There’s a fine line between creating an advertising campaign that is successful as it can possibly be and having it be an absolute flop. This is because advertisers often think that their campaigns need to be just like the other trending or well-received ones out there, and they often forget to look after their own branding and style or incorporate their brand’s voice.

This can lead to some confusion for their consumers, who rely on brands for consistency, transparency and, well, great products and services (customer service is an extremely important element here).

The truth is, your campaign is only as good as your strategy, and trying to throw all the elements of all the wonderful initiatives in the world is not going to help you conjure up a viral ad. You need to make your advertisement your own, and measure your success along the way to ensure it’s reaching the right people.

It is here where the team at Adclip reveals three secrets to successful advertising:

Secret #1: Know where to place your ad

This may seem obvious, but the secret to placing your ad in the best spot is to put it where your audience frequents. For example, if you’re in the business of pet products and you want to target the places where dog, cat and bird lovers like to hang out, you might go scour the veterinarian web pages, animal lover blogs and publications or pet insurance companies.

However, finding out exactly where a majority of your audience likes to go does take a bit of research. Luckily this can also easily be done with an ad monitoring tool, such as Adclip, which allows you to see where your competitors’ ads have been placed. Now, you might be wondering, how is that helpful to you?

Well, once you are able to see where your biggest competitors are placing their ads, you’ll know exactly where to place yours! Additionally, you’ll also see where they aren’t advertising, which might give you an advantage as you’ll be able to target your audience in a place that has been untouched by your opponents.

Secret #2: Make your advertisement memorable

To do this, you need to make it relatable and interesting. Even if you’re a big-name business and you sell something seemingly ‘average’ and every day, such as toothbrushes, do your research and find out how to make your ad about your new line of tooth products compelling to your specific audience. For example, if you live in South Africa, then utilise elements and a location for your ad that reflects who you’re targeting.

And, depending on where in the country most of your reach has, try and localise it to that. For example, if you’re an ad agency in Johannesburg, and most of your audience is coming from that region in Gauteng, your ad could show a well-dressed entrepreneur sitting in traffic on his way to the Joburg CBD.

Then, while trying to beat the rush, he could realise he forgot to brush his teeth, say something aloud in one of our 11 official languages, and remember that he kept your pocket-sized toothbrush in his wallet. While trying to brush his teeth in the car, he could get pulled over by our famous Metro Police, and then some comedy might happen. Whatever you decide to do, really make it ‘Mzansi-style’ in order to have your consumers relate. The idea is to make it authentic, not stereotypical or have generalisations.

Additionally, you can check out these memorable South African ads for some inspiration:


Secret #3: Monitor your ad’s success

So, you’ve found your target audience, and you know exactly how to make your ad memorable … Now, it’s time to measure your success to see how things are adding up. The best way to do this is to go back to your advert monitoring service.

With a service like Adclip, you can see exactly where your ad has been placed, if it’s been placed correctly and, the best part, view metadata about the ad to see how it’s performing.

You can then export all that data to a spreadsheet to see how everything is coming together, and whether you are reaching all your goals. You can also generate statistical reports, which include an Overview, Listing, Metadata and Multiple Read. These reports will help you when you’d like to present your success to potential clients so that they’ll be excited to hire you as their ad agency.

You can also use them to prove your return on investment so that they can see why they’ve enlisted your agency. Remember, it’s not just about knowing how to create a great ad — you need all these hidden gems in order to keep consumers, and clients, coming back for more!

For more information, visit www.adclip.co.za.