When people think of advertisements, the first things that usually come to mind are those huge 100 Plus and Coca Cola billboards along the LDP expressway or Astro TV commercials promoting a specific brand of dates from the Middle East or Japan’s first cultured milk drink. Yeah, I think you know precisely what we’re referring to. And that’s great because good advertisements are ones which you can remember for many years down the line even without directly name dropping.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the marketing budget of a small private army and many times we’re forced to cut a few corners while still delivering the best impact possible in terms of catching attention. This is doubly so for the SME businesses out there which are operating on a shoestring budget.
So in the interest of the smaller fish in the marketing sea, here are a few advertising tips that we think everyone should know.
Boost on Facebook and Instagram
An effective Facebook ad can run you for something as low as RM3 per day which costs less than an Onigiri from Family Mart when you think about it.
Source: PoweAdSpy
While especially useful for start-ups and smaller businesses, boosting on popular social platforms also requires some thought and consideration into search engine optimisation (SEO) which means knowing specific keywords that are closely associated to your brand or product. This is so whenever someone types out that specific word on Facebook or Instagram, the more likely your advertisement is to show up on their social feed.
Source: Newsfeed.org
As good as your advertisement may be, boosting a Facebook advertisement for a Boba start-up in the Klang Valley would be pointless if it only reaches users in Sri Lanka who have absolutely zero access to the brand or product. So while SEO may be another skillset which requires some time and effort to master, the rewards can be well worth the investment given your ads are more likely to reach the right type of audience at the right location, especially for such a small starting price.
Use Canva or Piktochart
Let’s face it, good graphic designers are hard to find, and even when you are fortunate to find one, sometimes the back and forth amendments alone can be enough to drive both sides mad. Thankfully, for those who have some decent design ideas yet lack the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator know-how, applications such as Canva and Piktochart can be lifesavers.
Source: Canva
While there are paid versions that offer more content and useful tools, the free versions for both are enough for most creative enthusiasts to get by thanks to their easy-to-use interface and clever templates that sometimes do half the work for you.
Source: Canva
Use Powtoon
For customers that need to be engaged in a more visually stimulating manner, videos are often a great bet. Similar to Canva but made for videos instead, Powtoon is an easy and affordable solution which allows anyone with some degree of patience to push out great 2D infographic style videos that not only looks great but also gives your brand that extra step thanks to the prestige most people often associate videos with.
Source: Powtoon
Check out this video made by Powtoon to see if it is the right fit for your brand – https://youtu.be/AAI7nGLSJj0
It’s a Result Business
Alongside these tips, we also believe that there are a couple of low-cost alternatives that deserve a mention such as creating a podcast for your brand, coupons to reward loyal customers, distributing free clothes that feature your own brand, partnering with smaller social media influencers and even making content on TikTok to name a few.
However, when a marketer is considering any of the DIY solutions, do not lose sight of the marketing objectives. Ultimately, it’s a result business. One will be judged on the campaign’s impact on consumers and sales, not on cost-savings. Both Canva and Piktochart are great solutions for those who wish to shave off a few extra ringgits, but will this deliver the desired results vs. engaging an experienced agency which will eliminate any costly missteps? Tell us what you think, or even better, share with us your personal experience on this front.
