Written by
Aaron Vihersola
Co-founder, VSCY
Aaron Vihersola is a seasoned professional in marketing, with over 10 years of experience in digital marketing and the development of the entire marketing funnel. He specializes in data-driven, sales-generating digital marketing, where strategy, content, paid advertising, automation, and conversion optimization work together. Aaron has helped dozens of companies increase their revenue by building clear purchasing paths from social media and search engines all the way to leads, sales, and the long-term development of customer relationships.
When I started in marketing, an advertisement meant one thing to many people. One image, containing a logo, a slogan, and perhaps an offer. In today's media environment, this is no longer sufficient. An advertisement is a complete experience that extends from social media to websites and all the way to the sales event.
I write this from the perspective of VSCY, but above all from my own experience with companies in dozens of different industries. One thing has recurred every time. When an advertisement is seen as a standalone image instead of part of a whole, the results remain poor.
An advertisement is part of the customer journey
A good advertisement does not exist in a vacuum. It is one stage in the customer’s journey toward a purchasing decision. When we plan advertising at VSCY, we always consider three things.
What a person thinks before seeing the advertisement.
What a person experiences while viewing the advertisement.
Where a person ends up after the advertisement has done its job.
In practice, this means that a good advertisement always guides to some clear follow-up. It could be a landing page, an appointment booking, a product page in an online store, or even a lead form. If there is no follow-up planned, advertising easily becomes just visibility that does not turn into revenue.
Speaking to the target audience, not shouting to everyone
Too many advertisements have been made with the thought that this suits everyone. The result is that it does not actually speak to anyone.
When I build an advertisement, I always want to be able to answer the question clearly. Who is this for? If the answer is vague, then the message of the advertisement is also vague.
A good advertisement speaks to one defined target audience. Then the tone, promise, and visual identity can be tailored precisely. For example.
An entrepreneur who wants more contacts.
An online store that wants to increase the average order value.
A B2B company that wants better leads for its salespeople.
The more precisely the target audience is defined, the easier it is to write the text and select the imagery that feels right for them.
The advertisement continues through text and the landing page
Many still think that an advertisement is just the image that people see on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. In reality, the actual work is often done in the text and on the page that the advertisement directs to.
The purpose of the advertisement is to catch attention and get a person to click or view more.
The purpose of the text is to unfold the promise and explain why the offered solution is relevant right now.
The purpose of the landing page is to eliminate any last doubts and guide to action.
If even one of these fails, the advertisement does not deliver the best possible results. That’s why I talk a lot about the whole rather than individual banners.
Emotion and logic in the same package
The best-performing advertisements evoke emotion but can also withstand logical scrutiny.
Emotion makes a person stop and take interest.
Logic, facts, and concreteness persuade that the decision makes sense.
Thus, an advertisement must not just be entertainment, but it also does not have to be a dry technical list of features. The best combination arises when the story, promise, and concrete benefit go hand in hand.
An advertisement without measurement is just an opinion
One of the most common pitfalls is that advertisements are evaluated based on likes, feelings, or visual taste. The truth is simple. An advertisement is good when it helps the business reach its goals.
That’s why we at VSCY always build advertising through metrics. Typical goals are, for example.
New leads and contacts.
Appointment bookings.
Online store purchases.
The growth in demand for a specific service.
When the goal is clear, the advertisement can be tested, developed, and scaled. At that point, opinions give way to data.
One advertisement, many formats
A modern advertisement rarely exists in only one size or in one channel. Multiple versions can be built upon one core idea.
A short, fast-paced video for TikTok.
A longer, narrative version for YouTube.
An image and text for LinkedIn.
A tailored version for a website or newsletter.
The same core idea, the same promise, and the same brand, but packed in different formats. This is one of the most effective ways to get more out of each idea and each shoot day.
How we build an advertisement at VSCY
In practice, the process often proceeds like this.
First, we clarify the goal and target audience together with the client.
Then, we create a clear message and offer that advertising can lean on.
Based on this, we design the idea, script, and visual line.
Finally, we ensure that the landing page, form, or online store path supports the promise of the advertisement.
Only when the whole chain is in order do we start advertising. That’s why I talk about the fact that an advertisement is no longer just one image and logo. It is a designed part of the sales machine.
If you feel that so far you’ve made advertisements more with visibility in mind than with sales in mind, that is not uncommon. However, it is one of the easiest things to fix.