Nearly every business will use some form of advertising to help promote their goods and services and to increase their brand value. It’s a smart strategy, especially because technology continues to make it easier and more affordable to reach your target audience.

When developing your business’s advertising strategy, there are several key things you need to consider to make sure you are effectively using those ad dollars – otherwise, it’s like shouting into the wind. Take a look at five things every business must do in order to reach its target audience through advertising.

1. Get to (really) know your target audience.

The number one thing every business must do to develop an effective advertising strategy is to first define the group of people you are trying to reach. This will change drastically from business to business, even if it’s within the same industry. You will want to examine your current customer base and identify your “best customers” that you want to gain more of. Identify their shared qualities such as age, gender, behaviors, hobbies, education and income. The more you know about your target audience, the better you will be able to reach them.

2. Audit all of your past and current advertising efforts.

Next, take a comprehensive look at anything you’ve done to promote your business that could fall under the umbrella of paid advertising. Whether that was within the last 12 months, or more than five years ago, it’s helpful to know what’s been done, what worked and what did not. Next, focus on the efforts that yielded measurable results. Replicate these efforts in your updated advertising strategy, but also be sure to leave room to add in new tactics that may have just come to the market thanks to technology or because of emerging trends.

3. Set a new budget.

Once you’ve analyzed your past efforts, you’re ready to set a realistic budget for what you can afford to dedicate solely to paid advertising at this time. Keep in mind your business will need separate budgets for marketing, public relations, business development and the like that should be considered as a whole to determine your full operating budget and what you can afford.

4. Set new goals.

With a budget in place, you can now define your goals for reaching your target audience. Map this out in increments of 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. The reason you should set your budget first and your goals second is because doing the opposite may cause you to set unrealistically high goals that don’t align with a realistic budget for your business at this time. The result is inevitably going to be frustration and disappointment. Start with a firm budget and then match the goals to what you can afford and what is top priority.

5. Speak your customers’ language.

Finally, with a strategy, budget and goals, you are ready to focus on your messaging. Even the best strategy won’t yield top results if your approach is misaligned with your target audience. You need to learn to speak their language and match your messaging to this language! How you would speak to an audience of people age 65+ is vastly different from how you’d speak to people age 18-22. With the right messaging, your advertising efforts will be that much more memorable, engaging and valuable to your business.

Does your business have an advertising strategy that is tailored to reaching your target audience? Consider what voids might exist that are preventing you from effectively reaching this target audience. If your strategy could benefit from a comprehensive audit, let us take a look – for free!

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