How to Avoid Failure in Your Small Business Advertising
Small business advertising shouldn't be done like most of the
advertising you see on T.V. ... or hear on the radio. There ARE
exceptions, of course. But for the most part, small businesses
shouldn't do much of the following:
1) Institutional advertising (a.k.a. "Madison Avenue" type
advertising).
2) Public relations or simply publicity seeking.
3) Any type of response advertising that's non-measurable.
The kind of advertising you SHOULD be doing is measurable. By
this I mean you can ...
a) ... control costs.
b) ... measure results.
Small business advertising that doesn't fit these criteria is
mostly like throwing money down a hole. (Like I said, there are
exceptions. But if you try to promote your business using public
relations you'd better have a business that can benefit from
that ...plus get the help of a professional who specializes in
it.)
Institutional ... Madison Avenue type stuff ... doesn't work in
small business advertising any more than it effectively works
for big companies using it. It's just that big companies
typically have big budgets they can spend on bad advertising
without going under financially.
That's a luxury most of us don't have.
Direct marketing is different. You can control its costs. Taylor
it to your ad budget. And measure its effectiveness based on
response to the offer in the ad or sales letter.
Examples of response triggers used in effective small business
advertising include:
* Phone calls asking for a direct response ... like a sales
appointment ... or a purchase ... or an invitation to come into
the store with a certain customer "code" one can use to receive
a gift or purchase discount.
* A TV or radio commercial that asks for a direct response ...
like having the customer write or call in and tell what station
they heard the ad on to get a free gift or special discount.
* Any type of media that asks for a direct response ... like
redeemable coupons sent through the mail ... a sales letter send
through the post or Email, with an invitation attached for a
special "after hours" sale ... a postcard offering a 2 for 1
restaurant special ... or an invitation to call in and ask for
free information.
Your small business advertising is going to be very wasteful
unless you make the right offers to the right people. Being in
tune with the needs, desires and motivations of your potential
customers is crucial.
For example ... if Jack's Sporting Goods store advertises a 30%
discount sale on all golf equipment by sending 5,000 brochures
through the mail to nearby residents the waste-factor is going
to be extremely high.
After all, how many of those residents are golfers? Probably
only a small percentage. And of those who are golfers, how many
of them will come in for Jack's sale?
In this case, most of his small business advertising dollars are
wasted.
However ... if Jack takes that same offer ... and sends it
directly to 500 golfers in his area the response will be much
higher. He's able to get the names and addresses of likely
golfers from a list broker by renting the names of people in his
area who receive golf magazines.
See the difference?
Jack doesn't even have to mail out all 500 letters at once. If
his budget is a little tight, he can stagger his mailing over a
period of days. Or even limit the sale to those bringing in a
coupon received through his mailing to test the effectiveness of
his direct mail campaign.
Any small business advertising failing to ...
* offer a free gift(s)
* give a time limit on the offer so buyers will be motivated to
act quickly
* award a bonus or premium of some sort just for coming into the
store
* present a sale or discounted pricing
* announce something new (i.e., product, service, price)
... should be avoided. As a matter of fact ... the more of these
elements in your advertising the better.
An ad containing each of the above ingredients ... targeting
prospects known to be interested in the product/service...
stands a very good chance of being a winner.
Your small business advertising doesn't have to fail. Once you
learn the key ingredients you'll never again worry about
throwing advertising dollars away.