5 tips from an advertising student on how you could be marketing your business better:
1.Know your target audience
Knowing who your audience dictates how you should approach them. Advertising to Gen Z requires a drastically different approach than advertising to Baby Boomers. If you are advertising to people outside of your own demographic, running your ads by people who are in that demographic can be a big help in determining what is effective (and what isn't).
2. Use advertising functions on social media
Paid promotions are your friend! Ads on sites such as Facebook and Instagram help spread awareness of your business to new people, especially to younger generations. Figure out which websites your target audience uses the most and start running ads there.
3. Establish your branding
It’s important for your business to have a distinct and consistent look. Establish the fonts, colors, logos, etc. that you want to use and stick to them. Think of big name brands like Coca-Cola, Walmart, Amazon. You can probably picture what their designs look like pretty clearly. That's effective advertising.
4. Know when to tone it down
People don’t like being sold to. Advertisements can easily become an annoyance and create a negative association with your business, especially when they’re too frequent. Having a diverse selection of ads that run at different times on different platforms helps keep steady marketing from becoming obnoxious spam.
5. Get your audience involved
Create competitions, challenges, and hashtags. Encourage your audience to share their positive experiences, or to post pictures of their products for the chance to win a prize! This strategy is especially effective with apparel. Companies will encourage their customers to post photos modeling their merchandise with the chance to be featured on the brand's social media. It spreads awareness to people who don't follow the account, all while generating new postable content for the business.