Nowadays, making a brand known can be easier than a few years ago thanks to the internet. Some technologies have become strong allies of entrepreneurs to reach more people and increase their sales. However, competition has also increased and companies have found it necessary to become even more creative in order to distinguish themselves from the rest, despite the reach advantages offered by online advertising.
All companies want their customers to remain loyal and it is surely the same thing that you are looking for right now. The good news is that more types of advertising strategies have emerged that you can use to achieve the consolidation of your business (in conjunction with a digital media plan that will optimize results).
For this reason, we have created this article for you in which you will find everything you need to know about strategies that will allow you to create successful advertising campaigns.
What is the publicity?
It is a marketing tool that aims to sell products or services through the dissemination of positive information. It attracts and makes a brand known to its consumers through different channels.
It is important to emphasize that advertising and promotion are concepts that work hand in hand and seek the same goal (selling), but they are not the same. While the first makes a brand known, the second seeks to attract people to acquire it.
What is an advertising strategy?
It is the set of actions that a company executes in order to bring a product or service to consumers. The objective is to position a brand through different channels.
What are the objectives of an advertising strategy?
Although the main objective of advertising strategies is to generate a marketing plan that promotes a brand or product through one or more communication channels, in reality there are many other specific objectives pursued by these strategies. Among them we can highlight:
- Inform audiences about the existence of a solution in the market, be it a product or a service.
- Convince consumers of the advantages of contracting or buying what you sell.
- Disseminate a brand image that facilitates the retention of a product in the minds of viewers.
- Generate a buying interest or a market need.
- Facilitate sales processes and streamline decision-making for the target customer.
- Show the differentiators that exist between a brand and its competition.
Although all advertising plans pursue these same objectives, there are different types of advertising strategies that, in various ways, encourage commercial interest in a product. Next, we explain four of them so you can choose the one that best suits what you need.
The 4 types of advertising strategies
- content advertising
- pull advertising
- push advertising
- consumer-based advertising
Get to know each type of strategy and decide which one will be the most convenient for your company: analyze the results and boost your impact.
1. Content advertising
Content advertising is a marketing strategy that seeks to directly influence consumers through various channels. Its message is direct and clear, since its purpose is to reach the greatest number of people.
There is currently a debate about whether content advertising and content marketing are the same thing. Although both share similar characteristics, the second is less invasive than advertising, since content marketing seeks to meet the needs of users and leaves the mention of brands in the background.
Inbound marketing, for example, makes use of this type of strategy through its offer of valuable content. Its intention is to give useful information to users: guide them throughout their purchase journey until they reach the final stage and become customers.
As part of the inbound strategy, the content is disseminated through blogs, social networks, downloadable materials (such as eBooks) and work tools (such as webinars). What is sought is to educate and inform users about the products or services and keep them interested all the time.
In contrast, content advertising is not as specific and its message can be general or for all users. There are several types of content advertising that you can use in different formats (such as a banner ad ). Among the most popular strategies we can highlight:
- informative publicity
- Comparative advertising
- emotional content
- We share more details of each below.
Informative publicity
It focuses on showing your brand to users and the value that acquiring something from it will bring to their lives. It is usually used in investment products or services, since the main intention is to make the potential client see that their investment will be profitable.
Generally, this advertising is descriptive and is focused on the object that is sought to be marketed. Sometimes it is accompanied by informative brochures, graphics or visual resources that facilitate the understanding of the qualities of a product. Other times it only uses simple words or phrases that directly communicate the required information.
Informative advertising example: ContaPyme
Accounting management software is aimed at decision makers, such as the CEO of a corporate company, to convince them that with one of these solutions the operation of their business will be more efficient.
ContaPyme accounting software has developed advertising that offers information about your product in a creative, attractive and clear way for your target audience. This ad doesn’t require too much text or visuals. Instead, it dynamically lists some features of your service capturing the customer’s attention and giving some descriptive and informative hints of the solution you offer.
Comparative advertising
As the concept says, this advertising strategy focuses on comparing your brand with your competitors. The idea is to reinforce the characteristics that give you the most value over them and show consumers that you provide them with more benefits.
This type of advertising requires a lot of research, because the data you present must be supported. Also, you really have to fulfill all the flattering aspects that make you more special; otherwise, your reputation may be damaged.
Comparative advertising example: Whiskas
In the promos of the well-known advertising campaign of the Whiskas cat food brand, the legend “8 out of 10 cats prefer Whiskas” always appeared, thus establishing a comparison with other brands and proving to be the favorite option.
Following this strategy, the competitor brand Purina released a statement in which it pointed out a violation of the law on advertising , since Whiskas refused to provide the corresponding authorities with the results of the studies carried out to verify this information.
Purina’s intention was to make Whiskas’ comparative advertising misleading, as cats are not allowed to express their preference. This example, although creative, shows the importance of always being honest when using these types of strategies to avoid not only a bad presentation of your brand, but also possible legal risks.
emotional content
The creation of emotional content is one of the most used and most effective strategies to attract consumers. This type of advertising aims to target users with an emphasis on the emotions of the people who will see the ad. With this type of advertising strategy, you have the opportunity to create awareness, make viewers laugh and remind them of moments of happiness through the brand, or appeal to social situations that directly affect the emotions of the public.
Example of emotional content: Amazon
With everything that has happened in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the advertising strategy used by Amazon raised the spirits of more than one with its Christmas spot “The show must go on”. This commercial captures how a young dancer’s dream is shattered by the health emergency and how, with the help of Amazon, hope returns.
2.Pull advertising
The pull strategy consists of generating among consumers the interest and attraction necessary to get them to consume the products and services that they offer. This happens when a brand is already well positioned in the market and it is people who want to know more about it. His tactic is aimed more at the end customer, since it is not necessary to convince someone that the brand is good.
Its purpose is to stay in the mind of the consumer by making a presence in all possible media: social networks, television, advertisements, etc. Similarly, the pull strategy seeks for the consumer to identify with the brand and become loyal to it.
Pull Advertising Example: Coca-Cola
With the 2014 “Share a Coke” campaign, the world’s best-known soft drink brand made consumers look for a Coke with their name or that of someone they know in every possible store. It was an effective marketing strategy that managed to connect with millions of people around the world.
Coca-Cola’s campaign included advertisements in film, television, radio, social media, and billboards
3.Push advertising
Unlike pull advertising, the push strategy consists of introducing a new product or service to the market. It is also known as a push strategy, as it seeks to make itself known among consumers to generate sales. Every new company goes through this type of advertising to position itself and it is one of the preferred options to quickly capture audiences.
Advertising can appear in different media such as social networks, advertising on Google or traditional media; Similarly, it makes use of product strategies, as well as price. New brands can start their way with consumers by offering a cheaper price for a limited time. Likewise, offers and discounts for subscribers or new clients can be included.
The push strategy can work hand in hand with content marketing for a new company to establish itself as an expert in its industry. Blogs are an excellent option to show users that you know very well what you are talking about and that you have the perfect product or service to help them meet their needs.
Push advertising example: McDonald’s
One of the advertising strategies used by most brands is to bring products or services to consumers through content marketing. They usually do it with seasonal products.
The Chulengo digital magazine , like many others on the web, usually has articles dedicated to specific products. And brands like McDonald’s take advantage of this platform to find segmented groups of people who may be interested in their products, with the aim of awakening a new need.
4. Consumer-Based Advertising
This strategy focuses on the type of people to whom the advertising is directed. These elements determine the type of language used, in which media it will be advertised and what is the best way to make the message clear. To correctly implement this strategy, an in-depth analysis of the target audience must be carried out, since their lifestyle, preferences, needs and other aspects related to their person are essential for the success of the campaign.
This type of advertising can be implemented in various ways. However, there are 3 main ways through which advertising plans can be generated based on consumers:
- Business to Business (B2B)
- Business to Consumer (B2C)
- Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
Below we will see the particularities of each of these types of advertising.
B2B
Business to business advertising is directed, as its name implies, from one company to another company. In this sense, consumers are other businesses that can contract the services of a company or purchase its products. The ideal is to approach with something that is interesting for a company, such as some management software or some equipment or machinery, or that solves a problem detected in a production sector.
The message in this type of advertising exercise must be very clear and must highlight both the values and the benefits of the brand so that the client company opts for it.
Business to Business Advertising Example: GoDaddy
GoDaddy is a company dedicated to the design, sale and development of websites specially optimized for digital commerce. The company offers a platform of simple websites for young and developing companies to enter the digital life.
With the aim of inspiring users of this platform in Mexico and launching their online business, GoDaddy created an advertising strategy in 2019 through the stories of three characters: a young man who sells chairs, a woman who sells piñatas and her father who in his spare time grows and sells bonsai.
“Take your business seriously!” was the name of this campaign aimed at entrepreneurs, with which they promoted their products such as domain names, web pages and their marketing tools to help them manage their online presence in a simple way. You can use this type of strategy in conjunction with remarketing or retargeting to increase the conversion rate and increase your number of customers.
B2C
The business to consumers advertising strategy encompasses all kinds of advertising that we are used to. This type of advertising plan starts from the interests of the company and directs its message to defined consumer audiences. Marketing strategies of this type work day by day on their targets and try to attract consumers to increase sales of their brands.
If you check your social networks, if you are walking down the street or if you are watching television, you will surely come across advertisements that use B2C strategies all the time.
B2C advertising example: Spotify
Spotify is one of the big technology companies leading the entertainment market today. This success is largely due to the advertising strategies it has put in place to attract a loyal following.
In its 2018 “If you like it, you like it” campaign , the streaming platform promoted the launch of its free version. This advertising strategy (with a touch of humor) invited users to enjoy their favorite music through the mobile application. The campaign was launched in cinemas, digital platforms and outdoor advertising for 11 countries around the world and was aimed at individual consumers.
C2C
The consumer-to-consumer advertising strategy is between the audience itself. How? Traditionally, this type of advertising developed naturally through personal recommendation, based on sharing their experiences and promoting the brand without being part of the company. Currently, social networks play an important role for this type of advertising, since Facebook or Instagram users have found the ideal space to sell their products.
Surely you know someone (or maybe yourself) who belongs to a Facebook Sales group: all kinds of users are constantly offering various products or services. Your advantage? It is a free service. Its disadvantage? That it is not so reliable, because there are no guarantees that support the quality and usefulness. Although it is not exclusive to this type of strategy, word of mouth advertising can be a great ally that will generate the necessary trust in the target audience.
C2C Advertising Example: Facebook Marketplace
This is the Facebook commerce portal available to all users of the social network; allows individuals and small businesses to sell their products and services without intermediaries to grow their businesses. The terms of service of the Facebook Marketplace are very clear and any user can access the portal to sell or buy a product or service.
