Business Connections East Africa: Attributes of Effective Advertising

By Abigail Grace

Business Connections East Africa, being a digital marketing organization focuses on offering customized advertising campaigns for its varied and many clients; specifically operating within the small and medium enterprises level.  Customized advertising must be effective for clients to reap the harvest of their investment. Advertising amplifies the brand, service or product, hence increasing interest and engagement leading to increased sales.  The effectiveness of the advert should not be short lived; otherwise, businesses would be creating many advertisements within a short period of time, which eventually increases the operational costs.

Among the considerations by Business Connections East Africa when creating a video advert is the theme, which should feature within the first 10 seconds.  The theme attracts the attention of the viewers; it is the pull factor that enables the viewers to pay attention and view the advert repetitively. The reigning theme holds the attention of the audience; hence they are able to absorb the content of the advert.  Essentially, the focus of Business Connections East Africa advertising videos is conveying the needed information. If the information is not conveyed to the viewers, readers, or listeners, then advertising as communication is not effective.

Effective advertising is persuasive; that means the content and the platform or medium should suit the target audience.  The advert should not only highlight the features of the product, brand or service, but also the benefits and a call for action.   However, there should be an emotional connection between the medium and the target audience; empathy and humor are key to creating the connection.  In Kenya for example, when there is polarized politics during electioneering periods, some radio and TV stations loose business because of being perceived to be inclining to certain political groupings. In this case, empathy is lost. Business Connections East Africa is consistent in maintaining humor and empathy with the viewers.  Business Connections East Africa advises its clients to consistently maintain empathy and humor on their social media platforms.

Effective advertising should be memorable, that means, it should have a catchy jingly or provocative message, which can keep people talking and engaged on social media. A memorable advert is one that the audience can easily connect with and the message is easily and quickly understood. In summary, whereas Business Connections East Africa makes adverts to its clients to reach out to the masses, the adverts' target is individual connection.