Advertisements are everywhere – on television, the radio, social media, newspapers, telephone directories, bill boards, taxi cabs, buses, ink pens, hot air balloons, and annoyingly on monitors at the gas station.
Advertisements are inescapable. Big companies put large sums of money into multiple campaigns and medium-sized companies do the same thing.
What’s it all about? In some cases, advertisements create enough appeal for a product or service that consumers immediately make a purchase decision, but in other cases the decision is delayed. And, let’s face it — some products and services are easier to sell than others.
But really, nothing gets sold without having a solid strategy. That strategy is encased in a marketing plan. Part of that plan includes advertising.
I have encountered many business owners who have come to the conclusion that advertising simply does not work. These entrepreneurs and small business owners believe they have been burned. They spent a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars with no recognizable result.
Typically, some overzealous advertising salesman with the belief that a sucker is born every minute, promised incredible sales results if only the owner would buy advertising space. The increased sales never materialized. Now the jaded merchant is finished with the whole idea of promoting business in this way.
Several errors occurred. First, trusting that any format is a cure-all for your lagging sales is a mistake. Secondly, advertising in just one place is a formula for failure. Most importantly, advertising with no strategy in mind is an invitation to lose money with the certainty of attaining zero results.
You must understand your product or service and then it is paramount that you know your customers and know where they are located.
And finally, you must set your expectations based on the parameters of your marketing plan.
If your brand is not known, then most likely you should run a brand awareness campaign. This strategy looks nothing like a sales campaign. When creating brand recognition, you should not expect immediate sales. Your target audience does not know you or your product. They need time and they need to see and hear of your brand frequently.
If you have a product that requires door-to-door sales, for instance, consumers will be more likely to listen to a sales pitch regarding a product that is known. So in this case, the marketing plan may call for six months of branding before the sales activity begins.
Often, marketing and sales requires patience. They also require a budget. Haphazardly throwing money at marketing while simultaneously expecting quick results causes frustration and huge delays to your success plan.
Approach advertising by making a marketing plan that includes milestones, strategies and action items. Create a reasonable budget that will get the job done. Do not spend more than you can afford, but do not pinch so many pennies that you get no results.
The successful enterprises advertise everywhere and so should the small business.