Advertising is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools businesses use to inform and remind consumers about their products or services. But advertising does not only help spread the word about your products or services and gets your brand on your customer’s radar – it is also effective in making customers choose you over your competition.
Through advertising, you’re telling potential customers why they should want what you’re offering, which ultimately helps boost your sales. You can also address your message directly to your target audience by choosing the best channels to reach them based on their lifestyle, behavior, and preferences.
Meanwhile, consistent advertising placements can help you stay in touch with your existing customers, keeping your brand fresh so they remember you the next time they need a product or service. When this happens, they’ll be more likely to spread the word about you to others.
However, not all advertisements can succeed or drive the results you want for your business. Firstly, ads should be disruptive as they need to grab the customer’s attention away from day-to-day thoughts long enough to engage with your brand.
Other than this, advertisements must also seamlessly integrate with other marketing instruments and aspects of the business to be truly effective. As with any efficient marketing support, a solid positioning strategy should be the foundation of your advertising campaigns, making your ads credible, distinctive, and unforgettable. No matter the channel used, your advertisements have to convey a clear and consistent image of your brand’s unique value proposition.
Types Of Advertising
Regardless of the size of the campaign or amount of spending, it cannot be denied that advertising is beneficial for any business. However, its success also depends heavily on the marketing strategy and the manner of execution, which must resonate with the brand’s target audience.
Different types of advertising cater to various channels and audiences, and a successful campaign can blend a number of distinct yet interrelated initiatives. But while your core message and its visual execution are both critical in advertising, choosing a delivery platform for your message is just as crucial.
You can choose from many platforms, ranging from digital channels like social media, search engines, email, and websites, to more traditional media such as print, television, and radio. Whatever channel you end up in, remember that it must align with the customer demographic you aim to reach.
Traditional advertising is the most well-known of these channels and involves popular media such as television, radio, and print. Then as the internet rose in usage and acceptance, digital advertising gained significant importance, which includes search engine and social media advertising, display advertising, and email advertising.
Mobile advertising also became more prevalent, with SMS, apps, and in-game advertisements gaining more traction among customers and advertisers. Outdoor advertising, for its part, maintains its own appeal by targeting consumers when they are outdoors, with its design intended to catch people’s attention in public places, transportation platforms, and along roadsides.
Using Outdoor Advertising To Help Your Business Grow
One of the greatest advantages of outdoor advertising is that it can reach a broad audience as long as it is executed strategically. Unlike other ad formats, customers have no option to click the skip button, change the channel, or flip the page when encountering an outdoor ad, which ensures that the brand message is absorbed more effectively. This is why outdoor advertising is crucial in building brand recognition and visibility, particularly in areas with high foot traffic.
While billboard placement is the most popular format for outdoor advertising, this can incur substantial costs, thus limiting the opportunities for small businesses and individuals seeking promotion. Moreover, with more than 340,000 billboards across the United States, it can be challenging for your brand to grab customers’ attention using this format.
Fortunately, recent advancements have seen the introduction of new outdoor platforms tailored for small to medium-sized businesses, making it easier for them to market their offerings and make a name for themselves in the public eye. More creative and eye-catching methods such as vehicle wraps, banners, lamp posts, pylon signs, posters, and advertising on public transportation such as buses, taxis, and trains serve as the much-needed springboard for small businesses to realize their full potential.
However, the choice of platform ultimately depends on the profile and behavior of your target audience, as well as their frequent location. Remember that the larger your audience, the better the results tend to be when it comes to outdoor advertising.
Creativity, too, is a pivotal factor because people are drawn to what they visually consume. If your ad is distinct and targeted toward a specific segment of customers, it will have a higher chance of attracting attention. As such, you must always strive to present something unexpected that instantly captures the viewers’ interest.
For example, billboards typically excel when positioned close to the advertised business because it increases the ad’s relatability as well as the customers’ interest in the featured brand. On the other hand, transit advertising works better in targeting commuters, mainly when featuring simple and straightforward visuals and messages, because it enables the viewers to understand what you are trying to say at a glance.