Tips on Starting an Advertising Campaign

You’re ready to move forward with advertising your business. How do you decide what media source to use? What digital platform works best? How much should you appropriate in your budget? You want to be sure that your campaign is successful. Here are three tips to starting an advertising campaign to put you on the path to success.

Before you can decide where to advertise or how much to spend, it’s best to start with your audience. Determine who your core customers are and build general personas around them. Don’t try to target the audience with whom you struggle. Instead, lead with your best foot forward and focus on the customers from whom you generate the bulk of your revenue. Are you targeting women or men, students or empty nesters? Know your audience first and then use that demographic to determine what media sources best reach those personas.

You don’t have to be everywhere in advertising to be successful. For example, don’t feel obligated to do all social media channels if you’re not ready. Just like you don’t have to be on all television networks to be seen by your key demographic. We have discovered its best to work your ad campaigns around the organic cycles of your business and your promotional marketing calendar.  For some of our clients, January and February are the best months of the year, and for others, those months are lean…almost non-existent in terms of revenue.  It’s always smart to shape your advertising and outreach expenditures to model your businesses normal business cycles. Think of the ideal advertising campaign as a “recipe”.  You don’t throw all the ingredients in at once… and hope for the best.  Creating a successful marketing plan requires the correct ratio of multiple ingredients… mixed together…at the right time… and delivered in a compelling manner. We believe in the aggregate value of a fantastic website, insightful SEO, engaging social media, digital marketing, print, broadcast (radio & television), direct mail, outdoor, billboard and email marketing & outreach.  …the right balance, ratio and timing of all things that engage and influence your target market. It’s important to choose two or three advertising mediums at first and own them. Invest all your efforts in a few areas for maximum results. Don’t spread your budget too thin… across too many channels, risking marginal results.

Be prepared to measure results. Don’t go into any advertising campaign blindly. Your message or call to action should be designed to produce measurable results. Use a unique tagline, phone number or hashtag. Prompt customers to mention ads or social media for possible discounts. Know your potential reach and frequency and be prepared to track the data. It will be essential to utilize these statistics for future campaigns. In today’s advertising market, there are literally hundreds of options, and it can make it hard to determine what advertising strategy is best for your business. Start wherever you are, develop your target audience and dominate. Gather your relevant data and track your results. Remember, advertising is not a perfect science, but the businesses that really succeed have the courage to invest in their brand and message by committing meaningful resources.  Then, they keep what works and eliminate the initiatives that don’t work so well.  …rinse and repeat.

For other tips and marketing best practices, contact us!