Advertising is one of the most effective ways to get the word out about your brand — but only when done correctly. If you’re running ads without much thought behind the creative or targeting behind them, then it’s time to reevaluate and adjust your strategy.

In this post, our Director, Shannon Hadley is sharing 5 tips to improve your advertising strategy and get more value from your ad spend.

Cut back on bad marketing

Let’s cut to the chase: there’s simply too much bad marketing out there today. From uninspired creative to ineffective targeting, poor marketing is pretty much everywhere you look these days. Unfortunately, all of this bad marketing clutters the marketplace and can even cause us to forget what good marketing looks like.

Whether you’re a marketer, advertiser, or a business owner, all of your marketing efforts should be well-designed, properly targeted, and compelling. If your ads don’t meet those criteria, don’t run them. Not only will bad marketing reflect poorly on your brand, but it will also decrease the impact of good marketing that’s being done by others.

1. Have a USP

To get your marketing in good shape, you first need to identify the unique selling points (USPs) of your product or service. If your business doesn’t have these critical differentiating points, there’s no point in spending money to market it. Instead, you should consider how your product or service adds value for your clients — then build your marketing efforts around those points.

2. Don’t go cheap on creative

Once you’ve found your USPs, it’s time to pull together your creative. In this context, creative could come in the form of display ads, video content, a user-friendly website, or a well-executed Instagram presence.

But as we mentioned earlier, your creative must be eye-catching and worth looking at — otherwise, it won’t attract any attention, and your marketing dollars will go to waste. Don’t go cheap on the creative. Give your brand a fighting chance to grab the attention of your best prospective clients.

3. Tighten up your targeting

We’ve just emphasised how important it is to get your creative right. However, it doesn’t matter how well-designed your ad is if you aren’t getting the target right. Simply put, great ads won’t work if you show them to the wrong people.

Instead, spend some time defining the characteristics of your target audience. Consider their job titles, location, and other relevant demographics. Once you’ve identified those points, you can adjust the targeting on your ads to ensure that they’re being seen by your best potential clients.

4. Define your go-to-market strategy

Once you’ve established your USPs, pulled together your creative, and defined your target audience, you need to think about how you’re going to take your business to market.

Again, think about where your potential clients are engaging online. It could be Google, Instagram, YouTube, or some combination of those (and other) platforms. Regardless, the point is to figure out where your target audience is and interact with them there.

Create your plan and set measurable KPIs around your ad spend, so you know exactly what you’re aiming to do and how you’re tracking to reach your goals.

If you don’t have much experience with online advertising, this would be an excellent time to partner with an agency that can outline and execute an effective go-to-market strategy for your company.

5. Measure and make adjustments

After you’ve launched, you should keep a close eye on how your ads are performing. Too often, marketers have a “set it and forget it” mindset when it comes to their advertising. Instead, take a proactive approach and monitor your ad metrics throughout the duration of your campaigns.

If it’s not working, change. Otherwise, you’re undermining your hard work and adding to all of the bad marketing that’s already out there.

Learn more about maximising your ad spend by watching this Vlog – with insights expanded on by Shannon Hadley, Managing Director at RealClicks.