3 Ways to Advertise

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Advertising is essential if you want to do business successfully - but only if it's done effectively. Even if you have to invest time and money to create a good advertising campaign, then it will bring more money than any other action taken by the company, because it will make your product or service more familiar to people, increase sales and promote brand loyalty. There are many factors to consider when it comes to advertising, but it must also be said that it is also a fun operation and will allow your company to show its creative side! This article will provide some guidelines on how to effectively advertise your business.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Part One: Plan Your Ad Campaign

Step 1. Know your audience

The only thing that really matters if you want to advertise effectively is knowing the audience your product is targeting. Think about it. Advertising targeting retirees is very different from advertising targeting girls.

If you don't connect with your audience, you won't be able to find their favor and you won't be able to create advertisements that interest someone, so your product or service would go unnoticed by a large portion of your target market. Be smart and tailor your advertising to your specific audience as much as possible. Otherwise you would only be wasting money.
The key demographic information you will need to consider is gender and age range. Regarding gender, your target market can be categorized into men, women and adults (when the number of men and women is almost equal). In terms of age groups, your customers can be part of one or more standard brackets used in the industry, namely: 12-24, 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and over 50.
Know that the customers identified at the outset could then change over time due to external causes, such as the opening or closing of a similar business, or the demographic changes in your local community. It is important to be aware of these changes, as your advertisements need to change as they go along.

Step 2. Set a target location

Once the audience is identified, the next step is to make sure the ads are successfully reaching that audience.

Your advertisement can be perfectly tailored to appeal to your target market, but if the place it is shown is wrong, your audience may never get a chance to see or hear it. For example, a denture adhesive radio ad isn't effective on a disco music radio, while a hair gel ad aimed at a young audience may not be effective in a newspaper.
Think about where your audience might see advertising most, don't make decisions based on your personal preferences. Don't do radio commercials just because you listen to the radio, and don't get on the winner's bandwidth by posting ads on the internet just because it's trendy. Do your market research and make decisions based on your customers alone.
Remember that no type of advertising is more effective than another - as proof you need only know that newspapers advertise themselves on posters, magazines on television and radio stations on the internet. What matters is that the medium you decide to use reaches your potential customers.
Using this strategy will also earn you more money, while placing advertisements in places you know your audience will see eliminates the need to put advertisements all over the place, simply hoping the right people will see them. This means getting in tune with your target audience, the public, and thus making a difference.

Step 3. Outline a budget

It goes without saying that your budget will play a huge role in the quality and distribution of advertising. Very few companies (apart from multinationals) have an unlimited budget to allocate to advertising campaigns, so it is important that you think about your advertising strategically and plan everything carefully to earn as much as possible from the money invested.

If you are reluctant to spend money on advertising, remember that advertising is essential to any successful business - you can also provide the best product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, you will never see a dime.
Nothing can help your business like target-oriented advertising with beautiful graphics, so spend as much money as you can afford on the advertising campaign - think of it as an investment; the initial cost can be high, but the earnings (in terms of new customers and potential sales) will exceed the money invested. With advertising, you have to spend money to make money.
However, this only applies to good advertising campaigns. Bad advertising campaigns just suck money, and you won't get any results from your investment. That's why it's vital that you do market research and invest your time in creating great advertising.

Step 4. Establish an image for the company

One of the main goals of advertising is to gain brand recognition among potential customers. This must be done because some market research has shown that consumers are much more likely to choose products and services they are familiar with, rather than relying on more generic and lesser-known alternatives.

So when creating an advertisement for your company, product or service, opt for an image that customers will instantly recognize, a simple, eye-catching image.
When you think about an image for the company, think about the aesthetics and what your ads will convey. Depending on the type of advertising, aspects such as colors, fonts, photographs, music or the speakers (or VIPs) used to represent it must be considered.
A good image is built in part with a recognizable logo, slogan or jingle that customers will associate with your brand. Think McDonald's M, or L'Oréal's phrase that easily sticks, "Because I'm worth it." These aspects of advertising campaigns have become synonymous with the companies that created them, which is why when they advertise they have great success.
Not only is it important to create a beautiful image, but it is equally important to maintain some consistency with that image. All your advertisements must be similar and convey the same thing, regardless of the medium used.
If you experiment with constantly changing an image, you will confuse consumers and diminish the company's potential to build brand loyalty. Find a unique and easily identifiable image and never change it again.

Step 5. Think about the message

The message conveyed by your advertisement can determine its success or failure. Good advertising will grab the attention of potential customers and keep them long enough that we can try to convince them to choose our product at the expense of our competitors.

Highlight your competitive advantages. Make sure your advertisement draws attention to the benefits of buying your product or service instead of the competition. There are also too many advertisements out there that only focus on aesthetic appeal, a sense of humor or clever jokes, but which fail when it comes to making arguments in favor of why that product or service is the best on the market.
Avoid stereotypical advertisements. You need to make your advertisement unique - if it looks like 100 other advertisements already seen, the consumer will immediately divert attention and you will miss out on a potential sale. You must therefore avoid the abuse of advertising clichés, such as highlighting prices that end at 99 or 95 cents, using phrases such as "offer valid for a limited time" or using content that has nothing to do with the product you sell..

Step 6. Don't try to please everyone

To please everyone, your advertising message has to be rather vague and mundane, and this approach rarely works. Again, think about your target demographic and use your advertising to deliver a message that specifically appeals to that type of audience.

The advertising message must please the consumer on a personal level - and this can be done in two ways: by leveraging the emotional side and speaking to the consumer's heart, or by amusing him with something akin to his sense of humor.
As an example, think of Ax advertising campaigns, which aim to sell deodorants, shower gels and hair products to young men. This brand is so successful because it sends messages tailored to the wishes of its target (think of the "Ax effect" on women). Ax does not care whether its product is liked by married men or women, because their market is aimed at 12-24 year olds.
Another very different example of advertising built on emotions aroused are all those campaigns for cleaning products that appeal to the fears of mothers (and fathers) of small children and babies. These advertisements highlight the product's ability to keep families "safe" from germs and bacteria. The underlying message is that if you are a good parent who cares about the safety and health of their children, you will need to buy that cleaning product.
This type of advertising, despite being somewhat manipulative, can be very effective for its target market. However, those who have no children, or anyone under the age of 20, will not be easy to convince. You will therefore have to be ready to compromise.

Step 7. Test the ad before running it

Before the world knows about your ad, it's good to test it to make sure it will be understood and appreciated by your target audience.

While it will take your time and money, doing a focus group will be beneficial because it will allow you to get feedback. You can ask members of your target customers questions about your advertising - does it enjoy them, pass it on to them, what they like and what they don't.
This can help you decide if it's time to launch the campaign, if it needs tweaking, or if you really need to do it all over again. Another way to get feedback is to submit questionnaires.
Even after the launch of the advertising campaign you have to make the effort to monitor customer reactions. It won't be difficult - you just have to ask each new customer where they found out about your product. If they name the advertisement, you will know it works.
You can then ask more specific questions about what he liked about the ad and what elements caught his attention. If you have any criticisms, look at them constructively and consider incorporating customer suggestions into your next ad campaign.
If you've been broadcasting advertising on various media, asking the customer for feedback can also help you figure out which form (print, television, internet) is most profitable for your company. So next time, you'll want to allocate a larger chunk of your budget to that specific medium.

Method 2 of 3: Part Two: Post Ads on the Internet

Step 1. Make a graphically beautiful and well constructed site

The number one, and also the most effective, method to advertise your business on the web is to build a great website. An information-rich, professional-looking website can do wonders as a form of corporate advertising because it is easily accessible for customers and relatively inexpensive to build and maintain. It also lends credibility to your business.

Once you have the site, you can start printing the address on everything - business cards, shop window, your commercial vehicle -, in any place easily visible to customers. Today everyone has a smartphone, so everyone can visit the site right now!
If you are selling physical goods, you should consider selling your products online, directly from your site. Online shoppers make up a huge market, so this type of trading could help you increase your sales considerably.
To make the whole process even easier, and thus avoid the hassle of dealing with ordering and shipping procedures, you can make your merchandise available to Amazon (and keep the name of your shop), which will take care of everything. You just have to put a link to the product on your site.
Another thing you will need to work on is SEO, which stands for "Search Engine Optimization". This practice will help you maximize the number of people who come to your site when they type a term related to your business on Google (or any other search engine), increasing traffic to your site.

Step 2. Use social media

Using social media to advertise is a must - we are in the 21st century after all. The main forms of social media to consider are Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Facebook and Twitter have a huge base of users, thus maximizing the number of people your company can potentially reach, while Google+ will show your business profile in local search results, helping you stand out in front of all your immediate competitors.
If you're a tech savvy, or if you can afford to hire someone who specializes in social media marketing, you can also take advantage of other forms of social media like Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, or other localization sites like Yelp, FourSquare and LevelUp.
Remember that the main goal of using social media to promote your business is to develop a relationship with customers and allow them to become familiar with your product or service. You do not have to post advertisements on advertisements - this will be seen as some kind of spam and you would only get a loss of followers.
Of course, you have to use your social pages as an advertisement, but for special offers or to keep users updated on company news, as this will be the main reason most people choose to follow you after all. You can also activate promotions only for Facebook fans where the customer receives a special offer or a discount in exchange for a "like"!
Beyond that, you should use social media to engage with followers on a more personal plan. Be interactive: ask questions, give answers and try to give practical feedback and changes to the company based on user feedback. All of this will help you build brand loyalty in followers, which is a huge action to do in any type of business.

Step 3. Take advantage of blogging

Blogs are another branch of social media, and they can be used as very effective advertising tools. Of course, you can post articles and advertisements on your business blog, but it would be good to post your articles to other blogs in your industry as well and ask for them to be published.

As these blogs will already have regular readers who trust the content of the site, they will be more likely to read your article. As a result, you can reach a new slice of the market that would otherwise have ignored your company's existence.
The articles you write for blogs need to be interesting and informative. If they are just blatant advertising operations that insist on convincing the reader to buy a product, they will not be taken seriously and will probably be read in an absent-minded manner.
Your articles should aim to encourage discussion and trigger a thought action. You can write about your company successes and failures, guides and tutorials related to your products, or stories about interacting with users, including funny anecdotes.
Another strategy can be to send bloggers samples of your product asking them to review it on their blog. This strategy is a little more risky as you won't be in control of what the blogger will say next, but if you're sure they'll like the product and write a positive review, it can be a great advertisement. This is due to the fact that people are generally more inclined to trust the opinion of someone independent than the advertising actions of the company. Many cosmetic brands have been successful thanks to this strategy.

Step 4. Buy ads on the internet

Buying advertising space on the internet is a great way to highlight the company and make it known. It can also bring huge site traffic with just one click. While buying large ad space can be expensive, there are a few methods small businesses can use for affordable prices:

Google Adwords is one of the best low-cost advertising forms in existence. With Google Adwords, your ads will appear on Google search pages, in Gmail accounts, and on Google partner sites, such as AOL. But the best thing about Adwords is that it works on a cost-per-click method - you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it, resulting in a "win-win" situation (I win, you win), both for you. than for Google.
Google Adwords Express is a new service that targets ads even more specifically, based on people close to a specific geographic area. When people in a certain area search for keywords related to your product or service, your ad will appear on their search page, and even if they don't click on it they will still see it, giving you a lot of exposure and increasing the local community's familiarity with yours. brand - and you don't have to pay a cent!
Banner exchange, on the other hand, is a service offered by some companies (like 123Banners) that won't cost you anything. All you have to do is put a banner ad of a partner company on your site, and in return they will do the same for you.
In any case, before entering into agreements, make sure you understand what types of ads you will be required to place on your site. For example, you definitely don't want to suddenly see ads of Russian women seeking husbands on your site with child-friendly content (until just before that ad appeared)

Method 3 of 3: Part Three: Using Traditional Advertising

Step 1. Go for print advertising

Print advertising, i.e. newspaper and magazine advertising, is one of the more traditional advertising methods, but it is still a bomb in terms of earnings.

When it comes to print advertising, aesthetic appeal must be considered - an ad with too many words will not catch the reader's attention when nestled in the middle of pages and pages of text.
Digital graphics and photographs will be especially useful if you use print advertising, and thanks to high resolution cameras and the wonders that Photoshop can do, today this type of advertising stands out like never before.
The idea of your advertisement is also very important - it has to creep into people's heads and be instantly recognizable whenever you accidentally see it in the newspaper.
Although the advertisements you place in magazines and newspapers are the same, there are some differences in how they will be received in each type of communication medium, so carefully consider the pros and cons before making any decisions.
Newspapers are usually read once and then end up in the trash, so you only have one chance to grab the attention of readers. Plus, newspapers are great for targeting people who are willing to buy today. Either way, newspapers reach a very large market base and are great for targeting people in specific areas.
Magazine advertisements are very effective and ideal for targeting a very specific group of consumers, as there are magazines for virtually every type of market - gardening, beauty, housewares, etc. However, buying ad space in magazines can be very expensive, so advertising here can also eliminate the possibility of doing it elsewhere, because we will have run out of budget.

Step 2. Try TV commercials

Anyone who watches television knows the persuasive power of commercials.

Their success comes from the fact that television combines the aesthetic component with the spoken word, thus creating an advertisement that is easily remembered and informs at the same time. On top of that, when commercials are aired during commercial breaks for your favorite TV shows, the commercials generally seem impossible to ignore!
With television advertising, you will have the choice between regular and satellite TV. Both have their individual strengths, but ultimately your decision will mostly be based on your budget.
If you choose local networks, it will be very easy to target geographic locations. The downside to these commercials is that they are usually cheap and tend to look "homemade".
National television, on the other hand, broadcasts more professional commercials, which give your company legitimacy and prestige. Obviously they cost a lot more. In any case, with national television commercials it is possible to use psychographics to transmit to specific portions of listeners.
For example, if you want to campaign for toys, you can do it during cartoons, or you can sell home goods during after-lunch soap operas. This will allow you to save money by only broadcasting commercials when they have the greatest impact.

Step 3. Use billboards and street advertising

Although it may seem strange, billboards, posters and the like (to be posted on bus stops, etc.) can be extremely effective, as long as they are done properly.

In fact, according to an American study, billboards reach more people per dollar spent than any other form of advertising. This phenomenon can be explained by making two considerations: firstly, most of the billboards are displayed in correspondence with the busiest streets, and secondly, most people spend (on average) more than 20 hours in the car. In this way, thanks to the advertising on the billboards, you have a lot of time to get noticed.
The drawback of billboard advertising is that you have to limit yourself in some way in terms of content. In the vast majority of cases, an effective billboard is limited to a single image and no more than eight words of text.
On the other hand, this can also be considered positive, as it pushes you to be creative, to come up with something that gets straight to the point and grabs attention.

Step 4. Making radio commercials

After the billboards, radio advertising reaches the largest share of the public in relation to the money spent.

However, unlike the other forms of advertising mentioned above, radio commercials cannot take advantage of the support of images or text. As a result, you'll need a lot of extra creativity in formulating a campaign and making great use of jingles and slogans.
But radio spots can also provide information about your business more than other forms of advertising, so take the opportunity to tell customers a little more about your company and convince them why they should use your product or service.
In radio commercials you can give space to humor, but pay attention to the consistency of the jokes with what you sell. A funny radio commercial is spectacular, but if the jokes have nothing to do with your business, listeners may be confused about the subject of the commercial and what it really meant, particularly as there are no images or brand logos. that contextualize.
The drawback of radio commercials is that it is difficult to establish a geographic and demographic target. Consequently, the types of businesses that are particularly successful on the radio are those that offer delivery services or those that sell products for which a customer will be willing to drive a lot to buy, such as specialty specialties, antiques or something not found elsewhere..

Step 5. Use flyers and postcards

Flyers and postcards are probably the most "old school" advertising system, but they can still be effective for advertising a business locally. Flyers can be hand-delivered on the street near the store (or restaurant etc.), while postcards can be sent to your home or local business address.

Flyers and postcards need to be visually appealing, easy to understand, and offer some kind of incentive, such as a promotion or discount, in order to attract customers to your store. For example, you can offer 10% discount for anyone who presents the flyer at the checkout.
Incentives don't have to be monetary: if you own a shop that sells body care products, for example, you can write on your flyers that a hand massage will be offered to the customer for every purchase. The aim is to bring customers to the store - once they are there, you will be much more likely to sell something!
Make sure the person delivering the flyers is personable and friendly. She should also be well informed about the business and be ready to answer any questions or requests that people might have about the advertised product. Remember that whoever receives the flyer could be a potential customer!