Hey there, Namita with you,
This summer, my family and I travelled quite a bit.
My husband and I went to the Dolomites for a cycling trip for about ten days. (You read the last email about my Dolomites fiasco I did, right?)
Then we had the whole family reunion planned with my husband’s family in Thailand, after which we all flew to India to spend some more family time!
Family times are the best times, and they are important. Good food, games and lots of laughter.
However, travel is always tiring for me. I always indulge myself with a relaxing spa day whenever I return from my holidays.
A nice hammam followed by a relaxing massage was this time’s indulgence 😀
During this spa visit in the relaxation lounge, a group of friends were having a girls’ spa getaway. They were done with their treatment and were enjoying the facilities, chatting over a cup of tea & nuts.
Now, I am least interested in other people’s conversations, but this one sentence from their conversation slipped into my ears, and that was:
When you are out of sight, you are out of mind babe! You have to stay in touch!
Listening to this got me thinking…
As a performance marketing agency, we run paid ads to generate leads & calls or drive footfall or grow e-commerce revenue.
Of course, the point can be argued that paid ad campaigns focus on lead generation, which also creates brand awareness, but all our Ads are direct response Ads, asking for an action.
They push forward the intent of “performing an action” rather than subtly saying , “remember me.”
They are not making you connect with the brand as such!
They don’t force you to think about which business this is or who this brand is that’s following me around everywhere or being smart in their communication.
Have you seen the various billboards on Sheikh Zayad Road for KFC?
This type of ad campaign is called a brand awareness and recall campaign.
When you are hungry and craving chicken …, I bet you will think of KFC, as they have constantly been nudging you about how good and finger-licking their chicken strips are.
I am not a big fan of fried food or burgers but when I do eat once in a while, guess what comes to my mind these days! 🙂
Of course, their juicy, breaded and fried chicken strips!
I understand not all businesses have budgets like KFC to advertise on billboards around the city!.
And also, not all businesses need that level of advertising.
Brand awareness campaigns can be cost-effective, and when done right, they do their job fantastically, that is, create the “top of the mind recall effect”.
For example, a YouTube campaign with a video message running side by side with the direct response campaign, which has a CTA(call to action), will do magic in terms of generating results.
Other activities to generate top-of-mind recall are being consistent in your email marketing.
You already know that I am a big believer in sending regular Emails to your list 🙂
My last mailer confirms with proof that emails work.
But again, what kind of emails work?
Well-drafted, nicely designed email newsletters with clear messaging and action.
Another activity for branding can be supporting local events and networks.
As you already know, I am big-time into cycling, and there are many cycling groups you can be part of in Dubai.
One of the newly launched groups called UAE Randonneurs was coming out with the group jersey. So basically, we wear that jersey every week we ride with them.
I always support cycling as a sport.
I make sure Above Digital is part of such groups every time.
And yes, Above Digital also made it on the UAE Randonneurs jersey.
Now think about it. Say 100-120 cyclists are part of this group and own 2 Jerseys of the group.
They will wear it on every weekend ride. After the ride, we relax and have coffee; fellow riders see our logo and will register our brand.
Can you spot me in the above image?
Can you spot our logo on the riders jersey in the above image?
The Above Digital logo is now part of their cycling wardrobe, and at least once a week for the next year, if not more, they will be seeing our branding consistently week after week.
When they think of Digital Marketing, who do you think will come to mind? 🙂
I will give you one more example of supporting local networks. We did an 8-week digital marketing training for the Dubai Business Women Council in 2019.
About 100 people registered, and almost 30-40 would attend the workshops over eight weeks, with about 10-15 students who were consistent and attended all 8 sessions.
It was a complimentary workshop to support women business owners by giving our time and knowledge free of cost and educating them on how they can use online platforms to make their dream ventures thrive.
The exchange, in this case, was my and my team’s time. DBWC and Dubai Chamber promoted our workshops to their database and did a press release in Khaleej Times on the initiative to support women-owned businesses in Dubai.
Here is the link to the article Khaleej Times published.
I connected with the amazing Women Business Owners, which generated a lot of word-of-mouth marketing for Above Digital. Even today, I get leads from that workshop after almost four years!
Branding exercise does not have to be expensive or have budgets like KFC.
As long as your brand communicates and shows up consistently to its audience, your business will always be on top of mind.
The minute you stop. You will be out of sight. And out of sight is out of mind.
Would you agree now? 🙂
This mailer has gotten very long.
However, there’s one more example I would like to share with you.
After 2020, I stopped sending mailers.
You heard back from me only early this year.
After almost two years.
Were I or my agency, Above Digital, not out of sight, out of your mind until you heard back from me again?
On this note, until next time,
Yours truly,
N
PS: We have launched our new website… yayyyyy ??
Here is the link to our new website. There are still small fixes which are being made… I couldn’t wait to share this news with you. 🙂
PPS: We are launching something new… shhh! It’s still a secret, and I will reveal it in my next mailer.