Five Secrets for Effectively Advertising in America

The global photonics industry is expected to grow by nearly $335 billion in just the next four years. Yes, you read that correctly – that’s billion, with a B. This means that the potential to grow your market share and sales through advertising is at an all-time high. So how can you take advantage of this projected growth? Here are five secrets for effectively advertising in America.

1. Trust is everything

According to the Washington Post, public trust in government and businesses is at its lowest level since 1958. But why is this? Just to name just a few examples, there were the well documented hacks of both Facebook and Equifax, drug manufacturers are raising prices on things like diabetes medication by nearly 5000%, and of course the banks on wall street who never saw any punishment after nearly collapsing the economy in 2008. So how do you build trust?

The answer is to be authentic. The author Todd Duncan said it best – “Trust, in its most primitive form, is based on authenticity, not flawlessness.” You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be yourself.

2. It’s not about you

Americans, as you can probably guess, are mainly focused on themselves. When they see a product or service, they ask themselves “what’s in it for me?” and “what are the benefits to me?”.

This is why you should always focus on promoting your benefits and not your features. A feature is what something is. If you were describing the features of an umbrella, you would say that it is made of wood and cloth and is unbreakable.

A benefit is what something does. If you were to describe the benefits of an umbrella, you would say that it protects you from the rain and the sun.

3. Content is king

“Content Marketing” is a huge buzz word right now, and rightfully so. Not only does content marketing generate leads, but it also positions your company as a thought leader in your field.

You’re probably thinking that this is a great idea in theory, but that creating new content is very time consuming. One easy way to get the most out of your content is to use what’s called “content remixing”.

The idea is quite simple: take an existing piece of content and modify it for different media. For example, take an application note and turn it into a webinar. Record that webinar and post it on social media as a video.

4. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket

If your financial adviser recommended that you put all of your money into just one stock, you would probably start looking for a new financial adviser. The same logic applies to investing in advertising.

The key is to invest your money where your customers invest their time. This includes trade shows, industry publications, search marketing, content marketing, online display ads, and targeted newsletters.

5. Differentiate. Then dominate.

There is a belief among American consumers that everything has been commoditized. In some cases, brand names have replaced the actual product names. For example, tissues are synonymous with Kleenex. Copier machines have become synonymous with Xerox. And in a particularly funny example, in 2015 Microsoft paid the National Football League $400 million to make sure that the Microsoft surface was used on the sidelines by coaches and players, only to have the TV announcers continually refer to them as iPads.

So how do you differentiate? There are three ways:

1. Differentiate your products based on applications, design, and ease of use.
2. Differentiate your company based on your customer service, reputation, and industry presence.
3. And lastly, differentiate you and your team based on your appearance, your communication style, and your level of involvement.