Marketing is the greatest weapon in the battle for customers’ attention. In a market with growing competition this cannot be ignored and it is those that do it who will stay on top in the customers’ minds.
Psychologists say that when one hears something long enough they end up believing it in what they call auto-suggestion. The mind is like sand in a busy beach; you write something on it and minutes later it’s gone; either trodden upon or someone else erased that and wrotes something else. With that in mind, it is important to keep marketing to stay in the customers’ minds. Although they are already leaders in the market, companies like Coca-Cola spend hefty amounts on marketing to stay on top.
We therefore would like to handle your marketing as outlined in this proposal. This will not only give you the prominence in the customers’ minds but also afford you the opportunity to focus on doing what you do best.
There are many platforms for advertising which include newspapers, radio, TV, the internet (especially social media) as well as bill boards to mention just a few. Depending on the budget we will place at least one advert in the mainstream media once a month plus one advert in social media.
There are many platforms across the cyber space but for Botswana, the best is social media because that is what most people can afford and therefore most traffic. Picture Botswana will focus on social media at least while the cost arrangements for data remain as they are.
Mainstream media
Picture Botswana will design and place one advert a month in a newspaper, radio station or TV. The size or duration of this will be subject to budget.
It is important to note that main stream media has target audiences; The Voice newspaper, Monitor, Midweek Sun are for the youthful and light hearted target market, while Mmegi, Guardian, Sunday Standard etc are for those with an appetite for politics, business and other ‘serious’ content.
While Yarona FM, like The Voice, targets the youthful and light hearted, Gabz FM and Duma FM go the direction of Mmegi and others above. Radio Botswana 1 and 2 however enjoy the widest coverage and is general coverage even though it’s difficult to say if they can beat the private stations.
Internet/Social media
Every week we will design an advert, preferably a video clip (reading is losing appeal) to be posted on Facebook, Whatsapp and other platforms. This could either be a simple advert about services/products and special offers or a messages and/or education. This weekly video can also be used to share customers’ positive testimonies. Because the audience has a short attention span these weekly videos will be not more a minute long.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship, weather as a form of donation to causes close to your heart or just content sponsorship is another way we will get you to stay on top.
Many companies especially the corporate, have community social responsibility, whereby they donate to charities as a form of giving back to the community they operate. There is no doubt that this makes customers see as the company as caring but it also gives an opportunity to be seen especially that we will make videos or write about the occasion of the donation or partnership with a charitable cause. Company banners and other forms of advertising merchandise will also be on display at the donation event.
Content sponsorship is whereby you make it possible for content to be published. For example; you could sponsor a production on beauty to feature on Picture Botswana monthly or weekly. Throughout the video show a strip advert will appear stating; ‘brought to you by Jay Jay Beauty Salon’. www.facebook.com/picturebotswana has over 25 000 organic followers and is growing at a rate of an average of 100 new followers weekly.
Social Media Management
With so many pages in the web competing for traffic, it is obviously not enough to just have a page on facebook or any other platform. Consistent, interactive and interesting content is what makes winning pages.
Many businesses lose a lot of money boosting their sites for more reach and likes/follows. While this is a good thing, it is not enough and will not drive business or retain traffic if the content is not interesting.
Picture Botswana proposes to manage your page and other social platforms as well as provide content for them. The type of content to produce and post is subject to discussion with the customer of course.
Event advertising
There are many occasions whereby a business can take advantage of gatherings to advertise itself and these include but not limited to exhibitions and pop markets. Picture Botswana will make sure the company is part of as many as the budget will allow of the relevant events.
Competitions
Monthly competitions are a very good way of engaging customers and retaining them. Competitions can be done with partners especially suppliers and the media. Other businesses can also be part of this provided they reap some marketing reward.
When done with a charitable organization, a competition can attract many partners who want to be seen to care about the community
Conclusion
A wise man once said; “A city that is set on a hill cannot be missed… Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick…” Even these words were spoken over 2000 years ago, they still ring true and are relevant especially for a business to be known by the customers.
One of the top ways to beat competition is to be more visible than they are and be in the customer’s mind constantly. With these cost effective measures you will, without even a particle of doubt, reach the top of industry’s pyramid.
