Are your Google Ad Words or Facebook advertising campaigns performing as well as you planned? If not, have you evaluated the creative (images/ad copy) you are using to drive the campaign? Often, businesses try to cram so much information into one small ad it creates a very confusing and hard to read ad that customers just ignore.

Here are some simple steps you can take, which will help you maximize your advertisement's impact:

Step 1. MESSAGE: What is the one most important point you are you trying to make?

Step 2. AUDIENCE: Who are you speaking to?

Step 3. VEHICLE: Is your desired audience using the advertising platform you have chosen? Answering these simple questions may seen obvious, however more often than not, in the rush to meet ad deadlines, we sometimes miss the most essential point of advertising in the first place. Who we’re trying to advertise to and what are we trying to say. Remember the K.I.S.S. rule: “keep it simple silly.” Using pull quotes or a direct call to action statement along with an engaging image or graphic will always interrupt the reader and deliver your message more effectively.

Now consider your audience's age group as well as cultural differences, religious backgrounds and online habits. Millions of dollars get spent every year trying to figure out how to make the better mouse trap. Everything from online purchasing habits to eye tracking technology plays a vital role in creating the optimum environment for your online advertisement campaign to succeed.

For example, results of eye tracking technology indicates that in most cases, when pop-ups appear the user immediately looks for a way to turn off, cancel or close the window. Eye tracking technology also tells us where people’s eye movements flow around advertisements on any given page the advertisement is placed.

Pay attention to the platform that will be displaying your advertisement and try to cater your advertisement to that audience. Not everyone is interested in your product and not everyone consumes information the same way. Consider a laser-sharp targeting approach with a very direct message aimed at a specific demographic. It may seem like you are limiting yourself, but in fact you’re creating a very impactful, easy-to-understand ad, which will have a large impact on your audience’s acceptance of its message. This means you may have to create different ads to reach each demographic you’re trying to attract, using custom messaging and imagery placed in the correct online platform targeting the correct demographic.

It’s not just creating another pretty ad. It’s about creating a meaningful experience for your customer. To get their attention, create a relevant call to action, high-impact advertisement for the specific demographic and link it to the appropriate page on your website.

In most cases, you’re only allowed to link to your homepage, so this last step has to do with the platform of choice and that platform’s advertisement guidelines. Investing time and effort in understanding what message you’re trying to convey and who you are trying to attract will make the process a little easier and your advertisement much more impactful.

Nuevo Advertising