Nigerian companies are finally embracing online marketing. As someone who has been at the forefront of advocating this paradigm shift, this development should make me happy. Unfortunately, this is not so.
My unhappiness with the Nigeria companies’ new found love for digital marketing stems from the level of mediocrity I see being exhibited by new digital marketers.
This post will dwell on what is wrong with the approach of most Nigeria companies to online marketing and how they can jettison mediocrity and start deploying ROI focused digital marketing programs.
How Nigeria Companies Market Online
Banner Ads
To most Nigerian companies, digital marketing starts and ends with banner ads. Well, to start with, banner ads are the least effective marketing channel. See some statistics about banner ads:
- An estimated 31 percent of ad impressions can’t be viewed by users. (Comscore)
- Of those banners that are in view, a Nielsen eye-tracking study shows that 92 percent are simply not noticed.
- A recent study by OnScroll in the U.K. estimates that a whopping $11.7 billion was wasted on display ads in 2012 alone.
- 8 percent of Internet users account for 85 percent of clicks. (ComScore)
- About 50% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental. (Source: GoldSpot Media)
- You are more likely to survive a plane crash than click on a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
Now, when you juxtapose the stats above with the ever-worsening case of banner ads fatigue, you will begin to understand what I am talking about.
While it is true that the quoted stats are not Nigeria centric, the true stats for Nigeria will probably be worse(You don’t believe me? just head to bellanaija.com, lindaikeji.blogspot.com, stelladimokokorkus.com, ynaija.com, naij.com and other popular Nigeria sites and you will see how inundated you are with banner ads)
So, for a brand to build its whole online marketing strategy on banner ads is preposterous, to say the least.
Social Media
Another big online marketing lie that Nigeria companies have bought into is that social media is the marketing panacea. So many “marketing experts” have touted social media as a magic bullet, promising it will change the very fabric of how we market online. And it seems Nigeria companies have bought this hype hook, line and sinker.
Sorry sir, The truth is, social media is not the marketing panacea it has been sold to you as. In fact, countless studies have shown that social media is the second least effective marketing channel after banner ads!
SOLUTION
Does the above mean companies should not utilize banner ads and social media marketing channels? Not exactly. The point I am trying to make is that “banners ads or social media are only a small part of the creative offering – if used well they can perform equally as well as other channels for both branding and DR. The real insight comes when a company looks beyond each silo and start to measure the cross-channel value of a campaign, optimizing based on what works and equally what does not.
In other words, you need to take a strategic approach to digital marketing. This means asking questions like “where is the company today and where does it want to get to?” then applying those answers to the selection of marketing opportunities. And of course, employing the best practices for the selected channels to get the best from them
