So
what is advertising?
It is basically anything that says to the consumer "Hey I'm here,
I'm in business and I want you to buy from me" so that includes
the typical newspaper advertisements, yellow pages advertisements,
flyers and letters received in the mail and even things like cups,
lollies and dental floss that display some sort of logo or slogan
pointing out that your business exists.
What
does it cost?
This depends on what scale you want your business out there in front
of the consumer. For example; mediums like radio, television and
even billboards, businesses can expect to pay quite a substantial
amount of money for advertising as these mediums are more direct
and require the least amount of effort by the consumer to "digest"
the material and therefore have a better success rate and assume
more credibility in the consumers mind. Advertisements in papers,
magazines and phone books require a little more effort as consumers
either have to read a little more and call or write in as the next
step in the buying process. Things like flyers or direct mail letters
are a dime a dozen in peoples letterboxes and are usually thrown
out unless they are associated with a catchy gimic or something
similar.
Does
Advertising work?
It depends on who you ask? If you ask McDonalds the answer is obvious
… YES! Although if you ask a "one store" business that has had no
real experience with advertising or marketing the answer is most
commonly no. This might be for reasons such as "tried that once
and it didn't work" or "I don't know how to do it" or "It costs
too much". Other than the obvious size difference between the two
there is another difference. The key to advertising is testing and
measuring. McDonalds could have the biggest campaigns in the world
and the biggest marketing department in the world but without actually
testing and measuring what works and doing a lot of market research
McDonalds would be just another hamburger place spending a lot of
money on advertising.
To test and
measure your advertising a system has to be put in place within
your business to measure the number of enquiries made, number of
sales made as well as what your conversion rate is (the difference
between people who bought and those who didn't). From the figures
collected over a certain testing period, with practice, you will
be able to tell whether to adjust or re-run your advertising to
get the best result. Testing in this way will save you and your
business a lot more money in the long run placing a different slant
on the old addage "It pays to advertise". This is just one of the
systems ACTION International Business Trainer's and
Consultants can put into place for your business.
For more
information on our Coaching and Mentoring services as well as our
range of business building products call your nearest ACTION
Coach for more details - today!
