Think of the web in a similar vein to your local market,
they are very similar! In any marketplace traders need to entice potential
customers away from competing traders. Now this “enticing” is left to the
creative genius of said trader, who should utilise any advantage they have in
order to get sales. Price, charisma, special offers and of course being loud
are all tools market traders can use to secure sales and repeat customers.
The web, like a lot of markets can be a confusing and
chaotic place at the best of times. It’s therefore essential to have that
unique selling point that can generate interest and/or lure customers away from
competitors. What’s yours? No really...before you read on, work this out!
Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which was unveiled in summer
2009, has had a rough initiation into the online market; battling established
heavyweights such as Yahoo and Google. Up until now Microsoft have been using
clever tactics such as making Bing the default search engine on Internet
Explorer and a reward programme which offered Amazon gift cards to Bing users,
in order to gain a bigger stake in the search engine market share. And you may
not have noticed but the Facebook web search is powered by guess who... Bing.
However, in launching their new search and map functionality
service they really brought out the big guns in the form of legendary rap mogul
Jay-Z and an excellent multi-platform marketing campaign. Bing, in an effort to
target the younger demographic, concocted a campaign to coincide with the
release of the artist’s memoirs Decoded.
The campaign is set to release every page of the book in the days leading to
its release. Pages will be placed in locations all over the world (locations
are chosen by some link to the content of the page) on items not so typical to
advertising campaigns. Bing has swapped traditional billboards and bus stops
for cars, jackets and table cloths to name a few!
In tying the campaign directly into their website Bing
crafted a nifty online treasure hunt; in which clues to the locations of pages
were released on various Social Media platforms. Users would have to log into
their Bing accounts and use their search and maps functionality to find pages,
with the incentive of compiling a FREE digital copy! #Genius.
In online business, patience is a virtue, and giving that
something special your target audience will enjoy, if done right will reap
tremendous rewards. Invest in your target demographic and in turn they will be
loyal, spread the word and (hopefully) bring a truckload of their peers with
them!
And if you establish a relationship at all similar to my
mum’s with her favourite fruit and veg salesmen you’ll be on to a winner!