6 Simple Steps for Effective Advertising – Part 1

Many of you have written and asked me for more tips on advertising, to that end I have prepared a two part special which outlines six key steps for any business of any size. This is not intended to determine what or how you advertise, instead it should be viewed as a way to maximize your results with the resources at your disposal.


1. Define your business persona
“A business persona can give you the edge in attracting attention, remaining memorable, and most importantly, getting clients. A good persona will complement the basic attitudes (fears, hopes etc.) surrounding your core products or services. Virgin Brands Inc.  launched in Australia a few years ago and has seen massive growth in their credit card and financial services. Their advertising and product packaging is always light heated and fun, stressing the ease and benefits of owning a credit card. This is in stark contrast to our traditional financial institutions who focus more on competing features, interest rates and opulent lifestyles, making them appear out of reach and prestigious. The “fun” persona puts people at ease, and makes the company (in their eyes) more trustworthy. It is up to you to figure out how your customers see your business, and structure your approach accordingly. (I will have a post coming out with some conceptual tools to help you gain perspective on your business)

At the end of the day most of the people reading this blog are providing similar services, fixing computer problems, which is why a strong brand persona is vital for differentiation. Your approach may be to take a serious “all business” approach (such as IBM or Dell) or alternatively you may choose to take a fun or laidback approach.

2. Make a Plan

An advertising plan serves many purposes; most importantly it forces you to consider all of your advertising alternatives before you commit to spending any money. A well-formed plan will consider your budget, methods of advertising, costs and a detailed timeline. When making your own plan you should also consider the conditions of success and failure of your advertising – setting the standard early will help make the difficult decisions later.

• Plan your budget
  There is no “best” way to set your advertising budget; ultimately it depends on what you are comfortable with. You can choose a weekly amount, a percentage of last month’s profits, or a lump sum to spend over the life of your advertising campaign.  Most importantly, you have to commit to spending the money and not get yourself into a position where you are over extended. Remember that all your advertising should be seen as an investment, so it is important that you do your research!
• Research methods of advertising
  This is a chance for you to do some serious research; there are thousands of different ways to advertise, at any level of budget. This section can include magazines, newspaper, TV, Facebook, Social Media, Promotional Events, Self Promotion, and Speeches, presentations, cold calling, direct marketing…. The list is endless.  Each advertising medium has its own benefits, target markets, advertising life and public perception.

  Remember that your advertising medium should reflect your business persona, quite simply if you’re presenting a sleek professional service you probably shouldn’t be hand writing your brochures.

• Research the cost of different advertising methods
  Make some calls! Before you sign anything make sure you get quotes from at least two companies for your chosen method of advertising. If one company has a monopoly (i.e. an industry magazine) get some quotes from competing publications and decide for yourself if the difference is worth the extra investment. Many companies will be desperate to convince you of a limited deadline or a special offer, stay strong, it’s their job to sell you space, your job is to find what’s best for your business.  Most of the IT calls I receive are when a client is actively looking for a product or service, remember to keep this in mind when weighing up different options. Ask yourself, how do people find my business? Where do they first look when something goes wrong? Is there a magazine or publication which reaches my core customer group? (I.e. a local business publication)

  There are many low cost and free ways to promote your business (see my article – Boost your profits – dirt cheap advertising!), simply spending more money won’t guarantee you better exposure or more customers. If you spend enough time looking you can find some great deals and some great mediums. Make yourself a shortlist and get as much specific information as you can.

• Create a detailed timeline
  Once you have decided on your advertising methods you should construct a detailed timeline of start and stop dates, payment dates and important business dates such as end of financial year. It is important that everyone in your organisation understands what advertising or promotion is going on as much as you do.  Having all the important information available “at a glance” can make a huge difference when running other areas of your business. Remember advertising is not a sidearm of your business it IS your business.
• Conditions of success
  Sometimes it is easy to forget that not all advertising has the same goal, your aim may be to increase brand awareness, change public opinion of your company or bring in a new kind of customer. Whatever your aim you should define specific changes in performance measures of your business. This will be difficult if you do not have detailed records of your past; however you should at the very least have financial records. Some measures include:
  • Decrease in customer complaints
  • Increase in the need for a particular service
  • Increase in calls for a certain area
  • Change in advertising “lead v expenditure” expense ratio

  Remember advertising effectiveness can often be difficult to measure as many factors external to your business can have profound effects. Make sure you ask all your new clients how they found you and remember to record their answers.

3.  Be Prepared

Now that you have your plan the next step is implementation – the most important thing to remember is that results may not come straight away. Different forms of media have different “lifetimes” for advertising effectiveness, so a lack of response on launch day is not necessarily the end of the world.  In the consumers eyes IT support is in the same realm as plumbers, most people only call us when there is an immediate problem. It could be that your fantastic offer is sitting in someone’s desk drawer waiting for something to go wrong!

On the other hand it is important to be prepared for a sudden increase in customers. Make sure you have a reasonable stockpile of spare parts and equipment, and have well defined procedures to ensure that all of your customers receive the same level of service and attention. Depending on your specific promotion you will also have to ensure that your staff have appropriate levels of training, you don’t want a customer calling in about your ad only to be sent away by the person who takes the call.

In my next article I will cover three more rules you should follow to get the most out of any advertising!

Read Part 2 Here

 
Written by James Gilbert