Technological advancements have brought about many types of advertising campaigns that help you to get the attention of ever more selective customers. Some of the examples you can get from the various advertising agencies include print advertising, radio advertising, TV advertising, and online advertising. Advertising will make potential customers notice your business, no matter what line it is. However, you should understand how to go about it in order to get the expected benefits. You need an effective strategy, which should include market analysis.

Some of the things you should take into consideration include the market you would like to reach, the benefits and features that you will provide to this target market, how you plan to pass this message to them, who will carry out this plan effectively, and of course, the amount of money you expect to spend on your efforts. All of these things are part of your marketing strategy, not just how to convey the message, which is what people often refer to.

One of the things you should take into consideration in your advertising campaigns is choosing the styles of communication and your preferred method. In order to come to this, you should consider your targeted market. Some of the things that can help you in this process are media plan and calendar, as you will not only be able to know the types of advertising methods and also when they are used.

Ask yourself the following questions as you prepare your advertising campaigns:

• What is your chosen target market?
• What do you want the targeted market to think about in relation to your products or services?
• How do you expect to shape their perceptions?
• Which types of media do the targeted customers use more frequently?
• Which of these types of media offer solutions that are more practical for you? Consider both what you can afford and its accessibility.

This means that before you embark on any advertising strategy, you should conduct some market research.

Another important step in your advertising campaign is to understand precisely what you would like to say. This means that you should understand your positioning. In positioning, you should identify what your niche is, which refers to your unique market position.

You will be able to carry positioning through market analysis. It includes such things as determining the various types of potential markets available, the types of customers you would like to serve, the needs of your chosen target market, the types of goods or services that help to meet their respective needs, and how they prefer to use these goods or services.

You should also consider what the competition is doing and the right kind of price to charge to make your goods or services both competitive and profitable. There are different methods of market research that you can use to get the required details.

History

The concept of Guerrilla marketing was conceived as an unconventional promotional system that centres on time, energy and imagination in place of huge marketing budgets. It is a recent advertising innovation that involves creative approaches such as staged interactions in public places, giving away product in the street including cars that are covered with brand messages, a variety of public relations gimmicks, and any unconventional promotion that is focused on achieving maximum results from limited resources (such as interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message). Further innovative approaches to guerrilla marketing make use of cutting edge mobile digital technologies to fully involve the consumer and generate a pleasurable brand experience.

Product placement, otherwise known as embedded marketing, is an advertising variant in which branded goods or services are included in a vehicle which would normally be lacking in any form of advertisements, such as movies, television shows, or even news programmes. The inclusion of the product placement is usually not disclosed when the product or service is featured. Product placement came to the fore in the 1980s.

Such a feature is indicative of a growing trend for interactive and “embedded” ads whereby consumers register their votes by way of text messages from their mobile phones. This has even been extended to include numerous innovations which make use of social networking websites, such as MySpace.

In the late 1990’s, Paul McManus, Creative Director of TBWA, expressed a view that successful Advertising was based on a clear perception of the brand, product or service that was being portrayed, together with empathy for the people, in terms of their aspirations, concerns and requirements, who would be its focus. He summed it up by saying that “successful advertising is reflected in the creative interpretation of such a perception”.

Outdoor Advertising

A Billboard, also known as a billing board, is a large advertising structure, normally situated in the open, and commonly positioned in high traffic areas, such as beside a busy road. They act as a means of presenting imposing advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Billboard advertisements are created to catch attention and quickly generate a memorable impression about the advertisement after having driven past it. They need to be read whilst the motorist passes at high speed. Therefore, the desired format should incorporate the minimum of words, in large print, and a humorous or eye-catching image in bright colours. Such billboards will be highly visible in metropolitan areas.

Bulletins represent the largest form of billboards and, as such, create the greatest impact. They are positioned almost exclusively on major highways where they command high-density exposure to passing motorists. Apart from their size, bulletins can offer the greatest impact since there is the facility for individual creativity by way of physical extensions and modifications.

Billboards are a cost-effective form of business advertising since, rather than searching for customers, the advertising will convey the appropriate message to the target audience.

Another popular type of billboard advertising is the poster which is normally located in commercial and industrial regions as well as main and secondary roads. Posters are physically not as large as bulletins and tend to be seen primarily by residents, commuter traffic and some pedestrians.

Advertising – How To Succeed