SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING
Every business NEEDS to advertise because if your customer base does not grow at least at the rate of inflation, you are losing ground!
Advertising can consist of many things. It can be in-store flyers and displays, it can be the outdoor signs, signs on a car or truck, bumper stickers, it can be direct mail, newspaper advertising, radio advertising, TV advertising, it can be golf tees with your business name imprinted on them, it can be a sign pulled behind an airplane... it can even be a well-worded press release!
Not every business qualifies for mass media
advertising like TV, radio or major city newspapers because their
market segment does not make that a worthwhile expenditure.
For example, a business that specializes in a small segment of
the population and only has one location in a large Metro market
would find usually find it cost-prohibitive to advertise heavily
on TV or in newspaper display ads.
This would especially apply to a business with a small mark-up on their products or one that has many competitors within that market area.
A better choice might be on-site promotion and/or direct mail to select customers and in a select set of zip codes.
THE ADVERTISING PLAN
The first step is to develop an advertising plan:
1. Determine who and where your most likely customers are.
2. Determine the best ways to get your message to your prospects.
3. Determine the most economical ways to transmit that message.
4. Create effective materials for the medium or media that you intend to use.
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising.
Start from inside your business and work your way outward. What can you do to better market your products and services right on-site?
Display a "menu" of products or services like McDonald's list of meals? Offer handouts or flyers that contain your "menu"? In-store displays, signs, perhaps even a CHALKBOARD for daily or weekly features! Be sure to list your business hours, location or locations, an telephone numbers on any handouts.
Your handout could be in the form of a sale flyer or even a reduced newspaper ad.
CALL-IN CUSTOMERS
If you EVER have to put customers calling on the phone onhold, you should have "music and messages onhold" that lists your hours, locations, product or service lines, any benefits you have over your competitors, and any special promotions or sales currently in effect.
DRIVE-IN CUSTOMERS
As we start to work outward, your store windows should give your hours clearly so they can be read without getting out of the car. If your local sign ordinances permit it, this is also a great place to advertise your most desired products or services.
Your outdoor signs are also regulated by local sign ordinances in most cities. However, you want your sign to refect the image you wish to present as well as possible and still be as attention-getting as possible. Have you ever driven up and down the street looking for a particular business and not be able to find it? A good clear legible and noticeable sign is essential!
Frequently you will find that someone's sign can be only read from straight in front of the building because the sign itself faces the street. This might look great if you happen to be parked across the street, but it makes it almost impossible to read from a moving vehicle!
ROLLING "BILLBOARDS"
Speaking of moving vehicles, consider rolling "billboards"... car and truck signs. These "billboards" can be seen all over your area wherever your car, truck or van goes. This is an important investment for many types of business!
DIRECT MAIL
One of the best choices for a small business is direct mail. Direct Mail can be carefully targeted to specific streets, zip codes, demographics, boat/car/airplane owners, or any number of other groups simply by purchasing the right mailing lists.
An attractive mailer suited to the product or service is important. For example, a nice oversized color postcard might be right for a TV and Appliance dealer or gift shop, but it might not be right for another type of business.
An easy-to-read postcard is naturally most likely to get read even if the person hates junk mail and throws it out immediately you have still gotten your message across. On the other hand, an exclusive high-priced boutique or a physician offering hemmorhoid surgery might be better off with a nice sealed envelope and quality stationary.
THE INTERNET
Most businesses will not get a lot of benefit from Internet advertising UNLESS they are offering something that everyone wants and no one else offers, OR they can offer a truly outstanding price on something other businesses also offer.
This is not to say that you should ignore the Internet, just don't waste a lot of your advertising dollars on it unless you have something TRULY special or have a sizeable company and ad budget. These days you can build your own free website through many providers like Tripod, Geocities and others, or have an advertising firm with Internet experience design a LOW-COST web page for you and host it yourself rather than having the expense of your own domain name and hosting services.
You can also go to many free submission sites and place your "URL" with all of the major search engines without needing a lot of knowledge about computers or the Internet. I would name a few, but it seems like they change faster than a runway model.
I would also suggest placing a few free classified ads with reputable "free ad" sources like Yahoo and City News, but avoid joining the "lists" that promise to provide you with e-mail leads. My experience has been that you will thoroughly inundated with junk mail with them!
NEWSPAPERS
If you are a neighborhood business, use the neighborhood newspapers. Most areas have what are called "throw-away" newspapers that are relatively inexpensive to run a display ad or classified ad. If you DO happen to have locations all over a large Metro area, or have something so much in demand that people will be willing to fight ten miles of heavy traffic to buy from you, then go ahead with the big papers.
Newspaper, like any other medium, works best if you don't try to get too clever. In my early copywriting training, I was told that I should write to a 6th grade level. That is not because people are stupid, it's because people are generally "lazy" or busy and don't want to work hard to get their information. Make your message CLEAR. Keep it simple, don't try to fill every square inch of space... sometimes the best ad is just a photo, a brief caption and your name, address, phone number and hours.
RADIO
Radio is an excellent low-cost medium provided you use it properly. First of all, be relatively sure that the people you want to reach LISTEN to the type of programming the station offers. Then bear in mind that most people are primarily listening to the radio for entertainment and/or information. If you preach at them or place a dull commercial they will ignore it or push the button and change the station and your money is wasted.
Additionally, if you use one of the station's regular announcers you also increase the probability that people will ignore the ad because if he is any good as an announcer at all they will hear that guy "pitch" everyone else... perhaps even your competitiors!
Try to make your commercial amusing or interesting. If suitable, use music or sound effects behind the announcer. Most of all, use a voice that is not usually heard on that station. Preferably an announcer with a friendly and believable delivery and a voice that commands attention. Most good announcers will charge less than $150. for a commercial and the extra expense will double the effectiveness of your "time buy".
If you do use humor, remember that even though it is the most attention-getting type of commercial a humorous commercial will wear on the listeners more quickly than other types of commecials. Change it fairly often, or rotate several different commercials if you are going to advertise on that station for any length of time.
TV AND CABLE ADVERTISING
TV is probably one of the most effective and persuasive ways to advertise, but again TV is simply radio with pictures. Therefore, all of the radio tips apply along with the need for good pictures and graphics! Naturally, you are dealing with an added dimension when you talk about producing a TV commercial so a very simple TV commercial will probably cost at least $600. in a small market and probably upwards of $1000. or more for a good local production.
The cost of the TV production not only includes the writer, the announcer, and the cameraman or camera crew... it also includes "post-production" which is the art of editing all of the video footage together with the appropriate audio and graphics. It is truly an art, and perhaps about one third to one half of the people in that field are actually artists... the rest are mechanics or worse... adequate.
With television advertising, you again have to be careful about placement of the ads themselves. Most people these days are using cable companies which makes it a little easier because the cable outlets have the demographic breakdowns of each of their channels for selecting the best channels and programs for your ads.
In a BROADCAST station market, you want to buy the best times slots you can get around programs that will appeal to your particular audience.
VIDEO OR MULTIMEDIA SALES PRESENTATIONS
These again are extremely effective, but must be done well like television advertising. With video or multimedia, you have the advantage of being sure that everything that is said is completely accurate and consistent with each and every presentation. This is especially important with very complex explanations and demonstrations where SHOWING something to someone is easier than trying to explain it! Again the production cost of the initial Master Tape or CD is usually very high, but cost per exposure is of course reduced by the number of exposures the tape or CD gets. These are particularly effective with high-ticket items like new homes, computer networks, manufacturing systems and other complex products and services.
"CLUB" MEMBERSHIPS
An often overlooked sales and marketing tool is the "savings/loyalty" club card. Your business may be right for this type of promotion where you offer "loyal customers" special savings of 10% or "buy 12 and get one free".
On the surface it might appear that you are deliberately cutting your margin by 8-10%, but the fact is that many of your customers will never bother to "join", and even if they do there is usually the stipulation in most memberships that the "loyal customer discount" does not apply with other sales, promotions or coupons. Further, many of your customers might only come for your special sales anyway!
The advantages of this type of promotion are many. First, the customer receives an advertising message every time he or she finds your card in their billfold or purse.
The next advantage is that you will be able to develop a mailing list of your steadiest customers for other promotions.
Most importantly, a customer will probably feel a little more important than the next person in relationship to your business because they are entitled to special treatment or prices where you are concerned. It helps keep them coming back to you instead of your competitors!
REVIEW YOUR RESULTS
Finally, you will want to carefully survey the customers you do get, and see which things attracted them to your business. Chart the cost and the results, but bear in mind that not everyone that sees or hears your advertisng is in the market for what you offer at this particular moment! Effective advertising has a long-term cumulative effect, so what you do in your advertising today might still be bringing you customers 3, 6 or 12 months from now!
In one of my magazine articles* I once described two appliance dealers I knew that carried the same products and brands, and had basically the same prices. The big difference between the two was that Mr. Dealer "A" only advertised sales and special promotions... while Mr. Dealer "B" advertised a slow steady schedule, year in and year out. During the slow seasons, Mr. Dealer "A" would cut his advertising out completely and Mr. Dealer "B" just kept plodding along running the same ad schedule year in and year out.
Here is the moral of the story... even though both dealers spent almost exactly the same amount of money on their advertising yearly, Mr. Dealer "B" always got the lion's share of the business! His slow seasons were shorter and less severe because he was constantly reminding people that he was there!
Good luck!
* Excerpt from Bank Marketing Magazine
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About the author:
Allan Horn is an award-winning writer/producer/professional announcer of radio and TV commercials, video productions, multimedia and print. He has over 34 years experience including teaching advertising principles in college level courses and professional seminars. Those people familiar with the various trade publications will recognize his name from the many articles he has published.
Allan Horn was National Sales and Marketing Director for Barbara Allan Productions in the Chicago area for 8 years, and held the same position with John Myers, Inc. in New York City for over 4 years. (Both were National Advertising agencies specialiizing if financial institution and auto dealer advertising. He is also a Charter member of The National Association of Consultants (and is seen on their TV commercials), and is currently owner and C.E.O. of Allan Horn Productions in St. Petersburg, Florida. <http://www.ij.net/AllanHorn>
He has been the winner of "Big Apple Creative Award" - New York Market Broadcasters Association / "Telly 2000" Award for creative TV commercials - March 2000 / many Addy and Andy Awards.
Allan is an experienced Professional National Announcer, having been the voice of clients like Re/Max, Glendale Federal Savings, Nationwide Insurance, Quick & Reilly Stockbrokers among many others. (One of his most challenging roles was that of "Boris the Russian Bear" on Dr. Jane Goodal's CD-Rom Game- "Jubilee's Journey"!) He was News Anchor on the Medical News Network. He is also an award-winning creative writer, and creator of many national ad campaigns for radio, TV and print.
Allan is now specializing in producing radio commercials, TV voiceovers, video narrations, multimedia and internet audio, and even "Music & Messages Onhold". With his state-of-the-art audio studio with direct phone line patch to the mixboard and high-speed cable connection he has the capability to produce on tape, CD, and even e-mail client's audios in .wav, Mpeg3, or Real Audio formats.
Allan Horn can be reached by e-mail at: AllanHorn@ij.net or by telephone at : 727 / 399-9603
