18 Jan For Shopper Marketing, Timing is Everything

Shopper Marketers take note: as consumers, we’re not receptive to digital advertising all the time

In the days of Sunday papers, the first piece I’d look at was the Target weekly ad circular. So much color! So much fun! So many ways to dress on a budget.

Even after newspapers went online, I would check the weekly ad board when I entered the store. By that time, it was a quick glance at kids clothing and groceries. So much color! So much fun! I’d go to the store just for one thing, but those character tees that my daughter likes…well, they’re on sale!

If we look at those situations from an advertising perspective, both of these ad scenarios have something big in common—I was receptive to their content. I was looking for the ad, ready to grab a cart and enjoy the process. I was in a buy-ready moment.

Fast forward to today. If you’re like most people, it’s easy to forget the fun that happens when you seek out an ad. Now, digital ads stalk you everywhere you go online. “Go away banner ad for the product that I looked at one time and now follows me to every site I visit. Leave me alone!”

As consumers, we’re not receptive all the time. In fact, if an ad is presented to us when we aren’t receptive, it annoys us.  That’s why streaming is the medium of choice for TV content in so many households, and why networks like NBCUniversal want to decrease the number of advertisements at times when consumers find them disruptive.

It’s also why smart retailers are enriching their websites with content for the in-store experience, when shoppers are ready to buy.

They’re on to something. We aren’t just checking the sites before we go to the store. We’re shopping with our phones in hand, and getting the right online experience is critical.

By the way, Target didn’t sponsor this article but I’m still doing a run on my way home. Phone in hand. Just to buy one thing.