Of course, it’s a serious business too. Before we start brainstorming, we take care to ensure that we’ve fully defined exactly what the advert (or advertising campaign) needs to achieve and what messages need to come across. It could be directly sales-led, in which case we’d encourage you to set realistic targets in terms of what kind of response you should expect. It may simply be an exercise in brand awareness, to get your name out there and start establishing it in your target market. Alternatively, your message could be an informative one; to tell your existing clientele something they really need to know.

We’re very good at asking questions.

Apart from nailing the overall objective(s), we’ll want to understand as much as we can about your business, your marketplace and your competitors. We’ll also ask you about what sort of tone any advertising needs to set; bold, brash and in-your-face perhaps, or solid, professional and reassuring? If you’re able to give us examples of other designs to show us what you like – or dislike – then all the better. If you’re not sure, that’s fine too. We’re not afraid of working with a blank canvas.

What type of advertising do you have in mind? Traditional printed media can still be extremely effective

(and seems to be making something of a comeback recently) but you need to choose your publications wisely. Social media advertising or pay-per-click banner ad campaigns give you the added benefit of making it easier to measure response, but aren’t always quite so effective at making an impact as some people would lead you to believe. It’s still crucial to choose the right media for your message and your audience.

Although the rewards can be significant, it’s very easy to spend a lot of money on advertising. In fact, let’s face it, it’s very easy to waste a lot of money on advertising, because media costs can very quickly stack up. That’s why a part of the BTL Creative service is to help you with campaign strategy; to find the right media and plan how best to use it; balancing frequency, size and cost of advertising space. The same applies whether your advertising is online, printed or (most likely) a combination of the two. If you’d also like us to book space on your behalf, we’re pretty mean negotiators too!

Successful advertising is about inspiration and good creatives, but it’s also about stacking the odds in your favour... doing the research, gathering the information and making informed decisions.

Let’s work together to get it right.