Advertising Strategy

Each of us is bombarded with over 1,500 commercial messages on a daily bases. We use self developed filters to “weed out” most of these advertising messages, so that only about 60 or 70 messages are actually processed by our brains. In order to get your message among the unfiltered ones, your company needs a relevant, well-constructed and efficient advertising strategy. Creating such a strategy is a highly complex process and the experience and creativity of your advertising company have an essential role in it. There are several key elements that should be focused upon in an advertising strategy: target audience, product specifications and presentation, advertising mediums, duration of the advertising campaign and projected results. Let’s go through these basic elements:

Target Audience

Who are you selling to? This is the most important question. You have to understand your potential customers before you can layout an advertising strategy plan. The advertising agency will gradually eliminate audience segments that do not fit with the profile of the potential customer, so that your ad campaign money are properly invested and your promotional message reaches the people that are most likely to be interested in your services or products. Different segments of the general population may be targeted, depending on what you are offering.

Product Presentation – a vital role in any advertising strategy

This next item is highly dependant on the target audience. Adapt the product to the tastes of the potential customers – don’t sell dark blue socks to little girls and don’t put Britney Spears’ face on a product destined for old school motorcyclists. The name, design, logo and packaging of your product (or services) fall into this category. After reading the market, implement your findings into the advertising strategy and create the product that is most likely to appeal to your targeted segment of the population. Ad, video or audio advertisements are included here as well – aim them at your precisely identified target. While it may seem like common sense, it is vital to remember who your customers are- and target them specifically.

Advertising Mediums – where are you going to advertise?

Planning out your advertising strategy also means knowing where your ads will appear. Different mass media outlets have various advantages and disadvantages (radio is cheap but has a weak impact, television advertising is effective but very expensive and so on). Your advertising agency will have to work out a financial plan as part of the overall advertising strategy and suggest the best mediums to spread the message. PPC Advertising otherwise known as "pay per click" is another advertising strategy that utilizes advertising networks to deliver highly qualified leads to specific websites who then pay for each visitor they receive.

Duration of the Advertising Strategy Campaign

Work with your agency to determine the proper duration for your campaign, also based on your budget and projected results. A short and intense campaign might do wonders for one product and prove totally inefficient for another. Here, the experience of the advertising company you are hiring is of utmost importance, so make sure you partner with an agency you trust. In addition, choose experience- find an agency that has experience running the kind of campaign you are proposing- you are not spending money to be a test case for them.

Projected Results

Advertising may be a subjective domain, but figures don’t lie! Set some goals and craft your advertising strategy according to them. Some of your expectations might be tempered by the advertising agency, or maybe some of their requests will have to face your tight budget. In any of the cases, compromise is a viable solution, and adapting to a plan as you go is not necessarily a bad thing. Allow the advertising strategy to be flexible otherwise you will run into difficulties every time a small factor changes.