By Fakaira Gabriel
Exposure to targeted audiences is essential for a business to thrive. One way of finely directing that reach is through digital advertising. Unfortunately, many campaigns fall short of their potential impact by focusing solely on an ad’s placement and ignoring the multidimensional elements necessary for its success. This singular thinking is the kiss of death to an impactful campaign, to say nothing of funds wasted in the process. To ensure important strategies are applied beyond simple execution, consider these questions before launching a digital campaign.
What is Your Goal?
The answer may not be as apparent as you think. What specific strategy of your marketing communications plan does a digital ad support? By simply reacting to what others are doing, you could be squandering resources unless what you say, who you reach, and what you deliver aligns with your overall business plan. Then, think of your ad campaign as a series of stepping stones, with each action leading to an eventual payoff. For instance, is it to be among the top 10 most-recognized cancer therapeutic companies in the region? Regardless, keep your overarching business goals in mind whenever you launch a digital campaign.
Defining your goal also requires that you consider your budget, and therefore, the reach and length of time the campaign runs. Setting clear metrics for the ad will also help measure its performance.
Who Are You Trying to Reach?
When thinking of who to reach, digital advertising allows you to apply more than simple demographics for precise delivery of your message. Understanding the interests and needs of your target audience helps connect what you offer with what they’re looking for. Keeping in mind the goal of your campaign, build a profile of the person you want to connect with. Once you have your audience profile, where are they? In other words, which digital platforms do your target audiences not only frequent but engage with the most? If the bulk of their online time is spent researching questions, then display ads that align with their searches would be the most effective. Knowing who your audience is and where they are is fundamental to making a connection.
What Do You Want to Say & Why?
Perhaps a better title for this section would be “What Do You Have to Say of Value to Those You Want to Reach?” This, and the next sub-heading, is where many campaigns fall victim to singularly focusing on execution and not considering what their audience wants to hear. It means speaking to the needs of your audience when communicating the unique solutions that you offer. That can be a tall order for a display ad that should only consist of a handful of words; but with the right sequence of strategies, the path to a more complete story can be paved.
Regardless of the digital platform, there are valuable guidelines for your campaign content. Text must be succinct and direct to motivate your audience to action. In addition to messages that are consistent and authentic, avoid excessive use of jargon. Incorporating compelling visuals, even video, that elicit an emotional response will enhance impact. Above all, get out of your head and into that of your audience to ensure your campaign delivers value.
Where Are You Leading Them?
This is where the stepping stone concept of multidimensional planning is most relevant. You’ve defined your campaign’s goal. You know who you want to reach, where they are, and have formulated a message that connects with their needs in a design that motivates them to click on your ad. Now what? What payoff are you leading them to and where you can metaphorically close the deal on your goal?
A click on Learn More that simply leads audiences to your website’s homepage is anti-climactic. Instead, click throughs should connect audiences with information on your site that explicitly fulfills the expectations of your ad. Otherwise, what could have been a promising lead is now a missed opportunity; and worse, lost trust.
While content in a sponsored post or display ad must be brief, the landing page is where you can expand on messages to provide the full story. To encourage further exploration of your site, layout of the landing page should be seamless, visually cohesive, and render easy navigating.
Avoiding singular thinking, and capitalizing on results from multidimensional strategies, does require planning and coordination in advance. Goals, messages, design and content for each element must be in place before a campaign is launched. It likely requires the services of outside strategists who can easily see the bigger picture, but it’s an investment in connecting all the dots that delivers an impactful campaign.
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