is a lot more honest than any focus groups can be and it tells you not what people say they do, but what they actually do. This has implications for your business that can skyrocket your sales provided you understand some fundamental principles.

Let me explain.

Customers actually vote for your ads on Google

If you run an advertisement on Google, you must get at least 1 person in 200 who see your ad to click on it because if you don’t your ad gets killed. Not because it isn’t working for you but because Google actually deletes it automatically.

Get that: you run an ad that people aren’t interested in and you’re out. Gone.

Wow! That’s a bit heavy. But here’s the beauty of this system: you get told which ads get killed, and you also get early warning. It’s a rapid feedback loop and you can use this information to make changes to your ad and find out what your customers really are interested in.

It’s the age-old principle of democracy. If your ads are popular they’ll stay. If they’re unpopular they go. But this is an election that runs continuously so people can vote out an ad in literally a few hours in some cases. If only we could do that with politicians….

How to get and remain elected

Let’s suppose you sell the proverbial widgets but you make two types: red and blue ones. You might start off advertising your widgets with a single ad for widgets in general. This will tell you how many people who see your ad like what it says.

Now take the smarter route: create two identical ads using the same wording but in each one refer explicitly to the two colours so you have one ad for red widgets and one ad for blue ones.

Now sit back and watch.

Suppose you get a 1.2% click thru rate for blue widgets and a 0.7% click thru rate for red widgets the market is telling you something that could save you from overstocking the red widgets for a start. That’s valuable information.

Taking this further, suppose you then run some ads that promote “next day delivery” against “lowest prices” and the “next day delivery” ads pull in the highest responses. That’s some more interesting information you can apply to your marketing. Keep “blue” “next day delivery” ads running and you’ll probably remain elected.

Google actually adds a subtle amplification to this process too: the most popular ads appear highest in the page which means they get clicked on more which means that stay at the top longer. It’s self-sustaining.

Rolling out your learning

Discover what people do online and the chances are that they will do the same offline. So use what you learn from your customers behaviour to focus your offline marketing messages. To extend our example: promote your blue widgets and next day delivery in all your marketing activities. Don’t spend so much promoting lowest price red widgets.

How to get re-elected – for $10 or less

But what if you’ve lost your ads on Google because no one liked what you said. If you were a politician it would be a hard time for you. But you’d pick yourself up, do some focus group stuff, press the flesh, you might even do some listening. And it would take months, years even. And thousands of dollars.

You can do all this in a few days on Google and for a few dollars. Here’s how.

Run some more ads and find out what your customers really want, not what you think they want. When you’ve found out, then look at re-vamping your website to support what your customers are demanding. It will make the whole sales process much easier for you too.

In summary:

Experiment
Measure
Adjust
Repeat
Optimise

Remember, the election process is on-going on Google 24 hours a day. 200 million people are willing to give you genuine and accurate market research information every single day. And you can start to access it for a few bucks.

Go for it.

About the author

William Charlwood runs Commercial Reality Ltd, an eMarketing consultancy business in the UK. He also operates FactsAboutAdSense.com and devotes much of his free time to exploring the world of internet marketing. He lives in rolling countryside around 70 miles west of London, England. He can be contacted at mail@commercialreality.co.uk

This article can be distributed freely including posting it on your own website provided it is not altered in any way, is not sold and all hyperlinks are preserved.