The OpenWater Blog

Blog
Leadership

Learning Series: Advertising Best Practices

Published November 1, 2017 in Leadership

Advertising will attract quality entrants and spread word about your program, but only if done correctly. If you’re planning on advertising, it’s important that you follow a number of best practices to set your organization apart from others and, at a more basic level, make the advertising worth the expense.

In this article, we’ll detail five of the best practices you should be aware of no matter what type of advertising you choose.

1. Know Your Audience

Modern advertising is all about knowing your audience and what they want and expect out of your advertisements. More importantly, it’s about targeting different audiences for different advertisements to ensure your money is well-spent and your audience can tell you understand their needs or what they want from your program.

2. Keep it Short

Short, direct ads are always more effective than lengthy ads. After all, you only have a brief period of time to make an impression and the more words on the ad, the less likely your audience is to read the entire thing.

It’s even more important to keep social media ads short and to the point due to the fast-paced nature of the platform.

3. Be Honest

It can be tempting to exaggerate to generate greater interest in your ad and program, but you shouldn’t. Stretching the truth will do nothing more than damage your credibility and the perceived prestige of your program both now and in the future.

Remember: Ads are generally perceived to be dishonest. As such, you should keep yours truthful to foster good faith with your audience.

4. Be Entertaining

Ads are supposed to be informative, not boring. The simplest way to keep your ads interesting are with visual elements and copy that tells a story. These pointers not only tell your audience what’s in it for them, it does so in an engaging, interesting way.

5. Show Your Program’s Value

Advertising today isn’t about your program, it’s about your audience members. As such, it’s important to emphasize your program’s value rather than just your program.

Keep your copy audience-focused by highlighting the inherent value of your program and what you have to offer in terms of entrant benefits. Doing so will make your ads much more effective than advertising on the basis of the merits of the program alone.

Make Advertising More Effective For Your Organization

If you’ve used advertising in the past but haven’t been successful or if you haven’t yet tried it, wary of how it might work, the best practices above are a simple way to ensure its effectiveness.

Get more information about advertising basics and advertising best practices in Awards 101: The Missing Manual for Awards Professionals here.

Ashley Surinak

Ashley Surinak is the resident OpenWater expert on all things content. From the blog to guides and beyond, you'll find her at every turn in your OpenWater journey.

Learning Series: Social Media Overview

Learning Series: Advertising Overview