Main Types of Advertising Strategies

We tell you what advertising strategies companies use, based on the characteristics of the business model and promotion goals.

What is an advertising strategy

An advertising strategy is a global plan for promoting a company or its products. It describes the current state of the brand in the market and the actions that need to be taken in order to achieve the intended goals.

An advertising strategy describes only promotional activities, as opposed to a general marketing strategy, which may include price changes, product upgrades, opening new points of sale, and other global events.

Advertising strategy consists of four components.

1. Audiences. Any advertisement is a communication with people. At the heart of the advertising strategy is an understanding of the people with which the company communicates. We focus on the think-do-care model, that is, we take into account cold, neutral and hot audiences in strategies.
2. Goals. It describes what we want to get from each audience during advertising campaigns. For example, for a cold audience, the goal is to visit a site, and for a hot audience, the goal is to add a product to the cart.
3. Accommodation plan. In the media plan, experts prescribe which sites should be used for each audience, which creatives should be placed in them, how often advertising should be shown, etc.
4. KPIs. For each audience, you need to set your own KPIs, which numerically describe the initial goals and give an understanding of how the effectiveness of advertising will be measured.

Advertising Strategies classification

Advertising strategies can be divided into several groups, depending on their main characteristics.

Advertising strategies by geography

The geography of the advertising campaign and, accordingly, the advertising strategy depends on the business model and product distribution features. Companies plan promotion based on target markets, and four types of strategies can be distinguished here.

1. Local. They are guided by an audience located in a relatively small location, in one city or even in a separate area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city. Such strategies are usually used by companies with a rigid connection to an offline point, for example, non-chain cafes.
2. Regional cover residents of a particular area or several areas. Regional campaigns are common in the food industry when brand products are not distributed to other regions.
3. Nationwide, aimed at all residents of the country. Commercials that are shown on central TV channels are components of nationwide advertising strategies.
4. International covers several countries. This includes, for example, the branding strategies of brands of global companies.

Advertising strategies by placement

1. Digital strategies are prepared for campaigns that are placed online. This includes contextual and targeted advertising, search engine optimization, advertising in online media and blogs, as well as display advertising. In such strategies, special attention is paid to the analysis of the effectiveness of the campaign and the opportunity is laid to iteratively optimize advertising during the campaign.
2. Offline promotion strategies are developed for offline advertising: outdoor, print, TV advertising, events, etc. Such strategies do not imply a quick change in the campaign based on performance and are usually used to increase brand awareness.
3. Mixed strategies describe campaigns that use both digital and offline advertising channels. This includes complex promotion from getting to know the product to purchase, and campaigns in which offline activities become an informational occasion for further online activities.

Advertising strategies by target audience size

1. Mass are designed for all categories of customers.
2. Niche are designed for a separate segment of the target audience, for example, a promotion for parents by the first of September.

Advertising strategies by goal

There are several main goals that I pursue advertising campaigns:

• brand or product launch strategy;
• image formation;
• stimulation of demand;
• maintaining loyalty.

As a rule, an advertising strategy is a global plan that is not limited to one of these goals. Work with regular customers and those who do not yet know about the product is carried out simultaneously, so it would be incorrect to divide advertising strategies by goals. Much more important and more revealing is the following classification, according to the frequency of placement.

Advertising strategies by frequency

1. Permanent placement. The advertiser places promotional materials constantly and evenly, with the same media weight throughout the entire period of placement. For example, if a company decides to advertise in a monthly magazine, it immediately buys 12 pages for the year in advance and thus constantly reminds readers of the magazine about itself. This strategy is used in highly competitive niches to become the market leader.
2. Impulse promotion. Under it, advertising is also placed in channels with the same weight throughout the year, but with certain placement intervals. For example, an advertiser publishes his banner in online media not all year, but after a month. This strategy is also aimed at leadership in a highly competitive niche, but allows you to optimize your advertising investment. It is only important to choose an effective placement frequency so that during the period without advertising, customers do not forget about the brand – as, for example, we did in the MOYO case study.
3. Flight placement. Periodic placement of advertising materials with a high weight at the start of the campaign and a gradual decrease in activity towards its completion. This strategy is used when introducing new products to the market, as well as to stimulate demand with shares. A simple example of flight: a company announces a new flavor of soda. At the start, the advertiser buys airtime on TV, advertising from bloggers, holds an event or creates a newsbreak for the media. The campaign gets maximum coverage, after which you can reduce the intensity of impressions and focus on an interested audience.
4. Seasonal Campaigns. Advertising is placed during the peaks of seasonal sales. Such a strategy, of course, is used by companies with a pronounced seasonality – resorts, clothing brands, seasonal cafes, etc. But it can also be useful when promoting individual company products that are especially relevant in a particular season. For example, an air conditioner dealer may be active throughout the year, but the main promotional activities are carried out in the summer, when the products are in the highest demand.

Interesting fact: in Campaign Manager, you can set up creative display scenarios to nest ads in a single story to make the best use of different formats. Read about it in the article Campaign Manager Features: Creative Rotation

Conclusion: choosing the type of advertising strategy

1. An advertising strategy is a global plan for promoting the company as a whole and its individual brands or products.
2. The advertising strategy contains promotion goals, target audiences, KPIs, as well as a media placement plan: sites, creatives, display frequency, etc.
3. There are various types of advertising strategies, depending on the geography of the display, the size of the audience and the frequency and placement of promotional materials.
4. On a geographical basis, advertising strategies are divided into: local, regional, national and global.
5. According to advertising placements, they are divided into: digital strategies, offline strategies and mixed ones.
6. Depending on the size of the target audience, advertising strategies can be mass or niche.
7. Based on the frequency of advertising placement, strategies can be permanent, impulse, flight and seasonal.