Category: Advertising

What type of Leader are you?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog

One of the most important things for any business is strong leadership. Good leaders are the difference between effectively executed advertising plans and poorly executed plans. No matter the style you prefer, it is unavoidable to realize leadership is important.

If you feel like your business is not doing as well as it could be, perhaps it is time to consider your leadership style and what it means for your business and advertising plan. Each leadership style has its pros and cons, and the best leadership style depends on many things from your business to your personality to your goals.

There are five main types of leaders. The first is the managerial leader. This leader is given their power solely because of a position of authority. These leaders tend to have the least influence as people are simply listening because they have to, not because they want to. While this style is effective in larger organizations with a strict hierarchy, the biggest weakness of this leadership style is that there is a lack of connection with the people being led.

On the other side of things, there is the relational leader. This leader focuses on building relationships with people. This enables them to lead and influence people through mutual respect and trust. This leadership style is very effective, especially in small organizations. In advertising, using relational leadership is important to develop relationships with media organizations and with customers.

There is also the motivational leader who leads based upon their connection and drive to develop themselves and those around them. Similar to the motivational leader, there is the inspirational leader who works on inspiring others through their own self growth and development. Both leadership styles can be important when approaching a deadline. These leaders can help drive their employees to finalize marketing decisions and execute plans.

Finally, there is the transformational leader. This leadership style is actually one of the strongest and most effective styles. these leaders have a passion and feel called to help transform others. They share many of the qualities and aspects of relational and motivational and inspirational leaders. No matter the organization or the plan that needs to be executed, this leadership style can be great for turning an organization around.

Top Traits for Aspiring Advertisers

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog

Working in the advertising industry is an exciting and eye-opening experience. We may be a bit biased, but we love the fast-paced, dynamic environment of advertising and marketing. If you are thinking of pursing a career in advertising and marketing or even if you have already begun your career, there are three main traits you need to succeed in the advertising world.

1. Be Adaptable

The advertising and marketing industry is constantly changing. This is part of why we love our jobs. No day at the office is ever the same. We constantly need to be learning about the next best thing for our clients to achieve their goals. Whether you work for an agency, work for a business, or for yourself, you need to be adaptable to your environment. You need to stay on top of the changing trends throughout not just your market, but also the world.

This trait also helps with many task advertisers are asked to complete in their day-to-day office work. Our advertising agency is constantly having to think on our feet as we work with a variety of media sources from TV stations to radio.

2. Utilize Strong Communication Skills

Due to the fact we work with a variety of media of companies, as well as our clients, communication could not be more important. Not only do we need to make sure we properly and fully understand the goals and desires of our clients, we also need to be able to communicate these goals and desires in the advertising materials and to other media agencies. Additionally, we need to be able to communicate with our clients the advantages and disadvantages of various decisions.

Strong communications skills are not only important in agencies though. Inside a business, it is important that advertising works closely with other departments in the business to ensure that the advertising message being shared with the public accurately and properly reflects the business’s products and values.

3. Be a Engaged Learner

Learning never stops, especially in the advertising industry. As I have said already, markets and trends are ever-changing. There are constantly new ways to advertise and new ways to reach consumers. Part of the job of being an advertiser is to keep on learning. If you want to succeed in this industry, you need to be an engaged learner who actively seeks out more knowledge.

At the end of the day, these three traits are extremely important. However, they are just the starting point. The traits you have on top of these such as drive, passion, intelligence, etc. are what will separate you from others. If you are considering pursing a career in advertising, make sure to identify what three other characteristics are unique to you and consider how these will help you be successful in an advertising career.

What’s up with Snapchat?

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Social Media

Have you taken a look at Snapchat advertising lately? We sure have, and we know it can get complicated. Let us break it down for you. Whether you are an advertiser or a snapchat user, this information can be useful to know.

Here is what snapchat has to offer in terms of advertising! The what, why, and how much …

1. SNAP ADS

What? Mobile Video ads with a choice of interactive elements such as games and quizes …

Why? The swipe-up rate for Snap Ads is 5X higher than the average click-through rate for other comparable social platforms.

How much? Varies, starts at $3,000/month to run the ad.

2. SPONSORED LENSES

What? A custom lense to be present on snapchat for all users to play with …

Why? Snapchatters tend to play with Sponsored Lenses for an average of 20 seconds.

How much? Depends on the day. For instance, it is around $700,000 for holidays or special events!

3. NATIONWIDE SPONSORED GEOFILTER

What? A custom filter to be present on snapchat in specific location for users to utilize when taking pictures.

Why? Snapchatters not only see your filter, but can share and send images with you filter to friends.

How much? Undetermined, but a much cheaper alternative to sponsored lenses

4. SPONSORED LOCAL GEOFILTERS

What? Just like nationwide geofilters, expect local and pinpointed to a specific area.

Why? A great and reasonable offering to reach young audiences with high ROI!

How much? Cheapest offering! Can be as little as $5!

5. SNAPCHAT DISCOVER

What? Ads are placed in the premium discover section of the app by big names such as Cosmo, Daily Mail, and the NBA.

Why? This is reserved almost exclusively for the big brands.

How much? Very expensive, starting at $50,000/day

6. SNAP TO UNLOCK FILTERS/CODES

What? Find QR codes and snapchat them to unlock exclusive and innovative ads

Why? This is new, new, new.

How much? Unknown

It’s shocking just how big a role advertising plays in Snapchat. Be sure to stay on the look out for these cool features, and even if you’re a small business owner, consider the effect they can have on your business.

All this information was acquired from Wallaroo Media’s article. Check back in to their article for updates and further details on these advertising strategies. Also for more information, check out Snapchat!

Top Advertising Must-Reads of 2017

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

While so many of us prefer to pick up our laptop, tablet, or cell phone to get the latest in advertising and marketing news, there are some worthwhile books out there that can help big or small businesses to better understand their audience and to improve their advertising strategies. If these books aren’t on your list for 2017, they should be.

  1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – This book may not be your typical advertising read. However, this non-fiction book uses illustrative examples and stories to explain human behavior in an engaging and dynamic way. Reading this book will change the way you think about ideas and marketing products.
  2. Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon – A fun, short read, “Steal Like An Artist” is a step back to the basics. It is a reminder of how good, innovative ideas are born. An inspirational read this book is the perfect boost you need to keep your ideas fresh and exciting.
  3. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads by Luke Sullivan – New to the business scene and looking for a starter guide to advertising, but you find all the other how to advertising books boring? Give “Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This” a try! In a fun and imaginative way, the author will bring you into the narrative while also teaching you useful information about advertising.
  4. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Ries and Trout – Straight-forward and all about advertising, this book will teach you the fundamentals on how to position your business, as well as your products or services. From learning to harness your competitive advantage to understanding how to forge ahead in the industry, this book is a basic.
  5. Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield – A slightly different type of book, “Caffeine for the Creative Mind” is a practical workbook filled with exercises for you brain. Feeling sluggish and out of good ideas. Try these mental workouts. As a result, you will better be able to approach problems by considering new perspectives. Your advertising will improve as you reconsider your approach and strategies.

Purpose of Mass Media

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog

Mass media is such a part of our everyday lives that much like air we easily forget about it. Yet, in the present day, mass media surrounds us everywhere we go, and researchers have gone as far as to determine that we spend thirty percent of our waking hours engaged in media related activities. This accounts for about five hours every single day. As a result, mass media and how we use it is extremely important.

Mass media can be defined as the various media vehicles used to transmit messages to large amounts of people. Some examples of mass media include television, newspapers, magazines, radio, film, email, and more.

The goal of advertising is to utilize mass media in order to spread a specific message about a certain business’s product or service. Consequently, understanding the purpose of mass media is the key to understanding the purpose of advertising. In general, four different objectives can be achieved from mass media.

First, one the most basic purposes of mass media is to inform an audience. When mass media is used in this way, mass media can be an extremely powerful. This is often the first step for advertisers. Before people will buy your product or service, people must understand what it is and how the product or service can improve their life. An example of a media informing an audience could be a newspaper when it breaks a news article or a television commercial explaining the menu options at a restaurant.

Second, another purpose of mass media is to persuade. This may mean to persuade a person to buy something, as in the case of advertising, or this may simply be to persuade a person to feel or think a certain way. Advertisers spend a lot of time trying to persuade mass audiences to feel a certain way about a business’s brand.

Third, mass media can simply be used to amuse or entertain and audience. Sometimes the best way to engage a large audience is through humor or an interesting story. Geico is a perfect example of a company that tries to entertain through their advertising. Radio stations are another example of a mass media that exists mostly to entertain listeners.

Finally fourth, mass media can be used to enlighten an audience. This is one of the least common forms, especially in advertising. This goal steps beyond simply informing or entertaining. The mass media forms that most often try to achieve this goal are books or poetry. The most applicable example of this to advertising is perhaps the use of satire or a documentary. A company could put on a documentary to not only inform, persuade, and entertain an audience, but also to enlighten them about a current situation.

For advertisers, a common problem is deciding which of these four goals to try to achieve. The advertisers who are most successful use a combination of all of them. Most importantly, they remember who their audience is. For instance, you most likely will have to inform an audience about something before you can persuade them to action.

However when looking at these four different purposes for mass media, you can see many different ways to engage and reach a large audience. At the end of the day, by better understanding the goals and purpose of mass media as well as your audience, you can better craft your advertising plan and better utilize mass media.

Where is Advertising going in 2017?

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog

Happy New Year! With a new year, there comes new and exciting projects for clients, fresh and fun ideas, and new advertising trends.

While the entire advertising industry will get a facelift in 2017, there is one area in specific that is going to grow like crazy and that is digital. Digital Advertising has taken off in 2016 and only plans to continue to grow. In fact, it even plans to push farther ahead taking the advertising industry by storm in 2017, and in many industries, digital advertising will become more important than television advertising.

Screen Shot 2016-12-29 at 6.29.00 PM.pngAccording to eMarketer, United States digital advertising spending is going to increase by 21.9% in the retail industry during 2017, matching the growth in 2016, and the automotive industry is going to increase digital advertising spending by 12.8% in 2017.

In fact, the industries of financial services, telecom, consumer products, travel, consumer electronics, media, entertainment, healthcare, pharma, and more will all see growth in digital advertising spending in 2017. Also according to eMarketer, this trend will only continue over the next four years.

As you can see, digital advertising is going to be extremely important to businesses in 2017 and beyond. At the beginning of this new year then, don’t forget to make sure your spending some time focusing on your digital advertising plan. If you need any help, feel free to contact Adventure Ad Agency. We are happy to help you make your 2017 advertising plan a stronger one.

Three Channels of Marketing

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

Is your advertising campaign really reaching the audience you want in the way you want? That is an important questions to think about. The problem is how do we answer it.

In marketing, there are a number of different ways to reach your consumer, but all of these different types fall into three different channels of marketing. Each of these different channels have their own advantages and disadvantages.

By understanding each of these channels audiences and their various advantages and disadvantages better, you can better target your marketing and advertising strategy, and you can answer that question of is your advertising campaign really reaching the audience you want in the way you want.

First, there is the one-to-many model. This channel is where you are marketing as a company or business to a multitude of consumers the same message. In this channel, we find a very large portion of advertising included. General television advertising, billboards, and newspaper ads are all examples of advertising being distributed to multiple consumers at once. Sales promotions are another example. The promotion, for example of 50% off at a retail store, is distributed to everyone through advertising and given to everyone who participates.

Finally in this model, there is also public relations. These efforts are made by one company or business to maintain a positive image in the eyes of the masses. For instance, public relations does not focus on being perceived positively by one customer, but instead by all customers.

The advantages of this model is that it is faster and easier to do this type of advertising because it does not have to be personalized. Also, it is controlled to a certain level by the businesses doing it. Because this model involves messages going from a business to many consumers, the business is able to be aware of what messages it is sending to consumers, and it can change as the consumers change.

The biggest disadvantage is that this type of advertising can become generic as everyone gets the same thing, and there is not as much flexibility in who you are targeting. Even if you put a great television advertisment up and it reaches many consumers with the right message, people still may not care or identify with the message.

Second, there is a one-to-one model. This channel has messages being sent straight from the business or marketer to a specific individual or smaller group of individuals. In this type of advertising, databases and information is better used to target advertising. Instead of sending a flyer to everyone in the states, a financial services company may use database information to only send flyers to households that have a high income level. Direct marketing is a perfect example of this.

The biggest advantage then for the one-to-one model is that you can better target your audience and likely get a better response to your advertising plan. The disadvantage of this is that this benefit will likely cost more and be more time consuming. Plus, you have to have access to that database information on demographics and more in order to be able to target at all.

Finally, there is the many-to-many model. This is where consumers are actually communicating on channels to other consumers. The easiest way to see this is in social media and the buzz building that occurs when a post is shared over and over again.

This is an extremely powerful form of marketing, which is one of its benefits. Consumers are considerably influenced by other consumers, even more so than by businesses. As a result, consumers are more receptive to messages sent to them. Another advantage is that since this is mostly consumer driven, there is little to no expense associated with this. Most or the expensive would come from content creation or paid boosting and targeting of posts on social media.

The downside is that this channel is consumer driven which takes a lot of the control out of a business’ hands. Buzz building can be an organic thing that happens, but often businesses would need to pay to boost a post on Facebook for inorganic audience members in order for a business to spread its reach.

Now that you know the three different channels, which channel do you think is best for you and your business? Maybe it is a combination of all three. However, advertising is an art. If you need help changing or creating your plan, Adventure Ad Agency is here to help.

The Evolution of Advertising

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog

When we think about advertising, it is easy to quickly just think about television commercials and billboards on the side of a highway. However, advertising is much more than that. Advertising continues to evolve and change every day. What advertising meant last year is different than what it means this year. To understand what advertising is now and where it is going though, we must understand how it has evolved from where it was in the past.

Advertising initially began in full swing in the twentieth century with the emergence of the invention of the radio and cable television. The 1950s through the 1970s are heralded as the heyday of cable television. With these inventions, advertising was finally able to reach mass audiences. With a limited number of television channels, advertising could directly reach consumers without much other clutter competing for the viewer’s attention.

Then, cable television began in the 1980s, and the advertising industry began to be able to fragment the mass media and better target consumers. As more networks were created, further segmentation occurred and the concept of narrowcasting emerged. The idea of narrowcasting is simply targeted advertising through cable television to smaller market segments by demographics such as location, interests, age, etc.

The next big thing to sweep the advertising world was the increased presence of advertisements in magazines. As television advertising rose in cost, magazine and print advertising declined, only further fueling this print advertising boom. These print options could also more narrow segment the market.

Finally, with the ushering in of the twenty first century, there came the internet and with it digital media. Unlike previous methods of segmenting that used demographic variables to target markets, digital advertising provided the opportunity to implement behavioral targeting, which previously would have been too expensive to collect data on.

As a consequence of this, today our world is filled with much more advertising clutter creating an even higher demand for quality advertising that engages viewers. Currently, there is an increased ability for the consumer to avoid or skip over ads whether through a DVR or through the click of a button.

As a result, the advertising industry has become more creative with growth in strategies such as product placement and sponsorships. Social media has also emerged around 2010 as a powerful new advertising tool that is low cost, if not free.

Over the past hundred years, the entire landscape of the advertising industry has changed, and it will only continue to change. Advertising agencies then must continue to be on the top of their game, constantly thinking of new and creative ways to engage and reach the consumer.

Enhancing User Experience

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

The one essential design principle that spans across every platform of communication is usability. Consequently, user experience can make or break an advertising platform.

Any time you are producing content, you are communicating a message, and the ability of this content to be used and understood is absolutely essential to getting your message heard and remembered. This is why the user experience of everything from your website to your social media posts to your business card is arguably one of the most important design elements.

User experience is understood as how your audience experience or processes the information being given to them. For example, a website has its own unique user experience. From the way you navigate the page to the emotions your feel as a result of the pictures to the ease of finding the company’s address, you are having a user experience.

Despite the fact that user experience is essential to the success of communicating messages, enhancing your user experience is not very hard. In fact, it builds almost entirely off of the principles of segmentation discussed in the last blog post.

Therefore, the first step is to enhancing user experience is segmentation. This is identifying a target audience and understanding their needs wants and desires. Once you understand this, you can create a custom user experience strategy for your audience. After developing a strategy, there are three main steps.

  1. Define the information or message to be communicated. In this step, it is important that you decide what content needs to be included. This is when you need to take a serious step back and cut you thoughts down to the bare minimum. Be simple. What is the most important thing my audience needs to know? What information is required?
  2. Decide on and organize a delivery platform. After deciding on the content, the next step is deciding how you want to share that content. You need to combine your knowledge of your content and your knowledge of your audience to choose a platform that will provide the best user experience for your audience. For instance, if you wish to share news about an upcoming event, what social media site provides the best user experience for sharing it with friends and organizing an event? Is it Twitter through tweets and messaging or Facebook through posts and creating a group? Clearly, you would choose Facebook due to the marriage of user experience with content helpful to organizing a group
  3. Execute your plan. This is when you go ahead and create your graphics, images, text, etc. that supports your message and platform.

An important key to user experience is making your content purposeful and relatable. Following the process steps above will help make your content more purposeful by focusing in on segmentation and the specific needs of the audience. However, the actual final content created needs to be relatable and reflect this audience as well.

Through all of this process, it is important you follow the golden rule of user experience: don’t make things complicated. The more difficult it is to understand a message, the less the audience will be willing to engage with it. In a world of ever-increasing technology, people want things faster and easier. Be simple. Don’t overthink it.

Facebook Ads Manager 101

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Social Media

A majority of the population is on Facebook, or is at least familiar with how the Facebook interface works. If you’re reading this blog, you may have even posted an advertisement for your business on Facebook.

Facebook Ads Manager is part of Facebook for Business, and it allows you to easily view, change, and manage your Facebook ads. Ads Manager gives you many valuable tools you can’t access through a regular Facebook account. It allows you to create custom audiences, view audience insights, gather information about your pages, and access more support for your advertising campaigns. Ads Manager gives you faster editing, powerful insights, and customized reporting. It allows you to quickly and efficiently edit every aspect of your ads in one place. You can change the target audience, budget, duration, etc. of each ad in the same place without having to scroll through your feed to find each individual ad. You can also view your page and ad insights with Ad Managers custom graphs and data. This will allow you to measure the success of your ad and gauge predicted performance of future ads. Facebook Ad Manager’s reporting tool will break down the data and give you all the details you need about every ad you’ve created.

So why do you need Facebook Ads Manager? Our advice is that if you rarely plan to post a Facebook ad, you don’t. It would be more time consuming to learn the interface of Ads Manager than it would be to create and manage each ad manually. However, if you plan to post Facebook ads frequently Ads Manager can be life changing. It will ensure you respond to every like, comment, and message on your page by notifying you through your ads manager account so the notifications don’t get lost in your personal account. It will let you quickly change your promoted posts out so you don’t have to worry about promoting outdated content.

Another great reason to utilize Facebook Ads Manager is because it helps you optimize your budget. Ads Manager allows you to set your budget to distribute in the best way for your ad campaign. You could evenly distribute it for the duration of the ad or vary the budget over time to reach more people on strategic days or at strategic times. Ads Manager allows you to customize your budget to get the most bang for your buck.

Other customizable options in Facebook Ads Manager are editing audience, ad placements, schedule, and bids. Ads Manager gives you the most customization for your Facebook ads and allows you to have the most control over various aspects within each ad and over every campaign. Although Ads Manager can be overwhelming at first, we think it is a very useful tool if you are going to be managing multiple ads. If you need help setting up a Facebook Ads campaign or starting your Ads Manager account, please contact us today.