We’re often asked, “Yell Creative, what are the 6 must dos for your next digital campaign” (OK not really, but it makes a good excuse for an article), so here’s our thoughts on what you need to do to make your digital campaign a success.
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WORK OUT WHAT YOU WANT TO GET FROM YOUR CAMPAIGN
It sounds obvious, but there are lots of campaigns out there that still have vague, unrealistic, or hugely ambitious objectives and there’s much disappointment when they don’t deliver.
Before you develop any concepts, creative, you’ve got to get clarity as to what results your campaign are going to deliver.
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WORK OUT WHAT IT IS YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE TO DO
Setting objectives is one thing, but when it comes to digital campaigns you have to consider the realities of the media. You need viewers of your campaign to do something, to interact with the ad in some way and it’s key that early on you decide what that interaction and your call to action (CTA) is going to be.
When considering this question, you should factor in the realistic likelihood of viewers taking action, for example, asking viewers to fill out a form as the first step is a big turn-off. Our advice is to keep the CTA simple. It might be the clicking on an offer (the first step in a set of actions that leads to a transaction – and your ultimate objective), or might just be watching your video all the way through.
Once you’ve decided what you want your viewers to do, then you can start thinking about the campaign strategy.
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BUILD YOUR STRATEGY AROUND YOUR AUDIENCE
This is a challenge if you don’t know your audience (you’d be surprised how many brands don’t), but if you’ve got a handle on who you’re talking to, then you can make educated decisions about how to engage with them online.
Understanding your audience will help you decide if you utilise display ads, native ad content, create an app, or social channels (or any combination of the above). And that’s the great thing about digital campaigns, they’re incredibly targeted and controllable, allowing for real-time adjustments of creative and distribution.
Knowing your audience will also inform you as to what to give them. Digital advertising is often an exchange – visitors watch or engage with your ad because they see a value in doing so. They will only see value if you give them something in return – see our article on that very subject for more information.
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KEEP YOUR CREATIVE CLEVER AND SIMPLE
Digital is high-impact, but it’s also incredibly easy to lose your audience within milliseconds. Poorly thought-out, or confusing creative without a clear call to action is a big turn-off.
Keeping the execution simple doesn’t mean that it doesn’t need to have a deep level of thinking, messaging or look beautiful, it just means that you should make sure that the viewer is very clear on who you are and what you’d like them to do. If they have to think about it, chances are, they won’t, because who wants to think when they’re browsing the latest KimYe gossip?
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REMEMBER IT’S A RELATIONSHIP – BE NICE
You also need to think about how you manage the relationship with the viewer. Your campaign is a two-way conversation that may hopefully turn into a loving and fruitful long-term relationship, so approach your digital campaigns with that in mind.
We’re now in the age of set top boxes, which allow us to skip ads and our tolerance for intrusive advertising is at an all-time low. If you take over a website visitor’s browsing without permission or without giving them something, then you risk damaging their relationship with your brand.
Be nice, ask permission by asking them to click with the promise of something for them, tell them how your app is going to make their life better and remember that no one likes to be told what to do, especially when they are the ones in control.
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MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE
Once again it seems obvious doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised how many brands don’t measure their campaigns, have benchmarks in place to understand the results, or do anything with the results of their measurement.
We live in an age where any of us have access to almost NSA levels of statistical analysis of our digital channels, it’s the most transparent form of advertising out there. Use it, learn from it and you’ll get real value and results from your campaigns.
