Advertising plan factors
Many factors have to be considered when making an advertising plan. Like the type of message to be delivered, the audience to be targeted, how they should be targeted, budget, etc. all of which depends on the nature of the advertisement.
Regarding the type of message to be delivered, try thinking from the point of the customer. What will impress him and catch his fancy? Note down points what the customer expects from the company and what advantage will he have when dealing with the company. Effort should be made to retain viewer or listener’s or reader’s interest in the advertisement until the end. This procedure is known as message selection.
The content
After creating the outline of the picture, pick lines that will actually attract the customer. The message shouldn’t be long enough to bore the customer. Some advertisers are under the illusion that more the matter written, the better the message delivered. Usually, they fear that they don’t miss out any information. This does nothing but decreases the effectiveness of the ad and customer is left unsatisfied.
For example, the heading of the advertisement shouldn’t be just “We Sell Clothes”, which is too precise. The liking of the people should be studied and the headline should be designed such that the customer feels that his needs are met. It should also take into consideration seasonal changes like If the season at that time is summer and there are lots of beaches around that area, the heading of the ad should be something like “Summer Clothes for Sale” or “Get the heat off – Buy Swimwear”. The body of the advertisement should talk about the necessities to switch to summer clothes like cotton clothing. It should discuss the health point of view too, like cotton cannot be used as swimwear as it will cause contamination, therefore the swimwear is made of synthetic material. Also, include lines about swimwear for overweight people.
Ad building
Ads are either traffic builder or relationship builders or reputation builder. Suppose the budget involved is less, the target should be a relationship builder. Because once the customers are established, they will start trusting the company and won’t switch to other companies. According to a research, it takes ten percent fewer resources to retain existing customers than attracting new customer. If the focus is on brand recognition, the advertisement should be traffic building.
The next point is whether the advertiser wants quick results or long-lasting results. If the quick result is desired, then a time limit should be levied. Like in case of seasonal sales, the customer hurries to get the advantage before the offer is over. So quick results are expected in this case. But the disadvantage with an advertisement with a time limit is that the customer is bound to forget about the product or the company within a short period and it doesn’t create a deep impact on the minds of the customer.
The competition
Competing against rival company’s advertising also contributes to a successful advertising plan. The power of the message should be compared to that of the competitors’. It doesn’t mean that the advertiser should use the same plan like his competitor, it would look like imitation and effectiveness will be decreased. But the advertisement should be planned smartly via a different and effective path, to out-do the competitor’s advertisement.
The description of the product is also very vital like suppose an advertisement is made for a restaurant, it will get customers immediately if it is attractive. But if the advertisement is for a computer, it won’t yield immediate results, as it’s not every day that someone buys a computer. This is called analysis of the purchase cycle.
If targeting for a higher impact, the newsletter is the best bet. But if the newsletters are sent to the real potential customers, then this approach should be adopted for message delivery. It should only be opted to be after thorough analysis, no matter what the budget is. Another important point is to always hire a professional advertiser or an ad writer because not hiring one will sometimes be more expensive and results in more losses.