There are many things to consider when making your advertising plan. You need to think about the type of message you want to deliver, your budget, what kind of audience you have in mind and the best way to target them. You should consider all types of advertising and spend as much time as you need on this, without rushing into something. Most advertising has to be paid for, so you won’t want to spend money on something that is unlikely to work.
You should try and think like one of your potential customers. What is going to impress him and catch his eye? What will he expect and want from your company? Your advertisement should be able to keep your viewer’s or reader’s attention until the end (this is called message selection).
When you have come up with an outline, choose some lines that will attract the customer. A long, boring message is a bad idea. Some advertisers seem to think the more you have to say, the better the message comes across. This is usually wrong because it decreases the ad effectiveness. A bored customer is not going to bother to read every word of a long, tedious ad. Something snappy and exciting is usually far better.
The heading of your advertisement is very important. It should not be something like “we sell beauty products” because this is too precise and not at all imaginative. Millions of companies sell beauty products so you are not going to stand out from the rest. The customer will not feel that his or her particular needs are being met. You can think about seasonal changes. If you are in the summer season and there are plenty of beaches, for example, you could say, “Sunscreen on sale here” or “Stay safe in the sun, sun lotion available”. The body of your advertisement should encourage the use of UV limiting products because of the dangers of getting burnt. You can also offer different products depending on your customers´ budgets and requirements. Not everyone needs factor 45 sunscreen but perhaps you sell glittery after-sun lotion for kids or moisture-rich creams for people with extra dry skin.
Your advertisements can be relationship builders, reputation builders or traffic builders. If you do not have a big budget, you should go for a relationship builder. Once you have customers, they will start trusting the company and will be loyal. Research has shown that it takes 10% less in resources to keep existing customers than to get new ones. The advertisement should be traffic building if you want to focus on brand recognition.
Think about whether you want long lasting results or quick results. If you want a quick result, you need a time limit. With seasonal sales, you need to sell your products in the season they are meant for. Umbrellas will sell better in the winter than the summer. The disadvantage here is that, with the short time limit, customers will forget the company quickly.
You can compete against a rival company’s ad to make your advertising more successful. You should try to out-do the competitor’s ad rather than imitate it.
The description of your product is very important. If you advertise a new café, new customers should begin coming immediately. If you advertise a new type of vehicle, you will be unlikely to see immediate results because it is not every day that someone thinks about buying a vehicle. This is called the analysis of the purchase cycle.
A newsletter is a good idea if you are targeting for higher impact. If your newsletters are sent to potential customers, this approach should be adopted for the delivery of your message. You should have a thorough analysis, no matter what your budget is. You should always hire a professional advertiser or ad writer for the best results because if you hire a bad one or do without one, this will work out more expensive in the long run, as you get fewer customers.
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