Common Mistakes That Advertisers Make

John Wanamaker (1838–1922), a department-store magnate in US , once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” And this one aptly summarize the advertising effectiveness dilemma each marketer faces.
Sadly, most of the advertisers don’t achieve the expected ROI on their campaigns. Only 30% advertisers can say their campaigns are effective.
Why?
Here’s taking a look at some of the most common mistakes that advertisers make:
1. Not focusing on the consumer need
Most advertisers spend an awful amount of time on highlighting the product features, without focusing on the consumer needs. The end result of such advertisements are campaigns that consumers can’t relate with. The purpose of an advertisement is for the consumer to see value in engaging with the business. Each and every product is not just product but a solution that advertiser is offering to solve a crucial problem in customer’s life.
2. Not doing a 360 degree campaign
360 degree campaigns involve all the possible mediums that your customer accesses. Advertisements campaigns are the most effective when they follow an omnichannel strategy to create multiple touch points for the consumer.. Advertisers tend to be sporadic in terms of choosing the media. They will do TV one month and newspaper in another month. Mediums typically augment one another and a study indicates that just by adding digital in your overall campaign strategy you can increase the effectiveness of your TV campaign by whopping 70%.
3. Not being consistent in message
Advertisers tend to experiment more with the campaign messaging, without exhausting the potential of one. This often leads to customers being targeted with variations of the same value proposition which they are too busy to comprehend. This lowers both advertising and brand recall rate. Repetition might be boring from a creativity point of view but when it comes to consumer, repeated messages works wonders for recall. Even if you want to change the message, you need to identify the key elements from your campaign and drive consistency to boost recall value.
Take for example the Fair & Lovely campaign. The advertisements always consist of an appearance from Yami Gautam, making it easier for customers to associate a brand with the visual. Using similar themes, messages and characters can go a long way in creating a lasting impact!
4. Not being consistent in advertising frequency
I have worked in an organization where advertising was seen as short term fix for solving the plunging sales. So, when sales went south, advertising immediately went north. Although short term campaign might get you some results, every time a brand comes back after long hiatus it has uphill task of getting registered in consumer minds again. Consistent frequency helps in improving the brand recall value amongst customers, saving the money that you will otherwise need to spend on reminding the customers about who you are. So, cutting that advertising budget might improve your financial results for a quarter or two, it will cost you much more in the longer run.
5. Not paying heed to consumer attention span
Today an average customer is exposed to 5,000 advertisements every day. Consumer has limited attention span and as advertiser you are furiously competing with other advertisers to grab that limited space.
No, consumer has no curiosity about your advertisement or what you have to offer. There is a brutal fight for his attention and everyone is vying for one thing- noticeability. Advertisers often forget this. Always remember ABC rule. A — grabs attention first B- communicates the brand and C — communicates the message; in that very order. Bingo as a brand understood this very well, came up with quirky advertising campaign and won consumer hearts despite being a late entrant in snacking industry.
6. Not factoring consumer lifestyle in media planning
While general demographics might lead you to the right target market, it is the true understanding of the consumer lifestyle that will get you results. For example, if your consumers is a farmer and sleeps by 9 PM, there is no point of advertising at prime time. Factoring consumer lifestyle can not only make your campaign effective, it can also save you huge money by picking up the right timings which might be cost effective. This is true for all mediums. We recently saved 50% of our advertising cost by just picking up right newspaper. Besides, consumer lifestyle is always evolving and you need to keep up your media planning in sync with that. For example, few years back, younger kids tend to watch television channels like cartoon network, disney junior etc for their dose of entertainment. Today toddlers have moved to youtube prominently with occasional TV viewing.
In the end, Advertising is a serious business and it requires serious attention, expertise and most importantly latest understanding of consumer and their lifestyle. The closer and more contextual you are to their current needs, the better are the results that your campaign gets. Advertisers need to focus on understanding who they are targeting, and optimize their ads to drive attention, create relevance and memorability. Thus,generate engagement in that specific target group.
Happy Advertising!!
