What Makes an Ad Campaign Successful?

By Brennah Tate, Media Sales

There are eight secret ways to make your advertising campaign great:

1. Make a news announcement, or ask a provocative question. Your intro is 70 percent responsible for the success of your ad.

2. An ad is not the place for a logical argument or justification. The job of the ad is to get a response. This does not mean that you don’t want to list factual information in your ads. You absolutely want to list facts that give benefits that create strong emotions.

3. A vertical photo attracts more attention than a horizontal one. Studies also show that the size of your photograph is important. When you double the size of a photo, you double the average amount of copy a person will read. That’s how you get more effective advertising.

4. Always use captions with your photos. Twice as many people will read the caption than the text copy.

5. Buy a bigger ad. Effective advertising communication takes space. Don’t try to cram it all into a little box. The best advertisements need room to bloom. A half page advertisement will pull 70 percent of the business a full-page ad will. A quarter page ad will pull 50 percent of a full page. Is the cost difference worth it?

6. Use the problem/solution format to create effective advertising. “Hungry? Try Our .99 Double Cheeseburger.” Always ask questions that get a, “Yes, that’s me,” reply.

7. Effective advertising connects your marketing together. Mention your newsletter in your emails, your emails in your ads, your ads in your brochures, your brochures on your calendars, your calendars on your business cards, etc. Connect them all as much as possible for more effective advertising.

8. Surprise your reader. Throw them a curve. Give them the desire to know more. Effective advertising leaves your audience a little curious.

Let’s play a game. How many do you remember?

1. Where’s the beef???
2. Got ___???
3. Be all that you can be.
4. Just do it.
5. Maybe she's born with it, Maybe it's ______.
6. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
7. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.
8. What would you do for a _____ bar?
9. With a name like _______ ... it has to be good.
10. Every kiss begins with ____.

Answers: 1. Wendy’s, 2. Milk, 3. Army, 4. NIKE, 5. Maybelline, 6. M&M’s, 7. Almond Joy/Mounds, 8. Klondike, 9. Smuckers, 10. Kay Jewelers