If you build it, will they come?Engaging new audiences
Someone had an amazing idea...
You’ve spent months bringing a digital product to life...
It’s ready to go live. Your organisation is watching...
Will your audience find it?
It kind of depends what planning you’ve done...
Scenario 1 “It’ll go viral!”
“We’ll whack it on the home page”
“We don’t need budget to promote it, it’s a winner!”
“This audience just knows how to find great content”
“My best friend’s brother knows Kerry Katona. We’ll get her to tweet about it.”
“It’s so good people are bound to find it.”
Scenario 2
“We’ve educated key influencers about the project in good time.”
“We’ve got a contingency plan.”
“We’ve researched our audience and know where they are both on and offline.”
“We’ve got a pot of money for paid promotion.”
“We’ve managed expectations by setting realistic KPIs.”
*Unless you’re very jammy
Scenario 2
YES**Unless you’re very unlucky
NO*Scenario 1
Success will normally come with planning and setting realistic KPIs.
If you build it, will they come?
Owned Earned
PaidBorrowed
CampaignNirvana
If you build it, will they come?
Owned
Owned
Websites
Physical Locations
Blogs
SEO
Key page presence
Planned campaign based on segmented data
New data?
POS
Promotional material
If you build it, will they come?
Borrowed
Borrowed
Central Social Media
Regional / Local Social Media
If you build it, will they come?
Earned
Earned
Staff
Targeted press / media coverage
Influencers
Anything else you can blag!
online
offline
bloggers
celebs
If you build it, will they come?
Paid
Paid
Social
Re-marketing
Search
Traditional / offline
Display
Once you identify your channels, it’s as simple ‘cough’ as getting from A to B
A B
If you build it, will they come?
Every campaign is unique. Planning helps to identify the appropriate channel mix for both the product and the audience
If you build it, will they come?
Owned
Earned
PaidBorrowed
Owned Earned
Paid
Borrowed
Setting realistic KPIs at the start of a project can keep expectations under control, build trust and lead to more investment in the future.
But it’s never easy...
If you build it, will they come?
Top survival tips
● Set KPIs when any new digital product is conceived
● Be honest with yourself and others about the effectiveness of your
owned and borrowed channels
● Fight the good fight to secure some promotional spend
● Be willing to test and learn - fail harder
If you build it, will they come?
● All this takes time and repetition.
● Build it into as many projects as you can.
● Work with as many teams as you can to explain the process. It will
help!
NATIONAL TRUST TV AD
Their campaign architecture
If you build it, will they come?
Owned
Earned
Paid
Borrowed
Remember, all of this comes with a one big…
...very big...
...enormous caveat.
Your product and content must be right for the audience in the first place.
