Marketing
Issue No. 46 - April/May 2009
Creating winning advertising
by Carol Haslam
Your business could be “number one”. You could be the best in town, with the most appealing, useful, money-saving, health-inducing, miracle product in the world! But… if you can’t communicate all those advantages in an enticing way that gets people to respond in droves, your profits will be minimal and your success unnecessarily restricted.
It’s true most people are simply overloaded with marketing messages of all kinds. With the explosive
growth of the Internet, the problem is only growing in scope each year. It seems as though we’re bombarded with commercial messages, almost from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep.
Mass marketing is not the way to go for an entrepreneurial company. It may be acceptable for a Coca-Cola or IBM to advertise this way, but no SME can survive and thrive by throwing money into massive, widespread advertising that reaches a “general” audience.
Companies with huge advertising budgets often use "image” advertising as a means of brand-building and keeping their names in public view.
Fortunately, there is a better way for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The intelligent approach is to use targeted marketing that persuasively communicates your unique advantages in a compelling way and encourages immediate action. This strategy produces the highest rate of sales at the lowest possible cost -
provided it’s done the right way.
Having a superior system for effective low-cost advertising always wins out over high budget campaigns that attempt to reach everyone. “Everyone” is not a good target group for whatever it is that you are offering.
It’s always best to narrow your approach to specific groups – individual market segments that hold greater promise as potential buyers.
Where do most of your existing customers come from? If your business is new, you don’t have the advantage of a track record to draw upon. Try to project the best possible source...
