What makes advertising campaigns successful

Planning your campaign is just as important as designing the fun stuff, such as the creative advertisements and conversion assets. Before you create what your audience will see, you must consider what you want them to do when they see it … or read it or hear it. You get the gist. All you need to do is answer the questions — as accurately and in-depth as possible — to ensure a thorough, successful approach to your next marketing campaign.

Your responses to previous questions will guide your ideas and answers as you move along. This step is crucial to the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. The planning stage will determine how you measure success and will guide your team and campaign when things inevitably go awry. Why are you running this campaign?

What would you like your campaign to accomplish for your business? Take a look at the goals below. Which one is most aligned with your own?

This is hardly a definitive list, but it gives you an idea of some general business goals that a campaign could help reach. SMART goals keep you accountable and provide you with a concrete goal for which to aim.

Continuing with our example from above, turning our broad purpose into a SMART goal would look like:. The goal is Specific user-generated content , Measurable customers , Attainable via a branded Instagram hashtag , Relevant featuring the new product line , and Timely by December 31, See how my broad campaign purpose instantly transforms into an actionable, attainable goal?

Determining such distinct measures for your campaign is tough — I get it. But making the hard decisions now will make your life — and campaign — much easier in the future. This will look different for everyone. These answers will depend on your overarching campaign goal.

Here are a few examples of metrics based on the campaign objectives I mentioned above. Read more about these channel-specific metrics below. What outside of your goal would constitute success for you or serve as a milestone?

If your campaign involves boosting brand awareness and your goal is to reach 50 PR mentions by the end of the year, set up some benchmark notifications at 10, 25, and 40 mentions. This is one of my very favorite things to talk about because your alignment with your audience can make or break the success of anything marketing or sales-related … especially a campaign. Imagine constructing a bulletproof marketing campaign only to be met with crickets. Regardless of what it might be, all of those decisions come back to one thing: Your audience.

Are you trying to bring in new customers, or are you attempting to gather feedback from existing clients? Are you marketing your brand to those who recognize it, or are you introducing a new brand identity altogether? Your marketing message will vary depending on whether your campaign audience is in the Awareness, Consideration, or Decision stage.

For example, while your campaign might target current customers, it might also bring brand awareness to new consumers. Next, identify your audience interests and pain points. Here are some questions to ask yourself and your team to better understand your audience.

Becoming well-acquainted with your campaign audience will help you confidently answer these questions and any others that may arise during the campaign. Marketing campaigns are like their own brand. They require a mission, a vision, and a visual identity. Great campaigns are an offshoot of their parent brand, both visually and creatively — they stay consistent with the business brand but maintain their own identity.

When creating their campaign assets, some businesses use an in-house team while others opt for an agency. Another alternative is hiring a freelancer or contractor to complete a specific portion of the project, such as the copy or design. They are likely the experts on that portion of your business and can speak to what your campaign needs to succeed.

From there, I could assign the campaign to them, or outsource the creative part to an agency or freelancer. This stage is all about the public-facing part of your campaign, including what your audience will see and when. Therefore, a key aspect of advertising is consistency. Ideally, each consumer within the target audience should receive enough impact to remember the brand and its message, but not so much that it becomes annoying or saturated. It is also interesting to consider that impacts can be repeated through the same medium for example, watching the same TV commercial several times or transmitting the same message by adapting it to different channels cross-channel or multi-channel advertising.

Truly effective ads are increasingly personalized to the characteristics and needs of a particular user. For example, e-mails with personalized content like the one below by Sephora. These kinds of emails are activated when a user performs a certain action are a great example of how this can be used in advertising. Remarketing is another great use of personalized ads, especially for ecommerce or retail stores.

Because of its persuasive power, advertising should be controlled to prevent misleading information or unethical campaigns. While there are several public bodies that regulate the ethical aspect of advertising, it is also essential that advertisers and agencies take responsibility.

In the end, honest and clean advertising reflects the values of the advertiser, contributes to improving a brand's image, and is beneficial in the long run. Expert in online marketing, content management, social media strategy, and creation and optimization of campaigns in social ads. About Join us Funnel Advertising What is it? Digital Advertising 10 Characteristics of Effective Advertising. Home Blog. As campaigns continue, advertisers must vary their approaches and messages, since consumers' needs invariably change over time.

This goal is best accomplished by featuring images and personalities that reflect the intended audience. Above all else, effective campaigns must show actual changes in consumer behavior through revenue increases. Advertisers need catchy slogans to draw audience interest and generate word of mouth about the product. One of the most effective examples came during the s, with Wendy's Hamburgers' "Where's the Beef?

The company used the line throughout its print, radio and TV advertising, which political candidates and TV sitcoms quickly exploited to their own benefit, according to Alan Guinn on the Business 2 Community website. Such constant repetition creates an awareness that extends the campaign's reach without driving up the marketing budget.

No campaign succeeds without a measurable increase in revenue. You can see website traffic and — by using Beacon Links — track which channels, including email, are sending those visitors.

Plan for the length of time the campaign will run, have an action plan which incorporates all the different channels and which content is being used on each one and set Key Performance Indicators and metrics which you can measure and track once the campaign ends. This will inform your future efforts. Did you achieve your objective?

This will help you formulate the strategy for the next campaign. If your campaign was successful, plan to run the same one again next year, or look if it can be adapted to suit another project or service which people might be interested in.

Ultimately, the metrics you track will determine whether or not your efforts are working. Learn how to make your paid marketing campaigns more effective with Beacon.