Advertising has never been as important or as varied in form as it is in today’s business world.Though it doesn’t take a degree in communications to create a successful ad campaign, nor is it amatter of happenstance and luck (though both of these may play a part in what lies ahead). Whenyou are trying to decide what tactics to use to get the word out about your business, you shouldunderstand that simply following the course of a previously successful campaign, by some otherbusiness, is not always the right course of action. One truism in the world of advertising is thatdifferent companies get different results with different campaigns. To make the most out of youradvertising, you’ll need to look inward. Decide what salient points you want to get across, whatmethod would be best in doing this, and in what areas your advertising would be best received.The answers to these questions will give you an immediate head start to creating a successful adcampaign. The first thing you’ll need to decide when designing an ad campaign is who your target audienceis. Once this decision is made, you’ll have a better idea of what to say to them, and how to say it.Most importantly, you’ll be able to find out the best ways to reach them. If your target audience,for example, is the rich and affluent, it will be a waste of your money to purchase ad time duringtelevision shows these people are unlikely to be watching. If your target audience is blue collar,you might want to steer clear of advertising messages and avenues that are more likely to appealto the rich. Demographics are the numbers advertisers live and die on. While some people arguethat these statistics and numbers are stereotyping and unfair, the truth remains that they aresurprisingly effective. If you want to reach a potential audience, you’ll need to spend some timeresearching these individuals and families and find out where to reach them. One of the biggest mistakes many first time advertisers make is to assume anyone cares aboutwhat they have to say. They don’t. Your job is to make them care through a quality campaign.While you and your friends and family members may be thrilled with your full color ad in the localpaper, most everyone else will just consider it one more thing to flip by on the way to the news. Ifyour ad is just like everyone else’s, this will go double. People stop and take a look at things thatare out of the ordinary. Sometimes the best ads make no sense at all upon first look. Sometimesthey even serve to annoy or aggravate the audience. This, surprisingly, is a rather effective form ofadvertising. While a certain percentage of people may see an irritating advertisement and make astatement like, “I will never shop there,”, a great percentage of these same people will not followthrough on this vow. They can hate your advertisement, they can fail to fully “get” youradvertisement. What they must not do is ignore your advertisement. Finally, find out what the competition is doing. Do it better. If they are having success advertisingon a certain channel, buy advertising during the same time slots and make your ads flashier, moredirect, and more creative than theirs. Advertising is a fascinating and expansive field, but it is alsocutthroat. Make sure you come ready to play hard.
