Creating the perfect online advertising campaign can be difficult. There’s actually a lot to think about: what images to use, what words to use, where to display the ads…
The aim of an advertising campaign is to reach the largest audience possible, while remaining cost-effective. If done correctly, it can boost revenue by huge amounts, but a poor advertising campaign can be a huge waste of money.
Here are some tips on how to ensure your advertising campaign runs as efficiently as possible!
Understand your target market
You simply cannot market to your target audience effectively if you don’t understand them properly. Before starting any advertising campaign, you should have an ideal customer persona in mind; a profile of the exact person who would buy your product/service.
Drill down into their characteristics and uncover what their needs are, what problems they have and how you can solve those problems with your solution.
By understanding your target market, you’ll understand what language will speak to them best, what they’ll find interesting and what motivates them.
Don’t create a generic ad that speaks to a range of people, else it won’t be as effective.
Advertise in the right place
Where will you actually display your adverts? You really need to consider your target market before you decide where to place them.
Your favourite radio station may not be your target market’s favourite. As you should completely understand your target market, you should know what they’re likely to read, watch and listen to and display your ads appropriately.
Social media is one of the most cost-effective advertising methods because you can target your ads to the desired audience, rather than throwing it out into the world and hoping for the best. If your target market do use social media, research which platforms they prefer to use. If they’re teenagers, perhaps Instagram or Snapchat would be a good plan; if they’re business professionals, Linkedin could be better.
Or, perhaps your target market are elderly people who are unlikely to be on social media. Radio, newspaper and TV could be more effective for this target market.
Visually appealing and easy to digest
Obviously, your advert should be visually appealing. Striking visuals that aim to catch the eye are often very effective. However, be careful that it doesn’t distract from the message itself – you don’t want consumers to miss your message or call to action. Keep any text on your adverts minimal. People will generally scan content for key information, so ensure the copy is easy to understand, without the use of jargon.
Be consistent
It can be tempting to change the look and feel of your branding every now and then, but this isn’t a good idea. You want to aim to establish a brand identity so that your customers can recognise it when they see it. For example, anyone can spot the golden arches of McDonald’s from miles away!
Focus on benefits instead of features
People don’t want to know what the features of your product are. They want to know how your product can benefit them or solve a problem. People are much more inclined to buy when they understand how a product or service will benefit them. Does it save them time? Does it save them money? Let them know!
Test & Fail Fast!
Before you start designing and strategising for your advertising campaign, establish what it is that you want to get from it. Sales on your new product? Sign ups to your event? Knowing what your goal is will help you out in the long run.
Once you’ve pinpointed your goal, you should ideally A/B test your campaign. A good strategy is to choose 3 image variations, and have 3 copy variations for each image. In total, you should have 9 ad variations. Test these 9 ads until you’ve found a winner – the one that generates the most leads, conversions, sign ups etc.
If it’s not going to work, test a different audience, copy, image and keep going until you find what works for you!
We hope these tips were helpful and that you’re now well on your way to creating the perfect advertising campaign!