A successful advertising campaign starts with a cohesive, inviting storefront and ends with the overall experience you deliver to your customer. Here are the key elements of a successful advertising campaign from start to finish.

The Key Elements of a Successful Advertising Campaign

Identify what you’re really selling

Example: I’m not just selling bracelets or jewelry at the Energy Shop, and this is something I have deeply understood from the start of the business. At the Energy Shop, I’m selling affirmations, expectations, and good vibrations. I’m selling dreams and ideas. I’m selling positive reminders of best life intentions. I’m selling the customer a promise to themselves to feel better and make the most of this life.

Once you’ve identified what you’re really selling, send the message to the customer that you understand their needs. The potter could write that their coffee mugs will enhance the warmth and excitement of the new day. The knitter could ask the reader to imagine what their gorgeous afghan would look like on the couch next to a cozy fire on a snowy night. By identifying the feeling your products will deliver, you help the customer understand why they should want it.

Speak your customer’s language

Make sure 100% of your website’s visitors can understand your advertisements, your listings, and your promotional articles. If you sell on Etsy, don’t assume all of your shoppers are familiar with that platform.

I only speak Etsian to you, dear reader. I never speak it outside of our circle. My next door neighbor doesn’t understand what “convo” means, and they don’t understand 2,500 sales from 25. That’s our language. Simplify your language like you’re explaining your product to your elderly aunt.

A perfect example of this is the acronym used all over handmade sites, “OOAK.” For months, I thought this was a special club, until somebody finally spelled it out in their listing (“one of a kind”). If you’re using acronyms and similar insider speak, you’re coming off as elitist whether that’s your intention or not. When people can’t understand what you’re selling, you are telling them that your product is not for them.

Identify a niche market

The saying goes: if your product is for everybody, it’s for nobody because nothing is for everybody.

To find your niche market, first identify your ideal customer. How old are they? Are they predominantly male or female? Do they have a family or are they single? Are they conventional or quirky? What do they read? What movies or TV do they watch? Where do they take vacations? Are they laid-back or adventurous? What are their hobbies? What are they afraid of? What do they dream of? How do they want to feel when they shop with you? Create the vision of your ideal customer to figure out how to find real-world versions of them.

Customer service is, by far, the most important part of marketing

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”–Henry Ford

Give 2,000% of your best effort to production, customer service, and order fulfillment. Make your customers proud to receive your item; exceed their handmade expectations with professional service.

At the Energy Shop, I have a satisfaction guarantee based on my secret policy to customer service: if one of my products fails you, I am going to serve you so well that you’ll hope I screw up again in the future. Customer service is not about a sale or a complaint; it’s about honoring the precious relationship between you and the customer.

Help your customers help you

If your customers are giving you great feedback, share it and make sure they’re able to share it too. A reader commented on my last post, “I know [my customers] really enjoy talking about [their experience with me].” That’s awesome, and true for many of us. Quote their feedback, share screen clips of your customer’s kind words on your Facebook fan page, and even make “tweetable” comments –you know, for those people like me who still aren’t sure what to say on Twitter.

Advertised your website recently? Share your experience in the comments!