A lot of company owners like to determine where to advertise (billboards, radio, digital display) based on anecdotal evidence of success and how the ads look in the medium. I mean, they have a point. Billboards can look pretty flashy, and we do hear people talk constantly about billboards they’ve seen. But billboards only work for certain demographics, products, and markets. The best way to know where and how to advertise is to take a moment to look at how your last campaigns have done. Look at the results of your last few ad cycles. Find out what worked, what didn’t work, and use this to guide your advertising of the next few ad cycles.
Most advertising firms will gladly provide analytics for you. Here at Kearley, we walk our clients through the analytics of their advertising, and we often give them pointers on how to make their ad budget even more effective in the next quarter/month. Here are some important ways looking at the ad analytics of yesterday can help you be more effective tomorrow:
Creative Guidance
You won’t know if your ad copy or art is resonating with your audience if you don’t check to see how well the ads are doing. If you have two Google display ads and one does extraordinarily better than the other, it may mean your target audience really resonates with the creative in that ad. This can help you make better decisions in future advertising.
Product Targeting
In the same way, if one month’s campaign for a mortgage loan received a lot of attention, but your next month’s campaign for auto loans suffered, this could give you insight into the products that your target market is interested in. This helps you make better decisions about what to offer, or at least make better decisions about what to advertise.
Market Research
Looking at the public response to both your creative and your products can give you some keen insight into the mind of your target market. This will help you not only know who is reading your ads, but what ads they read. It will really help you target these demographics better in the future with compelling creative and strategic ad placement.
Make a Plan
All of this research is great. But really, its main purpose is to help you plan for the future. Knowing what ads and products your audience likes will help you know them, and knowing them will help you plan a better campaign next month.
It’s all about doing better advertising. And in the world of advertising, if you’re not improving, you’re probably falling behind. Sometimes it can be tiring to take another look at a campaign that already did well while you’re planning your next one, and it can especially be discouraging to research a campaign that did not do well. But it’s worth it. Because this is one of the only times in life that looking backward can help you take a step forward.
If you need help adjusting or evaluating your advertising portfolio, please reach out at bigideas@kearleya21.sg-host.com. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook @KearleyAndCo.
