What is Reactive Marketing?
This type of marketing is focused on getting your product or service in front of people who are already interested in what you have to sell. This can be done by placing ads on websites or social media platforms that your target audience is already using. Your marketing or advertising efforts are more likely to result in a sale if you place them where potential customers are already looking.
If you feel that your hot sauce is the best in the world, you may want to consider selling it. If you want to sell your product at gas stations, you could try to approach the owners and ask if they would be interested in stocking your merchandise. Many people come in to pay for gas, and they might see your product and buy it if it’s available. Because after all, it’s amazing. Shouldn’t you try to sell your product in grocery stores, where people are already buying food? Where do you think your best conversions could be? Which locations do people frequent where they need to be disrupted from paying for gas in order to purchase a food item, or where people are likely to buy food?
Many people overlook this marketing strategy even though it is simple. There are several reasons why reactive marketing may be overlooked, including hype over a new advertising platform, following what the competition is doing, wanting to see your name for personal satisfaction reasons, not knowing your clients or customers well enough, or the fact that reactive marketing may take more work.
The benefits of reactive marketing
A brand that is responsive to real-time events, news, topics and even TV shows appears more relevant and relatable. There is a higher chance that people will see the content than usual because many people will already be interested in the topic.
More than half of US consumers say they remember and enjoy an advertisement if it is humorous. Reactive marketing and advertising is often humorous. The examples that follow have a comedic element to them.
Using content that is timely and relevant to your audience is more effective than generic marketing material. There is a great opportunity to go viral on social media platforms, such as Twitter, by creating posts that generate a lot of likes, shares, and comments. Your content can reach people who have never heard of your brand before and who are interested in the same things as you. This can help you expand your reach and attract new customers.
The risks of reactive marketing
Although reactive marketing has a lot of advantages, it can also be dangerous because there is not much time to make and post the material before it becomes unimportant. Since marketers don’t have many opportunities to assess the phrasing or imagery used in an ad before it goes live, there’s a greater chance that they’ll use the wrong language or visuals, which could cause a public relations disaster.
The negative reaction to poor quality content can be so damaging to a brand’s reputation that it is better to say nothing at all. When companies try to jump on the bandwagon of popular hashtags that are not related to their products, they appear to be spamming and desperate. Some people try to take advantage of negative events like natural disasters or the death of a famous person by appearing insensitive and offensive. Some brands were slow to enter the world of social media, but most quickly learned that it was a powerful tool to reach consumers.
It seems to be increasingly difficult to do reactive marketing. As more and more brands enter the social media landscape, they are increasingly resorting to underhanded tactics to get their content seen. This often takes the form of hijacking threads, hashtags, and other users’ content. If you’re not a market leader in your industry, you’re especially at risk of turning your audience off by constantly hopping on the latest trend.
This situation is difficult to produce content quickly. An in-house team or an agency that is integrated into the company is required to react efficiently and to be able to quickly and easily get approval.
There are a lot of risks involved in this project, but they can all be minimized by taking some precautions ahead of time. Since reactive content is by definition unplanned, it can be difficult for brands to prepare for. However, brands can make the process smoother by creating event calendars, templates, and social media monitoring tools ahead of time.
Who does reactive marketing well? Some best-practice examples
Which brands have managed to successfully utilize reactive marketing while avoiding the risks? Here are some examples of well-known brands that I have enjoyed.
Oreo
The Superbowl is a major event in America that most people do not want to miss. The annual sporting event has approximately 100 million live TV viewers. If a brands is featured in their ad breaks, it is considered a marketing triumph.
Although Oreo didn’t have any commercials during the 2013 game, they still managed to be a big part of the conversation when the power went out at the Superdrome. with a message Viewers tweeted their dismay at the situation, and Oreo was ready with a message
The best picture
Faye Dunaway incorrectly announced the winner of the Best Picture award at the Oscars in 2017. Specsavers created an excellent piece of content in reaction to the media storm.
The image, which was basic and unpolished, got a lot of love on Twitter. It earned nearly 25,000 likes and more than 10,000 retweets because of its sarcastic tone and the well-known “should’ve gone to Specsavers” tagline. The result was accompanied by the caption ‘not getting the best picture?’ and it was hilarious.
The brand promoted the image on Twitter, reaching even more of the British public who woke up to the news the next day.
Chicken catastrophe
In early 2018, KFC made headlines when it ran out of chicken and was forced to close many of its restaurants. The issue was resolved when the brand renegotiated its delivery contract.
However, in a strange turn of events, the company used reactive marketing in response to news that it had created itself. This ad has won a lot of marketing awards and is one that most people will remember for a long time.
The empty KFC bucket adorned with the three rearranged letters of its logo says it all. After receiving continuous customer complaints, KFC issues a comedic apology to the British public.
Fergie time
Sometimes, you can create a reactive marketing campaign by making an announcement and using a hashtag. This only works if the announcement is timely. People will be especially pleased when the news concerns one of their favorite high street restaurants.
A select number of Nando’s branches announced they would stay open later than usual to mark Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement from football.
Customers in Manchester were thrilled with the news that the coach’s home turf would be getting a few extra minutes.
The Cybertruck
Elon Musk, who is known for his brilliant (albeit sometimes strange) inventions, shocked even himself with his latest Twitter update announcing the new “Cybertruck.”
The new Tesla vehicle caught a lot of attention online, but some people think it is ugly. People ridiculed Musk when he was pictured demonstrating the car’s alleged ‘bulletproofing’ by smashing its window with a small metal ball.
Having a celebrity backing and an unique/outlandish design is a winning formula for virality as it creates many spoofs and commentaries across the internet.
Lego was one of the companies that made fun of the vehicle. The brand used a smoke machine and some special effects to make its own Lego car out of a couple of bricks attached to some Lego wheels. The result was (alarmingly) similar to the original.
Reactive Marketing Channel 1: Search Engines
If you want or need to find a product or service, you are likely to search for it on a search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. After you have completed your keyword research, you will need to enter the keywords into the search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to find the appropriate business to buy from. The ranking of your business on search engines may be important depending on your business model and the products or services you offer.
There are four ads at the top of the page. Paid search is the best solution to use if you do not rank in the organic search or map listings area. If you do manage to get your business to rank on the front page of a search engine, it’s still a good idea to run a paid ad. This is because your business will appear in more places on the front page, which is where your clients or customers are already looking. You can easily waste your entire paid ad budget without getting a single conversion or sale if you’re not careful. If you have a Google Ads campaign, it is best to have it developed and managed by an agency that is a Google Partner. The program will give you the skills you need to be successful and save you money compared to if you tried to do it yourself.
Map results that are listed below the paid advertisements. If your clients or customers type in keywords that bring up a local pack of listings, you’re in luck. The local pack is the best place to convert customers on the first page of Google and other search engines. To rank on the first page of Google, you should work with an agency that specializes in Local Search Optimization. There is a lot of competition for LSO because there are only three listings on the map pack.
The organic search section is located below any paid ads and the map pack (if there is one). The average person searching on Google will see up to ten listings on each page, so your chances of having your listing appear are higher than if you were only appearing in the map pack. The better your organic search ranking is, the more conversions you’re likely to get. There are a lot of different things that go into ranking in this section of Google, so you will need to find an agency that is experienced in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Make sure you research an agency before you hire them for SEO services, and ask for references from other clients. Some agencies claim to offer SEO services in-house, but actually outsource the work to an offshore vendor. If you want to save time and money, you should hire a company that has in-house SEO expertise. Companies without this expertise will end up costing you ten times more time and money.
Reactive Marketing Channel 2: Directory Websites
Directory websites such as OpenTable and TripAdvisor are dedicated to their business category and are considered to be the authority on the subject. They are the first website people think of when they are interested in what these websites offer. If you are a restaurant and want to be listed on OpenTable, you need to create an account and submit your restaurant’s information. If you own a hotel, you need to be listed on TripAdvisor. Companies that are looking to establish themselves as an authority in their respective niche should list themselves on websites where people are already searching for the services they offer.
Reactive Marketing Channel 3: Phone Book
The phone book was a marketing tool that allowed people to find businesses in their area. Businesses used to rely on being listed in the phone book and being at the top of the list for their category. Fewer and fewer people are using phone books these days, and their popularity will continue to decrease until they are no longer being published. The same can be said for the online version of the phone book because it is not the authority for online searches of products or services like websites such as OpenTable or TripAdvisor; Google is currently the authority.
Next Steps
Many people are unsure about where to spend their money when it comes to marketing and advertising. The cost of entry for some marketing and advertising tactics is lower than ever before. Many people get excited about starting advertisements, but they don’t have a plan to make sure it provides a return on your investment. The ads that failed to yield a return on investment have left people feeling confused. Next, they stop marketing, which limits growth.
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