Minding Your Business! How Advertising acts as the string between brands and customers?

By: Sanjay Sharma The success-meter of a brand is measured according to the advertising efforts which are used for the promotion campaign of the product. In the absence of advertising, it is hard for brands to get noticed by its customers. Linking customers and brands, advertising acts as the string which keeps alive the spirit of brand marketing. As a brand owner, there are many things you can talk about your brand. Brand literature is provided by every brand owner to define the features and benefits of his brand. However, it is not possible to explain all the benefits and features of the brand in a single advertising activity. Advertisers select the top features and benefits of the brand and present them to the TG as the advertising message. This message is different from the general brand literature (in its style and presentation). Also known as an ad copy, advertisers particularly hire experts such as copywriters to frame this particular brand message for the promotion campaign. Another important aspect of an advertising campaign is the graphical image used for the advertisement. Some advertisers opine that the right image has the capacity to deliver the brand message to the TG. On a general note, image and copy both are important to design a brand message. Next to copy and graphical image, the medium of advertising also plays an important role in any promotion campaign. A good brand message which is launched through a poor medium is synonymous to a good recipe badly cooked by a bad chef. Media selection should be wisely done so that the ad message reaches the TG with a huge impact. Advertising can indeed be considered as the string that links customers and brands together. As long as the string is attached, the marketing activities of the brand will render successful results. However, advertisers should not limit their advertising ideas to a single platform so that their brands get maximum exposure amongst the target groups. Four important steps to launch an ad campaign Any planned activity provides the targeted results. Especially in advertising, proper planning provides effective impact on the customers to whom the advertisement is targeted. In this blog, let us discuss four significant steps which are required to launch an ad campaign. Media plan Media planning is the most important step of an advertising campaign. Media planning involves studying the significances of a particular media vehicle, choosing the right media which is most relevant for advertising the brand, studying the probable impact of the media vehicle on the target groups etc. A team of marketing professional is required to study the importance of the various media vehicles of advertising. Media selection Media selection follows up as the second step after media plan. As mentioned above, a market survey is required to select the right media vehicle to launch the campaign. The medium of advertising should be able to deliver the brand communication effectively without any flaw. Some advertisers launch a single ad campaign through multiple media. Though extra budget and manpower are required, launching an ad campaign through multiple media provides more impact on the target groups.

Brand message After media plan and selection, framing the brand message is the next step to launch an ad campaign. Brand message can be either short term or long term in nature. For short term ad campaigns, the advertisers usually give a time line during which the campaign is live and available to the target audiences. Long term ad campaigns are not time bound and these types of campaigns last all through the year. Until and unless there are some added features or benefits of the brand, there is no need to change the brand message. Timeline Every promotional activity is time bound. There isn’t any defined timeline for long term ad campaigns. However, most of the ad campaigns undergo changes as per the season. For example, the themes of summer ads are completely different from the concept of winter ads. Most often, summer brands seem to have been lulled during winter season and vice versa. To cite an example, we don’t get to watch soft drink ads during winter season. Considering every factor, any ad campaign has a time line.