Advertising: 3 Key Tips to Choose The Best Options

So there are a bunch of people who have decided that they were going to focus their advertising spending on social media. I’m excited that people are opening up to new and innovative ways of enlightening their target audience about their product. Let’s be honest though. If you don’t in some way make people aware that these platforms you are using that you are “Joining the conversation” all by your lonesome. You have to advertise, there are many traditional and non traditional ways to do this but it is easy to lose site of why and where. Denny’s is assessing their advertising situation this year as AdAge explains.

In one of the more noticeable absences in the ad lineup, restaurant chain Denny’s dropped out this year, despite two consecutive Super Bowl appearances, in 2009 and 2010, during which it promoted free-breakfast giveaways it claimed at the time were a great success. -Rupal Parekh from Advertising Age

When you begin choosing where you are going to advertise, you should put each option through the following discovery process to make sure you are choosing wisely.

Who is the Audience, really?
This is one that many advertisers spend more time on. This is only the beginning but it is arguably a great black and white way to choose or eliminate options. If you are a Business to Business company and your product appeals to business people, your first choice would not be Better Homes and Gardens. This is reducing to the ridiculous, but it helps to start there and work your way to some more specifics. Consider the Indianapolis Business Journal for this example. We know that business people read this but I can suggest two possible types. (1) A Small business person that is interested to see the business news so he can use it for sales data or lead generation (such as a copier sales person). They might be eying for expanding companies to call one. (2) High Level CEOs that are looking to assess the market place to either “keep up with the Jones’s” or know what their colleagues are up to. These two very different examples that may not be clear in the demographic. Start by defining your existing buyers and use that data to match to future events you will sponsor or print ads you will place, etc.

What is the attention situation like?
The Attention at an event vs the page in a magazine or a commercial on a TV show are all very different. It is furthermore very different for the type of audience. This will not only help you to define what your ad should look like but also if it fits in the environment. The attention of the consumer is very different in different environments. Perhaps people browse in Car magazines and do more reading of the news. If your product is visual, you might find the first is a better place for you even though the “attention” is arguably “less”. Don’t forget, a picture is worth a thousand words, which brings me to my next point – maybe you’re product requires educating the client – maybe blogging and article writing is the better choice. The same might loose the visual consumer but it improves conversion with the “left brain” individual.

What is the cost to close ratio?
How many people are going to potentially be exposed to this advertisement? How many of those people will respond? How many of those responses will turn into buyers? How many of those buyers will repeat purchase? Once you do the math, you can determine if it is cost effective in a space. It is possible to pay more money to be in front of more people and have it be a better choice, that is if it is more targeted to your audience (see tip #1). Also consider that ratio for $2500 furnace sales is different for $30 dog food that is purchase every week. You have to consider more than just the audience.

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redwall LIVE is an Indianapolis Marketing Company that provides Campaigns, Strategies and Tools for Successful Marketing.