Why Client Communication is Important in Advertising

In the advertising industry, clients pay for results. However, this does not mean that an advertising company can simply deliver results and ignore the other facets of good customer service. Indeed, in today’s fast-paced business world, one of the most crucial things that advertising agencies can do is engage in strong and transparent communications with their clients.

While it is perhaps true that clients will never be completely satisfied—and equally true that advertising agencies should always strive to improve their customer service, regardless of how strong it may be—one chief concern that many clients have is the communication (or lack thereof) that comes from their advertising agencies.

For some clients, the level of communication itself is a concern. For others, the advertising agency may deliver communications that are difficult to understand, or which fail to deliver any useful information to the client. Regardless of the specific issue, delivering clear, timely, and useful information to your client is a key part of building and maintaining a healthy and productive relationship.

Good Communication Makes It Easier for Clients to Handle Change

Some advertising agencies only communicate with their clients when they are changing something, such as the way they run the client’s ad campaign or the pricing model they are using. This type of neglect can easily lead to disgruntled clients who instinctively cringe when they open their email to see a message from the advertising agency.

Instead of only letting clients know about upcoming changes, advertisers should strive to regularly update their clients on every happening that affects their marketing campaign. Even if it is simply a short note to let the client know that things are humming along nicely, keeping the client in the loop will make it easier to deal with change.

Help Avoid Buyer’s Remorse

When a client has signed an agreement for a large advertising campaign, it is not uncommon for him or her to later begin engaging in second-guessing. This is particularly true if the ad campaign is one that will not yield immediate results. If the client sees the advertising bill rolling in when there is not a commensurate increase in sales leads, you may discover that the client is on the verge of canceling the arrangement.

Engaging in frequent communication with the client—right from the very beginning of the relationship—will help reinforce his or her belief in what you are doing. An advertising agency that reaches out to clients on a regular basis and keeps them abreast of all the vital developments in the ad campaign will find that its clients are less likely to start wondering if they have made a mistake.

Maximize Advertising Campaign Effectiveness

An advertising campaign is working at its best when it is effectively and accurately representing the product or service that its client is offering. If your client implements a change in the way it does business, or in a particular facet of its good or service, your advertising campaign should accurately and quickly reflect that change.

Engaging in an open dialogue with a client helps keep the channel of information flowing. This means you will be apprised of any changes that much faster, allowing you to quickly implement the necessary changes in the advertising campaign.

Increase the Loyalty of Your Customers

Let’s face it: in today’s business world, customers can be quite fickle, jumping from one advertising agency to the next with very little consideration for anything other than price. To combat this, and slow down the exodus of clients from your agency to that of a competitor, make sure you regularly reach out to clients.

Establishing a regular channel of communication will help build a rapport with your clients. This, in turn, will give them pause when they are considering whether to take their business elsewhere. In fact, many clients may ultimately end up remaining with you simply because of your relationship, even if one of your competitors seems to be offering a better deal.

Along these lines, your communication with your clients should include information on how you are different from your competition. If a client sees advertising agencies as interchangeable, they are more likely to switch solely because of price; however, if they understand that an advertising agency is about more than the price they pay for advertising, they will be more likely to reach out to you when they have received a better offer elsewhere.

Communication is Everything

When building a strong client relationship, the importance of good communication cannot be overstated. Good communication enables clients to reduce waste both in terms of productivity and advertising dollars spent on ineffective or inaccurate campaigns.

Conclusion

By establishing an open and transparent channel of communication, advertising agencies can help foster client loyalty and deliver improved value. This will benefit both parties in the relationship, making for a stronger, more profitable relationship. Contact Raven Marketing at 503-954-1473 and let us show you how we’re different from other Portland advertising agencies.

Keys to a Memorable Radio Ad

Are you trying to figure out how to create a radio ad that is going to be something your audience remembers? You need to have more than a catchy tune and a little jingle. If you want to make a radio ad that is going to stick in the mind of your audience, then there are a few tips to help. Since more than 90% of Americans tune into the radio each week, you have a solid group of people to speak to, so long as you do it right. Here are the things you need to know prior to creating that perfect ad, to help it get you the results you want.

Tip 1: Know Who You Want to Speak With

On average, Americans spend about 13 hours per week tuned into the radio. This includes audience members of all ages, from teenagers through their grandparents. This gives you a wide range of people to advertise to with each ad you buy. It also means you need to know the audience that you want to speak with when creating a memorable radio ad. You want to make sure you have their demographics narrowed down. If you want to target a young audience, then make sure your ad does not relate to retirement or appear on an older, talk radio station. Also, if your audience is older men, you would not want to target a radio station that plays nothing but hip hop.

Tip 2: Keep It Short

You only have a few seconds to hook listeners. If you do not instantly get them to notice what you have to say, they will either ignore you, or change stations when the ads come on. Make sure you keep to the point, and don’t say more than you need to. The shorter your copy, the less likely people are to ignore your ad.

Tip 3: Use a Great Voice

Voiceover actors come in all types. Make sure you match up your ad copy with a person who has a memorable voice. If your ad is meant to target women, use a comforting woman’s voice. If you want to get the attention of children, use a voice that will catch their attention. Make sure you use a voice that your audience is going to be able to relate to.

Tip 4: Don’t Forget the Call to Action

Don’t get so caught up in the ad copy that you forget the most important part of the ad – the point! Make sure you tell your audience what you want them to do. The call to action tells them to reach out and contact you, buy your service, or whatever it is you are advertising. Make sure that you tell them the action you expect them to make, or there is no point to putting the ad out there in the first place.

Tip 5: Create a Memory

When you use print ads, brochures, billboards, or ads on the internet, you have the ability to put an image in front of your audience. You can literally paint a picture for them to see. When creating a radio ad, this is not an option. Instead, you have to use the ad to create that picture for your audience. Use the words you choose for your ad carefully. Add in music in the background to set the scene, and don’t discount background noises to help set the tone. Use as many aspects of your audience’s sense of hearing as possible to create a visual that will stick in their memory.

Tip 6: Remain Familiar to the Minds of Your Audience

Likely one of the most important aspects of a good radio ad is familiarity. You want people to feel a connection with your ads. By offering them something familiar, they will relate to what you have to say. That will help the ad be something that sticks in their minds longer. Set a scene that they understand, and can feel. The more you engage the audience’s senses through familiar jingles, sounds, and visualizations, the more they will respond to your ads when they hear them. Just make sure you use a tune your audience is going to correlate with you each time you have an ad come on. If you keep changing things up, that familiarity with your ads or your jingle will fade.

Conclusion

According to Neilsen, what most companies receive as a return on their investment is around $6 per dollar they spend. Plus, they average just over 15% conversion. If you apply these tips, they will help you make a memorable radio ad. This can help you achieve even better results, plus create an ad that will help your customers remember what you said both today, and well into the future. To find out how creating a memorable radio ad can help your Portland business, contact Raven Marketing at 503-954-1473.

Why Lighting is Important in Television Advertising

Introduction

Although spending on digital advertising has been expanding at the expense of traditional approaches, last year’s research by eMarketer shows that spending on TV advertising is still growing. According to a 2015 Nielsen report, TV reaches 87% of America adults over 18, so it’s no surprise that over a quarter of business owners still consider TV their primary advertising focus.

With that in mind, it might make sense to figure in television advertising into your media mix. However, given that the CPM of television advertising is second-highest only to direct mail, it may be tempting to find opportunities to save money, especially when it comes to production. And while there are a number of different ways to keep your production budget in check, one thing you won’t want to skimp on is lighting. Here’s why.

Indicate quality

You might think consumers don’t notice lighting when they’re watching TV, and consciously they don’t. But the average American consumes  over five hours of TV every day. After spending thousands of hours watching national TV, local TV, movies, and commercials of every budget, they can tell the difference in nanoseconds, even while channel-hopping: and one of the biggest giveaways is the amount of artificial light used. Too much, or too little, and the viewer dismisses your commercial as low-quality. And while consumers may not even be aware that they’ve noticed this, they won’t come away from the commercial with a good view of your brand.

Set the mood

The impact of lighting on mood has been well documented, and used to great effect to change the behavior of everyone from shoppers to office workers.

There are a huge variety of formats you can use for your TV commercial – you could give it a realistic, documentary feel; use a ‘talking head’ technique featuring an actor playing a satisfied customer; even create a TV-show-like series with recurring characters. Each of these styles of commercial will demand different levels of intensity, color, dispersion, and other lighting effects to create the right mood. Even the way the lights are positioned can change the mood of the commercial from drama to nostalgia.

Draw attention to your products – and make them look great

Just like a spotlight on a stage, lighting emphasizes the most important thing on screen – and in most forms of TV advertising that’s the product you’re trying to sell. And what’s more, it makes that product look more appealing. But different products need different types of lighting. Why do fast-food commercials use a ton of filter when they shoot a burger? It’s because you need light in different colors, from different angles, and to be either ‘soft’ or ‘hard’, depending on the object in your viewfinder. If you’re advertising jewelry, you’ll want to use side lighting to create the impression of three-dimensions, giving the product depth. If you are shooting a beer bottle, you’ll want to light behind the bottle to light it up on the inside. With every product, your main goal to focus the viewer’s attention to the product and away from anything else in the shot.

Make your actors look great too

Lighting talent has its own challenges. When considering how to light people, think about the actor’s skin and hair color. In general, warm, soft lighting will have a flattering effect on the appearance of your actors. This is particularly essential if you’re marketing fashion or beauty products. But even if you haven’t cast a Victoria’s Secret model, you still need to cast your actor in a flattering light to avoid drawing attention away from the product or issue you’re advertising – unless you’ve gone for the documentary-style realistic ad, in which case a harsher light will achieve the desired effect.

Ensure continuity

Your commercial might be only 30 or even 15 seconds long, but it likely took hours and hours to film. If you rely too heavily on natural light – even if you’re filming indoors – the angle and intensity of the sunlight could change from one frame to the next; a shadow could jump across the wall behind your talking head while he or she is talking. Again, it’s not something a viewer will consciously notice: but it won’t present a professional impression of your brand. High-quality artificial lighting will keep your advertising looking seamless.

Convey time, place – and credibility

Let’s say you’re filming your commercial in a studio, but it’s set on a city street at night: like a lot of advertising in the automobile industry is, for example. How do you convey that setting? By lighting the scene from above, at intervals, with an orange filter – so that it resembles sodium street lights. Along with the rest of your production values – high quality sound, camera work and so on – lighting helps the viewer really believe in the scene you’re setting for them. Because only if they believe in your scene can they believe in what you’re advertising to them.

Conclusion

Lighting is too often easily overlooked, but it’s worth paying attention to. Done right, lighting is one of the most important factors in making a TV advertising campaign look professional and believable.