Almost all businesses right now are facing the same problem when it comes to paid activities - the ROI is not what it used to be. Marketing costs are increasing, and banner blindness is at an all-time high.
When working with clients we noticed that these problems always have one of two (sometimes both) root causes. It’s always the strategy or the creative.
When it comes to an advertising strategy, most people simply don’t know how to properly plan one. Sometimes businesses don’t know enough about their audience, don’t understand their buyer’s journey, or they don’t have their marketing goals clearly defined.
But not to worry, we will help you figure all of those things out.
There are a lot of ways to define it.
For example, StudySmarter defines it as:
“An advertising strategy is a roadmap through which marketers communicate and convince the target audience to buy their products/services.”
Another example of a good definition is:
“An advertising strategy is a plan to reach and persuade a customer to buy a product or a service.” by Inc.com.
Now let’s break it down.
Your target audience has a problem. Sometimes they might not be aware of it. Other times, they will know exactly what they need, and they will be researching solutions. Finally, some of them are already ready to make a purchase.
Your business should understand how your buyers make a decision to buy your product. Your advertising plan should serve as a map, guiding them through each stage of the purchase.
As marketers, our job is to build awareness around our products, drive consideration, and finally guide our target audience to convert.
A good advertising plan takes all those things into consideration.
Our audience will have different pain points and needs in each stage of their purchasing journey. That’s why we must communicate and convince, not just convince.
Good marketers explain their products, features, and benefits. They educate their target audience about how they can solve their problems.
This helps build trust and creates a relationship with the audience. Finally, after they have made a decision to buy, the customers will go to the vendor they trust the most.
This is why you need to understand your buyer’s journey and include different messaging in each stage.
To conclude: An advertising strategy is a step-by-step plan of how you are going to achieve your business goals using paid activities.
Now we want to take a tiny part of this blog and discuss what is an advertising strategy, and what it is not.
To most people, these two terms are interchangeable. But they are not.
There is a big difference between an advertising strategy and a digital marketing strategy.
So, what is a digital marketing strategy?
Digital Marketing Strategy includes overall marketing activities that the business will undertake to achieve its goal. Advertising is just a little part of marketing activities. Therefore, your advertising plan is an integral part of a marketing strategy.
For example, your marketing strategy might include SEO, Blogging, growing your YouTube channel, utilizing email marketing, and advertising on social media.
Digital marketing strategy is a much wider term and it contains many organic and paid activities.
These two terms are also not equal.
Advertising strategy is a step-by-step plan. In order to reach your goals, that plan can contain one or multiple other advertising campaigns.
Advertising campaigns are integral parts of your plan that usually follow the same or similar theme. For example, consider Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign. They failed to acquire a sponsorship deal for London 2012 Olympics. So, now they faced a problem - they would miss out on all the buzz and attention the Olympics generate.
So they came up with a plan to generate awareness around their brand. They would create an ad campaign with the core message that there is greatness in all of us, not only the famous players or superstars (like the ones at the Olympics).
Conclusion: The advertising campaign is part of a wider advertising strategy. Nike could’ve made a plan with 2 or 3 campaigns, but they chose only one.
Making a good advertising plan comes down to laying down a solid foundation. You have to come up with a clear structure, and then work your way through it.
We love using this structure when working with our clients.
Every strategy that you make has two common variables - your brand and your target audience. Each brand is unique and has a story to tell. That’s why we start the strategy with it.
Crafting a compelling brand story will make sure that your audience remembers your brand. After all, stories are what move people into action.
This is a no-brainer. You have to have a comprehensive understanding of your audience and their needs. This will dictate how you build your strategy.
If you are targeting other businesses, you need to know your ideal ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). You want to define their company size, industry, revenue, location, software tools that they are using, hold old is the company, who is on the buying committee, and what roles they cover.
If you are advertising directly to the consumers, you need to know their age, marital status, location, average income, hobbies, spending habits, etc.
As we mentioned before, buyers are sometimes not aware of the problems that they have. It’s your job to highlight that.
To do so, you must understand how your customers buy your product. What are the stages that they are going through? For some businesses, it might look like this:
Knowing this will help you address their pain points and needs across each stage. It will also help you plan your messaging for each stage of the buying process.
You can’t have a strategy without defining your goals. Goals will help you determine exactly what you are aiming to achieve, and how to measure it.
Make sure your goals are specific, like for example generating 100 leads, or 50 sales. Then you can break it down into smaller goals that can serve as milestones. If for example, your goal is to build awareness around your product, you might define it as 100 000 impressions.
It is also important to define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In order to know if your strategy is working or not, you need to know what success looks like. Define the most important metrics and keep track of them.
Now we come to the second reason why most companies struggle with paid activities. If you form a good advertising plan, you’ve done 50% of your work.
Another 40% of that is the creative you are using. The last 10% is the actual media buying and campaign optimization.
Creative will make or break your campaign. This is especially true in 2023 now that everyone has a 2-second attention span.
Make sure that your messaging is clear, concise, and communicates your value proposition. You don’t want to leave your target audience confused. So be clear about what you want them to do.
This ties back to knowing your target audience. You must know where they spend their time. Also, keep in mind that people go to different platforms with different intentions.
For example, most people are not going to LinkedIn to learn about a new cool video game that just dropped.
Also, if your goal is to reach decision-makers from Fortune 500 companies, TikTok is probably not the way to go. It might work, but you have higher chances on other platforms. So pick your channels wisely.
The channels you pick will also be dictated by the overall budget you have available. Some networks are more budget-hungry than others.
Now that you have your audience defined, messaging crafted, and channels selected, it’s time to design your ads. Here are some concepts to follow:
Here we are, at the last step. Now that you have your ads, and you picked your channels, it’s time to plan how you are going to spend your money. To be totally honest, we can’t give you a precise breakdown. How you spend your budget will depend on your marketing goals, target audience, stage of your business, and many other factors.
Here is a rule of thumb we like to follow:
Spend about 60-70% of your budget on top-of-the-funnel campaigns.
The reason for this is that at any time, only about 1-3% of your Total Addressable Market is ready to make a purchase. That’s why you want to spend most of your budget nurturing the rest so that they can convert in the future.
Well, it depends.
There are many types of campaigns available on many different networks. Picking the right ones will depend on your goals, your buyer’s journey, where your target audience is, etc.
Here are some quick tips:
As we mentioned, the types of advertising campaigns you use will depend on your advertising strategy, customers, product, goals, and many other factors. But, you should always aim for a healthy mix of different platforms and formats.
Most importantly, these campaign types don’t work universally for everyone. What works for one company might not work for another one. That’s why you should always test everything, and see what works.
Thank you for coming this far in the article! Now let’s recap everything real quick.
Advertising strategy is a step-by-step plan that you will use to achieve your business goals with the help of paid activities. It is part of a wider digital marketing strategy that contains many other activities. Advertising strategies often contain only one ad campaign, but sometimes they can support 2 or 3 related campaigns.
When making your advertising plan you should always define a clear structure. Make sure you craft a compelling brand story and define your ICPs and their buyer journey. Set clear goals and make sure you know how you can measure them.
Use short, clear, and concise messaging. You don’t want to confuse your audience.
Your creative can make or break your campaign. Make sure you invest 40% of your time and effort into making good ads. It can take your business a long way.
Lastly, don’t forget to test, and use the most important metrics you defined to see what works and adjust your strategy.
Stefan is a marketer with 8 years of experience of working with various B2C and B2B brands.
Presnt is headquartered in: Podgorica, Montenegro.
