5 Directives For Breakthrough Advertising

by Mike Giannulis, Guest Contributor

The purpose of all digital marketing is to connect with an audience. From here, the ultimate goal may vary, from building a social media presence to boosting sales, but regardless of the long-term goals of the advertising campaign, the ability to connect with a key demographic remains. A solid marketing plan can be applied to all types of business i.e. ecommerce, service, brick and mortar.

How can a business do this? How can it breakthrough the throngs of advertisements corroding the Internet and make a lasting, instant impact on an audience?
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Climb out of the advertising hole and reach your goals!

Here are five points to help reach a desired goal and breakthrough the advertising rut.  

Know the Target Audience
No matter how great a marketing idea is, if a business doesn’t know it’s target audience inside and out the advertisement will fail. The more a business knows about its key demographic, the easier it becomes to morph and shape an advertising campaign to fit the needs of this audience.

Some key points to consider when looking the target audience doesn't just include age range and gender but the family structure of the target audience (are they married, single, have kids and if so, how many), income level, educational background, and do they live in a rural or urban community. Additionally, everything from if they are more likely to have pets (if so, what kind of pet), their preferred style of music, what kind of movies they enjoy and if they are regular readers all helps to go into knowing the target audience.

There's no way around it. The more a company knows about its key demographic and the better they understand these individuals, the easier it becomes to connect with potential customers through advertisements.

One of the biggest advertising mistakes is attempting to attract the masses instead of selecting a very specific key demographic. In 2006, Apple released its “I’m a Mac…I’m a PC” advertising campaign. In the ad, Apple clearly identified its target audience as the younger, hipper crowd who often wanted computer programming specially designed for media performance.  From 2006 to 2009, Apple’s market share rose from four percent to nearly 10 percent. However, since the company stopped this marketing campaign it stopped focusing on a key demographic and instead target the masses. In the nine years since, market growth has increased by two percent total (Business Insider, 2018). All of this shows the importance of going after a target audience and not the entire audience.

The Importance of a Strong Headline
An advertisement needs to grab someone’s attention. Even if the content is perfect for its target audience, if it doesn’t grab their attention it’s all for not. The old saying might be “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but when there are a million books out there, it’s impossible to not look at the cover and move on to the next option. There’s just no time to sift through every advertisement to see what might offer a suitable product or service.

By understanding the target audience, the headline can be tailored to best attract the consumer. Of course, even within a target audience, different consumers are at different points of the buying process. If a consumer knows of the product, the best headline is to point out a discounted price and the product name. If the consumer doesn’t know of the product though, the headline can point out the problem and how the product or service can address it.

To prove successful in the world of online marketing, it’s all about attention. If the consumer’s attention is not instantly grabbed, they won’t stop to look.

Location, Location, Location
The importance of location doesn't just affect a brick and mortar storefront. It exists in the world of Internet marketing as well. When learning how to start a store online, you need to focus on connecting with a key demographic, it's necessary to market where it will be visible to them. Saving money to go with one marketing outlet makes no sense if the target audience doesn't exist in this location.

Again, as is the case with nearly every other step in breakthrough advertising online, it all comes back to the knowledge of the target audience. Once the audience knows, the location of the marketing needs selecting. Certain demographics are more likely to use social media platforms like Snapchat or Instagram, while others exist on LinkedIn.

Connecting with appropriate social influences may drive a greater bang for the marketing investment. A social influencer who connects with a desired demographic may carry more weight than simply advertising within the set outlet.

However, a company decides to advertise itself, it needs to always make sure the target audience uses the marketing location. If they don’t, it doesn’t matter how inexpensive or opportunistic it may seem. Advertise in the locations where the key demographic exists.

Stick With a Quality Marketing Campaign
Quality takes time. The best marketing campaigns do not always deliver instant results. It takes time to push not only the content out, but to analyze, adapt and alter it in order to best fit the target audience. Far too many businesses abandon ship if a marketing approach does not offer immediate dividends. It may only take a few slight changes in order to perfect the marketing campaign.

Likewise, it’s important to not abandon a quality marketing campaign while it still delivers. There is the fear of becoming stale, but consistency within the advertising industry can prove more beneficial than harmful. It is why major businesses like Nike have used the same logos and sayings for decades. Pulling the plug on a marketing campaign may make it difficult to recover and rebrand the business while retaining the desired brand recognition.

Don’t Compromise
Breakthrough advertising doesn't require a marketing department to completely transform the way it reaches out to its key audience. It simply makes to make a handful of valuable shifts. These shifts help improve the overall impact of the advertising material while boosting its visibility. By considering these five points, any company, regardless of the products it sells or the services it offers, has the capability of obtaining its sought-after goals.
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Author bio:

Mike Giannulis is an entrepreneur & coach specializing in business growth and digital and direct response marketing. He runs a small coaching & consulting firm (OnlyOneMike.com) helping businesses achieve maximum profits. In 2012, he was on a weight loss TV show called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.