subject: 5 Highly Effective Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses [print this page] 5 Highly Effective Advertising Ideas For Small businesses By Kristian Jeffrey If you own a Small Business or want to start up a new business understanding advertising will be critical to your success. When I set up my own first business back in 1999, I didnt have a clue about advertising and marketing. Back then the biggest and first point of call for a start up business was the yellow pages directory followed by classified adverts in local papers. Over ten years on, the opportunities to advertise cheaply have grown a hundred fold. More importantly the opportunities for small businesses to advertise effectively have also increased significantly. In this article I am going to point out the basics of what you need to know about advertising and which methods are effective for small businesses. When I talk about a small business, I could be referring to a one man Window Cleaner or an I.T Reseller. It doesnt matter what line of business you are in, the principles of advertising are still the same and my points and ideas are relevant to everyone. By the way, this article is written from a neutral point of view. I run two advertising companies and both are mentioned in this article along with others who I dont have a vested interest in but I do have experience of using their products. If I recommend a product or media its because its worked for me and my companies and not because Im being paid to mention it. What is Effective Advertising? Effective Advertising is a tool to increase your sales AND profits. If the advertising you are currently using does not increase your sales and profits, STOP using it immediately! But it increases brand awareness and my competitors all advertise in this way, are two rubbish excuses for wasting money on advertising that does not work. Dont be lazy, dont burn money by using ineffective advertising. So how do you know if the advertising is effective? Firstly measure the results and secondly when you begin to trial a new way of advertising always commit for the minimum amount of time possible. Do not be swayed by Advertising Executives trying to convince you to commit to longer for a discount. Trial first and then commit if it increases your sales and profits. Points to memorise before advertising: Can I measure the results from this campaign? (If you cant do not advertise) Does my Advert have a really strong call to action? ( Free offer, Discount or Guarantees are strong calls to action) Can I trial the advertising media or product first? How many sales do I need to make to make a profit from this advertising? (Is the answer realistic)
OK, thats enough preaching, lets present the ideas to you: Highly Effective Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses: Learn from the Experts Advertising is the same as any industry, if you want to learn about it and become an expert in it (Anything that costs you money but also has the potential to make you lots of money in, you should learn to be an expert!), then learn from the experts. My advice is go and order a copy of Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens from Amazon. Marks book will tell you everything you need to know about advertising before you start to spend money. The second piece of advice is check out cardellmedia on Google. The site is run by a small business expert called Chris Cardell. He is a no nonsense business growth expert. He runs a number of courses and publications about advertising and marketing for small businesses. Listen to what he has to say, he is trying to help you. 2.Google Adwords If you only take one piece of advice from this article then make sure its this: Open a Google Adwords Account and start a Pay Per Click Campaign. You may have heard about PPC or Pay Per Click campaigns. When people mention them they are normally talking about running a Google Campaign. As Google run 90% of Search requests on the internet then you must advertise with them. You create a campaign where if someone enters a keyword or key phrase into Google, when they hit enter, your company advert comes up on the screen. Google Adwords is an essential piece of marketing and advertising for any small business no matter how small their business is. Its highly effective, cost effective and measurable, in short, excellent. 3. SEO SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a highly cost effective way of advertising, in fact its free. SEO is a way of creating content for your website that makes your website easily found by the people looking for it. It sounds complex and there are lots of companies who make money from trying to optimise your website. BEWARE, most of these companies are either shysters or they are charging you for something you can do yourself. Go and buy Search Engine Optimization- an hour a day by Jennifer Grappone. She will advise you and teach you the knowledge required to create a very effective website. Remember- The better your website is working, the less money you will need to spend trying to attract people to it. 4. Be Outrageous, Be Yourself Muhammed Ali said that. What I think he meant was do not follow the crowd and be the same as everyone else, if you do, then your message will be lost completely along with everyone elses. You spend money on advertising to stand out from the crowd so dont be boring! Use wild and Creative ways of getting peoples attention: StreetAdvertisingServices are a UK based Company who create innovative and unique outdoor advertising campaigns. Everything from advertising on dirty pavements using water to 3d chalk advertising are all methods they offer to clients to help increase their sales and profits. 4. Facebook One of my clients is a dentist. When he first came to see me, his business was struggling and the only customers he could find were NHS patients. He, like most small businesses wanted to increase his sales and profits. I advised him to advertise on Facebook. Within three months he had to start turning customers away and his profits have increased by 600%! Create a Facebook page for your business and then create an advertising campaign. Its cheaper than Google but also very effective for local businesses.
5 Highly Effective Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses
By: Kristian Jeffrey
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