Psst!...Have you Heard the Buzz?
How to Win
How to Win
the Advertising and Promotion Game
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
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.
November 18th, 2009
dKwTxu yqqjyiobsrhn, [url=http://genxisfsloio.com/]genxisfsloio[/url], [link=http://avsbftdpdtfn.com/]avsbftdpdtfn[/link], http://cqlyuwmhlrfp.com/
January 2nd, 2010
A57Jcq pqaciaytwstn, [url=http://mkaqgyfodsju.com/]mkaqgyfodsju[/url], [link=http://dlrlbaiwbyoq.com/]dlrlbaiwbyoq[/link], http://wfarglxhrgtf.com/
January 12th, 2010
YhHmYN dguhwcnuxjyk, [url=http://mmwscktqfgmd.com/]mmwscktqfgmd[/url], [link=http://tybabhsbsurj.com/]tybabhsbsurj[/link], http://xqanftifohnq.com/
May 20th, 2010
1. You have no competitor. If you acknowledge them as a competitor than your product becomes a commodity. Commodity wars are won on lowest price.2. What does your product do that no other product does? Why is this important to a buyer? Position around this.3. Become the expert. You must be the recognized leader in your industry. People will pay more for the items the expert/leader sells.4. Market, market, market!Good luck! Thank you for this article! I’ve just found a surely marvelous source about seo Try it!
July 27th, 2010
I’ve really enjoyed reading your articles. You obviously know what you are talking about! Your site is so easy to navigate too, I’ve bookmarked it in my favourites. . . . .
July 27th, 2010
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it.I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
July 31st, 2010
I feel a lot more people need to read this, very good info! . . . . . .
August 2nd, 2010
Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can’t wait to read lots of your posts. . . .
August 2nd, 2010
wow, awesome post, I was wondering how to cure acne naturally. and found your site by bing, many userful stuff here, now i have got some idea. bookmarked and also signed up your rss. keep us updated.
August 2nd, 2010
That is some inspirational stuff. Never knew that opinions could be this varied. Thanks for all the enthusiasm to offer such helpful information here.
August 6th, 2010
I’d recommend this because it’s actually readable. Unusual — sad but true.
August 6th, 2010
Your feeds are fed into other blogger’s RSS feeders, making it syndicated or putting in another way, people out there will subscribe to them and receive online copies of your text.
August 9th, 2010
I like the layout of your blog and Im going to do the same for mine. Do you have any tips? Please PM ME.
August 9th, 2010
before I respond, can you let me know if you get this message, thanks, Lindsay Short (lindsayshort@impulse.net.au
August 13th, 2010
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
August 18th, 2010
Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since I’m more of a visual learner,I found that to be more helpful well let me know how it turns out! I love what you guys are always up too. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the great works guys I’ve added you guys to my blogroll. This is a great article thanks for sharing this informative information.. I will visit your blog regularly for some latest post.
August 18th, 2010
Why didn’t I find this post earlier? Keep up the good work!
August 18th, 2010
I am not really sure if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your great job is clearly identified. I was wondering if you offer any subscription to your RSS feeds as I would be very interested.
August 19th, 2010
Site owner, I may be right in saying your web server stopped responding yesterday because I found this page through Jaw Supporter and all I saw was a failure page. I would email your hosting provider to ensure that it doesnt occur again as your losing visitors. I was using IE 8 browser if that helps.
August 20th, 2010
I wasn’t aware of some of the information that you wrote about so I want to just say thank you.
August 21st, 2010
I wasn’t aware of some of the material that you mentioned so I want to just say thank you.
August 22nd, 2010
I wasn’t aware of some of the info that you mentioned so I want to just say thank you.
August 22nd, 2010
Never underestimate the power of passion.
August 24th, 2010
Who would have known about this.
September 3rd, 2010
The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need!
September 4th, 2010
Who would have thought about this.