Oct 13, 2014
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How to Maximize Your Efforts
We have the secret to advertising success! When is the best time of year to advertise you ask? Well, the best time is every time. It’s every day, all year long. An effective advertising campaign has a long expected lifespan. So while it’s difficult to really pinpoint a day or place or time that is most effective to advertise, there are a set of principles we can explore that will magnify our efforts. If you want to reach your audience, you need to know and follow some key marketing tips.
First | Ask the Right Questions
What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to reach? How will you reach them? What are their behaviors? Do they read the news or social media feeds? Do they like to shop or spend time with family? Asking the right questions will help you tailor your message to the right ear. If you are in tune with your audience, they’ll dial in to your frequency.
Second | External Influences
These influences vary widely from something as vast as the economy to something as simple as the weather. Understand influences that would affect how your message is received. Maybe there is another campaign almost identical to yours that would bring negative association to your brand.
For instance, Brigham Young University, a deeply rooted religious school based in Provo, UT, recently launched their football slogan for the 2014 season, “Rise as One”. It was quickly found that Budweiser had decided to use the same logo this year for their college football campaign. BYU administrators worried about the association people might see and the impact it would have on their school so they pulled the slogan. Understanding the external environment is an important tool in reaching your audience.
Third | Do Your Research AKA Hit the Target
In conjunction with asking the right questions, finding the correct data is crucial to the success of your advertising campaign. You can ask the right questions, but if the wrong people answer the questions then your efforts are in vain.
For instance, if you wanted to reach stay at home moms the right question may be, “What do women feel is the most important thing to have in a home?” The right data would include information about the average age of stay at home moms, their shopping habits, what they do in their free time, etc. The question is useless unless it reaches the right target. Finding the correct data includes choosing the correct channel to distribute the question, be that an online survey or a mail piece. Do your research! Apply the principle, “measure twice, cut once”, but measure 100 times before you cut.
Fourth | Timing is Everything
While there is no golden hour to advertise, there are some things to be aware of. As a general rule, stay away from early morning advertising, even if your business is all about breakfast. Research shows that people are more receptive when they are too tired for anything else. So get to them in the evening or during lunch.
Another aspect to timing is responding to your public. If questions are asked or if inquiries are made, respond as fast as humanly possible. Keep in mind, this is not an exact science and you need to do everything you can to understand your audience to really reach them at the right time and in the right way.
Fifth | Don’t Give Up
There is a reason that 8 out of every 10 business fails to launch. This happens most often when ambition is blind to reason. For example, an orchestra can make a lot of noise, but it takes a skilled director to organize the sound into an audible masterpiece.
Before venturing into advertising campaigns, do your research. You must understand your audience, and when they don’t immediately respond, try again. And again. And again. Don’t expect to plant tomato seeds in the morning and enjoy salsa in the afternoon. Keep at it and you will reap the rewards of your efforts.