5 Advertising Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
No one is perfect but in digital advertising mistakes can actually end up costing you a lot. Luckily, most digital advertising blunders are avoidable. Here are the top 5 mistakes advertisers make and how you can avoid them.
Not Having a Strategy or Defined Goals
Before beginning any advertising campaign, it is important to lay out your strategy and to define your goals. Without a strategy in place your ads serve no purpose. To figure out your strategy define your objectives, tactics, target audience and your budget.
Before creating a particular ad run, ask yourself what the purpose of the campaign is. What is it that you are trying to achieve? This is your goal. Remember that each ad campaign should have one goal in mind – more can compromise each objective.
Not Using Location Listening
Perhaps you have an idea of who your target audience is. If you are a health spa your most likely target demographic are young and middle-aged women within a 10-mile radius, perhaps with a college degree, a middle-class or above income, and who are interested in self-care and alternative healing methods. Sure you can set your audience parameters to these on social media ad campaigns, but you are still throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
Location listening is a service that provides a daily report of Mobile Ad IDs (MAIDS) that have intersected with a geographic zone of interest to you. One of these zones can be your own location, allowing you to target people who you consider VIPs with special offers. You can also set your competitors’ locations as zones of interest, giving you the opportunity to serve targeted ads to people who you know are interested in your services but just aren’t coming to your business, giving you the opportunity to advertise to warm leads. 
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Not Tailoring Your Ad to the Platform
Not only is it important to tailor your ad to your defined target audience, but you also need to tailor your ad to the platform you are running it on. Not doing so can cut your ad off, making you look unprofessional and killing your chances of success. So think about what platform your ad will be on. Be sure to head over to each platform’s developer section to look up the latest ad specs. Also think about the style and tone of your brand and the platform. Running an ad on TikTok is much different than sending out an email blast or running an ad on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to take into consideration what device your audience will be viewing the ad on and optimize your creative for mobile viewing if needed.
Not Having a Call to Action
So you have an ad but are you asking your audience to do something as a result of the ad? If the answer is no, you are wasting your money. A call to action is a clear statement about the next step you want your customers to take. If you want them to purchase a new product, including “buy now” is a clear call to action. Digital audiences have a short attention span and need clear directions on what to do if you want to have a successful ad campaign.
Disregarding Insights and Not Making Adjustments
Once you begin running an ad campaign, you can’t just leave it be and hope it performs in-line with expectations. That would be like getting a houseplant but not watering it; it will wither and die without nourishment.
First, you need to monitor your audience’s reaction to your ads. Respond to their questions and comments and don’t just ignore them. Make sure that you respond to negative comments in an appropriate manner. Negative comments can tarnish your brand’s reputation and need to be addressed immediately.
Also pay attention to if your target audience is annoyed with seeing your ad too frequently – many of them will certainly let you know if they are. Adjust how often your ad is displayed and how long your ads run. Set frequency caps based on gleaning insights from data you’ve gathered and A/B testing you’ve performed.
And of course, make sure you pay attention to the insights you receive and perform the necessary adjustments.
Conclusion
Mistakes happen, but most are avoidable. By following these tips, you’ll see more success with your digital ad campaigns. Want to learn more about what our location listening services can do for you? Contact us today to hear more about how our elite targeting capabilities can help your brand succeed.