ADVERTISING

Ever wondered why it didn't work even though it looked so perfect?

You're not the only one. Even marketers themselves are often perplexed with the lack of advertising success. It takes a lot more than just a beautifully-designed, well-written ad to boost your sales. It takes the ability to create an emotional impact, to provoke a memorable positive feeling -- like security, joy, accomplishment, peace of mind, and so on. More importantly, it takes the ability to deliver to your target audience a consistent and integrated message in all media applied, and in every single contact point your customer has with your company.

There are numerous views on the purpose of advertising. Duane Sprague in her book, Power Advertising With a Branding Campaign, said:

"The purpose of advertising is to communicate effectively with the actual and/or potential customer, with a message that conveys your USP (unique selling proposition) in a precise fashion, supported by believable facts and logic, which cuts through the competitive clutter, stirs the emotions, makes the consumer feel good about your company and product, and motivates the consumer to purchase from you when they are in the market for your product."

Advertising Essentials

Rule number one is avoid relying on advice given by a media sales rep. They may sound like advertising experts, but they ultimately want to sell you ad space in their media outlet. We will cover all of the essential elements of a powerful strategy:

• A unique selling proposition that your target audience in fact desires or needs
• Creative, enticing, believable, memorable and exciting copy and design
• The right media mix (to include print, online, billboard and radio outlets)
• The right frequency (and consistency)
• A strong and clear call to action (often known as 'the hook')
• An absolutely impeccable production (to avoid all distractions caused by poor photography, colors, or editing and sound so your message is delivered clearly)
• The ability to track results and measure your campaign (cost per lead, per media outlet)

The Creative Brief and Advertising Plan

A creative brief is where all of the details about your campaign are documented, including your goals and objectives, target audience, product features, emotional and logical aspects of your product to be exploited, etc. This is the document that gives our creative team the comprehensive background they need to understand your requirements and produce the actual ad piece.

We won't even think of the execution until we put the advertising plan together and review it with you. The plan will outline your communication goals, creative strategy, media strategy, etc. It will also outline the expected return and how we will track your results. Once you are comfortable with the strategy, we'll get the ball rolling and the campaign out.

We look forward to working with you! Contact us or call us at 703-216-6361 for more information.