It can seem daunting to begin advertising and organizing a marketing plan. It’s essential for your business, but where do you even begin?
If you feel like there’s a wall in front of you, and you don’t know how you’ll make it over to the other side into the digital advertising world, let 535media be your wrecking ball.
It’s basic, really. Take a walk down memory lane to elementary school, learning to read and write; answering the “Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” and “Why.” The answers to these questions will turn into statements, almost a thesis for your marketing and advertising plan.
What does your business do?
Let’s start simply. What does your business do? Are you selling products, like material items, or necessities? Are you providing a service? E-commerce selling or brick and mortar?
Creating a foundation for your marketing plan by answering these simple questions will allow you to start creating the building blocks of your marketing and advertising plan.
Who is your business for?
Who can be in need, or want what your business provides? Are they younger adults? Older adults? Homeowners? Residents in a particular zip code? People interested in a particular hobby?
Looking at the “Who” lets you know how to target. Through digital advertising you can target based on demographics like age, behavior, location, household income, and more. But it’s important to actually know your audience.
Where is your audience?
Now that you know who you’re targeting, where are they?
We’ve already divulged the location of your audience by knowing our targeting. But where are they spending their time digitally?
Some types of programmatic advertising shows ads while users are surfing the web, on a plethora of websites. Or, on Connected TVs or Smart TVs, while watching a variety of different channels and platforms, not just one streaming service. These campaigns will cast huge nets out to the digital sea, and you will have lots of different audience members or “fish” caught.
Or we can get more granular. A younger audience is likely to be on TikTok, SnapChat, or Instagram, while more established professionals in specific industries will likely be using LinkedIn.
But outside of the digital world – are they visiting certain stores or competitors? Are they attending annual events? The audience can see your message at the right place at the right time, while commuting, visiting, shopping, and more, in the real world.
When is your audience active?
The timing of advertising matters too. Using techniques like day parting, we can show ads when users are most likely to be active online. Or, we can show the ads all of the time, so our “net” is constantly being cast.
If we are doing real world techniques, displaying ads during popular commute times in the morning and afternoon is beneficial, as that’s when most people are travelling to and from work.
Or, if we are targeting a specific event, running our advertisements before, during, and after the event will ensure that attendees who may be in need or interested in your business and what you offer, will be able to receive your message.
Finally, why are you marketing and advertising?
Having a generalized plan is more helpful than having no plan at all – but what goals do you have? Do you want more visitors to your website or storefront? Do you want signups for an email newsletter? Or do you simply want more general awareness for your business?
Whether you’ve attempted marketing and advertising before or not, having specific goals in mind will help raise the chances of success for your business because your success is defined.
But overtime your goals may change or develop differently. Advertising with us doesn’t ever have to be set in stone or for a pre-determined amount of time. We can make changes and tweak targeting as your goals change, on the fly.
Overall, taking your business to the next level using marketing and advertising doesn’t have to be so hard – we will guide you through, from planning to execution, to reporting and making recommendations, every step of the way.