It has been said that advertising is the price to be paid for being unremarkable. That may be true, but I have noticed that even remarkable businesses advertise. It is a key component of your marketing campaign, for awareness or consumer education of your value. This blog’s objective is to give you some tips on solutions for successful advertisements.
One of the toughest jobs for any startup is to produce remarkable ads without the help of an expensive ad agency. The key is to engage your target audience because for successful advertisements to succeed, they have to be remembered.
The next big thing in advertising always starts out looking like nothing at all. If it was easy to see coming, everybody would be doing it already and the market impact would be minimal. So you can never create something truly new based on what you already know.
The only way to find it is to start looking. Not all who wander are lost. The trick is to wander with purpose.
Even on the tightest budget, you can create successful ads by following these vital tips.
Design for the ad audience and environment
There are literally hundreds of forms of advertising-from billboards, websites, and taxi-tops to ads on supermarket clocks. And ad environments sometimes differ within a single medium, such as when magazines offer four-color display advertising and small-space shopper ads.
Become familiar with the nuances of the media you choose, and design your ads to meet their specific visual and editorial requirements.
Address the right audience
How well do you understand your target audience? Your ads should immediately appeal to prospects and speak to them in their own vernacular, including buzzwords.
The ads must ring true, without the use of gender or cultural stereotypes, or exaggerated claims, so prospects automatically understand that your offer directly relates to their needs and wants.
Have a visual focal point
Unless you’re creating a sale ad for a newspaper featuring multiple products, use a single, eye-catching visual to provide the central focus.
Competing visuals can make a small-space print ad or online ad appear cluttered. With so much competing advertising, make your ad stand out by virtue of clean, clear design, with an appealing focal point and simple elements.
Create an “aha” moment
If you’ve ever wondered why the word “new” is used so often in advertising, it’s because our brains are actually alert for new information. One of the most exciting parts of creating advertising is that great ads have the ability to open minds.
Your ad can show your customers a new way to achieve a goal or provide unique insight. The rewards will be greater audience attention and elevated response rates.
Make something happen
Any ad worth it’s salt should move a prospect to take some kind of action. If you highlight a strong benefit in your headline and include details in your body copy, your prospects will be excited to learn how to take advantage of what’s promised.
It’s essential to close by providing a call to action that takes prospects to the next step, whether that means making a purchase or visiting your website to learn more. Great ads build interest, are remembered and get results.
Present a powerful benefit
Want to create a headline that pulls in readers? Use it to highlight a desirable benefit or offer. Understand what your customers want that you can provide.
Put your promise upfront in your headline, then use your ad’s body copy to explain how you’ll deliver that benefit.
Grab and hold viewers’ attention
Hold attention with interesting information. Keep in mind that people don’t read ads, they read what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities.
Define a value proposition
A value that truly discriminates you from your competition. Give your customers reasons to select you.
Consider the end state values to your customers
A good example of this is Dell’s fast delivery of a custom computer.
Make your messages simple
So simple that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.
Be relevant to your target market.
Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market.
Define your positioning
Your positioning is your frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can.
Clearly link your messages
Link your messages to your brand. Remember the AFLAC duck or E-Trade’s talking baby … these are great linkages to the brands.
Make your ad a component
It should be a component of an integrated marketing campaign.
The bottom line
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer, it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement. After looking over these enablers and Allstate’s mayhem ads … how do you think they did?
Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the advertising industry’s woes. No grand initiative, strategy wrapped in a bow, or presentation deck can bring back the glory days. The reality is that in order to survive, ad agencies will have to learn to experiment, risk failure, and pivot quickly. In effect, they will have to stop thinking like ad agencies.
