Advertising Nuggets of Wisdom

Hmmm, nuggets of advertising wisdom..... In my current position, I have assisted in the creation of a couple of ad campaigns and have also purchased advertising spots in print media and supported radio programming through underwritings. While the creation side of advertising is a fun and collaborative process, I find myself thinking more about the implementation of the ads. Trying to determine what types of ad spots to purchase or in what markets to purchase them can be a daunting process, especially without having clearly defined objectives or strategies in place.

I suspect my firm is like a lot of small to medium-sized companies which feel the need to advertise, but without dedicated marketing personnel, aren't sure how to go about it. My number one suggestion is, prior to beginning an advertising campaign (creation or dissemination), figure out why your company wants to advertise, what does it hope to accomplish? Then determine who your target audience is and what message you're trying to convey to them. Once that groundwork is in place, you can look at various advertising opportunities and filter them through your objectives to see if the opportunity is a good fit for your company. Without this structure, I find it's difficult to identify opportunities because you don't know what you're looking for.