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Advertising Tip

Don’t forget to Link

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Don't forget to Link

Whether your ad is a brand or a focused campaign, always remember to add links to your digital ads!

Similar to our Stay Connected with your Clients article, it’s important to add current links to all your digital advertising.

Technology continues to change the way we advertise our business, communicate with our customers and convert leads into actual sales. 30+ years ago you could place an ad in the local newspaper and rely on an accurate phone number for your customer to contact you. The bigger your ad in the newspaper, the easier it was to outshine your competitors and you could almost guarantee a decent return on investment.

Queue Google and the online advertising world. Outshining your competitor now comes down to strategy, SEO, regularly updated content and accurate link analysis. This is what makes adding accurate links to your ads so important. 

Regardless of where and how you advertise, tracking your leads via your link analysis is crucial. It’s now the only way to accurately monitor the success of your digital advertising. 

As a digital advertising company, we often see businesses, companies, contractors and particularly tradies who have zero online presence. This makes it quite hard to successfully advertise their business via an online format like ePublisher. Just like placing an ad in a newspaper, they’re heavily relying on the customer to phone, have a chat about whether their product or service is suited to their needs and accurately provide a quote from there. 

Here are our Suggestions for Accurate Linking on your Digital Advertising:

Create custom landing pages specific to your ad campaigns. Provide the digital advertising company with a specific landing page that is only relevant to your ad. On that page you can direct your lead through the exact funnel you’d like them to follow. This will ensure your sales process is specific to your ad and easy to monitor. 

Ensure the link you provide is accurate and current. Don’t rely on typing or writing out your link to provide it to your advertising agency. There’s a very high chance you will get it wrong. The success of your online or digital advertising campaign relies heavily on reliable, working and accurate links. Copy and paste the exact link you’d like your ad connected to direct from your site to your agency. 

Always have a link. Whether it’s a link to a phone number, email address, website, custom landing page, sales funnel, document or login page, always have a link connected to your digital ad. Users of devices and computers are now prone to ‘click on’ ads or specific words to be taken to a place that provides them with further information or a direct call to action. If you don’t provide this gateway for your customer, there’s a good chance they’ll skip over your ad and on to your competitor. 

If you’d like to discuss your current campaign, chat to us about a new campaign or want to update your advertising links feel free to call us or make an online enquiry. Our advertising team will assist you in achieving your results.

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Advertising Tip

Believe in your Business

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Believe in your Business

Over and over again we’re told to believe in ourselves, well the same applies within your business. 
Believe in your business, products, services and messages. 

If you don’t believe in your business, products, services or messages, how will your potential and current customers? Showing confidence builds trust around your brand and more importantly your messages within your advertising. 

How can you build trust around your brand and messages? This can be achieved through strong branding strategies and emphasis on the words and information you use to describe your business. Use professionally written and effective web content, clear and bright images of your products within your business (not purchased stock images), and ensure all your marketing and advertising is consistent with this image. 

If you don’t believe in your own business, products or message, how will your customers and clients?

How do you start? Seek advice from a professional, unless you have the skills to successfully create a strong brand trusting campaign. Review your website; review your social media platforms; check your product and business reviews from your clients – what do they all say about you? If you find consistency use that and build on it.

Creative advertising and marketing using this consistency will showcase the strong belief you, your clients and customers have within your business.  If you need advice or assistance with your ad messaging or branding, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our team can help you achieve your goals and belief. 

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Advertising Tip

Print Ad Design vs Digital Ad Design​

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Print Ad Design vs Digital Ad Design

The most common mistake when starting digital advertising is using or uploading a previous or current printed copy.

There are two major differences between digital and printed advertising that will affect the end result, how the ad size is measured and how the colour is processed.

Difference in Measurements: a graphic designer will always use two methods of measurement. Millimetres, centimetres or inches will be used in a print design file; Pixels will be used in a digital design file. The reason? The bigger a digital display area the greater the number of pixels used to create and display an image and its colouring accurately. This cannot be achieved by using metric measurements. 

Difference in Colour Process: a printer will use a four colour process, known as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black); digital displays use an RGB colour palette (red, green and blue). When colours are selected and set in a print or digital design, the relative colour palette is used to create the end result. If either RGB is printed or CMYK is uploaded to a digital display, you will instantly notice that it doesn’t appear as it should. 

There are also other differences that need to be considered when wanting to use a print ad digitally and vice versa. This includes the file type and resolution that’s required for either the print process or the placement of the digital file. 

It’s because of these reasons that a designer will always consider your ad copy or files as a reference point for your design concept. Then they’ll redesign the ad to give you the highest quality result based on whether it needs to be printed or displayed digitally.

We recommend listening to the advice given by your designer in these circumstances, they take pride in what they do, and they want your ad to be of the highest and most effective quality as you do.  

If you need assistance with a new ad design or converting your advertising from print to digital and vice versa feel free to call us or email our team. Our graphic designer can help you achieve your goals and execute your advertising successfully. 

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QAssure Number: 11954 | Accredited GITC Supplier: Q-6019 | ABN 24 010 367 478

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Digital Advertising

Why Not Animate?

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Why Not Animate? ​

“Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive” – Walt Disney
Bring attention to your advertisement with animation. 

Last year we discussed the necessity to stand out from the rest. It was all about understanding your point of difference in a sea of advertisers selling and marketing the same thing you are.

Once you’ve figured out what your differences and target point of your campaign is, we suggest adding animation. There are many benefits to animating your ad, we’ve listed a few below.

The animation holds the attention of your immediate audience. Have you ever opened a webpage and scrolled past a whole bunch of “boring” including text, but stopped on a stand out image or an eye-catching motion? The placement and arrangement of that image, ad or animation were deliberate. It did exactly what it was supposed to. That’s what you need to do when designing your stand out ad. 

Animations can evoke a stronger emotional connection to your ad. This means, your audience has a better chance of relating to your product or understanding their need for your product. You can convey emotional and physical connections through animation. 

Animations simplify your ad. Less text, less instruction, less panic of getting everything you need in a tight design. Use the animation transitions to get your message across deliberately. Use targeted words, specific imaging and a direct call to action. Animations allow you to converse with your audience rather than instructing them. 

Animations invite your audience to interact. If they’re interested they’ll stop and see what your message to them is. Giving them time to connect with your brand, product, service and of course your deliberate message. However, don’t make the animation any longer than around 5 seconds. The attention span drop and the need to scroll past your ad will increase the longer your animation takes to communicate. 

While it might seem simple to plan your campaign, seeking advice and help from a professional designer or advertising consultant will benefit you long term. There’s plenty of professionals out there who live and breathe graphic design and advertising. Once you’ve found the right person, creating your visual message will be an easy process. They’ll help you think big; think bright; think animated!

If you need further assistance with your ad design or branding, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our graphic designer can help you achieve your goals and leads. 

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Advertising Tip

Measure your Leads

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Measure your Leads​

Once you’ve created and launched your ad campaign, do you track where your sales are coming from to see if it’s working? If not, why? 

The best way to measure if the money you’ve invested into any advertising campaign is to track its success. There are a few ways which you can do this:

Ask your customer at the time of sale or transaction, how they heard about you or your product. This is an easy way to do it if your staff are trained to ask and record the information when an answer is given. Ensure you’re specific with suitable answers so when your team asks your customers they can provide you with the right answers. Providing your team and customers with a direct list of answers will ensure you’re provided with accurate information. For example: School Newsletters; Google Search; Facebook; Customer Referral.

Create a specific landing page. This is the easiest way to digitally track your ad campaign. Specific landing pages can be set up with a unique URL that allows your website to track your visitor statistics. Some websites even provide full reporting facilities to follow the success of your sales funnel from start to finish.

Use a specific referral or discount code. Encourage customers to quote or enter a specific code that you’ve included in your ad design during the booking or purchase process. Tracking codes will give you a quick identifier of where your customers are coming from. You can total the value of sales or bookings associated with the code to quickly identify the return on investment for your campaign.

Use your website or Google analytics. If you’re still not sure refer to your website analytics. Most sites will have their analytics systems to trace visitor and click information. Google also has a full analytics system that can be integrated with your website to help track this information. This option is a little trickier if you’re not sure what you’re looking for but if you have an IT person or an individual who manages your site ask them to provide you with a report.

It’s important to always understand where your customers came from and why. There’s no point investing chunks of your revenue into any advertising campaigns if you can’t measure your return on investment.

Use your advertising and marketing budget wisely. Target your direct audience effectively and efficiently. If you’re not seeing a return on your investment don’t be afraid to change the campaign, change the ad design or move to a different form of advertising altogether. Don’t invest in what doesn’t work for you! 

If you need further assistance with planning your next ad campaign, design or branding, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our team of professionals can help you reach your advertising goals. 

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Advertising Tip

Keep Text to a Minimum

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Keep Text to a Minimum​

Keep your message clear and concise in all your advertising.
These are our simple guidelines for consideration when planning your advertisement’s message and content. 

Avoid Too Many Words. An advertisement that contains too many words looks untidy and unfriendly to the eye. Have you ever seen an ad that looks like a novel? Did you actually read every word? Didn’t think so. 

Try being creative in your advertisement. Instead of using every word in the dictionary to get your audience to react, use direct and effective images, click through prompts or very few attention-grabbing words. 

Avoid Using Tiny Text. If you can’t read it on your proof, then your audience is not going to read it on your published ad. This rule will always be overlooked when including things like licensing numbers or information that is legally required for your ad to be published.

But, if the text that’s important to your reader is too small to read without zooming in or holding it close to their face your advertisement will prove to be a waste of time and money. That might sound harsh, but it’s reality. 

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words. It’s a saying we’ve all heard before and it should be the most important consideration in your ad design. Let your imaging or branding speak for you. Then fill in the blanks with limited words for a call to action to finish off your design. This guideline clearly speaks for itself. 

Avoid Mess. There’s nothing worse than looking at an ad that is too over the top and appears “messy”. Although we recommend using pictures, too many can also have the same negative impact that too many words can have. It’s all about planning your message and white space in advance. Don’t let your audience scan over your ad to end up on your competition’s campaign and following through with their call to action. The most effective ads make this their one and only rule every single time.  

Be Smart About It. If your experience is in your trade, service or product knowledge of your business then take the recommendations of the professionals in advertising and design. They want a return on your advertising investment as much as you do. 

The aim of the game is to encourage your customers or clients to click on your ad and go to your landing page or react to your call to action directive. It’s at this point you deliver the rest of your information about your product and business.

If you need further assistance with your ad design or focus, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our graphic designer can help you achieve your goals and leads. 

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Digital Advertising

Branding vs Focused Advertising

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Branding vs Focused Advertising​

It’s important to understand the difference between brand based advertising and focused advertising when booking a campaign.
Here are our recommendations:

What is ‘brand based’ advertising? It is exactly as it sounds; a form of advertising that is designed to build and establish a connection with your target audience over an ongoing period of time (anywhere from 6 months to 2 years).

In a sense, it becomes your digital business card that highlights your business name, logo, location and immediate contact details. Depending on the size of the ad, in some cases, you can include a speciality of the business. 

What would be suitable CTAs for a ‘brand based’ ad? Because your ad is purely directed at informing your audience that your business exists, simple CTA’s include:

  • ‘Book Online’ button
  • ‘Tell me more’ button
  • ‘Call for a Free Quote’
  • Call to chat with our team

What is ‘focused’ advertising? This is a form of advertising that targets a specific trait within a consumer. This means your ad specifically targets an answer to a sub-conscious question the consumer may have.

Focused advertising campaigns can run for various lengths of time; a well-focused ad will run anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months. If you choose to continue focusing on the same specialty, product or service after that time, it’s best to redesign your ad with the same message to gain fresh attention from an audience who may have already seen your ad, but didn’t require the service at the time. 

For example, your dental business specialises in extractions, your focused campaign would be driven around informing the consumer they need your business to solve their tooth extraction problem; or, your dance school specialises in speed tap dance, so your focused campaign would be driven around informing the consumer about your speed tap teacher qualifications and classes. 

What would be suitable CTAs for a ‘focused’ ad?

  • Click to Enrol
  • ‘Book your Session Online’ button
  • ‘Register Here’
  • ‘Buy Now’
  • ‘Read More’

Does Austnews Advertising cater to both? Yes, of course, we do. Based on the information you provide our advertising consultant at the time of booking, we will recommend suitable campaigns. If you’d like to see a summary of our available campaigns visit our campaigns and promotions page.

Then, when you’re ready to make a decision, call or email us or discuss your ideas with your advertising consultant. Remember, we’re always here to help guide you to improve your ad and increase your results.

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Advertising Tip

Time to Declutter

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It's Time to Declutter!​

It’s the start of a new year and what better way to start then decluttering…your advertisements!
It’s important to keep all your advertising Clean and Uncluttered. 

You’re back to work and ready to plan for a year ahead so there’s no better time than to start the new year fresh. That includes a fresh approach to your advertising campaigns, marketing and communication.

Advertising campaigns should always be designed and written specifically to the ad size or the campaign time frame. There is no point designing an ad that is suited to poster size to fit on a business card, you are literally wasting your time and money. The smaller the ad or the less time you have on the campaign, the less text or words should be used.

Clean, crisp, high-resolution images representing your brand or products are essential. 

Our Budget sized ads are a perfect example of this exercise. The budget sized ad represents a business card which includes imaging and basic contact details with a direct call to action like “click here”, but that’s it.

Quite often we see ads that contain too much text, and in some cases, text that is so small for the human eye to read. We will always provide our professional recommendation when designing clients ads but it’s important to understand we do it to ensure your campaign is successful and not a wasted investment.

Make the time to declutter your advertising, marketing and promotional material and see the success!

If you need further assistance with your ad design, branding or decluttering of your communication, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our design and advertising teams can help you achieve your goals and leads.

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Advertising Tip

Christmas Message Marketing

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Christmas Message Marketing​

Christmas is Here! Don’t forget your Christmas Messages. 

End of year closures and holidays deliver the perfect opportunity for you to send out personalised messages with a touch of marketing.

What do you include? Open your message by thanking your clients for their support during the last year, including some wishes for Christmas and the New Year. Then use that as a segway into some personalised target marketing.

Your target marketing might include:

  • a discount code that’s only valid until the end of the year as a Christmas gift
  • a gift with a total spend over a pre-determined dollar figure
  • a button that leads to the new year’s catalogue preview
  • an option to subscribe to social media accounts or blog posts for immediate updates, sales or offers.

Usually, by this time of year, everyone is tired, worn out and lacking focus. So keep your messages and communication, short, sweet and to the point. Your clients will appreciate it more than an overload. 

So with that, our team here at Austnews and Austnews Advertising would like to sign off for this year. Next week we’re sending our clients a summary of the advertising year, so if you’d like to receive your copy send us an email or head to our Facebook page and send us a message. 

We look forward to working with you all in the new year as we move forward with some exciting new projects. 

Until then, if you need further assistance with your marketing, branding or advertising, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our team of professionals would love to help. 

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Advertising Tip

All Clients Matter; Stay in Touch!

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All Clients Matter; Stay in Touch!​

“It takes months to find a customers…seconds to lose one” – Vince Lombardi

Don’t lose contact with your old clients. Don’t lose contact with your new clients. Don’t lose contact with any of your clients, it’s really that simple. 

At some point throughout your business’s life, each one of your clients played a significant role. Whether they were your first; your biggest; the one who changed the way you do business; the one who said they’d never return. Every single one of them has put some type of income, trust and value in your products or services. 

The type of role they played in your business will depend on their experience and how you used their feedback to make a change, even if you reflected on their negative experience. So the best thing to do is, keep in touch!

To achieve this all you have to do is to build a database with all their current contact details. It doesn’t have to be a fancy one, you can create a basic spreadsheet in excel if that’s easy for you to maintain. Or, if you’re tech-savvy, create a full database with past orders, their most purchased product, total value spent with your company, etc. The list of records for your client database can be endless. 

Once you’ve got a healthy managed database you can communicate with your clients frequently. Send birthday messages, information on company updates, specials and promotions, VIP offers, new products or services and whatever else you feel is important to inform your customers about. 

They’re your clients, they’re working with and buying from you, you know them best! You never know, they might just be searching or needing your product right now and your contact may secure their next purchase with you. 

If you need further assistance with your design or branding, feel free to call us or email us for a chat. Our team of professionals can help you achieve your communication goals.

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QAssure Number: 11954 | Accredited GITC Supplier: Q-6019 | ABN 24 010 367 478