Advertising strategy

1.1 You may need to create awareness of something, or change customer attitudes.

• Creating a reputation as the market leader may allow you to increase your prices and win long-term contracts.
• Building brand awareness for a product makes the product easier to sell. It also makes it easier to launch new products.
• Making consumers feel good about your company can boost sales.

1.2 You may need to convey a specific one-off message to your market.

• For example, informing people of a special offer, or a particular benefit of your product.

1.3 You may need to prompt a specific action, such as the customer visiting your premises.

• If you are building up a database of leads, your objective might be to gather the contact details of potential customers.
• If your product is suitable, your objective may be to create sales there and then.

1.4 You may need to address your existing customers, rather than win new ones.

• Keeping up front of mind awareness encourages customers to consider you first when they place their next orders.

2.1 Who are you trying to reach?

• What common characteristics define your target market?

  For example, consumers in the same geographical area or individuals from the same socio-economic background.

• Decide if you want to reach end-users or intermediaries.
• Be clear who makes the buying decision.

2.2 Which media will best reach your target market (see 4)?

Advertising is only cost-effective if it reaches a readership which significantly overlaps with your target audience.

2.3 Could advertising carry the right message?

• In general, advertisements work best when they carry a concise message.
• The form of the advertisement may physically limit what you can say.

  For example, web adverts work best if your message can be boiled down to three or four words.

Your advertisement, and the media in which you advertise, must suit your image.

2.4 Would advertising work within your timescales?

• Preparing an advertisement for publishing or broadcasting can take time.

2.5 Are there cost-effective alternatives?

For example:

• Direct mail with a mailing list that more closely matches your target market.
• Personal selling to build relationships with high-value customers.
• Merchandising, packaging and point-of-sale materials for consumer purchases.
• PR for building your reputation over the longer term.
• Trade exhibitions and conferences.
• An e-newsletter that drives traffic to your website.

3.1 How much do you normally spend?

• How much did you spend last year, and how effective was it, in relation to your business objectives?

3.2 What are your competitors doing?

• If your competitors are advertising heavily, you may need to match their activities.
• If a new competing product has been launched, you may need to fight off the competitive threat.

3.3 How far are you from achieving your objectives?

• If you are launching a new product into a new market, you may need to spend heavily to achieve customer awareness.
• If your product is already well established, you may only need a few advertisements to keep up front of mind awareness.

3.4 What is your advertising worth to you?

• What sales margins do you make and how much repeat business can you expect?
• What is the lifetime value of a new customer?
• Are you considering a brand-building investment? Are you planning a short-term sales drive or longer-term awareness?
• How effective do you expect your advertising to be?

Check that your budget is realistic. How many extra sales do you need to generateto justify your spend?

3.5 What media can you afford to consider?

• The cost of the media does not always equate to its potential power. A simple entry in an online directory can generate a lot of enquiries, for example.

4.1 The choice of media is vast.

It is likely that you will need to advertise in more than one ype of media to be effective.

• Observe where your competitors advertise.

  Consider using more than one type of media and marketing method (see box).

• Search online to see how easy it is for your customers to find your website.

  The internet is generally the first place customers go.

• Ask a selection of people from your target market what they read, watch, listen to and which websites they visit.
• Look in BRAD (www.bradinsight.com).
• Consider the use of a specialist media buying agency to help you.

4.2

4.3 Choose the media that match your needs. Ask yourself some key questions:

• How many members of your target group read a particular publication or visit a certain website and how often?
• Does the publication or site have the right image for your advertisement?
• How much will your ad cost to produce?
• How much will the ad cost to run?

4.4 Ask newspaper and magazine advertising departments for media packs.

• Look for circulation figures audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
• Ask for a readership profile, analysing characteristics and spending habits of readers, including the proportions in socio-economic groups A, B, C1, C2, D and E.
• Examine advertising rates for different sizes and types of advertisements, and different positions.

4.5 Investigate the scope for negotiation.

• You might get a discount for taking unsold ad space at the last minute.
• You might be able to have a larger ad or a better position for the same price.
• Extra discounts may be available for repeat advertising.
• The cost of your internet advertising could be based on clicks or sales.

Smaller media (eg local papers and trade press) are usually more open to negotiation.

5.1 Your advertising campaign is just one part of your marketing strategy. Make sure it is suitable for your product or service.

• For example, ads to generate immediate sales are not effective for products that require demonstrating, or that need special skills or knowledge to operate.

5.2 Your strategy should be based around promoting a single, solid benefit.

It is not enough to say 'the best' or 'free'.

• You must know what motivates your target audience to buy.
• Make your message stand out and keep it simple.

5.3 Consider the timing of your campaign.

• When are your target customers likely to be most receptive to your ad?

  Plan well in advance. Some media gets booked up many months ahead.

• When do you want your targets to respond and what is the likely lead time from advertisement to action?
• Will you be able to handle the response?

  Make sure your response is professional and carefully planned.

6.1 Most of your sales advertising can be monitored simply and directly.

• Always ask new enquirers how they heard about you.
• Use coded advertisements.

  Ask enquirers to quote the code when they respond to your ad. You will be able to trace which ad generated the response.

• Use reply coupons in print adverts.

  You will be able to trace the source of the coupon, as well as obtaining information on the potential customer.

• Make use of the readers' reply services in trade journals.
• Use a dedicated telephone number for each campaign. Freephone numbers are a decisive factor in increasing call volumes and can be obtained and pointed at your normal phone line for free.

  The call statistics will show you which advert is performing best.

6.2 Calculate the total costs of your campaign and weigh them against the response.

Your advertising will not be effective if it is not backed up with trained staff, brochures, adequate stock levels and the ability to live up to the promise of the advertisement.

Make sure you have allowed for all the likely costs. For example:

• The cost of buying advertising space.
• Design costs, including print preparation.
• Brochures and other literature.
• The fulfilment cost (goods, postage, delivery, employee costs and so on).

6.3 Some ads may generate many responses but convert few to sales. If your conversion rate is poor, something is wrong.

• Review your brochure or follow-up literature. It may not provide enough information or live up to the promises made in the advertisement.
• Check the employees who are handling the response. Telephone staff may not be sufficiently trained in the right areas.
• Re-examine your price structure. The price you are offering may be unsuitable for your target market.

Advertising which leads to a large number of enquiries that do not convert into sales will work out very expensive per sale.