We are committed to serving auctioneers as a trusted digital partner. We invest heavily in the industry because we know that combining the right auctioneer technology and marketing toolkit with the most trusted online buying environment for bidders, enables auctioneers to maximize asset value and run successful online businesses.
This is the seventh email in a series of marketing guides to support auctioneers on everyday marketing needs and best practices.
If you have any questions or would like us to cover a certain topic, please feel free to send a note to your account manager and we will add it to the list of guides in the works for the coming months.
How easy is it for bidders to find my auction?
In the last few newsletters, we talked about the User Interface (UI) and the User Experience (UX) which focus on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, how they shop, their abilities, their limitations, and their satisfaction level to ensure we find the ideal buyer for every auction. However, we can’t just find the ideal buyer once and then market all asset categories to them on every auction. Each asset category will have its own targeted buyer. Every auction will require a smart strategy to ensure the ideal buyer is identified and reached. To have a deep understanding of the ideal buyer or the “who”, we need to start with the right demographics such as age, gender, education, career, occupation, location, and income. This will help us identify an accurate “buyer persona”. A “buyer persona” is the profile of a bidder which defines your target buyer for each specific asset category; this profile is a detailed description of your ideal bidder who will convert into a buyer. Understanding your “buyer persona” will also help you make marketing, advertising, and sales strategy decisions. At this point, how will you know which publication will be most effective? The only way to know is to measure performance. Continuously measuring and analyzing your marketing strategy is the ONLY way you can ensure your campaigns perform well on every auction. If you are utilizing a third party, be sure to request performance results. Knowing your Return on Investment “ROI” is essential when allocating a marketing budget for each publication. Notifying bidders in a timely manner is another crucial component to ensure your marketing campaigns perform well. The time that it will take for your marketing campaigns to be successful varies based on your asset category and industry. We recommend auction catalogs to be uploaded and marketing campaigns to start at least 14 days prior to the auction. This benefits you on multiple levels; it gives Google crawlers enough time to pick up your content and gives your bidders a chance to be aware of your auction, plan due diligence and make the decision to buy. When it comes to online shopping, bidders are a lot more informed today than ever before. They research assets, sellers, past buyer experience, and all of what they find is considered when they are ready to make a decision and purchase. Most people are shopping online because of its convenience. Today, bidders are able to find all the details about assets they are interested in from the comfort of their office or home. Therefore, it is critical to provide detailed descriptions and focus on the quality of your images and videos to boost online engagement. Even if bidders end up attending a live auction to purchase in-person, their bidder journey starts online. If bidders feel they can trust you, they will pick you when they are ready to make a purchase!
Once you’ve incorporated everything we have covered in the last 6 newsletters, how can you ensure it is easy for bidders to find your auction?
Simplifying the bidder journey is the easiest way to ensure your auctions are found. We must be sure the bidder can find your assets up for auction, make a decision and take action! There are several ways a bidder can find your auction, from organic Google search results, or paid Google search ads, to engaging with a piece of targeted marketing or just browsing their preferred online auction marketplace. But when we think about the Bidder Journey, while the start of the journey is important, the journey itself and where it ends is the most important!
So, let’s look at 3 of the many different bidder journeys to find assets in your auctions.
- Journey 1 – The bidder is using google to search for a Crown 4,500 lb. Electric Forklift. They find a relevant forklift, click on it and are taken to a lot page and see a banner that states “Click to Register, Bidding not yet Open”.
- Journey 2 – The bidder sees a paid ad for a Rolex watch. They click on the ad, land on the lot page and see a note that states “Full catalog will be posted soon”.
- Journey 3 – The bidder goes to their preferred marketplace. They search for an antique farm tractor, they find the lot they like and they click on it. They land on the lot page and see a button that states “Register & Bid”, they click on the button, register, and place a bid.
Out of these three bidder journeys, which ending do you think will benefit you most?
If you guessed Journey 3 – You have picked the ideal journey, but why? Because, regardless of where the bidder started their journey, they are able to complete their journey by clicking Register and placing a Bid. They are now invested in YOUR AUCTION.
Ideally, all three journeys should end with bidders having the ability to register and place a bid. In fact, the fewer the number clicks from the moment the bidder searches for an asset that you have in your auction until they land on the lot page and are able to register and place a bid the BETTER your chances in converting that bidder into a registrant and ultimately a BUYER. Once the bidder lands on your lot page and is able to register and place a bid there are a few other steps you can take to make sure they click that “Call to Action Button”, they do register, and they do place their bid.
- Be as detailed as possible on the description of the asset up for auction. You can’t sell something with just a name. Each asset should have an informative description; make, model, type, size, color, mileage, hours, capacity, serial number, etc. Also, consider writing your descriptions for buyers, think of what you would look for if you were in the market for the lot up for auction. The number one rule for good Search Engine Optimization “SEO” is to write for people. To optimize your SEO, your product descriptions must include the right keywords. This will help search engines understand your pages, which will ultimately help bidders find what you are selling.
- Take Good photos! Bidders may no longer make the time to attend inspection at least not in the same way they have in the past. As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, if 83% of the US population is expected to buy goods and services online by 2025; you must accommodate them with good photos to ensure they choose YOU when they decide to purchase at an auction. They rely on pictures to give them a sense of what they are buying. Therefore, it’s important to take multiple photos from every angle, zoom in and highlight all the top features and benefits of each asset you are selling. When it comes to photography spending an extra 2 minutes taking 4 extra photos will end up saving you 20+ min each time you don’t receive a bidder call requesting information that could have been provided with additional images.
- Where possible, add a video at least to all your high value assets up for auction. According to Forbes, 90% of consumers have said videos help them make a decision about purchasing a product online.
To summarize this series of marketing guides, we have to always keep the bidder journey top of mind because, without enough bidders there would be limited competition to deliver the highest value return for your assets. To bring that ideal buyer to every auction, always consider your BIDDER!
