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By Aidah Omar Leave a Comment

Attracting Drivers & Entrepreneurs – A Dissection of an Uber Singapore Ad

A few weeks ago in early September 2017, I saw a very interesting video ad by Uber on Reddit.

Now before you continue reading – here is a disclaimer!

All views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsover with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated.

I couldn’t really capture it very well as it was a video display ad served by Google’s platform.

Google’s display ad platform can serve animated gifs on other websites. But video? Very rarely done.

So using Loom, I captured the video which is located on the right hand side of the screen below.


Pretty impressive video ad. Obviously there was a lot of thought put inside this silent video.

I was actually captured by the ad because it started with a very nice image of chocolate drizzling (who can resist chocolate drizzle). This was followed by the joyous, happy face of Lindah – our Uber driver/entrepreneur/baker and a nice video pan of her smiling beside her car.

The anatomy of any marketing campaign starts with this acronym – A I D A. (Nothing to do with me but everything to do with marketing)

A: Attention

The chocolate drizzle captured my attention. And it was a very high quality video ad.

Two things worked in its favour:

  • In a sea of nonsense low quality video ads, this was high quality and impressive. It immediately conveyed professionalism.
  • It was a video ad that was NOT on Youtube! It was silent, non-intrusive and basically captured my attention and my click.

Watching Youtube is really now an exercise of waiting for the “You can close this ad in 3…2…1…seconds” banner.

Yes Wix, your ad sucks

We have the intrusion of Youtube ads that play before we are able to watch our video. So if there was a heatmap, most mouse clicks would probably hover over the bottom right hand corner.

So yes, nice work Uber – to put your high quality video ad on a website that is NOT Youtube.

I: Interest

The next thing that I absolutely loved about this ad was where it appeared. Sure, you can easily put ads on Reddit via the Google Display platform or using Reddit Ads directly. 

But to make the ad appear on this particular thread on Reddit where the topic was “Unexpected Job Loss” – that was pure targeting genius.

Some careful and very thoughtful ad placements were planned within this GDN (Google Display Network) campaign.

Each time before we run any campaign – we need to make sure we are able to target our audience in a laser-accurate manner that is essential for conversion success.

Here Uber is very clear on their target audience. Marketers would call this the “customer persona”.

  • People who are going to embark on the self-employment route towards entrepreneurship.
  • They are people who will resonate with a certain value system: independence, freedom, entrepreneurial, professional.

And Uber is very likely to target “keywords” that must be present within the target placement website: like “job loss”, “retrenchment”, “layoff”. 

But of course, such terms will never be mentioned within the ads itself. Uber ads will appear conveniently beside such topics but ads will be 100% aspirational, idealistic and aligned with Uber’s brand goals.

The Uber animated gif banner ad – typical 300×250 size. This size invites the highest clicks. (based on my past experience running display ads)

 

A combination of effective copywriting + thoughtful ad placements = SWEET CONVERSION SUCCESS

“Build a business and make money on the side. That’s a sweet deal.”

You won my click, Uber.

D: Desire

Let’s see how Uber arouses desire in attracting drivers.

So after I click on the video/banner ad, I am brought to Uber’s simple and clean landing page. 

Uber Landing Page

Love the crisp and simple design. 

There is a Youtube video where Lindah actually shares her story. 

After some googling, I found the actual video:

So to recap – the process starts with the intrigue that I got first with the first banner ad (chocolate drizzle + uber).

Curiosity is now heightened and I know I have only half the story. You see, the human brain cannot handle such “incompleteness” and must quickly find a resolution. You can’t leave me hanging Uber!

What happens to the affable, smiley baker/entrepreneur/Uber driver?

So I am basically “forced” to click – thanks to my lizard-desire, impulsive, curiosity-driven human brain. 

And luckily Uber satisfies this urge by telling me the other half of the story with another professionally created Youtube video. 

My own annotations – this area captured my attention first

Uber wants to attract drivers – as many as possible. But it would be remiss to accept just anyone into its ranks. Hence the marketing must be designed to attract those who have similar values like Lindah. 

Here Uber tries to resonate with those who feel the same and has similar value systems. 

Automatically I would disqualify myself because I am totally unlike Lindah.

I absolutely hate driving.

Uber has helped to disqualify myself. While I may be part of the larger “entrepreneur audience” Uber might initially target – I am in the sub-market of those who hate driving.

Nevermind, for every person who hates driving, there will always be another person who likes driving.

And that is where Uber states – there are also many other people like Lindah as you scroll down the landing page. 

They state the benefits – it’s never about Uber – it’s always how Uber can help to enable entrepreneurs.

And it is done in a way that is NOT in the typical bullet point manner. 

Benefits – not bullet points! And its all about the driver

There is something to be learnt here. I have seen plenty of ads where the company tries to sell itself FIRST.

Yes – you want to build up and show your credibility and show that you deserve the client’s money. But it is usually a mistake.

Instead, you have to sell problems and echo the thoughts of your prospects first. 

And here, Uber echoes the thoughts of potential would-be UberEntrepreneurs clearly. 

  • Earn fares to support your business – The problem we know you have: You are just starting and you probably need transport. So why not earn some extra money at the same time?
  • Drive & take care of business – The problem we know you have: You are scared to commit. But we are flexible, you can drive whenever you want.
  • Convenient & easy – The problem we know you have: You are thinking of the costs. But we tell you about the “zero cost” – which will be super attractive.

Can YOU echo your prospect’s thoughts first?

Instead of going on headfirst and delivering a pitch that goes unnoticed?

So Uber does it well again – almost mind-reading any potential UberEntrepreneur that is visiting the landing page. 

“Look we know you have a business to run. So let us provide you with a platform to share your business with your riders/passengers.” – Uber (in my own words)

And here Uber states that as a driver – you will have a light bulb icon beside your name! So your passengers can ask you about your business.

I have no idea this existed! A lightbulb icon beside your name = Uber Entrepreneur

Nice! So Uber can be a way for you to promote your own business.

Uber doesn’t mind at all. Moonlighting? Nah we don’t care.

A: Action

Finally, the last part of A I D A is taking ACTION. 

Uber is likely spending a princely amount on marketing and acquiring drivers…
And will probably have a marketing team that does dozens of split tests….

Decides to go for the proven “Fill Up The Form” on the top Right Hand Side (RHS) of the landing page. 

Don’t change what works – lead gen form on the TOP RHS of a landing page

With a very visible call-to-action and a form that invites you to fill it up.

Why I say it is proven? Because I am sure you would have seen this RHS form around the Internet. It works.

Conclusion

I monitor Uber’s marketing because this company is absolutely relentless in trying to acquire drivers. I have been approached a few times on the street by Uber-clad black shirts asking me whether I have a driving licence. Their offline marketing is just as relentless.

The bit about the lightbulb icon to identify themselves as entrepreneurs – that is a nice recognition. I’m a fairly regular Uber rider but I’ve had no idea it existed. So that was a revelation.

This was a textbook marketing campaign – hitting all the right notes that elicits an EASY Yes from the target market. 

Filed Under: Marketing, PPC Tagged With: display ads

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“I have worked with Aidah for the past 4 years. She has been key to our digital marketing success. Her expertise was tremendously useful especially in attracting our target customers from various countries from the US and Europe. Our consultations with her are always productive as she deeply understands our busines model. She recognizes clearly what will attract our potential clients to take action and points us in the right direction always. I do not hesitate recommending her consultation services to any of our own clients or partners.”

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“One of the strategies I employ to gain more clients is running Google AdWords campaigns. I have been doing this happily for many years but I wasn’t sure whether I was maximising my ROI based on the ad spend. When I shared my AdWords campaign with Aidah, she immediately managed to point out some mistakes that were costing me some dollars. While it seemed small, but when the mistake is accrued over many days, multiplied by many months – it was becoming an expensive mistake! And that was when I realised how true this adage was – “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I highly recommend working with Aidah if you need expert advice on your digital marketing campaigns. An hour or two with her might save you a few thousand dollars.”

Ridjal Noor
Managing Director, Pullupstand.com Pte Ltd

Her unconventional marketing strategies coupled with some insights on human psychology has helped to push up the number of leads generated. Her efforts has helped generate more than 600 leads over the last 12 months which certainly helped to boost my production and sales closing. In a property market with so many cooling measures, her marketing execution is first-class.

Gary Seah
2016 Propnex Top Producer - 30th Position

Aidah's deep knowledge on Google AdWords has certainly helped to drive quality traffic to our UON Singapore's website. Her ability to scale up campaigns fast and provide insightful analytical feedback is first-rate. The results are evident in the first three month of the campaign and I will definitely engage her for future campaigns! She makes a great partner for any online marketing campaign.

Shaikha Nazmin Mattar
Assistant Manager, Marketing and Business Development (UON Singapore) at University of Newcastle (UON), Australia

Both of us regularly consult with her - she has helped us tremendously to reframe and strategize our marketing approach.

Gaynor Lim
2016 Propnex Top Producer - 6th Position

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