Developing an Advertising Campaign

Anyone can create an advertising campaign, but in order to do it successfully it must be done correctly. Advertising is an investment and there are six different steps for a company to consider if they want to develop a successful advertising campaign. The first step is to identify your target audience; these are the people who are most likely to purchase your products or services. You need to define the type of people you are trying to reach such as the age group(s), income level(s), education, male and/or female, and lifestyle. Geico's audience is anyone who can operate a vehicle because to do so you have to have insurance. Since Geico has such a broad target range they decided to create several types of ads. You will then need to establish a message and budget objectives. You want your message to ring in people's minds. Geico did this by creating ads that are simple and all about saving money instead of scaring you about having an accident. The third step you will need to take is to design your ad(s). Geico's many ads have very memorable icons such as the eyeballs on the wads of cash, the cavemen, reality show themes, and the famous gecko. By doing this they have been able to connect with every age group and lifestyle and their ads certainly ring in the minds of their audience. Step four is the pretest of what the ad is saying. This is where you find out what does and doesn't work. This can be accomplished through focus groups or by doing surveys. Then the fifth step is choosing the media type(s) and media schedule. There are several different media types such as the television, radio, internet, mailers, billboards, newspapers, and magazines. You will want your message to reach out to your audience at all different hours of the day and night. Geico has been very successful at this through their consistency and frequency. Then the last and sixth step is to evaluate the advertising and one way this can be done is through post testing. Advertising can be a key element in the making or breaking of a company. Creating a successful ad campaign may not be easy but when it is done it is an investment because it makes more then it cost.