Best strategies for an advertising campaign

Do you want to better penetrate the market? Maybe it's time to think about strategies for a new advertising campaign.

Competition today is brutal. More and more companies and agents are selling products and services at cheaper prices. Being good is no longer enough of a selling point, so if you don't adapt, you'll be out of the market before you know it.

A campaign is the perfect platform to get your business out of stagnation. Sell more products, get new customers and get your website's numbers moving.

Read on to find out how you can strategize your next advertising campaign.

What is an advertising campaign?

An advertising campaign is a set of elements that have the purpose of promoting a service or a product that belongs to a single company. Here all the pieces must be related to each other, so the slogan, message, colour and style must have the same tone of communication.

The advertising campaign is characterised by having to specify the media in which the idea will be promoted, be it radio, television, press or digital media.

Once this has been defined, you can think about the type of campaign that best suits you to promote your product.

Structure of a campaign

We cannot talk about structuring a campaign if we have not first studied the product that we are going to launch on the market. Here you must take into account elements such as the reputation of the service and the needs it solves for customers. 

Let's take a look at the most common structure used today:

1. The brief

This is a report containing all the basic information about the company, product, service and even the competition. 

This document is worked on together with the client, so you should get together right away to start putting together the basics of your campaign. 

2. Group approach

On the other hand, we have the target group approach, which is basically the selection of the target group. 

In short, in this stage we segment and define the so-called target group and this includes relevant data such as: 

• Demographic information

• Geographic information

• Socio-economic information

• Consumer interests. 

3. SWOT analysis

How many times have you heard this word? Without a doubt, every publicist must manage it to perfection, especially when it comes to managing a promotional campaign. 

So, the idea is to determine the threats and opportunities for growth in the market and then take action. 

4. Communication problems

Now we find communication problems. These are the potential problems you will have in getting your message across to your target group.

There are many challenges that can arise, from not finding the right media to send the message, to using the wrong tone, to not being able to decipher the metrics of the campaign.

Being aware of this in advance will allow you to prepare for potential conflicts that may arise.

5. Advertising objectives

Defining objectives is one of the most important elements of an advertising campaign structure. No two campaigns are alike, so it's essential that you focus on defining what you want to accomplish right from the start. 

This can range from gaining a new customer base, penetrating another market or enhancing brand reputation. Analyse your needs and define what’s best for the business. 

6. The creative strategy

OK, you've got your advertising objectives and the audience you're going to target, so now it's time to plan your creative strategy. 

Think through the tactics you will use to achieve the goals you set out to achieve. Get together with your team and get it down in a document so you can get to work as soon as possible. 

5 Types of advertising campaigns

Several advertising campaigns are currently in use. Some of them are: 

1. Government campaign

Government campaigns are those implemented by governments in order to promote their administration during their period in power. The idea is to improve their image in society and recruit more followers to their movement.

Believe it or not, they are among the institutions that use advertising campaigns the most, since at the end of the day they need the support of the citizens in order to aspire to public positions.

2. Institutional campaign

The institutional campaign is the one that allows the organisation to gain greater recognition within its environment. The idea is to increase the public's recognition of the company, as well as to notify if there are any new products or services.

It should be noted that institutional campaigns do not promote a specific product, but rather the brand itself. Therefore, the values that identify the institution and those intangibles that differentiate it from the competition are promoted first and foremost.

3. Social campaign

Now it's the turn of the social campaign. It's characterised by having a cultural nature, so the idea is to make the user aware of an issue that affects everyone equally. 

Climate change, support for nature, animal care and healthy habits are an example of this.

4. Election campaigning

When a candidate is running for an elected office, he/she needs the support of the people and that's when he/she decides to create an election campaign.

It differs from the governmental campaign because in this case it doesn't promote any institution, but rather highlights the qualities of the candidate. Thus, if you are currently facing an election period, it's very likely that you will see this type of campaign very soon.

5. Product launch

If a company wants to launch a new product or service it should create a campaign to promote the arrival of the new item on the market. 

The idea is to generate a great expectation in the public so that they are paying attention to the launch date. If done properly, this will increase the chances of selling large quantities of the product in the first few days.

Objectives of an advertising strategy

Let us now look at some of the objectives that any advertising strategy should achieve: 

1. Informing the audience

Of course, there is no more important objective in an advertising campaign than informing users. 

But informing about what? Well, about new products, promotions, changes in brand identity or any other news that is of interest to the audience. 

Always focus on the problem you are trying to solve and you will see how in a short time the numbers will start to come in. 

2. Convincing users

Convincing users is one of the most important tasks of a campaign. You have to convince customers that you have the ideal solution to the problems they have at the moment.

The key is to know what you're going to convince your customer of, as it isn't the same to encourage them to buy a product as it is to encourage them to renew their licence for another year.

The words will never be the same and that's why you should do a preliminary study before taking action.

3. Sending your brand image

The more your target customer remembers your brand image, the more likely they are to buy the product you sell. 

To achieve this, you can create an awareness campaign in which you send promotional posts across the platforms that your audience uses the most.

4. Increasing interest

In order to increase interest in the products, you first have to show the benefits of each of the services. 

In this sense, you must choose very carefully the media through which you will promote yourself, as well as identify the user's pain points to touch those items that affect them most in their life. 

5. Speeding up decision making

One of the reasons why brands don't look favourably on the numbers generated by the business is because it slows down the customer's decision making. In other words, the faster a customer makes a choice, the more likely they are to buy from you.

If a user takes a long time to buy, it is because they are still not 100% sure that this is the ideal option for their life. Therefore, focus on the quality of the message and you will see how everything starts to work.

6. Differentiating yourself from the competition

Last but not least is the goal of differentiating yourself from the competition.

The internet has made opportunities appear out of nowhere, so it's becoming easier and easier to create a digital project that is positioned at the top of Google.

This way, it's no longer enough to have many years of experience and a great reputation in the market. You have to show that you are different from the rest.

How do you do this? Through campaigns that highlight the values that make you unique and unmatched in the market.

Types of advertising strategies

Finally, let's look at the types of advertising strategies that are most commonly used today to create an effective campaign:

1. Content advertising

First we have content advertising, which aims to influence the user's emotions through valuable content in different formats.

The idea of this type of advertising is to reach as many people as possible in order to spread the brand's image and tone. This differentiates it from content marketing, as content advertising does send the message to specific groups in order to be much more effective.

Among the most popular ones we can find today are:

• Informative advertising

• Comparative advertising

• Emotive advertising

2. Pull advertising

On the other hand, pull advertising is aimed at getting customers to awaken the interest you need for them to buy your products or services, so it's used when the company has an important position in the market.

However, if you don't have this recognition yet, you will have to invest in a traditional campaign to let people know what you have to offer.

After you do this, you won't have to convince anyone that your product is good, because people will already know about it.

3. Push advertising

If you want to introduce a new product to the market, this is the alternative you have been looking for. 

It's also known as a push strategy and it helps your company to position the service in the market as quickly as possible. Nowadays we can see it very often on social networks because they are the most attractive way to view this type of message. 

4. Consumer-based advertising

Lastly, we have consumer-based advertising, which is advertising that is based exclusively on the customer, nothing else. 

To implement it, you have to thoroughly analyse your target audience to determine what they are looking for, what their needs are and what they prefer when it comes to consuming content. 

In this sense, three particular strategies emerge: 

• Business to consumer (B2B)

• Business to business  (B2C)

• Consumer to consumer (C2C)

All this shows that an advertising campaign is still an indispensable tool to promote the image of your company's products. No matter how many digital media appear, the campaign has a capacity to penetrate the user's mind that no one will replace.

Therefore, when developing a campaign you must take all these elements into account to increase your chances of success.

Today we wanted to bring this topic up so that you can sell the amount of products you set out to sell at the beginning of the year. Yes, it's not easy, but with an advertising campaign you are much more likely to achieve these numbers.

Now it's your turn to define goals and projections. Study your audience well to understand what they need and how you can help them improve their lives. Then, with a little discipline, you'll see the results start to come.

Are you ready to take the leap?