Charles   

Getting the Most of Your Advertising

Last week, I highlighted David Buchholz' thoughts on marketing. As you remember, he drew the distinction between marketing and advertising. Today, I want to share some his insights on advertising.

Below are a few interesting points David encouraged us to consider.     

Develop a marketing calendar for the year; it allows you to:

• say no when advertising reps call with the deal of a lifetime;
• build in "Goodwill" advertising (such as the school yearbook) so you can consciously balance with your more effective advertising;
• add variety to you campaigns.

If your business uses brochures or rack cards, follow these tips:

• Make sure the 5 most common questions you are asked are answered in the piece;
• Do not use your logo as a cover graphic;
• Pictures tell the story, so never include a picture without a caption. Believe it or not, picture captions are read more often than headlines! Use those captions to tell your story:
• "We hand select..."
• "Our Sales Manager Barb has 15 years experience..."
• Do not use content that will date the material if you intent to use it over a period of time;
• Avoid long copy blocks;
• Make sure you include all information. Many times, folks forget the basics such as location and phone number.
• And most importantly, be sure to have your piece proofread by one or two people who were not involved in its creation. It is common to not catch your own mistakes. When it comes to content, you know the idea you are trying to convey. When it comes to typos, you know what you meant to type and you will often read it that way.

When deciding if TV or radio is right for you, consider the audience you are trying to reach and how they get their information. Remember, consistency isn't frequency. Running one ad a day at the same time will likely make regular viewers/listeners feel as if you are advertising all the time more than running several ads a day at random.

Direct Mail is often complained about but can be effective.

• Target your mailer to the type people who are your most likely customer (demographic or location);
• Oversized postcards and lumpy envelopes get the most attention;
• Develop a way to track your responses to see what is effective;
• Save money by printing your material in bulk, but mailing a portion (50, 100 or 200 pieces if going bulk mail) each week over a period time as your budget allows;
• Track your responses and utilize what works the best.

Web sites should be structured in the way that your customers will look for information, not the way your business is structured. Capture their attention...and their contact information if you can. Make it easy for them to get to you with your phone number and address on every page.

David encourages small business owners to remember there are two important things to evaluate when you are trying to determine the effectiveness of your advertising: the quality of the offer and the quality of the audience. It's not the customer's fault if you are giving the right message to the wrong people or the wrong message to the right people...it's your responsibility to figure that out!