Best Practices for a Successful Advertising Campaign

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an infinity symbol where the figure for your advertising budget should be? If only!

When it comes to advertising, most businesses will have a limited—or at least a finite—budget for campaigns. That’s why getting your ad campaign right the first time is crucial. Ad campaigns that aren’t effective at communicating your message or don’t resonate with your audiences will prove costly—not only in draining your business’s financial resources, but also in damage to your brand’s reputation.

At C-leveled, we’re all about solutions that power the best results. Here’s a guide to advertising best practices that can help you make the most of every advertising dollar—and ensure your advertising campaigns result in success.

Select your objective

Ad campaigns require clear goals and objectives. You can’t expect to achieve campaign success without knowing exactly what you actually want to get out of your campaign.

Whether you’re aiming for increased brand awareness or launching a new product or service, setting up clear, measurable objectives from the start will provide you with a roadmap for moving forward successfully.

Choose your advertising media

Your budget probably won’t cover all types of advertising media, and you shouldn’t be aiming to use all of them either. You want to define which outlets will be the most effective for your campaign and for your target audience.

A blended approach that uses a mix of traditional and social media advertising methods will help you cover your bases and avoid alienating customers.

And when you’re deciding which social media platform to advertise with, think back to your buyer persona and which social media outlets they prefer. Business professionals, for example, tend to favor LinkedIn, while you’re more likely to connect with a younger audience using channels such as YouTube. You need to be where your audience already is.

Determine how you’ll measure success

Tools like Google Analytics are great at showing you exactly how much engagement your campaign has generated. Decide your key metrics before you begin the campaign so have a better gauge for success.

Define your brand message

Your brand message is a critical piece of your campaign, one that determines the content and tonality of your ad copy, as well as the look, feel, and emotions you’re demonstrating throughout all of the visual and verbal elements. Here are a few key aspects that will help you define your brand message:

• Focus on benefits over features (what’s in it for the customer?).
• Make the brand the star, not the product you’re selling.
• Tell a story that inspires emotion.
• Create positive associations with your brand.
• Keep it simple and concise.
• Use a call to action.

Create a plan and execute it

Your plan for your campaign should include several critical steps, including deadlines, schedules, and budget allocation. You need everyone involved with the campaign to be fully aware of and on board with the plan, so they can play their part in it effectively.

Measure results and adjust accordingly

No campaign is ever 100% perfect. Scrutinize your process and your results and take away lessons for what you can improve next time. Adjusting your campaign will allow you to continually experience and increase success.

Throwing caution to the wind can be a great approach for a number of life situations, but it’s not a great strategy when you’re creating and managing ad campaigns. Maximize your campaign success by applying a best practices-based approach.