Marketing
Advertising has lurked around all corners to become an integral part of our life. All that your families or acquaintances have been purchasing to date result from advertisements, one way or another. And despite ever-changing social trends that keep transforming our mindsets, marketing and branding strategies will not likely get off the hook soon.
Smart investors would love to learn how to optimize the benefits of advertising, and our inclusive guideline is here to deliver exactly what you need. Keep scrolling for more revelation on the matter.
What Are The Benefits of Advertising?
Advertising is recognized for its undeniable upsides – not just for businesses and brands alone, but also customers and people working in the advertising industry (copywriters, art directors, and marketing specialists). This section will identify each of such benefits.
1. Advertising Makes The Business Stand Out
There is hardly a more efficient way to highlight what your brand offers than advertisements and marketing.
Such an approach allows you and your team to view specific points the services or goods are expected to address, giving customers a choice to decide whether there are worthy values to consider.
And based on subsequent performance and metrics, both the advertisements plans and the products’ quality might undergo more upgrades/adjustments, strengthening business-customer communication and further setting the label apart from its rivals.
Note that every customer has different preferences – even regarding the same service and products – all the more reason for businesses to utilize advertisements and promote their offerings proactively. These phenomena also lead us to the second point, which is…
2. Companies Can Expand Their Reputation to Multiple Population Groups and Markets Simultaneously
Prosperous businesses should not be content with only one type of customer. Through advertising – and how these advertisements resonate with different audiences – brands can investigate their primary, potential clients and which demographics they belong to.
Better yet, with efficient marketing – both through unpaid and paid platforms – the company can test the water in various markets to decide the best place for the marketing message to exert its intended influence.
3. Advertising Pays Full Attention to Each Population Group
This sentiment might sound contradictory to our above point (reaching multiple groups at the same time), but it is not.
Once businesses single out potential customers and the most efficient marketing formats for each audience type (emails? Commercials? Or Advertising blasts?), future advertisements will naturally adjust to fit their respective clients and their personalized needs.
Brands may step up the game further by creating niche presentations through whitepapers, Ebooks, PDF downloads, and other written content to showcase their expertise.
Not to mention, through proper research, the branding messages may correspond nicely with the circumstances or times when consumers finally feel their pain point (“pain points”: the problem/ dilemma that needs resolution – in this case, the brand’s service or product).
Successful conversions will likely transpire, forming an amazing networking chance to help customers acknowledge value propositions and connect better with the brands.
Logo recognition is no longer the major focus. Instead, niche advertisements aim to build loyalty by showing customers what the products can do for them – rather than what should happen.
4. Advertising Paves The Way for Global Cultures
Most global events involving services, goods, and active participation require great advertising content for increased exposure. Take the Olympic or World Cup Games, for example, whose budget cycle reaches several billion for advertisements alone.
As these events work with different strategies and sponsorships to boost brand awareness, people from various companies and country cultures are given a golden opportunity to join hands and support common goods.
Even something as trivial as advertising a youth football league still rewards businesses with great benefits. Yes, such benefits are more localized than those in international campaigns; still, that does not mean they cannot foster global cultures within the community.
5. Advertising Raises Voices on Social and Moral Issues
Corporations that show concern and empathy for societal issues will likely earn more support from the public – and advertisements are the best way to emphasize their standing.
From a moral perspective, they also benefit our society: after all, cyberbullying, homelessness, and similar dilemmas would never reach consumers the same way they do now without conscious marketing efforts involved.
Production costs required for such advertisements to work are not cheap. Nevertheless, the financial and moral values brought about are more than enough to compensate for that investment.
6. Advertising Always Creates Economic Benefits
Here is one interesting fact: advertising spawns more than 20 million positions and jobs in the U.S. alone. That is to say, advertising is always needed – whether it’s an ultra-local project or international campaign, writing or graphic design, creative careers or sales-based opportunities.
When successful advertisements occur, the business expands its revenues and branches and, in turn, needs even more advertising approaches to make these new branches known. Hence, anyone working in the advertising industry – and doing their job well – never has to worry about potential layoffs; there will always be a place in the market for them.
Aside From The Benefits of Advertising, Does It Have Drawbacks?
Advertisements only shine best where they belong; otherwise, expect the following drawbacks on the horizon:
1. Overshadowed by Other Ads
The surge of advertising trends exposes an average customer to at least 2000 branding messages everyday. A campaign can only succeed when the brand manages some ways to stand out amidst that cluster.
Worse, people only take five seconds (sometimes even less) to look at the advertisement. Should the material fail to strike a chord in them, the remaining content of that ad will be left forgotten.
2. Results Not Guaranteed
Businesses spent over 5 million dollars on Super Bowl TV advertisements in 2020 – a mind-blowing investment.
But does every dollar of that 5 million translate to sales? There are no guarantees. While numerous brands witnessed significant sales increase that night, others still came out of the deal empty-handed.
100% success is not always possible with advertising. Businesses must be aware of that risk whenever their advertisement campaign is launched.
3. Small Firms Might Take Huge Blows from Expensive Advertising
Every one thousand viewers for a short commercial (30 seconds) on local stations cost $5 at minimum.
Considering other relevant expenses involved (ex: payment for each member of the creative team, revenue renting, etc.), it would not be surprising that $10,000 in total is needed to buy TV airtime and produce materials.
Larger-scale national ads will charge significantly more, demanding $115,000 for a thirty-second slot. Imagine spending that much money and still not profiting; that could be the end of a start-up business.
4. Businesses Must Invest in Multiple Platforms
Potential clients are more likely to get familiar with a particular brand or label if they are frequently exposed to these products/services via various platforms. Such conventional media include:
- Print media
- Digital/TV ad
- Radio
- Online blogs
And that is only to name a few. Many businesses even invest in over 100 platforms to reach their clients. Pooling money, time, and effort to utilize all those formats can be quite exhausting.
5. Good Advertising Needs Interesting Content
Effective advertisements must leave a strong, memorable impact on their audiences.
Remember Demolition Man, Taco Bell’s production film that makes all science fiction fans rejoice? Or the Coca billboard exploding in Superman that strikes some nostalgic touches to fans of old superhero tropes? These are all some of the greatest examples for businesses to follow.
That is why one-size-fits-all content or mindless brand imitation will never do. Each company must spend a huge portion of its budget on innovative, cutting strategies to stay relevant in the competition.
6. Bad Advertising Might Taint The Brand’s Message
No businesses wish for that to happen, yet such disasters may pop their ugly heads and make the brand’s message stick in all the wrong way.
Audiences cannot help but question, “What were they even thinking while making this commercial?” As mistrust and skepticism spreads among people like fire, the brand’s reputation will be shaken and eventually collapse.
7. Advertisements Can Be Annoying and Conflicting
The U.S. citizens understand that more than any other country, especially when election seasons are around the corner. Political ads dominate every television and radio station, with conflicting and inconsistent messages that only grow more and more tiresome.
Commercial businesses are sometimes subjected to the same issue. Excessive advertising (to the point of downright spamming) discourages customers from learning more about the products; they will strive to avoid the brand altogether. And new technologies give people much more active choices regarding that matter. For instance:
- Internet popup filters eliminate every ad that may pop up while customers are online.
- Broadcast or commercial networks can be skipped when TV programs are recorded for later viewing.
- Viewers might turn off the TV during commercial breaks amidst live shows.
Millions of dollars invested in advertisements will go down the drain!
How to Optimize The Benefits of Advertising? Tips to Be Successful With Your Ads
Success is, unfortunately, not for everyone. To guarantee your business or campaign does not fall into the negative end of the spectrum, always keep these factors in sight during your planning:
1. What Sets Your Competition Apart From Others?
As mentioned, people encounter advertisements of all types almost every day.
What would draw their attention to yours, entice them from beginning to end, and convince them the products are worth a shot? These are all questions you must focus on in your planning.
Do a quick investigation to pinpoint all aspects other brands rarely pay attention to, and use them as the ultimate weapon to step up your reputation several notes. Make it clear to customers why your brand is the Number 1 choice that leaves all competitors in the dust.
The “Share A Coke” 2011 campaign by Coca-Cola is the strongest token of such policy, whose success is still analyzed and discussed a decade later.
Coca understood the younger generation’s dire need to connect and strengthen personal relationships – an aspect most other beverages failed to focus on. In response to that demand, the brand launched a global project to swap traditional-casing Coca with bottles imprinted by common first names. (Ex: “Share Your Coke With Lucy,” Share Your Coke With John”).
By the end of the project, Coca’s sales increased by 2.5%, most of which arrived from teens. The company also achieved raving success in reshaping popular culture: ever since “Share Your Coke,” Coca and the image of youth have always gone hand in hand.
2. Grab Attention With Powerful Headlines
Scanning things within seconds has become an instinct at this point; aside from unemployed people, nobody has that much time to read every advertisement one by one.
It is a must for ambitious businesses to keep their attention right from the beginning – and there are no better means for that purpose than a strong and effective headline.
A recruiter from TargetPublic shared quite an interesting recruitment story: a few weeks back, someone sent him his newsletter with bold, strong titles: “Will You Hire Barack Obama?”
That catchy heading instantly caught the CEO’s attention, driving the HR team to the website for a full article reading. And there was a happy ending for everyone: the CEO requested several sales calls for the upcoming week.
Always keep these critical inquiries in mind: “Who do you want to attract?” “What is the best thing to catch their attention?” And you are good to go.
3. Make An Offer Impossible to Refuse
Buyers love bargains like moths love fire. Offer them a great deal that beckons their return to your brand over and over again.
Whether it is an extremely unbeatable price tag, free shipping, bundled package, or free trials, striving to settle immense benefits for loyal clients always guarantees success. And once you have thought of something great and irresistible, ensure the brand advertises it proudly.
Sure, there might be sane people who still have it in them to turn down the offer. But trust us, that decision will not be easy.
Norton Antivirus clients are the most prominent examples. As a software company delivering antivirus products, the brand has done an extremely outstanding job increasing their offer values.
How so? By putting more emphasis on the LOSS (cases in point: expensive repairs removing the virus from the computer, the deletion of important documents, personal data leaks), Norton turns their products into a MUST-HAVE item rather than something optional.
Further convinced by other discount programs and free-shipping services, people flock to Norton products as if they were a lifeline.
4. Make An Advertorial
“Advertorial” refers to “advertisements that mimic editorial formats.” In simpler terms, they are ads that resemble news articles.
Why the trouble? Here is the reason: people are tired of excessive ads and will likely skip them without reading. But adverts in the form of informative articles are a different story. Readers are more likely to let down their guard around them.
Even better, once customers realize these articles contain practical information and tips that can help them with their problems, they will keep reading non-stop, despite your true intention (advertising) eventually being revealed.
One great case study is the stock advertisement in Wall Street Journals about six decades ago (old, but still relevant for our businesses). The article ran with its huge heading “What You Should Know About This Bond and Stock Business,” tactfully hiding the ad within its 6540 mammoth words.
The company received at least 10,000 inquiries per day. What a result!
5. Take Away Customers’ Fear With Your Risk-Free Offerings
People always tread carefully around each investment – for a good reason: too many substandard products and scammers have plagued the market.
Customers fear that their blood, sweat, and tears might have gone to the wrong place and end up being wasted. If your products and services trigger such fear in them, chances that they stick to your brand will be unlikely.
The best thing to do is to remove these doubts, encouraging people to give your brand a shot through win-win, risk-free policies.
Such a technique is named “risk reversal,” where the risk for buyers is “reversed” to be placed on the sellers instead. Customers will feel more confident if the brand publicly announces to take care of any mishaps or unexpected incidents.
Famous brands have adopted this strategy since forever, though we must admit Warby Parker (the renowned glass and eyewear brand) does it better than most.
It offers customers a 5-day free trial, allowing clients to choose five frames (maximum) to use AT HOME at ZERO costs before settling on their purchases. Buying risks are literally non-existent.
6. Make The Offer Seem Urgent
Good advertisements do not just plant seeds and leave them untouched. They must urge people to move quickly and do something NOW.
Otherwise, customers will shrug and tell themselves, “That’s nice, I will try it soon,” only to forget about your products 30 minutes later. That is how most businesses lose touch with potential clients!
Try to give your offers a sense of urgency. Here are some of the most common methods:
- Make the offer limited to short periods. Upon realizing their deal is only up for a few days or even hours (meaning they can never get that same deal at any other time), people will be much more inclined to take action.
- Cut off the prices in seasons/events where the products are handy. Take Christmas, for instance; who would buy Christmas tree decorations in Spring or Summer? Optimizing the advertisements around the Christmas season will do your brand wonders.
7. Use Reviews and Testimonials
Customers are getting more cautious over their purchases these days (especially for online services) – all the more reason to persuade them your products will never disappoint them. One of the most effective ways is to collect satisfied reviews from past customers who are pleased to work with your brand.
Unbeknownst to some, one great customer review – with detailed accounts of the product’s offerings – can bring in 2x sales than ten repeating company ads. After all, for most buyers, opinions from like-minded people with similar concerns are more trustworthy than empty promises from a label they barely know about.
Dip those testimonials/reviews in your ads, on the official website, or in other public places where potential clients can easily track them down. They increase the label’s credibility and trustworthiness, while also saving customers hours of research.
8. Use Exciting Visuals
Visual has been all the rage in recent years. Only outdated brands would use plain text on white backgrounds and force people to squint their eyes reading all the time – and that is to say, if they even bother to read it in the first place.
Implement more exciting visuals to boost the advertisement’s appeal; the least you can do is include concrete and clear pictures that are sure to draw eyes.
These photos can either be taken by yourself or bought/downloaded from other sources. All is up to you; get wild with your creative vision.
9. Leave Contact Information
An elementary mistake – more common than we thought – is the lack of contact information at the end of the billboards, posters, magazine ads, and advertisements. Seeming trivial as it is, that forgetfulness makes all the brand’s marketing efforts in vain.
Avoid such blunders. You have been doing a great job telling them what you sell; it is time to inform them WHERE to get those benefits.
Adding a small website link to the ads also poses other advantages:
- People impressed with your website’s layout and services will likely turn themselves into loyal, returning clients.
- Tracking the leads, metrics – and other relevant measurements that reflect the campaign’s efficiency – will be easier. If the results do not turn out as well as expected, you may trace back to where the problem ensued and make necessary changes from there.
FAQs
What Are Some Common Mistakes In Advertising?
The failure to understand their target audience and personalize/localize the advertisements accordingly has been the downfall of even the largest industry giants.
Can Advertising Be Free?
Yes. Email newsletters and word-of-mouth advertising does not cost a dime.
Conclusion
Refusal to utilize and optimize the benefits of advertising will put your business a hundred miles behind competitors. If you are still perplexed, let Leading Digital accompany you in every advertising campaign from A to Z. Contact us now to start planning the path to your victory!
