As the year comes to an end let’s look back on the most important lessons we have learned. Here is a summary the most important lessons we’ve learned in 2018.

February

To make effective advertisements you have to make them with the audience’s viewpoint in mind. For example, you should describe benefits, not features in your ad because nobody wants to hear the technical aspect of your product. They want to know how your product will make their lives better.

In order to get people to look at your advertisement, you must give them a reason to do so. The four U’s to making an effective headline lay out just how to make a catchy headline that generates intrigue. The four U’s say to make your headline unique, ultra-specific, convey a sense of urgency, and useful[1].

March

To make a marketing plan set up realistic marketing goals for your business. After setting up these goals, use them as the foundation of your marketing plan. Then, set monthly, yearly, and multi-year marketing goals and tasks to accomplish and put them together into a comprehensive plan.

A great way to keep your plan organized is to make a document with all of your goals laid out, and then fill out a calendar with all of the steps and deadlines of the tasks needed to accomplish those goals.

April

Online reviews are absolutely essential to the success of your business. “93% of consumers read local reviews to decide if a business is good or not[2],” and therefore you need to take special care to boost your reviews.

BirdEye is an effective platform for boosting reviews, but if you don’t have the money to invest in BirdEye then you should take certain measures to increase your positive reviews. Two of those essential measures were to incentivize your reviews such as through discounts, and to respond to every review you receive, whether it’s positive or negative.

May

In order to relate to your customers you have to figure out their personality types, and what core values drive their actions and purchases. When you figure out what makes your customers tick you gain the ability to establish a genuine connection with your customers, building trust and increasing sales.

BANK Codes are an excellent method to narrow down what your customer’s personality type may be, and allow you to make fairly accurate assumptions on what they truly care about, and what drives their actions.

June

The way to keep yourself highly effective is to use effective time and life management tools and strategies.

To save stress and confusion use a weekly planner to keep track of your weekly tasks, and fill out a calendar with specific deadlines and important dates to keep yourself on schedule.

July

To make viral articles you should tune your articles for shareability.

Some ways to do this are to make a catchy headline, use Google’s keyword planner to find out what readers are looking for, and leave clear call to actions for readers to share your articles. Also leave social links in easy to access areas such as at the end of an article to make it easy for readers to share your article.

August

Keeping your website updated is imperative to the security and efficiency of your website. Keeping your website updated keeps security vulnerabilities patched, keeps your site bug free and fast, and brings new features to your website.

September

Freelancers are a very useful tool for the small business owner. Freelancers save you time, are a lesser commitment than employees, and grant your business flexibility, all while saving you the costs of overhead and employee benefits.

October

Professional graphics have a very large role in business. Graphics are the second most important form of business content according to a survey of 5000 marketers. Graphics increase social media engagement, they increase blog article shares, and they increase information retention.

November

We at All Things Advertising are very thankful for you, and everything you have done for us <3!

To learn more about a certain lesson you can visit the month’s article for more in depth information. We wish you the happiest of holidays, and can’t wait to start 2019 with you all!