Product advertising - what should it have in it? Tips for effective promotion

What chance is there that an excellent, distinctive product at a low price will sell well? Rather little. It is for this reason that every company, regardless of industry, tries to advertise what it wants to sell. To be commercially successful, you still need to know how to advertise the item or service you are offering and who to target. So, if your offer is met with indifference on the part of potential customers, we will advise you on how to do product advertising.

Product advertising - where to start?

The first step to successful sales is to know your target customer group. In this respect, the easiest form of marketing message has remained for years advertisement product on the Internet. Unlike the older types of media, i.e. press, radio and television, goods and services presented on the global web can reach not everyone, but a group of consumers who are genuinely interested in a particular item. This reduces expenditure on unnecessary promotion to people who are unlikely to buy what the seller is offering anyway.

Determining your target audience is also a great way to get to know your competitors and see how they advertise your product. Marketing your market rivals will reveal who you need to reach and how to talk about your product in such a way as to convince customers to buy. For this to be possible, it is essential to know the needs of those targeted as a target group. In addition to understanding what they are missing, it is also important to know what their expectations are. And you cannot do without presenting the benefits of buying this particular product rather than another.

However, suspicion of the actions of a competitor must not lead to copying its actions. Why, when they are selling very similar or even identical things? Advertising your own product, which is not very different from what other companies are offering, should highlight the differences for choosing your product. However, it should not be difficult for the retailer to focus on what is an advantage in such a case. It is much more challenging to create a promotional campaign for something that does not stand out from the competition, such as cleaning products. In such a situation, instead of focusing on the product, it is better to focus on the brand and its unique features.

How do you create product advertising that works for your audience?

After analysing the activities of other retailers and your own product, it remains to create a promotional campaign. The slogan should be memorable and the message should demonstrate the benefits of using the advertised item. To this end, it is useful to learn and assimilate the language of benefits.

Creating a catchy slogan

One of the best ways to reach your audience is to come up with an advertising slogan. This type of message should be as short as possible. Sometimes even one or two words are enough for it to be remembered among the audience.

A good slogan also appeals to associations specific to the target group. In other words, what young people know and understand, for example, will not always be equally understandable to older people. This principle also works the other way round. Certain words, sayings or character references are only intelligible to certain groups of customers.

Tailoring the message to the nature of the product

The message to the customer should be relevant to the purpose of the item being sold. For this reason, an advertisement for a product for everyday use will differ from one offering, for example, exclusive goods created for special occasions.

In the case of the former, it is not possible to convince a potential customer that a purchase, for example, will make him feel like he has something special. A simple mention of the benefits he or she will gain from using it is sufficient. However, if the item is indeed unique (the reason may be quality of workmanship, purpose, origin, etc.) this should be emphasised first, rather than its utility value.

Use of benefit language

Short advertising forces you to convey as much product information as possible in a tightly constrained timeframe or concise text message. It is therefore worth taking care to use benefit language. It consists of three elements:

• feature;
• advantage;
• benefit.

The use of benefit language does not require any special preparation, as it is enough to learn a simple scheme. An example illustrating this can be any product, e.g. a capacious hiking backpack. Its feature is its large capacity. The resulting advantage is the ability to fit a large amount of luggage inside. The benefit to the customer is that all the necessary items are packed in one place, so that he or she does not have to carry additional bags.

Benefit language is an extremely effective marketing tool because it appeals directly to the satisfaction of the consumer's need. It shows them not so much how good the product is, but what they will gain from it. When creating such a message, one only needs to be careful about the level of complexity of the language used to promote certain products, such as electronic devices. It is much better to present a smartphone with a good camera as the ideal equipment for taking photos in different lighting conditions than to write out technical data that not everyone understands.

What to avoid when creating a product advert?

You can learn not only from successful competitors, but also from those who have already made mistakes. By learning from bad advertising practices, you can avoid problems that affect not only current sales, but also future sales. This makes it easier to take care of the brand image, a value that has an impact on business just as great, if not greater, than product selection and pricing.

Adequacy of the message

Although it seems obvious, many companies advertise items from their range in a way that is inadequate for what they are and what customers expect. An example of the mismatch between the message and the product is the spots broadcast years ago by mail order companies. They convinced users that the items they offered would not only help with everyday tasks, but would actually change the lives of those in possession of them.

Even then, i.e. in the 1990s and at the beginning of the new century, these adverts made many people smile. At the time, however, the novelty of such a message was enough to convince some viewers. Today, using such a sales method would only contribute to tarnishing a brand's image, showing it as one that does not take customers seriously. Perhaps in this way, the company would gain short-term publicity and its adverts would go viral online. In the long term, however, consumers would be left with mainly negative associations, with fatal consequences. It is important to remember that once a reputation has been damaged, it is difficult to change it.

Controversial nature of advertising

A serious mistake, which can also have long-term consequences, is to exploit controversy. Doing so will undoubtedly contribute to showing yourself to consumers for the first time or reminding them of your existence. On the other hand, in this way it is easy to alienate whole swathes of customers who do not accept crossing certain boundaries when promoting a product.

Methods of advertising products

The Internet has contributed to the development of advertising formats, making it much easier to target different audiences. What is more, the platforms on which they are placed target Internet users according to many criteria: age, place of residence, interests, etc., which makes it possible to reach exactly those people who are most likely to be customers. However, product promotion is not just about increasing sales temporarily. Achieving a long-term effect is a task that requires systematic work.

Sponsored texts

Among Internet users, there is no shortage of people who prefer longer, more detailed content explaining what a product is and the benefits of owning it. For this reason, it is worth considering ordering sponsored articles. It is best to order their publication on popular portals and websites thematically related to the advertised product. In addition, a company blog can also be used to promote your products.

Video content

Advertising texts will not be suitable for those internet users who prefer a shorter form of message. To make them become buyers of the proposed product, a short video can be shot and published on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. However, the quick consumption of visual content will not suit every person either. This is why it is a good idea to consider making a longer video and posting it on your YouTube channel.

Google search ads

Google Ads can also be used for promotion. What is product advertising? It includes various forms of marketing messages, including banners and sponsored links. The latter are particularly worthy of interest. Visible at the top of search results, they are able to significantly increase website traffic, which can translate into better sales. What is more, unlike banners, they cannot be blocked by browser anti-advertising plug-ins.

Mailing campaigns and user feedback

Using the e-mail addresses of existing customers to advertise a new product is a good opportunity not only to inform them of the new item on offer. In the body of the e-mail, for example, a discount code can be included to generate even more interest in the purchase.

After a certain period of time has elapsed since a transaction was made, it is a good idea to send out another message asking for feedback. This increases the chances of attracting repeat buyers, or more precisely those people who are more persuaded by the opinions of others who have already used the product than by advertisements in various forms.

Website positioning

An important point to consider is the life cycle of the product versus advertising. Sooner or later the majority of interested people will buy it, the natural consequence of which will be a steady decline in sales thereafter. At such a point, continuing to run an advertising campaign will only generate additional, unnecessary costs.

How then do you reach people who may be interested in buying long after the promotional campaign is over? Constant attention to the positioning of the website is essential. This consists of a series of measures to ensure that the website is high up in the search results. This is possible thanks to proper optimisation, such as:

• ensuring the technical optimisation of the website (speeding it up, adjusting it for different types of device, creating a sitemap for indexing it by Google bots);
• filling the site with unique content;
• publishing texts on external websites to promote the product and for link building.

Advertise products with InPost and realise the advertising potential!

Advertising a product online is all the more effective the more popular sites you choose to publish it on. A great way to reach new audiences online is to partner with InPost. We offer ways such as:

• advertising banners displayed within the InPost website;
• information banners in the InPost newsletter;
• banners and push notifications in the InPost Mobile app.

The potential of the Internet as a promotional tool is worth extending to an offline campaign. Paczkomat® is perfect for this. We offer the use of more than 20,000 devices set up throughout Poland with the possibility:

• veneering of the machines with advertising veneer;
• display of static advertising on machine screens;
• sampling - distribution of advertising material in the caches of Paczkomat® machines.

It is not only the popularity of Paczkomat® deliveries that encourages you to choose our offer, but also the attractive price list of services. Thanks to this, both large enterprises with significant budgets for marketing campaigns and smaller companies can afford this method of promotion. An additional advantage of working with us is the fast turnaround time.