Advertising is still seen as the most direct and efficient way to reach your audience, but it’s rapidly becoming more important to differentiate yourself from the crowd. It’s no longer enough to just make sure your brand is heard about. These days, it’s all about distinguishing yourself: making sure your brand is remembered. Modern advertising understands this shift quite well, and has worked these principles in with most of the memorable campaigns we see today.

It’s no longer strange or uncommon for advertisers and their companies to ask themselves what they can do to create a memorable advertising campaign. While most of these attempts have alternated between hits and misses, there are a few distinctive, reliable methodologies to the madness that is advertising. Here’s a couple of things to keep in mind when making advertisements that leave an impression.

Be bold.

Distinctive advertising has to live up to its name – your advertising needs to be seen first, then remembered. Even an action-oriented message can’t be acted on if it gets lost in a sea of other advertisements. Take note of when, where, and how will you be displaying your message.

Know your audience.

One of the worst things that an advertiser can do is deliver the right message to the wrong crowd. Context is everything – don’t get carried away in the heart of what your message and your brand means to the world.  Remembering where your audience is coming from means you’ll be forced to think creatively in regards to how you reach them.

Remember the box.

While this may seem counterintuitive — especially considering the old adage, “Think outside the box” — numerous campaigns have often been launched on the premise of taking something that people are already familiar with and looking at it in a whole new light. Not every campaign needs to be so outlandish as to attract attention. Remember the box you came from, and use your inspirations in entirely new ways.

Distinctive advertising has to live up to its name – your advertising needs to be seen first, then remembered.

Collaborate.

This is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do in advertising – collaborating with other disciplines. It’s astonishingly easy to fall into the trap of thinking that advertising is purely visual arts and nothing more. Truly creative designers are always thinking of newer and better ways to advertise using other tools and new discoveries. Keep an open mind for what’s trending, and form your campaign around it.

Adopt a personal narrative.

Gone are the days when brands spoke to people as segments. Personalisation is now one of the most effective and underutilised forms of advertising. Touch the human hear. Play with emotion. It’ll show that your brand is relatable and worth remembering. Speak to your audiences as individuals – not response sheets – and they will get involved.

Don’t get carried away.

Never lose sight of your product/brand. It’s what defines your advertising, not the other way around. Consistency is important in order to accurately convey the look and feel of your brand across all platforms. An advertisement needs to deliver what the product is about, and should be created accordingly.

Investing a little more time and effort into your advertising strategies will ensure that you come up with a creative campaign that will resonate with your target audience. Doing so will guarantee that your brand remains prominent in both business and consumer environments.