Isn’t it spooky!
You know the thing. When you are chatting with the family about holiday plans and 2 hours later you get holiday ads in your social, on the web …. Yikes!
If you’ve experienced this, it is likely your home assistant device such as Amazon Alexa is picking up voice data and personalising your subsequent ad profile: something not openly acknowledged by Amazon but studies show it is happening.
Personalised ads are not necessarily a bad thing, it’s down to your sensitivities over privacy and the use of your data, and the permissions for the use of your data can always be turned off, but what it is demonstrating is the extreme end of air-cover campaigning: ensuring you see content/ads that are relevant to your current interest level.
And air-cover is something that B2B marketeers also exploit, supporting the sales team as they probe and understand prospect needs.
So, when a prospect engages with your business via a web form or downloading some content they will enter a nurturing pathway, using a predetermined number of touches to move them along the buying journey until they are sales-ready. Once they become sales-ready the hand-over is supported by email and programmatic ad support that is relevant to their need state and influence on the buying decision: this is air-cover - tactical support that engages the prospect with relevant content and/or ads whilst the sales team, well …sell!
What should it be?
Air cover content is good for supporting the journey of mid to bottom of funnel prospects. These prospects are aware that solutions to their problems exist, but they are still learning about the big picture fit of your product/service. This is where air cover provides tactical support to educate prospects and make them lean forward and take notice.
For example, at Pacific Marketing our core offer is to help businesses use their marketing tech in the most effective way. We reach into the market to:
- Acknowledge the common challenges created by using varied and disparate systems
- Begin seeding the benefit of simpler, tighter solutions delivering better, slicker, more rewarding marketing; aiming to arrange demos or trials
- Facilitate in-person demo’s of how HubSpot can help achieve marketing success
Our air cover support reacts to the movement of prospects along the buying journey and assists our sales team when they engage a prospect, sending interest-appropriate content such as case studies, testimonials and references as well as re-targeted ads to ensure we remain front of mind and are maintaining a share of voice whilst the sales team talk directly with the prospect.
Who gets it?
As business buying behaviour typically involves a wide number of stakeholders, including decision makers, influencers, budget holders, champions, blockers, etc, it is important that the whole buying committee is exposed to the air cover which should reflect their interest and influence over the purchasing decision. For example, the budget holder, if identifiable, would be more receptive to ROI examples, whereas the champion needs to be across the detail of the feature and benefits.
How is it managed?
Accurate data is key to effective air-cover. Understanding detail such as job title, seniority, influence, as well as content viewed and funnel stage is vital to ensuring the air cover is personalised and relevant. Platforms like HubSpot allow this intelligence gathering and content distribution to happen seamlessly and swiftly, providing effective air cover as you start putting boots on the ground.
Get in touch with us to learn more about how platforms such as HubSpot can support your air cover activities, we’d love to have a chat!