From Billboards to Branding: The Spectrum of Advertising and Marketing

Favorite Modes of Online Advertising by Millennials

“Coupons are overwhelmingly the favorite mode of online advertising by Millennials. There was a substantial increase in the popularity of email updates over the three-year period, which caused it to be the second most preferred form of online advertising along with side-panel ads. During this same time span, the desire to see advertisements on YouTube dwindled. Millennials’ dislike of pop-up ads remained constant all three years. The website feature that consistently and overwhelmingly catches the eyes of Millennials is the use of graphics. The following website features succeed in arresting the attention of approximately half of Millennials: personalization, a simple yet professional layout, bright colors, and an interactive site” (Taken 2012, p. 89).

Social Media Skills for Advertising

According to Tiago and Veríssimo, “if most customers engage with social media, firms should engage with social media as well” (2014, p. 704). “Specifically, firms should seek to develop digital relationships using promotional strategies that emphasize the co-creation of content and meaning. To this end, word-of mouth communication can be particularly helpful. Of course, firms have always talked to their customers; the critical difference between past and present in this regard is that now, online communication tools allow customers to respond to firms” (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014, p. 704).

Use of Appeals in Adverts

Terkan says that “advertising often persuades through the use of selective appeals. Appeals refer to various approaches used to attract the attention of the audience or influence their feelings or behavior towards a particular product or service. Appeals arouse the interest of consumers towards an advertisers’ product or service. An appeal may be through the product’s colour, shape or message” (2014, pp. 242). “Importance of Creative Advertising and Marketing According to University Students’ Perspective 243 Advertisers often try to persuade consumers by appealing to their needs and desires such as; security, safety, health, comfort, pride, happiness etc. The availability of numerous needs and desires of consumers informs the existence of various kinds of rational and emotional appeals. Persuasion thus causes advertising to become very powerful and controlling; penetrating into the subconscious regions of the minds of the public” (Terkan 2014, pp. 243).

Creativity and Innovation in Advertisement

“Advertising survives or dies on creative and innovative communication. Creativity is the reason why particular agencies are preferred to others” (Terkan 2014, pp. 243). As argued by Terkan (2014), “techniques such as; surprise, humor and contrast, are often used by creative people to create ads. These unexpected elements may be found in the choice of words, visuals and media or in all three. Other techniques used could be in the choice of media. For example, some ads are deliberately placed in public urinals to ensure that they get to the target audience. Some agencies now solicit for designs by consumers through Ad Design competitions. Thus, creativity and innovation should be handled with care to avoid resulting in ads which are unlawful or outright offensive; advertisers should understand their consumers’ sense of humor”(243).

A Successful Advertising Campaign

“Plan your advertising calendar and campaign several months in advance. Failure to plan advertising in advance will waste a lot of your money. Rush charges, poor design, rate increases, poor creative and poor copy are common results of failing to plan in advance” (Puetz, 2018).

“Avoid misleading or dishonest advertising in hopes of converting duped readers/website visitors into using your products or services. Honesty and integrity are the primary key to repeat sales and repeat business. If you have to trick your audience to get their attention, you will have a very hard time keeping their attention and their business if they sign up at all” (Puetz, 2018).

Why Adverts Fail

“Are your ads not bringing in the customers? The customers who cost you money are the ones you never see, the ones who didn't come in because your ads never got their attention. Here are the four biggest mistakes advertisers make that prevent their ads from being both clear and engaging. If you insist that your ads "sound right," you force them to be predictable. Predictable ads do not surprise Broca's area of the brain, which understands language. They don't open the door to conscious awareness. They fail to gain the attention of your prospective customer. The important thing is getting your customers' attention and compelling them to take action. Worried about offending someone? Of the customers who hate your ads, 98.9 percent of them will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don't cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they're handing over their cash.”

Lesson from Failure of Adverts

“Pepsi’s two-and-a-half minute spot “Live for Now,” featured Kendall Jenner leaving her modeling job to join a nondescript protest. In the ad, tensions are mounting between protesters and police—that is, until Jenner magically solves everything by opening a Pepsi for a cop. The brand quickly pulled the spot, which was released in early April, and apologized” (Monllos, 2017).

Lesson learned: “Arguably, the biggest brand gaff Pepsi committed with this spot was putting its product in the center of social issues while simultaneously trivializing said issues. As writer, social worker and activist Feminista Jones eloquently put it earlier this year when asked about the ad, ‘brands should never make light of social issues related to people’s suffering; they should, instead, focus on selling their products in ways that don’t exploit the pain and suffering of marginalized people’” (Monllos, 2017).

Targeting the Right Audience

“Honing in on your target market is only half the battle. When it comes time to create Facebook ads, you will see a little box known as Audience Definition. This box tells you who this specific ad will be targeting. One of the best things you can do when focusing on Audience Definition is to think small. It can be really tempting to see that your ad could potentially reach 1 billion people, but that is not what you want. You want to focus specifically on your niche to begin with. So narrow down your audience details” (Rampton, 2016).

Search Engine Optimization

“You may know your product or service is great, but is it reaching all the people it could be? Search engine optimization can significantly help your brand reach the people who want what you're offering. Industry experts recommend updating your SEO once a quarter; after all, Google updates its algorithm more than 500 times a year. Find the keywords that are making your business gain or lose traction in the search engine cycle in order to make your brand as discoverable and searchable as possible” (Goldman, 2018).

Advertising on Websites

According to Ryan (2016), “if you’re looking to attract search engine traffic, the last thing you want to do is make it difficult for search engines to index your website. Make sure your site design doesn’t present unnecessary obstacles to search engine spiders. Spiders are interested in text, text and more text. They don’t see the graphics, clever animations and other flashy bells and whistles that web designers routinely use to make sites look pretty. In fact over-reliance on some of these things can even stop some spiders in their tracks, preventing them from indexing your pages at all. While some of this ‘window dressing’ is obviously important to make your site appeal to real people when they arrive, to get enough of them to your site in the first place it’s vital that your design doesn’t unwittingly alienate search engine spiders. Make sure your site works for both, and that each page includes relevant text-based content; avoid flash-only sites and frames, which are difficult for spiders to crawl effectively; and make sure that every page on your site can be reached via a simple text-based hyperlink” (71).

Social Media Advertising

“Staying competitive in today's fast moving business landscape requires a solid social media strategy. Companies hire social media experts and consultants to decide on content and characteristics of their offers and activities in social media environments so that the hearts and minds of the consumers are captured and brand loyalty follows. Additionally, customers view social media sites as a service channel, where they can engage on real-time basis with the businesses. However, consumers prefer to see updated content on social media. Thus, Google has changed the algorithm of their search system to enable customers to see the updated content first. Customers who are exposed to plenty of brand messages on social media platforms filter out the content that is not relevant to them. Therefore, providing relevant and updated content is one of the most crucial strategies to manage a brand on social media successfully. Popularity of the social media platform and the content among friends is another important reason for the customers to be engaged with brands on social media. Since there are plenty of social media platforms and it is impossible to involve in all of them, marketers should analyze their target audience and decide to participate in the most effective platforms to communicate with them. In addition, providing mobile applications allows customers to engage with the brand everyday and create brand loyalty” (Erdoğmuş and Çicek 2012, p. 1357).

References

Academic

Erdoğmuş, İ.E. and Cicek, M., 2012. The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58, pp.1353-1360.

Ryan, D., 2016. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.

Taken Smith, K., 2012. Longitudinal study of digital marketing strategies targeting Millennials. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(2), pp.86-92.

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.

Terkan, R., 2014. Importance of creative advertising and marketing according to university students’ perspective. International Review of Management and Marketing, 4(3), pp.239-246.

Non-Academic

Goldman, J. (2018). 7 Essentials for Any 2018 Digital Marketing Strategy. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/jeremy-goldman/7-essentials-for-any-digital-marketing-strategy.html [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].

Monllos, K. (2017). Lessons Learned From the 5 Biggest Brand Fails of 2017: Uber, Pepsi, Dove and More. [online] Adweek.com. Available at: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/lessons-learned-from-the-5-biggest-brand-fails-of-2017-uber-pepsi-dove-and-more/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].

Puetz, C. (2018). Successful advertising tips to generate more customers and more income. [online] Seniormag.com. Available at: http://www.seniormag.com/marketing/advertising-success.htm [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].

Rampton, J. (2016). Six Ways to Blow Up Your Business With Facebook Ads. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2016/03/14/six-ways-to-blow-up-your-business-with-facebook-ads/#259695f46cd5 [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].

Williams, R. (2007). Why Most Ads Fail. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/182404 [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].