Online platforms like Google and social media have made it a little easier for advertisers to create effective ad campaigns as they target a highly specific audience. However, a first-time ad campaign creator can find the process intimidating and may need guidance.
An effective advertising campaign should:
- Resonate with your target audience by delivering a meaningful message
- Be memorable
- Communicate how the product provides value
- Stand for values beyond the product or service itself
- Be connected to your brand
Before embarking on creating an effective advertising campaign, we look at what advertising is and the different types of ad formats.
What is Advertising?
Advertising is the process of creating and displaying compelling messages to persuade and motivate an audience to take action.
It breaks through the noise of everyday life, disrupting the viewer’s attention and demanding their focus. Whether you are advertising online or using traditional methods, advertising helps a company:
- Raise awareness about your brand
- Promote sales for new and existing products
- Introduce a new product to the market
- Differentiate your products from a competitor’s
Advertising takes on different formats. Traditional forms like print advertising (flyers, posters, mailers, mailers, newspapers), billboards, TV Commercials, and radio are still relevant though online advertising has become the most common method.
This is because the number of people using the internet has skyrocketed over the last decade. According to Statista, up to four billion people are using the internet around the world.
In addition, digital advertising presents a great deal of flexibility as advertisers can reach an audience through multiple channels according to their budgets.
There’s also the fact that the internet provides a range of tools advertisers can use to execute their advertising strategy. So how do you create an effective advertising campaign?
Step 1: Identify Your Goals
Understanding your goals is critical to making other decisions about the advertising campaign. Some companies want to advertise to increase sales while others want to drive traffic to their website.
It would be best if you also defined what a set of successful results look like for the company as it forms the larger part of the sales cycle.
For example, a marketer whose funnel incorporated an email list, Facebook group, or a webinar should consider spending their ad budgets on moving potential customers into the funnel, not directing them to the sale.
Step 2: Define Your Audience
Who is likely to purchase your products or services? The answer to this question determines the forms of advertising and channels to use.
If selling kid toys, for example, your target audience will be parents. The design, text, and advertising channel should appeal to the target demographic.
The research also helps you narrow down the search to specific advertising channels. A brand targeting people who spend a lot of time on social media, for example, should designs ads suitable for social media platforms.
Step 3: Brainstorm Some Ideas
Analyze the information you have gathered regarding your audience, products, and delivery channels and determine how the advertisements can be tailored to each channel.
Then ask your team to come up with creative ideas for the campaign by writing down words and phrases to include in the ad.
Combine them until you have a dozen copy texts, calls to action, and visual presentations of the fliers, banners, or videos.
Step 4: Design the Ad
The next step involves using the ideas to create raw adverts. It would help if you used an online tool that allows you to save the projects, make modifications, and share with your team for additional input.
Also, consider showing some designs to your target audience as their input helps adjust the advertisements to their needs and interests.
Step 5: Incorporate High-quality Visuals
The average user has a short attention span, given a large amount of information on the internet. Using large visuals grabs not only the attention of your target audience but also invokes curiosity.
Also, use everyday photos and not staged pictures. This is because customers perceive such photos as mere advertisements, not a message.
Step 6: Test Each Ad Element
Many advertisers prefer split testing the ads to determine which performs better. While this method is effective, it?d be better to create variations of the ad performing best and change one feature at a time. For example, you can make copies of the best ad and change the headline of each version.
Once you determine the ad that gets the best response, make a few copies, and test another element like the image or description. While at it, test the performance of different ad placements too.
This means placing the ad on a news feed, desktop, and mobile platforms to determine how they perform. The approach helps you control the budget better than when all ad formats are in one ad set.
Step 7: Deliver the Ads
When the ads are ready to be delivered, you can start the campaign. During this step, you need to define the budget and choose the best criteria for publishing the ads on different channels. Since you have already defined your audience, you only need to publish the ads to reach them.
Step 8: Analyze the Results
The final step involves analyzing how the audience is reacting to the ads. If the ad campaign is not performing according to your expectations, consider adjusting your targeting strategy.
Consider using tools that provide more detailed information about your audience, e.g., their values and motivations as it goes a long way in constructing a captivating ad message.
Advertising is an invaluable marketing tool every company should have in its toolbox. It’s not just about creating appealing visual content but using words to communicate a message, engage an audience, and appeal to their emotions.
Following the steps highlighted help achieve these and more objectives.
