Advertising
What is advertising?
Advertising is a step within the marketing process in which brands produce a piece of media (called an advertisement, advert or ad) that encourages potential customers to buy a product or service. One of the main differences between advertising and other types of marketing is that you pay to distribute ads. In traditional advertising, you would pay a publisher for an ad spot or rent space from the owner of a billboard. In digital advertising, you would pay a platform, such as YouTube, Facebook, Google and websites. Advertising is one of the oldest marketing strategies, and as a result has a plethora of tested best practices. To get started on your advertising journey consider creating a blog or creating a website.
By 2026 global spending on advertising is set to hit a trillion US dollars. In 2020, according to Statista, Proctor and Gamble was the world's largest global advertiser - spending $8 billion on its advertising efforts. Overall worldwide advertising spend increased by 8% in 2022, with the US leading as the biggest ad spender.
Advertising vs marketing
Advertising and marketing are terms that are often used interchangeably, but they actually have very different meanings. Advertising is the process of creating awareness of a product or service through paid mediums such as television, radio, print media, digital media, and outdoor signage. These campaigns can also be created to attract new customers and strengthen existing customer relationships.
Marketing, on the other hand, is a broader term that encompasses all activities involved in creating a brand and communicating with customers. This includes advertising but also encompasses strategies such as research, product development, pricing, distribution, sales promotion, and public relations.
Brand advertising
Brand advertising is a type of advertising that focuses on creating an impression of a brand in the eyes of the consumer rather than just promoting a single product or service. It usually involves creating a cohesive, unified look and feel for all aspects of the company's products, services and image across all aspects of its advertising.
This might mean a unified style guide for every advertising resource created - from text, to copy to images and videos.
Goal of advertising
The primary goal of advertising is to effectively communicate a message or idea to an audience in order to influence their opinion, attitude, and behavior. Advertising aims to create brand awareness and attract new customers by promoting products, services, or ideas. It can also be used to strengthen existing relationships with current customers and remind them of what the brand stands for.
Advertising is an important part of any successful business strategy and has the power to significantly increase brand awareness, improve customer relationships, and ultimately drive sales.
But at the same time advertisers must also consider the legal and ethical considerations associated with creating an advertisement. These include topics such as copyright laws, privacy laws, and regulations regarding what types of advertising can be used in what areas. Companies must always make sure that any advertisement they create is compliant with applicable laws and regulations.
Advertisers should also take into account the potential impact an ad may have on their audience. It'd important to remember that the goal of advertising is to create an impression of what a company stands for and what it offers, not to manipulate people into making purchases.
Benefits of advertising
Depending on the types of ads you use and the way you position them, advertising can achieve a wide variety of benefits. Mainly, a quality advertising campaign can help your business:
Increase brand awareness
Educate and attract customers
Increase sales
Compete with other companies
Types of advertising
There are four major types of advertising: print advertising, online advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising and outdoor advertising.
Print advertising
Print advertising refers to ads in magazines, newspapers, brochures, fliers and direct mail. Although it has lost popularity since the advent of online advertising, most consumers trust it over advertising formats.
Online advertising
Online advertising is popular as an advertising format because it is efficient and affordable, plus it offers an easily measured return on investment. For example, when you advertise on Google you pay-per-click (PPC), which means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Formats like Reddit advertising allow you to hone in on niche target markets. Similarly, local advertising allows you to target consumers who live or spend time in a specific area.
TV and radio advertising
TV advertising is the most expensive type of advertising—it can cost anywhere between $63,000 and $8 million dollars, depending on the level of production value and the network ad slot you purchase. Radio advertising, on the other hand, is quite inexpensive, as an advertising format, since there is less production involved and fewer competitors for radio ad slots.
Outdoor advertising
Outdoor advertisements are ads that appear outside of the home, such as billboards and signs.
Advertising strategies
These advertising strategies can help you build a strong campaign:
Media planning
Media planning is an advertising strategy that supports your decision-making process. It will help you decide what types of advertising to use, how much money to spend, when to place the ads and how frequently the advertisements should appear. The media planning process has five steps:
Market research and analysis
Establish the media objectives
Develop the media strategy
Execute the plan
Evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign
Determine if any follow-up is necessary
Retargeting
With retargeting tools, you can promote your campaign to people who visited your website and encourage them to finish their buyer’s journey.
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How to make an ad
Every ad campaign works to achieve different objectives. Awareness and desire campaigns help build a positive image of a brand. Interest and action campaigns have the more direct goals of encouraging the target audience to purchase a product or service. To develop your advertising campaign, take the following steps:
01. Establish your business goals
Because each type of campaign achieves a different objective, the first step in developing an advertising campaign is to determine your business goals. Do you want to develop brand awareness, promote a new product or differentiate your company from the competition? This decision will help you determine ad distribution options, define your budget and develop the creative strategy.
02. Determine your target market
Define your target market (the consumer group most likely interested in your product or service) and use that insight to tailor your ad copy and distribution strategy. Age, gender and income bracket are important demographics in advertising, but education level and marital status are also useful.
03. Define your budget
The goal of an ad budget is to figure out how to keep costs as low as possible while still meeting your goals. You’ll need to look over your bookkeeping to establish a reasonable limit. For example, holiday ads are more expensive, but they also offer a bigger payoff. If you advertise online, you’ll have to get a bit more granular with your budget.
04. Decide on media platforms
Once you have established your goals, audience and budget, you can decide which advertising types will be the most impactful. Determine if you’ll go with more traditional advertising, such as radio or newspaper ads, or digital advertising, such as social media or video advertising.
05. Build a creative strategy
Narrow down your focus to a consistent message with effective visuals that meet your specific campaign goals. Add a clear call-to-action (CTA) that encourages viewers to take the next step. Make sure your tone and visuals align with your brand image.
06. Determine your advertising KPIs
Determining your KPIs, or key performance indicators, is an essential step in the ad development process. These metrics help you refine your advertising strategy over time. Some of the most commonly used advertising KPIs include:
Cost per click (CPC) measures how much each ad click costs.
Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) tells you how much you spent on a thousand impressions, which refers to views or user engagement.
Click through rate (CTR) measures the effectiveness of a campaign.
Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the average amount a company earns per customer.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) tells you how much it will cost you to gain each new customer.
Return on advertising spend (ROAS) tells you how much money you earned per dollar spent on an ad campaign.
07. Write the ad copy
Because the text in your ad is limited, every word counts. Marketers will spend days pouring over a single line of ad copy. Use language that will make your target audience feel like you’re talking to them, and add emotional appeals whenever you can.
08. Create a campaign landing page
Landing pages are standalone web pages that have direct messaging and a specific intent. Your online advertisements will link to a landing page that helps potential customers understand your promotion and easily make a purchase. These landing page templates can help you start.
Free advertising sites
If you’re working with a particularly tight budget, look into free advertising sites. Platforms like Google My Business, Better Business Bureau and Yelp can help you boost traffic to your website and improve organic search engine rankings.
Best advertising examples
Here are a few memorable examples of advertisements to get you in a creative mindset:
Data shows that 60% of men’s body wash buyers were women. So, Old Spice’s Super Bowl commercial, “The man your man could smell like,” addressed women instead of men. Four months after the campaign, sales were up by 60%.
When lockdowns canceled travel plans, Audible made a video and audio marketing campaign called “Fly Audible” that mimicked vintage airline ads to tap into the consumer’s yearning to escape.
An ad agency designed a transit ad that made buses appear as if they were being crushed by giant snakes to promote the city zoo. The ad was so successful that the agency expanded the campaign to subways and won multiple awards.
You can check out more advertisement examples here.