The Creative Advertising Process
Creative advertising is a process that has many steps and can be challenging to master.
Every step has its own challenges that must be understood if you want your message to reach your target audience. It is essential for a creative advertiser to understand these steps. As well as a solid grasp of which will suit your situation best.
While the creative process is unique in every instance, here are the ten fundamental steps that usually occur:
Step One: Brainstorming Session
Creative minds meet to brainstorm on an idea for the client. The goal is to develop a concept that will get people talking and thinking about the product or service. Ideas also need to be presented in a way that will break away from other competitors’ ideas.
A good advertiser must have great creative ideas and concepts that can save money for the client. Thus giving them more bang for their buck while providing added value to their target audience. The creativity of advertising is what differentiates it from marketing and public relations.
This step of the process requires originality, something that is hard to quantify or define. But, without a doubt, this is the hardest part of the creative advertising process.
Step Two: Initial Creative Briefing
The creative team will then collaborate with its client to create an initial brief for the advertisement or commercial. This includes details such as target market, product or service, where it is featured, and what type of tone. More importantly, this step focuses on developing a strategy that blends the message with consumer response. It is here that the imagination can run free.
This stage consists of trying out different concepts until they develop one that would fit well into the project and appeal to their targeted audience. Once they have created several possibilities for your ad campaign, they will then present these options for your approval.
Step Three: Client Brief
Before presenting a new concept to their client, the creative team does some more research about the product or service, it’s packaging, and target audience. A clear understanding of who the company is targeting. As well as what makes them tick—will help in making the ad campaign a success.
This step equals “more brainstorming” until they develop an advertisement that you approve of and sign off on. With that, they can then proceed to make a final draft, assigning responsibilities for each phase of production. (i.e., video editing, graphics design) Then present it before its final review. The time frame allotted for this process depends on how long it takes for all of the creative minds involved to create a concept that would generate ROI for the client.
Step Four: Budget and Contract Negotiation
Once you approve and sign on the project, a project retainer must usually be paid upfront. However, an effective ad campaign can last as long as fifteen months after its first run. Then it needs to be re-evaluated to address any changes in target audience or product attributes.
At this step, you as the client play an essential role in ensuring that your brand/product/service gets advertised effectively. By using innovative means of promotion and media exposure. Unfortunately, this step is where most companies fail because they go for the lowest price possible. Unfortunately, ad quality is hard to determine until the campaign has run its course. However by which time it is too late to revise.
Step Five: Creative/Production (Art) Direction
Once all parties have agreed on the project’s details and your organization has financed it, the production process can begin. First, the creative team will gather all the necessary information from their research to clarify any miscommunications. As well as any uncertainties about target audience response and product attributes.
Different creatives from various departments contribute ideas that help transform a concept into a final draft. After this, the creative team will then proceed to make a final draft, assigning responsibilities for each production phase.
Step Six: Production (Art) Direction
Here again, the agency plays a vital role in ensuring that your brand/product/service gets advertised effectively. By using innovative means of promotion and media exposure.
A true multimedia campaign includes product videos/commercials, website designs, and digital marketing strategies. While some agencies outsource their production overseas or use templates offered by larger agencies. A quality campaign is one that is produced in-house from scratch.
Step Seven: Marketing and Creative Advertising Plan Creation
Once your ad campaign has been produced, there are various options on how to market it. You can opt for traditional marketing methods, such as newspaper ads, tv commercials, or billboards. Or, if you wanted to attract a younger generation of clientele, there are other more interactive ways you could market your product/service. For example, using an online marketing strategy targeting a more youthful demographic. Or you can opt for search engine ads, social media marketing/advertising, or sponsored links on other websites.
Depending on your budgetary constraints. Your creative agency will work with you to determine which of these options would be the most suitable for your ad campaign.
Step Eight: Evaluation (Post-Campaign Review)
After running your campaign for a couple of months, it will be time to re-evaluate how things went and how well they went from start to finish. If all signs show that the ads performed according to plan, then there is no need for any updates or modifications of future plans unless requested by the client.
However, suppose the results were below expectations. In that case, it will be necessary to go over the data collected to determine if the ad campaign was implemented correctly and use those analytics to develop new ideas on how to increase the campaign’s efficiency.
Step Nine: Campaign Evaluation (After One Year)
It’s been a year since your ad campaign was first run. Now is the time to assess its effectiveness and ask questions like:
- Is it just as relevant today as when you launched it?
- Did the product appeal to its target market during this time period?
- Are sales up as expected?
- Are there social signals online about your service or product?
If so, then congratulations! Your brand/product is now more popular than ever, and your ad campaign can be considered a success. Most successful campaigns have a two-year lifespan. Therefore it’s important to continue engaging your audience and bringing interest back to the product.
If, on the other hand, sales are not up as expected after running this campaign for a full year, you may need to revise or re-think your ad strategy to step things up another notch.
Step Ten: New Strategic Directions
Now that sufficient time has elapsed since its initial launch. And your original ad campaign is now considered well established within your target market. It’s time to consider advancing past conventional marketing strategies with even more advanced age of advertising.
The main goal here is finding ways to fully engage with contemporary consumers through various digital means. Prospective customers today are becoming increasingly tech-savvy; social media is a large part of their daily lives, and that makes it easier than ever to advertise online.
It’s best to create new content for an updated campaign. Rather than simply running the same ads you did last year. Your agency can help you brainstorm with fresh ideas that will get your brand/product in front of new buyers. Via newer social media marketing techniques, such as;
- Social Media Advertising/Marketing Influencer Marketing (Brand Ambassadors)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Online Video Ads
- Mobile Use Placements
- Paid Search
Frequently Asked Questions About the Creative Advertising Process
How long does it take to begin seeing results from start to finish?
It all depends on which advertising campaign you choose to go with, how much is spent, and where you decide to advertise your product/service. In general, most ad campaigns are designed for one to two years before another one will need to be implemented.
How much does this type of marketing cost?
The answer to this question will vary greatly depending on what you are looking to achieve. As well as where you intend to settle with your campaign(s). For example, a minimum amount of $1,000 may be required for some ads. However, others might require tens or even hundreds of thousands before they can be released to the public. Therefore, it’s impossible to give exact numbers without evaluating what you want out of it. As well as how we can best get those messages across effectively within a preset budget from all angles.
Final Thoughts on the Creative Advertising Process
To increase sales and build connections, running advertising campaigns with creativity and adaptability will become more critical than ever. You must keep updating your campaign ideas and research the particular audience you are thinking of targeting. The more data you collect about them, the better off you will be in all aspects of taking care of your customer’s needs for years to come.
Thank you for reading.
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