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Start With A Plan - Make Your Advertising Campaign A Success
An advertising campaign costs both time and money. It takes quite a bit of work, but if the advertising campaign is handled correctly, the results make the time and money invested well worth it. If the campaign is not handled correctly, not only is the time and money that you have invested at risk, but your businesses reputation could also be at risk. To avoid this possibility, you need an advertising campaign plan - a good one.
Diva Design World ( http://www.divadesignworld.com ) knows that you not only need a good plan, you also need good information to make that plan work. They specialize in planning advertising campaigns with their clients, and work to get the information needed to ensure that the campaign will be a success. Diva Design World, which is based in
Portland
,
Oregon, knows that you start a successful campaign, by first gaining the knowledge that you need about your market, determining what you need your campaign to accomplish, then by writing copy that appeals to your market and accomplishes your goal. Diva Design World offers the following advice for each step.
1. Gain Knowledge About Your Market - You need to know who you are trying to reach. Gather as much information as possible about your target market, and try to narrow down the specifics. For instance, you may know that your target market is men between the ages of 18 and 25, but you can further nail down your market by determining specific things that these men between the ages of 18 and 25 all have in common. Perhaps your product or service is only valuable to men between the ages of 18 and 25 who live in a specific region, or participate in a particular sport or activity. Be as specific as possible.
Once you know exactly who you are trying to reach, figure out where you will reach them. Television, newspapers, magazines, professional and trade journals, radio, etc. Make a list of media that you can use to reach your audience, and then narrow that list down. For instance, for newspapers, you may find your specific audience in the sport section or in the community section. Narrow down each type of media that you plan to use. This will help you be more effective in the development of your campaign materials, such as press releases, print ads, banner ads, and other promotional material.
2. Determine What You Need To Accomplish With Your Advertising Campaign - Determine long term and short term goals of your advertising campaign. Does your ad need to produce immediate results, or can it produce immediate and future results? Is your product dated - will the price or the product itself expire on a given date? Is your goal to build long term business relationships or to make quick one time sales? Do you just hope to increase your website traffic? Be as specific as possible when stating your goals of the advertising campaign.
Also try to mix and match goals. For instance, your goal may be to make quick one time sales, but see if you can work in a goal of building up your businesses reputation as well during this advertising campaign. Remember that advertising campaigns cost time and money. Plan to get as much mileage as you can out of it.
While determining what your goals are, you have to know what your limitations are in terms of time and money. You may find that there isn't room in the advertising budget to do the advertising that is necessary to reach your goals. If this is the case, you either have to adjust your goals to match the budget, or adjust the budget to match your goals. Often, the only choice is to adjust the goals to match the budget. Don't lose heart! Simply think harder and work with your copywriter to create the best ads that you can with the money that you have. Don't be afraid to use a redirect in order to get your customers to where you want them to be. In other words, it may be cheaper to get your potential customers to your website than it is to get them to your store. Use the advertising to get them to the website, and the website to get them to the store.
3. Write Copy That Appeals To Your Market And Accomplishes Your Goal - Once you know who you are trying to reach, where they are, and what goals you want to reach with your advertising campaign, you have enough information to write an effective copy for your advertising campaign. You can choose to write your own copy, or you can hire a professional copywriter. Unless you are experienced, hiring a professional is usually your best bet.
Whether you write your own copy, or hire a professional, you need to make sure that your copy matches both your market and your goals. Make sure any professional that you hire understands both. You also need to understand the media that you will be using, and what the quality of the ads used in that media need to be. Another way to determine the quality of your ads is to look at your competitors ads. Make sure that yours are higher quality, or avoid using the same media.
Keep in mind that your future customers will need to see your ad an average of seven times before making a purchase. If your product or sale is dated, you will need an advertising schedule that will allow them to see the ad at least seven times, and still have time left to buy before the expiration date. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your ads will draw the attention of your potential customers. This doesn't mean that it needs irritating flashing red lights. It means that you need to know what your customers need and want and cater to that in your advertising. Tell them how you can improve their life in some way. Grab their attention, convey your message, tell them how you can improve their lives, and do it in as few words as possible - the longer the copy, the greater the expense.
Planning an advertising campaign and producing effective ad copy isn't easy. Keep in mind that it can cost more than just time and money. Your reputation could be on the line. If you need more information or help, contact Monique Danielle at http://www.divadesignworld.com . She can get you started on the right path or walk the entire path with you. If you need her to, she can even walk that entire path for you.
About the Author: Monique Danielle owns Portland Marketing Agency, DivaDesignWorld.com, a full service firm that offers web development, graphic design, consulting, and a wide variety of creative services. She is also the founder of divadirectories.com,a free online resource designed to promote the growth and development of women owned businesses throughout
Oregon
,
Washington
, and the Northwest.
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