If you are marketers and have not realised that cutting your marketing budget when times are tough is like planting the seeds for substantial future setbacks, you have certainly been living under a rock. When the economy is rocky, you need to be smart about how you allocate your funds.
New Digital Age states that UK SMEs will spend £35.1 billion on marketing in 2024, prioritising marketing over all other areas of their business. For businesses overall though, IPA Bellwether predicts a flatline of marketing spend in 2024. They warn businesses that they need to consider a longer-term approach to ensure growth and success. No matter what your marketing budget is, the key is to come up with a sound strategy for which marketing projects to invest in.
Who to market to in 2024
The standard go-to response to this question is the usual; invest in short-term sales tactics, ramp up your online presence, carry out targeted PPC ads, create more social content and so on. There’s no doubt, these are all effective means to market your brand. In this blog, however, we are going to focus on what the majority of marketers struggle with or get completely wrong, especially when times are tough and the pressure on sales is even tougher. If you have your targeting figured out and happily generate six-figure ROI for your business, you don’t need this blog. If you struggle to find new sources of income, read on.
Homeowner and homemover data: a new way of looking at lead generation
When the economy is uncertain, it can pay off considerably to explore innovative and unconventional methods to generate leads. Thinking outside the box can yield strong results. Data Axle suggests that retailers are doing just that - actively seeking inventive methods to enhance marketing effectiveness and maximise ROI. There is, however, a market segment that a majority of retail brands (especially those in the home furnishing and DIY sectors) are blind to.
Have you ever considered targeting homemovers and homeowners? Consumer spending on products and services rises significantly when people move or are looking to improve their homes. Our data shows that on average, those relocating will spend approximately £42,000 toward expenses associated with their move. This includes everything from furniture to financial services. Circa 100,000 people move home every month in the UK, so this is a whole new segment of the audience to consider in your marketing.
A higher-than-normal propensity to spend comes from necessity. Homemovers are personalising their new homes or renovating them. They might need to fit out a new home entirely, require furniture for extra rooms or simply want to invest in brand-new pieces for their new space. As well as spending on furniture, homewares, electrical products, DIY and appliances, moving motivates people to review their existing suppliers for utilities, insurance and entertainment. This is when they will most likely shop around for a deal. For those more affluent, they may enlist the help of specialist services like interior designers, landscape gardeners and home improvement companies.
Knowing where the homemover is in the moving process is key to achieving a high engagement rate and conversion in your marketing campaign. Whether it is when they list their property for sale after they've sold it, or when they're settling into their new home. For some retailers, it is necessary to target the consumer before they move but for others, it is more beneficial to reach out when people are already established in their new property.
How to reach this audience, and quickly
Consumers spend 108 seconds focusing on direct mail. Do you find this compelling? Direct mail still drives traffic and searches. Research by JICMAIL reports that the average piece of mail remains live in the home for an average of a week, which results in a total of “two minutes spent with the average direct mail item [and] nearly forty seconds for door drops” across 28 days. Compare this with the average of 1.3-1.7 seconds attributed to a social ad, and we can see which technique demands the most attention. With offers, vouchers, and other attractive CTAs frequently leveraged in offline marketing, around 31% of mail prompts a commercial response. The statistics regarding the effectiveness of direct mail are staggering, with an astounding 95% engagement rate (Marketreach, 2023), whereas a significant 57% of consumers are unsubscribing from emails, primarily due to receiving an excessive number of messages, as disclosed by Marketreach.
TwentyCi has been running direct mail campaigns for large national retailers for over 12 years, and we keep observing a whopping 50% increase in response rates in our client’s direct mail campaigns. If you would like to know how to effectively reach homemovers and homeowners with direct mail without breaking your marketing budget, contact us. We have all you need to see results.
What about digital channels, you may ask?
According to Statista, there are approximately 80 million mobile phone subscriptions in the UK. If you want to find your customers, they’re likely scrolling on their phones! With a significant portion of consumers accessing the internet and making purchasing decisions through mobile devices, targeted mobile advertising campaigns can yield significant returns. Leveraging the power of location-based targeting, personalised messaging can enhance engagement and conversions. Innovative ads like ours can captivate the attention of mobile users, fostering brand awareness and driving traffic to online or physical stores. The versatility and reach of mobile ads make them a cornerstone of an effective marketing strategy, enabling retailers to directly connect with their target audience where they spend a considerable amount of their time - on their mobile devices.
Mobile ads can be highly targeted to increase the likelihood of engaging with an audience that's interested in your offering – in this case the homemover. This greatly improves conversion rates. They are more cost-effective than traditional advertising channels so you can reach your audience without overspending and track the performance of your ads with detailed analytics. Users can directly click on your ad and visit your website to make a purchase or request a quote, making the path to conversion seamless.
Our mobile ads don’t obstruct the viewer’s screen like full-page ads do. They are made up of scrolling text which catches the eye. If you are looking to target homemovers with mobile advertising, the ads would only appear on the mobiles of those moving home and within your targeted location, so there’s no wasted spend.
Mobile ads are easy to launch, offer immediacy and are more cost-effective compared to TV and print marketing. One of our clients; a national beds and mattress retailer, achieved a 50% sales uplift from the areas where direct mail was combined with mobile adverts.
Moving is a significant life event and these are active purchasers. People spend more than £29 billion annually during this life stage on sofas, kitchens, bathrooms, gardens and more. Considering homemovers and homeowners in your marketing targeting can unlock a new, unexpected revenue stream even in a challenging economic climate. GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index sees slow but persistent movement towards positive territory for the personal finance measure looking ahead is an encouraging sign for 2024. We find direct mail and mobile ads campaigns the quickest and most cost-effective way of getting in front of these homemovers when they are in the market to purchase your goods. If you would like to know more about homemover data, don’t hesitate to get in touch.