Running Effective Advertising Campaigns


By Lata Tokhi

It certainly pays to have professional help when it comes to running advertising campaigns, but with some tips and good creatives, you should be able to run your own advertising campaigns effectively.

Running Your Own Advertising Campaigns

Follow this step-by-step guide to running your own advertising campaign to ensure success:

1. Conduct a Market Research

Identify your target market as mentioned in the article Choosing Websites to Place Ads at http://www.momtycoons.com/promotion/advertising-websites.shtml. Conduct a thorough research on where you will find your preferred customers. See where your competitors are advertising.

A simple way to see where your competitors have incoming links from is to go to [http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/] and type in your website address and 3 of your competitor's URL's. You will see a chart showing comparisons between your link popularity and yours. Click on each Search Engine name to see all the inbound links of the 4 websites (including yours).

For offline advertising, identify local and budget publications that reach your target market. Your goal should be to reach the people who are most likely to respond to what you offer.

2. Decide Upon Your Advertising Budget

It is important to decide beforehand how much money you want to spend on a particular advertising campaign so that you do not end up wasting your precious bucks. Deciding how much to spend depends upon your financial ability and the size of your business.

3. Plan Your Campaign

Plan your campaign in advance. For planning an effective campaign, you will need to mix-and-match various forms of advertising. An example of how to break down your budget into various forms of advertising is shown below:

Total Budget - $1000

Online Advertising

Press Release - $100

Website Advertising - $100

Pay-Per-Click Advertising - $100

Ezine Advertising - $90

Sponsored/Text Links on Websites - $70

Classified Ads - $40

Offline Advertising

Promotional Items - $200

Print Shopping Guides - $50

Classifieds - $100

Flyers - $150

4. Prepare Excellent Advertising Material

Before you start implementing your planned campaign, aim yourself with adequate and quality advertising material. For online advertising, prepare good quality graphic banners in various sizes and compelling text ads of varying word-lengths. Write or get professionally written, an interesting press release. Your ad creatives and text ads are extremely important to your campaign. DO NOT risk designing them yourself unless you are extremely good at doing it. Saving a few dollars here may cost you your entire advertising campaign! Leave this job to the professionals.

For offline advertising, have adequate printed material on hand. This will include form mailers, brochures, flyers, signboards etc.

5. Begin Your Campaign

Send out your press release. I recommend PRWeb. This is not the place to try saving a few dollars so avoid sending only a 'free' press release as it will get you nowhere. Go in for their paid press release distribution programs. The extra $50 will be worth a lot more!

Book ad spots on various websites and in Ezines and Newsletters. Buy clicks on relevant keywords from 'Pay-per-click Search Engines'. Place text ads/classifieds/directory listings etc. in various websites, directories and indexes.

For Offline Advertising, start distributing brochures and mailers, send out mailers etc.

6. Track Results and Work on Your Campaign

Once your advertising campaign gets started, you will need to track the results of each form of advertising. Allow 3 to 6 months time for advertising forms which are performing well to judge their performance accurately. If some means of advertising do not work at all or bring in results that are not at all cost-effective, discontinue them. See which text ads, banners and keywords (in pay-per-click) bring best results and use them again. Try using different keywords and monitor the results.

You must daily track all your ads actively and keep tweaking the ads to get the best performance out of them. Some banners, texts and keywords will perform very well while others won't. Only through effective tracking will you be able to make your campaign a success.

Hiring an Agency

If you have an advertising budget of $25,000 and more, you should consider hiring an Advertising Agency to work for you. Advertising agencies have experienced staff for writing ad copies, designing compelling graphic ads etc. and they will place your ads on relevant websites and ezines and also provide you with ad tracking stats, thus making work easier for you.

More Resources

Does Post Card Advertising Really Work?
You've decided to try advertising your business with post cards. The idea came to you from the post cards you receive from other businesses.
Does Your Brochure Pass the Test - Or is It Headed for the Trash? Part One
The decision on whether or not someone will read your brochure is usually decided in the first 5 seconds they look at it. What kind of message are you communicating in that five seconds? Will you make a favorable impression with your prospect? Will you move your prospect closer to the sale?There are really only two key elements that will determine how well your brochure is received by prospects.
Is Advertising Art?
Oh Grand and Glorious Southern Guru, I am perplexed. What ails thee, my peabrained little grasshopper? My sleep has been short, my walls have been climbed, my hair has been pulled.
Add More Pizzazz To Your Ad For More Profits
I recently completed a Marketing Makeover for an Adthat wasn't generating results for the owner of a Piano Tuning Business.Here is the original ad: A BETTER PIANOA well tuned and adjusted piano is a beautiful instrument.
Electronic Score Boards
Wide range of electronic Key venues around the globe has turned to Electronic score boards that not only look breathtaking from every angle and distance, but provide consistently reliable performance year in and year out.Different type of sports including athletics, track cycling, running events, street cycling and mountain bike, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving as well as inline skating, water polo, ball spots, motor sports, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon are some of the areas where Electronic score boards perfect fits solutions for.
Predictions for 2010
2005 puts us at the mid-point of the first decade of the new millenium. What will things look like at the end of the 1st decade of the new millenium in the world of advertising? I thought I'd project where the ad industry is headed and what 2010 (or sooner) might look like.
Why I Like The Ads I Hate!
It's been said that the antidote to liking/loving is not hating,but indifference. So, when an ad makes you angry or disgusted orevokes any other strong emotion, it has done it's job.
A Quick And Easy Way Of Getting More Customers From Every Single Ad You Write... Guaranteed!
FACT: Most people don't spend anywhere near enough time on creating a strong, compelling headline.Which is why many copywriting experts.
Five Characteristics of Highly Successful Advertising
Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales?Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads.Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry's top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertising to pay for itself, and then some, in order to justify its cost.
What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns
Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong.
Business Cards: Why Waste Valuable Space?
So many business people neglect this valuable asset that may be used for a multitude of messages.Don't fall for the trap of supplying a "scribbler" for others that virtually guarantees your card will be in the "round file" sooner rather than later.
Boost Headline Believability With Specifics
Don't use vague generalities in your headlines. Be as specific as possible.
How To Create Instantly Compelling Ads Every Time
Use This Quick 3-Question Evaluation Process, So You Can Be Sure Your Message Will Sell!EVALUATION #1: "Well, I Would Hope So!" When you make a claim, don't think about it in terms of words coming out of your mouth. Think of it in terms of words entering your prospects ears.
Secrets to Get Free Advertising
The opportunities to get free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
Advertising on a Budget -- Part 2: Thinking Small
This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.
Raising Funds For Your Nonprofit Using An Annual Direct Mail Program
A good annual direct mail solicitation program can produce unrestrictive operating funds for your nonprofit organization year after year. And such an annual direct mail program, if done right, should produce more funding for your organization each year.
5 Newspaper Advertising Myths Revealed
What I'm about to reveal are myths that most people thinkare 'true.'They seem set in stone yet they are deadly to theadvertiser.
Fax Broadcast Services Get Your Message to Millions
If your company is one of those innovative businesses that has taken advantage of new fax broadcasting technologies to get your message out, you've probably come to realize that the fax broadcasting services industry is ever-changing and new developments are coming out all the time.It's pretty much a full-time job just to manage a fax broadcast database of any size, not to mention keeping the related fax broadcasting software updated and operational.
Hit Them With Benefits
More about advertising from BIG Mike McDanielIt makes no difference what media you use toadvertise, the rules are the same. Benefits,benefits, benefits.
Advertising - Does it Matter?
When advertising, you need to sell your opportunity, your products and yourself. What sets you apart from everyone else? Maybe you produce a newsletter with a specific content where there is a demand from a particular group of people, or you promote your own special product that no one have not yet seen.

More Advertising Information:

Related Articles

What Does Your Business Card Say?
Business cards are the most underutilized andmisunderstood marketing tool in business. Manypeople spend the bucks for cards and don't make aneffort to get them into the hands of those who canhire them or buy from them.
Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools
If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number.
Create Your Dynamic Elevator Speech
So, what's an elevator speech, and how do you get one?What Is It?An elevator speech is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness.
Testing Headlines
A correspondent to AdBriefing, my monthly newsletter, has posed a very sticky question. How, she asks, can you tell whether a headline you have written is a good one?or not? What she means by this, I imagine, is whether the headline will actually help to make sales, rather than just act as a passing amusement to its readers.
A Quick And Easy Way Of Getting More Customers From Every Single Ad You Write... Guaranteed!
FACT: Most people don't spend anywhere near enough time on creating a strong, compelling headline.Which is why many copywriting experts.
Harness the Power of Direct Marketing - More Small Business Power Tools
One of the most powerful tools available to small businesses is direct mail. By this I don't mean electronic, Internet-based mail, but the old-fashioned kind that requires a stamp and a trip to the post office.
Add More Pizzazz To Your Ad For More Profits
I recently completed a Marketing Makeover for an Adthat wasn't generating results for the owner of a Piano Tuning Business.Here is the original ad:========================================A BETTER PIANOA well tuned and adjusted piano is a beautiful instrument.
Custom LED Display
Custom LED Display, as the name specifies, facilitate control anything with any message that you can think of, from hours of operation to daily specials. These are used by almost all industries like factory, banks, airports, universities, libraries, and many others.
Yellow Pages Ads - Buying Secrets
Yellow Pages Ads - Buying SecretsOK- let's agree that many businesses can benefit greatly from Yellow Pages advertising. Let's also agree that few businesses enjoy paying for this "necessary evil".
Using Flyers to Advertise Your Online Business
Using flyers is one commonly overlooked method of advertising offline. Flyers are extremely easy to create.
Small Cards, Big Ideas: Alternative Uses for Business Cards
Aggressive business card marketing isn't about handing your business cards out to everyone you see.The card itself must have a new use, an innovative design, or something other than the usual contact information printed on it.
Wheres Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms?
We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place.
Tips On Writing a Successful Ad
When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web.
Five Characteristics of Highly Successful Advertising
Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales?Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads.Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry's top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertising to pay for itself, and then some, in order to justify its cost.
Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?
We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse.
The SKINNY on Radio Advertising
From meager beginnings in 1920, radio has grownwith us to be a major player in advertising. Theradio industry says they get about 8 percent ofall advertising bucks.
Cross Cultural Advertising
"Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass - you don't see it, but somehow it does something,"Hans Magnus Enzensberger.Culture affects everything we do.
The SKINNY on Newspaper Advertising
The SKINNY on NewspapersUsing the paper is considered gospel by manypeople in business. Use it wisely and it can be agood tool.
Driving Customers to You - Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle
You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked.
What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns
Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong.