Advertising in the digital age has propelled the promotions of sales into a brand new era.

Traditional advertising has always had the advantage of targeting local audiences and driving traffic to brick and mortar businesses, but digital takes it into a whole new realm. Everyone lives on mobile and digital, it’s cost-effective and incredibly targeted, fast and in real time while offering proven results with genuine analytics. In December 2017, Business Insider Australia confirmed Google and Facebook “now account for 25% of all ad sales, online or off.”  Digital has made this brave new world bigger, harder, stronger and faster.

Digital has bought immense changes to the advertising table and regardless of the technology, channel or platform you choose, there are advertising rules that transcend all. So when it comes to creating effective campaigns for outdoor billboards, radio, Facebook or ecommerce sales, these stand as the Top 15 Golden Rules Of Advertising to live by.
 

1. All You’ve Got Is 3 Seconds
   Your ad needs instant impact: capture interest and attention immediately and keep your message simple – you don’t want your audience to think too hard.
   Keep your words persuasive with an attention-grabbing, emotionally-compelling, results-driven headline to make a meaningful impression.

2. Strategy Strategy Strategy
   You can never research enough – unless of course, it’s stopping you from pushing your ad live.

3. Set Goals
   Ask yourself: what do you want to achieve? Set a budget. Set goals.

4. Who are you targeting?
   Understand your audience and market, what they want and where they’ll be.

5. Choose The Right Channel
   Be where your audience is: place the right creative in front of the right people on the right channel at the right time.

6. Good Stories Never Die
   Stories engage audiences, leave lasting impressions and evoke emotional responses.
   People feel first and think second, so ads that generate an emotional response are more likely to generate sales.

7. Brand Brand Brand
   Make the brand essential to an emotionally, powerful storyline, and – depending on whether the ad uses a single image or moving images – make sure branding appears early or features prominently. Emotionally engaging ads are the most effective, so be sure to tie the brand with the ad.

8. Quality Beats Quantity
   Invest in quality images and copy. Don’t lower your prices and devalue your brand or product: add value instead. Instead, package it so the customer thinks they’re getting a bargain. And while you want to reach your audience, don’t bombard them. Sadly, there is such a thing as too much advertising.

9. Find The Right Message: Repeat To Reinforce
   People are bombarded with thousands of brand messages every day.
   Stand out: Find the emotionally-compelling reasons and benefits of your product for your customers, then craft your message around these.

10. Include A Call To Action
    Make sure your ad has a call to action to elicit an immediate response.
    Increase chances by offering something more than just the product.

11. Test, Measure & Learn
    The greatest aspects of digital is the access to analytics in real time allowing for almost immediate change – so use the data to your advantage. Test your ad and monitor the response – results will tell you what works and what doesn’t. If it’s not working, change it up. Then follow up often and consistently.
    Consider splitting test ads by demographic.
    FB Tip: Test website landing pages versus Facebook pages: Facebook builds relationships. Landing pages generates more sales.

12. Be Relevant
    Observe the trends and preferences of your target market and use these in the elements of your ads.

13. Don’t Exaggerate
    No one likes clickbait: don’t devalue or lower the standards of your brand by resorting to untruths.

14. Have Patience
    Think long term. Invest for the long haul and don’t spend beyond your means. Set a reasonable budget you’ll be able to handle for longer periods of time.

15. Stay Optimistic.
    As the essential ingredient for success, optimism creates opportunities. You’ve invested a great deal of time and effort into your brand and marketing: keep realistic about budgets and goals, but also don’t forget to stay positive. You’ve got this.

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