Yes, Advertising Works
When you launch a campaign and obsess over your CTRs and conversions, you might think the campaign is unsuccessful and just a waste of money. With any marketing, patience is a virtue. Go back and look at those numbers in 2-3 months, and you’ll be patting yourself on the back for your marketing prowess. Today’s consumer needs several impressions to move from awareness to interest. For conversion, the general rule was 7, but today it can be as many as 12.
With the array of touchpoints available and the highly targetable and trackable features of digital, advertising is a must for even small businesses.
What Is Advertising?
There are many types of advertising. The general definition is the act of disseminating branded messaging designed to attract customers to a brand, product, or service through various printed and electronic media.
Where To Spend Your Ad Budget?
Ad spend is unique to the specific goals of a campaign. There is no “silver bullet” approach. Defining your goals and allocating your budget into the most appropriate platforms and ad types is more effective than a broad saturation approach.
Some common advertising goals include:
- Brand awareness
- Increasing website traffic
- Driving foot traffic to a physical location
- Gaining social followers or improving engagement
- Selling a product
For example, if you’re looking to grow your social media reach, most or all of the budget should be dedicated to advertising on the appropriate social platform. Even if you have other goals, social media advertising is very effective. The number of users on these platforms is impressive, but what really attracts advertisers is the level of targeting and reporting they offer.
The targeting options can get even more granular with display advertising as you connect online behavior to physical location data.
It’s not only about digital. Real-world approaches such as sponsoring an event can generate a lot of awareness for a brand. The bigger the event, the bigger the reach, but also the bigger the price tag. It’s crucial to align the event you want to sponsor with your brand values and vertical market. It makes sense for a car company or dealership to sponsor a large annual car show. Or a sporting goods store sponsoring a popular sporting event. Additionally, you’ll get an SEO bump and potential lead-generating traffic from the event producer’s website.
Print ads still works in the right situation. Despite our dependence on the digital world, many still like the tangible qualities of books, magazines, and newspapers. Connecting a print ad to the digital world through a QR code or special offer is a great way to track the performance of a print ad. If it’s part of an awareness campaign, having the digital and print ads’ visuals and message consistent reinforces brand retention.
Peabody Can Meet Your Goals Through Advertising
Advertising is a tried-and-true method for driving sales, increasing brand awareness, and expanding your audience. Our services run the gamut of advertising methods from digital and print to out-of-home (OOH) and non-traditional campaigns. We’ll help you choose the right one for your business.