No matter how big or small your marketing budget; advertising should be an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. Of course, you have to look at what marketing combination will help you maximize the investment you make in your promotional campaigns.
Basic Rules
Here are a few basic rules you can follow to make sure that you choose the right advertising medium for your business and your target market, create effective advertisements and get the most out of your investment.
Before beginning work on your advertising campaign, your ad agency may want to know about three crucial points – first, the objective of the campaign (launch of a new product or new scheme, countering claims by competition, damage control, etc.); secondly, your target market and finally, the key benefits of your product.
Next, in consultation with your ad agency or advertising professionals you need to decide on the advertising means best for the particular campaign. It will help if you focus on the target audience who is going to view the advertisements. Where are your prospective customers most likely to see your advertisement? What will make them seriously consider your product and buy it? Where and how often do your customers get to view this advertising media? In what language does one find it?
By searching for answers to these questions, you will be able to determine the advertising medium that is best for your present needs and for your budget.
You can choose fron three main categories of ads:
- Print Media – This includes newspapers, magazines, newsletters, circulars, etc. Even low-cost media such as local newspapers, press releases and networking can deliver great return.
- Media – This would include radio and television. Advertising on television usually costs way beyond what any home-based business can afford. Radio, while offering a fairly low-cost means to promote your product, does not offer the same opportunity of visually showcasing your product.
- Online Media – Online marketing offers one of the most cost-effective ways of promoting your product. This avenue can reach a fairly wide audience, plus you can find many free to low-cost online marketing techniques.
Tips for effective advertising:
- Make sure that your advertisements, no matter how small, are well produced and do not appear amateurish.
- Keep the message simple – it is important that it gets through rather than how it sounds.
- Your key message has to be mentioned outright and not buried somewhere deep inside the advertisement.
- Typically color advertising is more effective than plain black and white advertisements and reverse type text is to be avoided as it often makes the text illegible.
- Make sure your advertisement uses top quality photos and visuals.
- Repeat your advertisement as often as your budget will allow, making sure it remains in the public memory.
- Try and place your advertisement next to an article that bears relevance to it – the reader will hopefully become attracted to your advertisement then and will remember it better.
- If you demonstrate someone actually using your product, it can have a more positive effect on the reader. Back this up with positive feedback from current customers.
- Do not be negative about your competition – rather, be positive about your own product.
- You have to make effective use of the limited advertising space available to speak to people about your product. Be as concise as possible but make sure that your prospective customers get all the information they need to make a decision in favor of buying it.
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