In business, there’s a big difference in the value between being seen by a lot of people, and being seen by the right people. You should have a clear description of who your ideal customer is, then you need to work out where they are and how you can access them.

Reaching fewer people, but people who are actually your target audience, is far more valuable than advertising to a huge number of people who have little interest in your products or services. If you can find a publication or a way to reach you target audience on a large scale then you’ve hit the jackpot. It’s not easy, but it is possible to get your message in front of the right people. You just need to do your homework.

Before you decide where and how to spend your marketing budget, take the time to learn if your chosen method and platform will actually get you in front of people who may eventually become customers.

Man with magnifying glass and magazine

Why you need to look at circulation audits

There are a lot of speciality magazines in Australia. This is great because it gives businesses across a range of industries the chance to advertise to their niche market. One thing to keep an eye out for before deciding on a magazine to house your advertisements is whether that publication’s circulation claims can be independently verified.

The independent body that all reputable publishers voluntarily abide by is the Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA), who administers the CAB and ABC audits. The association independently audits a magazine’s circulation to give advertisers confidence that the magazine is reaching the audience it claims to reach.

While professional marketing agencies are generally familiar with circulation audits, often industry companies are not, and this presents an attractive opportunity to scammers.

Many magazines unfortunately are just scams, they can often look quite convincing, but in fact only produce a small number of magazines to send to potential advertisers, and have no other verified subscribers.

Not all unaudited magazines are scams, but all magazine scams are unaudited, so the safest way to ensure that your marketing dollars are not wasted is to avoid unaudited magazines.

The great thing about the AMAA is that anyone can register for free and verify any magazines claims before they sign up to an advertising package. If you want to check the status of a publication you’re thinking of working with, head to https://www.auditedmedia.org.au/ and register for free via the Quickfind link to verify any magazine’s claims.It’s not compulsory for publishers to be a member of the AMAA, but you should seriously question handing advertising dollars over to anyone who isn’t prepared to open their distribution claims to an audit. The simplest way to save time and money when approached by a magazine, is to take a strict approach; if they’re not audited, don’t deal with them.

Woman with measuring tape

Measuring digital marketing

Overall, digital reach for a publication can be audited and assessed fairly easily. You should also make a point of asking for this data so you can measure the impact and reach of any specific digital marketing you undertake. You want to be analysing click rates and conversions, and if possible ask for the time on page figures for any clicks on articles.

It’s important to also track digital reach from your own end too. If you’re paying for an online publication to promote or feature your business, you should also make sure you take measures to track engagement from your side to verify reported results.

If your digital marketing includes sending email newsletters (and in most circumstances, it should), be sure to monitor your results over time. A lot of businesses get disheartened when they see an open rate of 20 per cent for their carefully crafted newsletters that they spent majority of the week putting together. But the reality is for most industries, this is pretty good. An open rate of 30 per cent in any industry is outstanding, and in some industries such as marketing, an open rate of 18 per cent is above par.

Given that less than a quarter of your email list are likely to read any given newsletter, it’s important to do two things to improve your chance of being seen by the right people: continue to grow your list and regularly send newsletters.

Include a newsletter sign-up option on your site, encourage new and potential customers to provide their email address so you have a way to stay in touch with them and continually provide them with useful content.

In almost all cases, it’s not the same 20 per cent of people who open your emails, so by sending regular newsletters you’re increasing your chance of eventually being noticed.

One list tip around email newsletters — don’t just send and ignore. Take some time to assess what people are clicking and how many times they do so, focus on who the people are that are opening your newsletters the most frequently. This will help you to understand what they are interested in, how to improve the content of your newsletters and give you a better idea of who your warmer leads are.

Hand shake passing cash

Paid search results and Google Ads

One sure way to throw away a lot of cash very quickly is to run a Google Ads (previously known as AdWords) campaign incorrectly. The way Google Ads works is that companies bid on certain search terms that are specific to their business in order for their page to appear higher in the search results as a paid link.

The biggest drain on your money is when you get the search terms wrong. This can mean you’re paying for your ad to be shown to people who have no interest in your product. I once saw an industry based company who had spent thousands of dollars advertising to teenagers searching for a pop culture TV show. How does this happen? The TV show had a similar name to one of their products and they hadn’t thought to exclude the term. Big mistake!

Paid searches give you lots of data. You can see who is clicking, what the conversion rate is and where they are located. This is useful information if you analyse it and use it to adjust your strategy.

Having led with a warning for this one, paid searches are not all bad if you do some research into relevant search terms and are prepared to spend as you learn. It is possible to get great results if you do the work. Unfortunately though, paid searches don’t really work if you start with a tiny budget just to test the water. It’s likely you’ll see no results and waste that tiny bit of money. When it comes to paid searches, spend high, but spend wisely.

Red balloon amongst white

Standing out on social media

There are literally billions of people on social media these days, with some platforms expecting more than 3 billion users to have signed up by 2021. But billions of users doesn’t mean you have access to billions of potential customers, because whatever it is you do, chances are only a very small portion of social media users care about it. And more users means more content to compete with.

The value of social media for business to business (B2B) transactions is increasing over time, but with algorithm changes and the increasing prevalence of paid advertising, it takes a lot of work to be effective. Social media marketing has moved far beyond the free and easy option it was once thought to be. You’re unlikely to ever go viral through organic reach if you’re not starting with a large following, but paid advertising could get you some useful exposure when done well.

You also need to take into consideration when your target audience are using social media and if it’s appropriate to advertise to them at those times. Business owners and senior executives are often always thinking about work, so you might find advertising to them on social media an effective strategy. Other people may find seeing your ads in their downtime a little annoying, so make sure you’re realistic about where you sit in the market.

In a similar way to how you can be paying to be seen by the wrong people, social media targeted advertising needs clear parameters for who to show your ad to. On top of needing to know who you’re targeting, both your ad and landing page need to be attractive to keep attention once it’s received.

Social media platforms deliver detailed reports outlining results of paid advertising campaigns, and it pays to carefully analyse these and adjust your strategy as needed.

Find what works for you

You have a customer base out there – you wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t. The key to your marketing success is working out what method suits your business best to communicate with them. Get focused on who you are targeting and make sure any money you spend on marketing aligns with your goals.

Don’t be fooled by any platform – whether it be magazines, websites or social media – that claims to have a large readership that is either made up of people outside your target market, or report circulation figures that can’t be independently verified.

If you know of a magazine circulated amongst your potential customers it might be a great idea to place an ad in it. If you can clearly define your target market through social media you may get results from sponsored posts. If you know what your customers are searching then maybe Google Ads will work for you. There’s always a way to reach the right audience, it’s just different in every circumstance, so be sure to do some research before you part with your hard-earned cash.

If anything in this article was news to you or made you realise you’ve made some marketing mistakes, it might be time to ask an expert. Get in contact with us if you feel you need some guidance.