Creating an ad campaign is a big step that can cost you some serious money, so it deserves some very careful planning. Before you get into the actual process of designing your advertising campaign, however, you need to identify and promote the specifics that make your product or service unique, known in the ad world as your unique selling proposition (USP).
Your advertising should never speak in generalities. Including just your business’s name, location, and all the wonderful things you’re selling isn’t enough. You need to give the consumer a very good reason — or better yet, several good reasons — to visit you. You do this by first identifying your distinctive strengths and then calling attention to those strengths in your ads. This process is called positioning your message.
Determining the key reasons why consumers drive (or surf, if you’re online) right on past other stores, that may sell the same merchandise as you do, in order to seek out your store is the first step in identifying your USP and positioning your message. You need to convince consumers that your store or business is the smartest, best, most-logical place that they can ever hope to buy that merchandise or service. After you identify these keys, focus in on them as the basis for your creative advertising message — in other words, promote and publicize your strengths.
A good way to start the process of advertising your strengths is to let your mind wander backward to recapture all the reasons you were convinced that your business would succeed in first place. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What makes your company special?
- What is unique about your inventory (if your business is a store or you’re selling products)?
- What service do you provide that clients can’t find elsewhere?
- Are your business hours more expanded than the competition’s?
- Is your location easier to find? More convenient? With better parking? Or, do you pick up and deliver directly to your customers?
If you can remember what it was that originally motivated you to start your business, you’re halfway home in identifying what motivates customers to seek you out. The same reasons you were enthusiastic enough about your business plan to take the entrepreneurial plunge translate nicely into a creative concept and motivational copy that drives customers to your business (turn to Creating Great Ads for Every Medium for more information on how to do this in each ad medium).
Don’t confuse your potential customers with too much information — inform them with a well-conceived, creatively executed, and carefully positioned message. Don’t try to sell everything you have in the store (or every service you offer) in a single ad. Doing so only causes sensory overload. Zero in on one or two important, relevant items so your customers have a prayer of understanding your message.
You want to position your message keeping in mind not only your business’s strengths, but also your primary market (in other words, the people who are most likely to buy your product). When you take both of these important factors into consideration, you not only position the resulting message, but you also target it — like a bull’s-eye, so you can then take your best shot.
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