Foundation for creating successful advertising

When a business owner faces the task of generating a lead flow for their business to promote products or services, the need for advertising arises.

This is where business owners typically encounter questions: where is it most profitable and effective to advertise, and which advertising agency should they contact. Even if the question of the advertising agency can be easily resolved (they can be recommended by friends and acquaintances who have already used their services), the question of effectiveness is much more complicated.

On the advertising services market, you can find hundreds of different ways to make yourself or your product/service known. On television alone, there are dozens of various options: a ticker tape, a commercial during a TV series break, sponsoring a show or program, a recommendation or mention on air, an advertising block during a show closely related to your topic (cooking, sports, business, etc.). We won't delve into the list of all possible methods and tools, but we will analyze the most common and effective ones from the perspective of business specifics and target audience. Additionally, we will discuss common advertising mistakes and the foundation of successful advertising.

Common Mistakes When Creating Advertisements

Attempts to copy advertising from well-known brands. Advertising from companies like «Beeline,» «MTS,» «Alfa-Bank,» and «Coca-Cola» often has multi-million dollar advertising budgets. Their goal is not to advertise the product itself, but to enhance the company's image and shareholder value. Such advertising is not suitable for small and medium-sized businesses due to budget scale and intended purpose.
Flashiness and creativity are not what should set you apart from the competition. In small business, the goal of advertising is singular – to stimulate sales! The most important questions that should concern you are how much was invested in advertising and how much was earned as a result. Creativity and beauty don't matter. Even if the advertisement is extremely bad, but it brings in money – excellent! Of course, unconventional advertising can also bring in good money, and that's what's needed. The main thing is that your advertising is not discussed, but that the advertised product is bought!
Believing that an advertising agency will guarantee your success. The agency’s goal is to make money; yours is the same. You go to them with this goal in mind, but in reality, they’re focused on their own. Your advertising budget will quickly run out, and you may not even see any financial return from the ads. The problem is that advertising agencies are mostly staffed by college graduates who have no business experience, and whose knowledge is based on textbooks and high-profile, image-driven commercials. So even if an advertising agency is interested in achieving good results, they don’t always know how to get there. Consequently, in 90% cases, your ad will simply be a copy of those image-driven commercials. So, study this article or consult a specialist who has been vetted by other businesspeople, then create the right ad and take it to an advertising agency for placement.
Don't copy competitors. Even if their advertising seems good, that's not a guarantee! Other companies don't always know what they're doing either. A lot of money can be wasted, and little gained.
Lack of formulas, structure, strategy, and control. It's not enough to write a couple of lines, insert a phone number, and choose the most vibrant format. It's important to understand why a particular element is needed. What does a particular image draw the eye to, what associations and images does a particular word evoke, why should a client want to choose your company, services, or products? Why should you place an advertisement in this particular place, on this particular medium, or in this particular format? Most of the time, you just need to change something in the advertisement, not change the platforms. In addition, you need to measure the results of the advertisement's performance (where they came from to the store or office, where they got the phone number and called from, why they visited the website, what led them to purchase right now). We will discuss all these questions below.

Let's dissect the foundation of successful advertising.

It is often called the three «M» formula (Message Media Market). Its essence is in the correct definition of the three components of advertising:

Message – message;
Media – a way to transmit a message;
Market – market or target audience (abbreviated TA).

If you overlook something, your entire advertisement may fail. For example, if you come up with a good special offer (message), choose the right target audience, but place it where your target audience won't notice it (drills for builders in a magazine for businessmen), then don't be surprised by the low effectiveness of the advertisement. The same applies if any of the three «M»s are mismatched.

For example, a picture of a girl on a couch looks very elegant, but it doesn't evoke associations with the fact that

They want to advertise in this ad format—a restaurant! The first thing that comes to mind is furniture, or comfortable apartments, possibly something else, but not a restaurant, dishes, and cocktails.

To begin, your message must be directed precisely at the person you want to attract. It should contain the benefit for the client, not the product's characteristics. A chair is, first and foremost, comfortable rest and an elegant interior in the home, not chrome legs, large armrests, and velvet upholstery. When selling Lexus or Mercedes-Benz cars, you are not just selling an expensive means of transportation and a leather interior, but also status, style, prestige, envy, and recognition from others. You must understand what you want to convey to your client and why.

The target audience is very important when shaping the message correctly. Who are your clients? What are their gender, age, lifestyle, interests? How do they live? What do they want? You can't sell to everyone at once. Likewise, advertising cannot be the same. Each specific group of people has its own characteristics and its own interest in certain products, including those you intend to offer them. People are interested in what interests them and what they want, not in what you think they need. If everyone bought only what they needed, advertising wouldn't work at all.

The simplest way to make a great advertising offer to the exact target audience you need is to step into their shoes. Understand the client's problem and need as they express it in their own words (on forums, in communities, in conversations). It's a very valuable experience if you've been in a similar situation yourself and were looking for solutions.

And regarding the methods of message delivery. It's foolish to place ads for the same expensive car brands in Yandex.Direct, as the target audience (directors, businessmen, top managers) are not active internet users. Similarly, placing a children's magazine in the «Work + Advertising» newspaper is also foolish.

There is no single, equally effective advertising for all business areas. Any advertising needs to be tested, and the most effective methods should be used. Furthermore, advertising that is effective today might not yield the same results tomorrow. Everything changes, including advertising effectiveness. Just 10 years ago, we could only dream of customers finding us online and ordering from home; today, this is already the norm. However, the internet is not spreading as rapidly in all corners of the CIS countries as it is in major cities. We often watch television in the background now, and television channels are well aware of this, which is why ads in the middle of a commercial break are cheaper than those at the beginning and end.

And as already mentioned, evaluate the effectiveness of advertising in terms of money invested and received.

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