You open Facebook and see a carousel ad with that amazing apothecary table you were eyeing inside Pottery Barn last Saturday. You launch the ad, check out the three amazing finishes the table comes in and, not yet ready to commit, you close the ad and go back to scrolling. But there it is again, on your mobile browser. And again, in your Instagram feed. That’s when you realize, it’s all around you. Congratulations, you’ve reached what one of our favorite “Friends” characters might refer to as “Unagi.” You know, that delicious state of complete and total awareness. If it feels like Pottery Barn is following you, it’s because they are. But how, you ask? Now that’s when things get really interesting.
Stories just like this seem to come up in conversation all the time and they always leave people wondering how it’s all happening and whether it’s just a bit too creepy for their liking. Sure, when thought of from a consumer’s perspective, we understand how it might make some feel a bit uneasy. But when you flip that and look at it from a marketer’s point of view, you might start to see it the way we do at Barcelona Creative Group – as a targeted and highly effective way to reach potential customers.
Digital advertising is “when you buy advertising space across websites, mobile apps, and even social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, where audiences are targeted with the help of specific information about their online behaviors, interests, and purchasing habits.” (Vici Media Inc., Swiszcz, July 23, 2019) Whether we like it or not, there is a digital eye out there tracking online and mobile activity and what it finds directly determines the ads a person sees. And, the technology goes further than this. It can report on recent purchases and, because of location services on devices, it might also know where a person is and where they go often. Incredibly intelligent and adaptive strides are being taken every day, making people realize that it’s simply not a marketing capability that can be ignored.
Truthfully, this type of data is out there for basically everyone. We are in a digital world and we know digital ads aren’t going anywhere. The bottom line is that if your organization isn’t using digital marketing yet, you can bet your competitors certainly are.
Strong digital marketing strategies use carefully curated messaging combined with the tactic(s) best suited to meet your specific goals and reach your target audience. And the right approach will seamlessly integrate your brand into the platforms your audience frequents the most and into the formats they’re already accustomed to seeing. Isn’t it all starting to sound pretty smart?
Besides, it’s one thing to have all this going on without your knowledge but as long as you have “Unagi” and an agency partner there for you to keep you totally aware of how it’s happening and the ways it can benefit your business, then it’s time to embrace digital marketing for what it is and get started today!
