9.1 Introduction
AudienceAdvertising is the key element in marketing, and it
is the single element that makes the products and services sell.It is the element that makes the audience aware of what is
available in the market, and the element that targets a need and provides the
audience with a solution.
In this module, you will learn about the recipe for a
perfect advert. A good ad contains essential elements, and it is important to
learn about these to create successful adverts. This module will also tell you
about the different media through which advertisers can advertise, and offer
important tips on ad copy and how to make products/services sell with an
enticing copy.
9.2 Creating Ads for Different Media
MediumsAdvertising media are vehicles that carry advertising
messages. There are several options that can be used to advertise a
brand's adverts, and each of these medium have their own effectiveness and
target audience. Here are some of the different media available for advertising
and how they can work for you.
Online Ads
With the rise of digital platforms, online ads are popular
and highly effective. The internet is a virtual arena that companies can make
use of 24/7. This gives businesses a chance to target their audience any time
of the day irrespective of the place. It is also a global platform, which means
that when a brand is placing online ads, they will be seen by the world. Online
advertisement is also the first choice for many businesses because it is
cheaper than other advertising media like print, television, and outdoor.
Print
Print media is one of the most popular and effective forms
of advertising, and has been used for centuries. This media comprises of ads
that are physically printed on paper, and includes newspapers, magazines,
flyers, and brochures.
Radio
Radio is another medium available, though it is not as
highly effective as others for some businesses. This medium is voice only and
is effective for reaching out to those who are regular listeners of the radio.
TV
Television is a traditional, yet highly effective medium of
advertising. Television is a type of mass advertising, which can reach
customers of all ages. Television is still the most used medium for
advertising, as it is perfect for reaching out to the masses and spreading
brand awareness in the most attractive way. However, this medium is the most
costly as the advertiser has to pay for the production, time slots and
placements as well.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is an advertising medium that requires marketers
to send promotional print material by mail to the target audience. This medium
conveys the advertising message directly to highly targeted prospects to get
the desired results. Advertisers also often make use of direct mail to make
promotional offers to entice customers. These advertising promotions are sent
out by both post and email.
Direct mail is not always the best advertising medium as
such mail messages are often thrown into the bin, so those who use it must be
creative.
Outdoor Advertising
Another highly effective medium of advertising for brand
awareness and promotion of products and services is outdoor advertising. This
medium is quite popular and includes concise messages to target the audience on
the road. There are different methods to advertise outdoors, including
billboards, signage, bus exteriors, benches, and bus stops.
9.3 The Ingredients of a Good Advert
Advert
-A good advertisement is not made in a day. It takes a lot of hard work, planning, and research to
create a good advert. There are many ingredients that an advertiser needs to
remember when creating an ad to ensure that it not only has a high impact, but
also provides great results for the brand.
-A good advert is not only made to promote a new offer or a
product, but it is a smart message that creates a reputation for the brand.
-A good ad brings the audience close to the brand, making
them understand the company's main message and goal. It is not just a piece of
writing, pictures, or colours, but it is a complete concept that represents the
company and its message.
Therefore, when an advertiser is making an advert, they have
to look into each of the elements in detail. Advertising is the core of any
business' success. No matter how good a product or service is, if it is not
advertised in the most attractive manner, it will lose its purpose and charm.
Bad advertisements can hurt a brand and can make it hard to gain success in the
future.
Here are some of the prime ingredients of a successful
advert:
Make a Strong Connection with the Audience
A good advert is the one that the audience can relate to,
and if the audience cannot feel a connection, it will lose its charm and will
not be effective.
Every product and service is different from one another.
Therefore, advertisers need to look into the target audience and then design
ads that appeal to their target audience. Advertisers need to conduct proper
research to find out more about their target audience and the things that they
will connect to.
Memorable and Impressive
An advert is nothing if it is not impressive for the
audience. There are numerous advertisements that we encounter every day, and
this makes it difficult to remember all of the adverts we see. Therefore, if an
ad is not appealing and memorable, it loses its purpose and does not complete
the goal of bringing in more customers.
To make an ad memorable, advertisers must ensure that their
creation has the most appealing copy and visual elements. Visual elements are
not everything, however. Advertisers also need to focus on the advertising
message as an attractive ad without a message has no impact on the audience.
Meet Customer Needs
The best adverts are the ones that target customers'
problems and then offer them a sound solution. In order for advertisers to
design highly targeted ads, they need to first know their customers. If an
advertiser talks about a problem and then offers a good solution for it in
their ad, then the audience is more attracted to buy the product or service.
Entertaining for the Audience
Advertisements are also a form of entertainment for the
audience. When an ad is entertaining, the audience is automatically drawn
towards it and is easily impressed. The best adverts are those that are fun,
humorous and those that the audience will remember for a long time. Companies
should make sure they don't lose the essence of the brand, however, when adding
an entertaining spin to their advertisements.
Call to Action
How will a marketer get the desired results if their ads do
not have a call to action? A call to action is an essential part of advertising
because it gives the audience a direction or instruction to perform an action.
Without a call to action, the audience will not know what action they are asked
to take.
When advertisers add a call to action in their adverts, it
becomes easier for customers to take an action. By telling the audience what
you want, you can easily achieve your advertising goals. Call to actions should
be included in every advertising message..
Informative
It is important for adverts to provide relevant information
to the audience. To do this, advertisers need to ensure that they are providing
the audience enough information to make a purchase.
When it comes to advertising a new product, advertisers need
to tell the audience what the product is about, its benefits, and the problems
that it solves.
Do Not Complicate the Message
Sometimes advertisers make ads that are not easily
understood, and such adverts often lack a sense of connection, and this means
delivering no results at all. Advertisements are made for the audience and if
the audience does not understand the message, then the advert becomes useless.
Being simple is not just about using easy to understand words, but it is also
about the font and images that an advertiser picks.
Keep the Brand's Image Constant
Can you imagine Coca-Cola changing its colour theme to
yellow and green? This would have a huge impact on the brand, and it would
cause customers to no longer recognise Coke products on store shelves.
Therefore, the ads that advertisers make should always be in line with the
company's image.
When ads represent the brand as a whole, that is when it
becomes more effective and memorable. Following the brand's image in adverts
also makes it easy for the audience to guess the brand without even looking at
its name. Advertisers must design ads that help increase brand recognition,
which will also enhance the brand's reputation.
With these things in place, an advertiser can rest assure
that their ads will be successful and get the desired results. An advert is a mixture
of several ingredients. Leaving even a single ingredient out of the recipe can
make a huge impact on the success of the advert.
An advertisement should meet
customer needs, and advertisers should think like the audience, when designing
adverts. Testing these campaigns is a good way to make sure that the adverts
are perfect. Showing the campaign to a focus group and asking them about their
comments will give advertisers a complete idea of how their ads should and
should not be.
FACT
Population Acorn is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK's
population. It segments households, postcodes and neighbourhoods into 6
categories, 18 groups and 62 types.
Source: businessballs.com
9.4 Writing Adverts That Sell a Product
CopyAn advertisement becomes instantly more impressive when
it contains amazing copy, and advertisers commonly hire professional
copywriters to write creative copy for ads. The main purpose of spending so much money on copywriting is
that it has a high impact and can make the ad sell. Writing good ad copy is an art, and its impact on readers is
great. The ads that have a meaningful and high impact copy are the ones that
sell more.
Writing copy for an ad is not just about having creative writing
skills, but it is a blend of beauty, style, and idea. A copywriter needs to be
creative, but also needs to understand the purpose of the campaign that they
are writing copy for. They need to understand the idea that the marketer wants
presented to the audience, and then write copy that expresses that idea
perfectly.
Good copy is creative, yet practical. It should melt
people's heart, but should also persuade them to perform an action. No matter
how good the copy is, if it does not make the audience take an action, it is
useless.
Below are a few important factors that make a great
advertising copy sell:
-The Copy Must Be Attention Grabbing
-A good advertisement copy should capture the attention of
the audience.
Grabbing audience attention is the key to the success of an
ad. Therefore, if the copy of the ad is boring and poorly written, it will fail
to make any impact on the audience. Furthermore, the copy of any ad should make
the audience want to read it. The attention is usually grabbed with the help of
the headline, which is bold and more prominent than the rest of the copy.
It is not only about grabbing the attention using a hook or
a headline. The copy itself should be so interesting that the audience is willing
to read it till the end. If the copywriter writes an appealing headline, but
the copy is plain and boring, it will make the audience lose interest. The
moment the readers get bored, they will stop reading right there and then.
Below are a few tips to write a perfectly attractive copy
and keep readers hooked.
-The headline should be short, sweet, and impactful. It
should also be written in bold font, which will make it easy for the audience
to read it without any problem.
-Make use of catchy phrases and words to grab the audience's
attention.
-If necessary, quote the price of the product/service to
develop interest in the audience.
With these things implemented in a copy, advertisers can
entice the audience into reading the whole ad and get their message.
The Copy Should Be Convincing
What is the use of an ad that does not convince the audience
to buy your products and services? If an ad cannot positively impact the
audience, or it fails to convince the customers to buy, then it will be as good
as nothing.
Therefore, a copywriter needs to write an ad that easily
convinces the customers to buy their products and services or take their
desired action. Whatever the copy includes, it should make the audience believe
that your claims are credible. The copy should be such that the reader does not
take a second to doubt the quality of your products and services. It should
also represent your products and services in the most attractive light.
The Copy Should be Written in Simple Language
When writing copy for an advert, writers must keep in mind
that they do not need to impress the crowd with their vocabulary, and when
sending a message to the public, it is important to write in simple words and
language that everyone can easily understand. The writers need to think with
respect to their target audience, and they should use only those words and
phrases that the common man understands.
The Copy Should Hold a Suggestive Value
Advertisements should be meaningful and suggestive. The copy
should suggest the correct use and purpose of the product and service. The copy
must clearly define to the audience what your product or brand is really about.
Although it is not necessary to make the copy suggestive, having this element
makes the copy instantly more meaningful and impressive.
The Copy Must be Educational and Informative
An advertiser cannot just make the audience buy the products
without providing them with complete information about the product's use and
benefits. People are particular about spending their money, and when an
advert's copy does not give them enough education about the brand, product, or
service, they will not even bother to think about buying it.
The copy of the ad should tell the audience what the product
or service is, what it does, what its benefits and features are, where can it
be bought from, and a price estimate. This means that the copy of
advertisements should be educational and should clearly state information about
the product and service the advertiser is trying to sell. When the copy
contains information for the audience, they can easily come to a decision. This
also represents that the advertiser is thorough.
When writing copy for an ad, an advertiser should believe
that the product is new to the audience, as when people are not familiar with a
product, they will not pay attention to it. They also like to learn about a
product before considering buying it.
The Copy Should be Truthful
The purpose of ads is not to make products or services sell
without caring about moral values. This means that copywriters should not make
false claims in the copy just for the sake of selling the brand. The copy
should not represent false information or claims about the brand because this
will only end up making the brand look bad.
If the brand is not the best in the market, then it should
not be presented in such a way in the copy. Advertisement copy holds a lot of
importance in making a brand credible and successful, and it represents the
brand and its message. If the writer sends out misleading information, the
audience will end up doubting the brand as a whole and will never trust its
words ever again.
Disclosing facts about the product/service is also a good
way to win over customers' trust and make the brand look credible in their
eyes. Telling lies or making false claims is a useless selling tactic because
once the customers use the product, they will come to know everything about it.
The Copy Should Leave a Lasting Impression
An advertisement copy should be anything but boring.
Copywriters need to spend a lot of time to come up with a copy that is
extremely impressive and memorable. Writing such copy will make your brand
stand out from the others, and gain a good reputation in the eyes of the
audience.
A memorable copy also provides great results. It is not just
the copy that needs to be impressive, but the advertiser needs to ensure that
the brand name is repeated multiple times to increase brand recognition. There
are some brands that have created a strong impression on the audience, which is
why everyone remembers their names. Examples of some of these brands include
Nike, Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Ferrari.
The Copy Should Connect with the Audience
If the audience does not feel connected to your ad's copy,
they will not be impressed. Advertisements need to be written in such a way
that they are building a bond with the readers. If the audience does not relate
to the copy, they will not bother noticing the product/service.
Module Summary
Advertisements play a main role in making any brand a big
success. With the help of adverts, brands send their messages to the audience
to persuade them to take an action that is fruitful for the company. Therefore,
when advertisers are designing adverts, they must ensure that they are the
perfect representation of their brand.
A perfect advert is the one that has the desired effect on
the audience. It is such an ad that impacts the audience in a way that it hits
all check marks for the company's advertisement goals. A good advert is
designed after a lot of research and work. A professional copywriter can do
this for you, or you can choose to write an advert yourself if you feel
confident enough to take this on. Depending on the type of company you have,
you may find that it is best to hire an agency and let them handle all of your
advertising needs.
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