|
How to Win the Advertising and
Promotion Game
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.Home-Business.com
I
am certain that, as a business owner, you have often
entertained the question
as to how much to spend and where to
spend your advertising dollars. For most
small business owners,
these questions can add to the headaches suffered in
the course
of normal everyday operations of their business.
THERE
ARE NO SIMPLE ANSWERS
The how much to spend and where to spend it
questions have no
easy answers.
Depending on your type of business,
many people suggest that the
*how much* should be equal to anywhere from 4%
to 10% of your
gross receipts.
The quandary is that a business cannot
survive without a fresh flow of incoming customers. But, a business can
seldom generate a fresh stream of customers without spending money to get
the word out about their business.
THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING
EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING
Have you ever paid for advertising and sat back to
await the fresh flow of customers, only to find yourself sitting
and sitting and then sitting some more?
Don’t feel bad about that. It
has happened to many of us before.
See, knowing where to spend the
advertising money is not enough
to get the job done.
Where to spend
the money only begins to highlight the other issues connected with
advertising:
· Marketing Plan
· Advertising Strategy
· Headlines,
Ad Copy and Visual Presentation
· Tracking the Success of Your Advertising
Campaigns
THE MARKETING PLAN
The Marketing Plan is used
primarily to identify your own products and services, costs, strengths,
weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.
To
learn more about constructing your own marketing plan, visit
the Small
Business Administration website for a comprehensive
study of the elements of
a Marketing Plan:
http://www.home-business.com/nav/articles/links/sba_plan.html
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
It is important to understand what you
expect to gain from your
advertising.
Do you simply wish to get your
name known so that when your
customer will need you, they will think of you
first? Or, do you wish to get your customers in your front door on
Saturday?
Do you want your customers to come in and take a look around
to
discover the next object that they cannot live without? Or, do you want
them to come in and buy a specific widget?
Do you hope that enough people
will come in to buy enough products or services to pay for your single ad?
Or, do you expect to gain a lifelong customer who will help pay for
your advertising over the course of several years?
When you know what
you want, then you will better understand
just how to do
it.
HEADLINES, AD COPY AND VISUAL PRESENTATION
You might be
surprised how many business owners put out
advertising without regard for the
quality of the sales pitch or
presentation. The quality of your distribution
outlet or the amount of money you spent to get there will do little for you
if the advertising vehicle is a junker.
Test all of your advertising
materials in smaller markets before
blowing your advertising bank roll on it.
You must absolutely know the value of your advertising before putting large
sums of money behind it.
TRACKING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGNS
Tell your customers to save another 10% when they tell you
they
heard or saw your ad in such-and-such location. Suggest that they can
register to win a free widget if they fill out a form and have them to tell
you how they heard of your business. Advertise a specific widget in your ad
and track the sales of that widget.
It does not matter how you track
your advertising --- just make
sure you do it!
IN
SUMMARY
The ideal way to spend your advertising budget is to buy a
rifle
with a high-powered scope and to only shoot your targets in
the
light of day.
If you are not tracking your advertising, then you
are shooting a pellet gun without an attached scope, with blinders on,
and shooting in the dead darkness of night.
Even with a bigger gun,
the blinders in the dark constitute the
single largest mistake made by
advertisers. If you are unable to
track your advertising to learn what is
working well, what is
working somewhat, and what is a money pit, then you
are
condemned to repeat your mistakes over and again.
By relying only
on gut instinct, you may be choosing to spend more money in the money pit and
to lose all of your money in the
process.
When you get down to the
nuts and bolts of making money from
your advertising, you should plan,
prepare, track and study your
results. You must have factual information on
which to base your
advertising decisions. When you are making the right
advertising
decisions, then making money from your business might just
come
easy.
About the
author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stone
Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything
you`ll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: http://www.Home-Business.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To
read more articles by Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy: http://www.home-business.com/nav/articles/
|
