Advertising

Advertising is a VITAL part of your business.

Word of mouth (personal recommendation) advertising is the cheapest and normally the best form of advertising that can build up a loyal client base. However it can also be the slowest way of getting your product or services known.

Without advertising your business; you are giving your competitors, a competitive edge over you. (Not a good idea).

I work on two basic types of advertising, Brand Advertising (Brand Marketing) and Direct Response Advertising.

I look upon Brand Marketing as a vehicle for the big boys, the big companies like Estee Lauder, Christian Dior, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, car (automobile) manufacturers, to create awareness and confidence in their particular brand, and of course we have a plethora of celebrities trying to cash in on their celebrity status etc. Unless you have a major company or product, or aspire to creating your own Brand, ship loads of money and, a clever accountant that can write a lot of it off in tax deduction, then I really do not see the point.

Direct Response Advertising is more to my liking;
If you are a small to medium size businesses then the only advertising that you want to consider is, Direct Response Advertising.
The only purpose of Direct Response Advertising is to get a clear and definite response to your advertisement.

It makes no difference as to the type of response that you want, whether it is for a direct sale, an enquiry for more information, a brochure, sign up to a newsletter or, sign up to have access to your web site. It does not matter; the only thing that you are interested in; is the direct response. You now have contact with a potential client.

One of the benefits of Direct Advertising is that you can tell more or less straight away whether it is working or not, by the amount of responses that you get.

If your advertisement is not working, STOP IT, and try another advertisement.

This applies to all your advertising media, whether it is, Magazines, and Newspapers, Radio, Television, (Unless you have money to burn or just looking for local trade, stay away from Radio and Television advertising).

The reason that most small business advertising does not work, is that it is a combination of, Direct Response Advertising and half hearted attempt at Brand Marketing.

How many times have you seen taxi cabs and busses driving around with advertising on them? A half hearted attempt at Brand marketing? How can you judge the response against the cost of the advertisement?

My bet would be that the taxi cab; and the advertising company that talked you into taking the advertisement in the first place, are earning more money from your payment for the advertisement, than you are earning from any response.