Originally, I wanted to create my advertisement on Facebook Ads Manager. I created an advertisement for a student-run car detailing business called Red and Black Auto Spa that my team and I designed for my Business Startup class at the University of Cincinnati. I wanted to target college students who desire quick and affordable car cleaning services without having to leave campus.
After taking forever trying to build the advertisement on Facebook’s ad center, I ran into tons of technical difficulties. Facebook was very cumbersome to use for someone who had never created an ad. Facebook kept telling me that my form of payment would not work. Because I needed my advertisement to be live with a budget for this assignment, I figured it would be in my best interest to use another platform.
I instead headed over to Craigslist and posted my advertisement. Posting to Craigslist was easy and allowed me to create an advertisement for people in the Cincinnati area. The target market of my ads was University of Cincinnati students and Cincinnati residents. My advertisement consisted of a headline with campus convenient car detailing, a brief description of my service, and a call to action to contact me to schedule a car cleaning.
I targeted college students and young professionals who reside near the University of Cincinnati who own a vehicle and are looking for a quick and inexpensive place to get their car detailed. I figured that because a lot of college students are busy and don’t always have a ride, I would target them based on convenience.
While Craigslist did not allow me to see as in-depth analytics as Facebook or Google Ads, I was still able to successfully post my advertisement live for people in the market to see. What I learned from this experience is to better understand how advertising platforms work under the hood. Always have a plan B if your first platform doesn’t work.
I will attach the link to my advertisement below so it can be viewed.