Don't Do These Advertising Ideas

If you have a product or service you want to promote, advertising is a great way to do so. However, you want to make sure your advertising is effective. That means having advertising that will work to reach your target audience.

Advertising works, after all – would you even know about many businesses or professionals if it were not for advertising? From Coca-Cola to the Outback Steakhouse to Jacoby and Meyers, advertising gets you attention. But there are things you should do – and should not do. Some of the following things below will not help your advertising efforts:

Be Careful with the use of QR Codes

Putting a QR code on an ad that is in a subway – a place with limited internet access, at best – is not a cost-effective method of advertising. The same goes with putting a QR code on a huge billboard above a highway. If you really think that a driver is going to capture that QR code on their smartphone while driving, you have got another thing coming. (Besides, you do not want a driver causing an accident by using their phone to capture that code, do you!)

Another mistake advertisers make with QR codes is not having exciting content. Having a QR code that simply directs potential customers to the home page of your website is not enough. Instead, the code should direct to some cool, wow-worthy content that customers may not be able to find elsewhere. For example, if your product has a celebrity endorser, a QR code that shows a video with a behind the scenes look at the person may work well for you.  The same goes with a song that is only available for download with the QR code. Think ”special” and “unique” when it comes to the use of QR codes.

Do not Target the Wrong Audience

If you are selling upscale products, like $300 sheets or $1000 shoes, you want to make sure your ads reach the right audience. The same goes if you have budget deals. You want to have ads that go in the right market. There is a reason when you read Vanity Fair or Vogue, that you see so many luxury brands in the advertising. That is because the ads are targeted to the audience who reads those magazines, many of whom make over $100,000 a year.

You do not want to have your ads in the wrong publication or medium, though. For example, if you are selling a brand of steak, running your ads in Vegetarian Times, for example, would make no sense whatsoever. You want to make sure you are targeting the right audience for your advertisements, and not the wrong one.

Do not Offend your Audience

You may think edgy advertising is the way to go, but for every time it actually does work, there are hundreds of times in which the ads do not work. You do not want to tick off potential customers with offensive racist, sexist, or other types of jokes or comments with your ads. Instead, treat your audience with respect, and you will get the respect – and the sales – back in return. Good luck.

To learn more about advertising ideas, visit LiveIntent.com.

Lisa Swan writes for a variety of websites.