Whether your business has been advertising for years or you’ve just recently started, you may not be getting the results you want due to an ineffective strategy. Advertising is never “set it and forget it.” It is constantly evolving, which is why your strategy needs to be constantly evolving too.

If it’s been a while since you revisited your advertising strategy, you might be surprised by what you find. Are you seeing a return on your investment? Are you hitting the right target audience? These are questions you should ask yourself frequently. If you don’t feel like your current advertising strategy is working, the following five signs just might affirm your suspicion.

Your customers never mention seeing your ads

It’s a smart business practice to ask your customers how they heard about you. Was it word of mouth, an advertisement or something else? This will help you spot trends for what’s working and what’s not. If customers never mention seeing your ads, you’re likely not reaching the right audience, with the right message at the right time. The purpose of your advertisements are to be seen! If the majority of your customers aren’t seeing your ads, you need to rethink your strategy!

You run the same exact ad year after year

People love consistency, and you should absolutely be consistent in your branding and messaging, but you also need to keep things fresh. If you run the same ad in the same spot year after year, your message starts to blend in with the background. Make a change to your ads, while still staying true to your branding, and you will find it will spark new interest in your business.

Your ads bring in customers, but not the ones you want

Maybe people are contacting you as the result of your advertisements, but they aren’t qualified leads that result in business. This is another key sign that your strategy isn’t working. You’re likely hitting the wrong audience or pushing out the wrong message. If this is the case, it’s time to take things back to the drawing board and rethink the way you’re approaching your customers.

There’s no strategy or consistency to your ad placement

Maybe your advertising strategy isn’t working because there’s no strategy at all! All too often businesses will want to place a single ad here and there when they’re desperate to get a message out. Shooting from the hip with your ad placement is a waste of time and money. Rather, it takes a strategic plan and consistent placement to reap the full benefits of advertising.

You never review your analytics

How often do you review the analytics from your advertisements? If you place ads online, you should be able to see the views and clicks for any ad. If you choose to never review these, or your media buyer never shows you, this could be a key reason why your advertising strategy isn’t working. It’s important to review these analytics regularly so that you know what’s most effective for engaging your target audience. You can then better shape your strategy around what works, and eliminate what doesn’t.

Do you feel that your current advertising strategy is working for you? Do you have another question related to advertising strategy? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!