13 Advertising Tips for Startups
The tips have been compiled by Mike Saraswat the Founder and CEO of Ekstasy, a Creative Advertising Agency based in London. Over the last 15 years the team have supported hyper-growth startups and established brands such as Starling Bank, LloydsPharmacy, Sumup, Klarna, Samsung, Oracle, Amazon, Yale, Visa, Canon, Whirlpool, SES Satellites, LG, Virgin and L&T.
Advertising Tip 1
In a recession or a crisis your brand advertising should not go dark.
There are many examples from previous recessions when category leading brands have lost their market share to their challengers who kept up with advertising. Remember it is all about familiarity and frequency.
Advertising Tip 1
In a recession or a crisis your brand advertising should not go dark.
There are many examples from previous recessions when category leading brands have lost their market share to their challengers who kept up with advertising. Remember it is all about familiarity and frequency.
Advertising Tip 2
Startups who have raised Seed, Series A or B funding, should spend 60% of their marketing budget on performance and 40% on brand. When they raise Series C and beyond, they should reverse it and start spending 60% on brand and 40% on performance to get optimal results.
Advertising Tip 2
Startups who have raised Seed, Series A or B funding, should spend 60% of their marketing budget on performance and 40% on brand. When they raise Series C and beyond, they should reverse it and start spending 60% on brand and 40% on performance to get optimal results.
Advertising Tip 3
For a successful campaign the creative and media teams should work together towards a common goal, whatever that might be, for example, brand awareness or customer acquisition. So both are equally responsible for the success or learn from the failures of the campaign together, instead of playing a blame game of who is at fault. Also, having them as separate entities is a race to the bottom, as it only commoditises them.
Advertising Tip 3
For a successful campaign the creative and media teams should work together towards a common goal, whatever that might be, for example, brand awareness or customer acquisition. So both are equally responsible for the success or learn from the failures of the campaign together, instead of playing a blame game of who is at fault. Also, having them as separate entities is a race to the bottom, as it only commoditises them.
Advertising Tip 4
Product Truth + Brand Truth + Culture Truth = Winning Idea. Use this quick formula whilst designing each campaign. So you can unlock the full potential of your advertising campaign.
Advertising Tip 4
Product Truth + Brand Truth + Culture Truth = Winning Idea. Use this quick formula whilst designing each campaign. So you can unlock the full potential of your advertising campaign.
Advertising Tip 5
Brand advertising will always win in the long run over pure product based advertising. Brand storytelling is what helps you build the emotive connection with your audience and differentiates your brand from the competition, so you can stop swimming in the sea of sameness. There is clear evidence of this in multiple countries, whether that is in the UK, US, Spain, France or India.
Advertising Tip 5
Brand advertising will always win in the long run over pure product based advertising. Brand storytelling is what helps you build the emotive connection with your audience and differentiates your brand from the competition, so you can stop swimming in the sea of sameness. There is clear evidence of this in multiple countries, whether that is in the UK, US, Spain, France or India.
Advertising Tip 6
Creativity + Data insight = Effective Campaign. So few startups are using data points to inspire their creative campaigns. That is a huge oversight. It is not just about your product features and benefits. Data allows you to design creative campaigns close to your customers’ behaviour and needs.
Advertising Tip 6
Creativity + Data insight = Effective Campaign. So few startups are using data points to inspire their creative campaigns. That is a huge oversight. It is not just about your product features and benefits. Data allows you to design creative campaigns close to your customers’ behaviour and needs.
Advertising Tip 7
You must connect with your prospects across multiple touch points to build trust. Experiment with the multi-touch attribution (MTA) model you are planning to use. Remember startups have a tendency to be biased towards last touch attribution models. If time and budget allows, use unified measurement which combines the MTA which offers a person-level data with the aggregate data of media mix modelling for a comprehensive view. This will help you measure your TTL, integrated advertising across TV, Online (all channels), Print, OOH and Radio. Nielsen provides an ebook to help break the various models a bit better.
Advertising Tip 7
You must connect with your prospects across multiple touch points to build trust. Experiment with the multi-touch attribution (MTA) model you are planning to use. Remember startups have a tendency to be biased towards last touch attribution models. If time and budget allows, use unified measurement which combines the MTA which offers a person-level data with the aggregate data of media mix modelling for a comprehensive view. This will help you measure your TTL, integrated advertising across TV, Online (all channels), Print, OOH and Radio. Nielsen provides an ebook to help break the various models a bit better.
Advertising Tip 8
Don't let hero content just sit on top of your sales funnel. It must find a way to drip down across your entire content layer.
Advertising Tip 8
Don't let hero content just sit on top of your sales funnel. It must find a way to drip down across your entire content layer.
Advertising Tip 9
Ask yourself how this advertising campaign is going to impact your customer's lifetime value.
Advertising Tip 9
Ask yourself how this advertising campaign is going to impact your customer's lifetime value.
Advertising Tip 10
Make sure your brand tone of voice is not just in your advertising but is adopted across all your touchpoints, on websites, landing pages, emails, customer service and instore (if that applies).
Advertising Tip 10
Make sure your brand tone of voice is not just in your advertising but is adopted across all your touchpoints, on websites, landing pages, emails, customer service and instore (if that applies).
Advertising Tip 11
When developing the top of the sales funnel (the narrative hook) think "human" instead of B2B or B2C.
Advertising Tip 11
When developing the top of the sales funnel (the narrative hook) think "human" instead of B2B or B2C.
Advertising Tip 12
Startups who are digitally native should also create an integrated advertising media plan to reach the largest audience using both above and below the line channels. Above the line (TV, Radio, OOH and Print) is well suited for reaching large audiences and below the line channels (Google, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Linkedin and Programmatic) are good for highly targeted advertising.
Advertising Tip 12
Startups who are digitally native should also create an integrated advertising media plan to reach the largest audience using both above and below the line channels. Above the line (TV, Radio, OOH and Print) is well suited for reaching large audiences and below the line channels (Google, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Linkedin and Programmatic) are good for highly targeted advertising.
Advertising Tip 13
Try and get your brand campaign to do one thing well. It could be awareness building (prompted or spontaneous), or acquiring customers, instead of trying to do both at the same time.
Advertising Tip 13
Try and get your brand campaign to do one thing well. It could be awareness building (prompted or spontaneous), or acquiring customers, instead of trying to do both at the same time.
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