Effective advertising is an investment in your business.
Ineffective advertising is a liability and a waste of
money. Here are the top 5 things to avoid making sure you
advertise effectively.
1. Don't advertise at all
If you are in business and you don't do some kind of
advertising you are not doing business. The only excuse for
not advertising is that you have more business than you can
handle and then you should expand, raise your prices, and
advertise more.
This is not to say that you should buy advertising that you
cannot afford. If you're strapped for cash, look for low
cost advertising options like co-op advertising, buying
remnant newspaper space, flyers, direct mail, or negotiate
for trade.
If you are reading this then I am assuming that Coke and
Nike are slightly larger companies than yours. These
companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year in
advertising. Why? Well, how long do you think they would
keep brand dominance if they stopped advertising today?
Pepsi and New Balance would take over in a matter of days
or weeks.
If things are slow - that's a ridiculous reason not to
advertise. How do you expect them to pick up - magic?
Studies show companies that advertise through economic
downturns out perform their competitors during the
downturn. When the economy picks up they boom.
There are too many cost effective ways to advertise for you
not to be building your business.
2. Put all your eggs in one basket
One ad in one place does not make an effective campaign. A
good advertising strategy includes a good mix of methods.
Studies show that ideally you should be reaching your
customers 4 or more ways.
Combining radio or TV advertising with print will increase
the ROI of both. Multiple exposures to your message has a
synergistic effect. Don't blow the budget on a tv or radio
campaign and forget other channels.
3. Don't target your advertising
If you are selling a product or service targeted to people
that earn in the top 2% income and you advertise in a mass
market medium like the newspaper you are wasting 98% of
your advertising dollars.
Who are your customers and where are they likely to see
your message?
I saw a great example of targeting recently. An upscale
steakhouse advertised in a golf magazine. Golf is a fairly
expensive hobby, and many who golf for business networking
also do business lunches and dinners in upscale
restaurants.
4. Run a cute or gimmicky ad
Ads that are cute and gimmicky may win advertising awards
(and frequently do) but they do not sell unless they are
designed to sell.
I know you have some wonderfully creative idea for an
existentialist ad that violates the advertising principles
that billions of dollars and hundreds of years of research
have proven effective. Good luck! Creativity is great, but
ground it with good marketing principles.
5. Advertise inconsistently
Ok you ran your 2 column inch display ad in the back of the
local newspaper once and you didn't get the 50,000 new
customers you want. So, you pull the ad, change your whole
message and put it somewhere else. No dice.
Testing response is ok, and it's a good idea to test
campaigns. However, advertising takes time to work. Did you
know that the average person who responds to an infomercial
has seen that infomercial 7 times? Print advertising builds
to a level of maximum effect after 4-6 months. Even direct
mail takes multiple hits to be effective.
Consistency and repetition are cornerstones of effective advertising.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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J D Moore - Marketing Comet
Small Business Marketing Secrets
http://marketingcomet.typepad.com
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