This week´s business English blog post deals with advertising strategies – this is a step by step plan to reach customers – der Kunde – and convince –jdn überzeugen – them to buy specific products. A well-planned strategy might help a company to sell more products than their competitors – der Konkurrent. But, its important to adapt the strategy to the product and the market. An advertising strategy that worked for a product in the past might not be the right choice for a campaign at present. People change their perspective and with that their requirements – Ansrpüche. Planning an advertising strategy is a creative process. In order to launch an effective advertisement campaign you need to understand your business and your target audience – die Zielgruppe.
Steps to an effective advertising strategy
Determine the purpose – der Zweck – the first decision is to decide why you want to advertise. To boost sales? Or to launch a new product? To increase tarffic on the website or foot traffic?
Determine the target audience – this is a crucial – maßgeblich – step. Companies create a profile of the customer that is supposed to buy the product and create the campaign around their interests.
Decide on advertising budget size – it is essential to decide on the budget size before deciding on an advertising strategy
Select media and schedule – there are a few media outlets – Medienkanäle – a company can choose to advertise their product. Such as print media, digital media, direct mails, radio advertising, trade shows, outdoor medias (billboards, posters)
Implement – etw. umsetzen – advertising program – implementing the advertising strategy is referred to as an advertising campaign. It is important to have consistency – Übereinstimmung – when advertising a product on different platforms.
Measure – etw messen – effectiveness – the effectiveness can be measured by the return on investment you get by implementing an advertising strategy.
Different types
- seasonal advertising – this means advertising a product during a specific season, for example, around christmas.
- social media advertising – this is one of the most popular advertising strategies used in order to stay in contact with customers. This way people can not only learn about a companies new product or service but also interact with the company.
- ownership advertising – here a company makes their customers participate in the ad itself. For example, Coca Cola asked people to share a selfie wih their coke bottle.
- modeling advertising strategy – this means to make use of a celebrity or famous person to advertise a product
- utility advertising strategy – advertising a product by helping people achieve their goals.
- evocation advertising strategy – this strategy grabs the attention of potential customers by evoking – etw. hervorrufen -strong emotions. Thus companies create a positive image of their brand – die Marke.
