Why It Pays To Advertise
"You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but ifpeople don't know about it, it's not going to be worth much.There are singers in the world with voices as good as FrankSinatra's, but they're singing in their garages because no onehas ever heard of them. You need to generate interest, and youneed to create excitement." Donald Trump, American real-estatetycoon
Advertising doesn't cost, it pays! And good advertising can payyou well. Bad advertising, or no advertising at all, invitesdisaster.
You have to advertise if people are to be made aware of yourbusiness and the benefits it offers them. Without advertisingyou rely on word of mouth recommendation or press editorial,both extremely effective, but slow and generally unpredictable.
Advertising takes many different forms, from painting your nameon the side of a van to delivering leaflets door-to-door orposting printed cards in shop and post office windows. Moreoften the term applies to classified and display promotions inappropriate media, usually newspapers and magazines, and it iswith this definition we concern ourselves here.
Advertising by itself does not sell. It will not sell a badproduct (customers will ask for refunds) and it won't open upnew markets. It is not a miracle cure that can generate salesfor a dying product. Conversely, advertising will not sell yourmust successful products to people who simply don't want them.
Main Points About Effective Advertising
* It reduces the entire population to your target audience andreaches as many of those people as possible at least availablecost.
* It must always have an objective. This means having a clearidea about what you want to accomplish in your advertisement.Reasons for advertising include:
* To invite orders or enquiries
* To launch new products
* To publicise price changes.
* The message must attract your target audience, it mustinterest them, create a desire for your product and promptpeople to act (order or ask for further information). Thisacronym AIDA is one you will encounter many times in advertising.
* It must be truthful and straightforward. The nearer youradvertisement is to reality, the more effective it is.
* Sufficient resources must be allocated to accomplish youradvertising objectives.
* Testing is crucial to effective advertising, allowing goodpromotions to be repeated and bad ones to be eliminated.
* Every aspect of your advertisement must be prepared from thecustomer's point of view. That person wants to know how you andyour product can benefit him. The most important feature of anyadvertisement is the benefits it contains.
* It must be placed in the appropriate media.
Newcomers to business tend to confuse the real benefits ofadvertising, frequently considering it a necessary, andexpensive, evil, not the long-term investment it really is. Inshort, effective advertising is the lifeblood of your business.Without it you will surely fail!
Deciding When and How
Advertising can be a major headache for many firms, not just newbusinesses or those without specialist advertising departments.
But it isn't always costs that are to blame as much as makingthat vital choice between classified or generally more costlydisplay advertising.
Returning to basics, all advertisements must follow the generalAIDA principle. They must attract attention, generate and retaininterest, create desire, and stimulate action.
But what will best achieve this objective: classified or display?
The answer depends on a number of things, not least of all anunderstanding of what these two methods involve, how they differand what similarities, even overlap, might exist.
Classified advertising, sometimes called 'lineage', generallyemploys just words, without embellishment, other than perhaps afew words emboldened, and sometimes impact lines or boxes aroundthe advertisement. Where these minor forms of decoration areincluded, the format is frequently referred to as 'semi-display'.
Display advertisements, on the other hand, are designed to standout from the crowd, using a variety of techniques including:occupying a set position on the page, taking up a specifiedamount of space, including graphics and illustrations, adoptinga variety of fonts, and so on. The argument is that displayadvertisements are more noticeable, more profitable than theircounterparts buried amongst countless others in the classifiedcolumns. Hence the far higher cost of display advertising.
The following main points will help you decide:
* Classified ads are usually cheap and are excellent forgenerating enquiries. Many successful classified advertisers usethe two-stage enquiry method, allowing the customer to obtainfurther information before placing an order. A major benefit fordealers is the chance to build a useful mailing list for futureoffers.
* Display advertising is best for selling straight from thepage. Readers are more likely to trust their money to someonewho has paid for a larger advertisement than someone whoseadvertisement occupies a tiny space among so many competingentries. Classified advertising is rarely effective for sellingoff-the-page except for very low cost items, commonly Ј10or less.
* Classified advertising can be used to test interest in yourproduct before venturing into more costly display advertising.
* Classifieds can be used to test and compare advertisingsources.
* Classified advertising is generally unsuitable for anythingthat requires a lot of 'telling' to accomplish the task ofselling. Too much grey matters in classifieds is boring andreaders can easily lose interest halfway. If it can't be said ina few words, try display advertising.
* For classified advertisements, the words themselves must dothe job of selling. Sometimes a maximum wordcount is set andevery word must pay its way. Conversely, display advertisingallows a variety of other techniques to be used to attract andretain reader interest. Based on what they say about a picturebeing worth ten thousand words, it follows that, if the design,style or appearance of your product is important to thepotential customer, display advertising is usually best. If theproduct markets well 'sight unseen', classified ads might beappropriate.
* Classified ads usually focus on a single offer. Displayadvertisements can include several products, or an invitation tosend for further information, obtain a catalogue, send forsamples, and so on.
Advertising doesn't cost, it pays! And good advertising can payyou well. Bad advertising, or no advertising at all, invitesdisaster.
You have to advertise if people are to be made aware of yourbusiness and the benefits it offers them. Without advertisingyou rely on word of mouth recommendation or press editorial,both extremely effective, but slow and generally unpredictable.
Advertising takes many different forms, from painting your nameon the side of a van to delivering leaflets door-to-door orposting printed cards in shop and post office windows. Moreoften the term applies to classified and display promotions inappropriate media, usually newspapers and magazines, and it iswith this definition we concern ourselves here.
Advertising by itself does not sell. It will not sell a badproduct (customers will ask for refunds) and it won't open upnew markets. It is not a miracle cure that can generate salesfor a dying product. Conversely, advertising will not sell yourmust successful products to people who simply don't want them.
Main Points About Effective Advertising
* It reduces the entire population to your target audience andreaches as many of those people as possible at least availablecost.
* It must always have an objective. This means having a clearidea about what you want to accomplish in your advertisement.Reasons for advertising include:
* To invite orders or enquiries
* To launch new products
* To publicise price changes.
* The message must attract your target audience, it mustinterest them, create a desire for your product and promptpeople to act (order or ask for further information). Thisacronym AIDA is one you will encounter many times in advertising.
* It must be truthful and straightforward. The nearer youradvertisement is to reality, the more effective it is.
* Sufficient resources must be allocated to accomplish youradvertising objectives.
* Testing is crucial to effective advertising, allowing goodpromotions to be repeated and bad ones to be eliminated.
* Every aspect of your advertisement must be prepared from thecustomer's point of view. That person wants to know how you andyour product can benefit him. The most important feature of anyadvertisement is the benefits it contains.
* It must be placed in the appropriate media.
Newcomers to business tend to confuse the real benefits ofadvertising, frequently considering it a necessary, andexpensive, evil, not the long-term investment it really is. Inshort, effective advertising is the lifeblood of your business.Without it you will surely fail!
Deciding When and How
Advertising can be a major headache for many firms, not just newbusinesses or those without specialist advertising departments.
But it isn't always costs that are to blame as much as makingthat vital choice between classified or generally more costlydisplay advertising.
Returning to basics, all advertisements must follow the generalAIDA principle. They must attract attention, generate and retaininterest, create desire, and stimulate action.
But what will best achieve this objective: classified or display?
The answer depends on a number of things, not least of all anunderstanding of what these two methods involve, how they differand what similarities, even overlap, might exist.
Classified advertising, sometimes called 'lineage', generallyemploys just words, without embellishment, other than perhaps afew words emboldened, and sometimes impact lines or boxes aroundthe advertisement. Where these minor forms of decoration areincluded, the format is frequently referred to as 'semi-display'.
Display advertisements, on the other hand, are designed to standout from the crowd, using a variety of techniques including:occupying a set position on the page, taking up a specifiedamount of space, including graphics and illustrations, adoptinga variety of fonts, and so on. The argument is that displayadvertisements are more noticeable, more profitable than theircounterparts buried amongst countless others in the classifiedcolumns. Hence the far higher cost of display advertising.
The following main points will help you decide:
* Classified ads are usually cheap and are excellent forgenerating enquiries. Many successful classified advertisers usethe two-stage enquiry method, allowing the customer to obtainfurther information before placing an order. A major benefit fordealers is the chance to build a useful mailing list for futureoffers.
* Display advertising is best for selling straight from thepage. Readers are more likely to trust their money to someonewho has paid for a larger advertisement than someone whoseadvertisement occupies a tiny space among so many competingentries. Classified advertising is rarely effective for sellingoff-the-page except for very low cost items, commonly Ј10or less.
* Classified advertising can be used to test interest in yourproduct before venturing into more costly display advertising.
* Classifieds can be used to test and compare advertisingsources.
* Classified advertising is generally unsuitable for anythingthat requires a lot of 'telling' to accomplish the task ofselling. Too much grey matters in classifieds is boring andreaders can easily lose interest halfway. If it can't be said ina few words, try display advertising.
* For classified advertisements, the words themselves must dothe job of selling. Sometimes a maximum wordcount is set andevery word must pay its way. Conversely, display advertisingallows a variety of other techniques to be used to attract andretain reader interest. Based on what they say about a picturebeing worth ten thousand words, it follows that, if the design,style or appearance of your product is important to thepotential customer, display advertising is usually best. If theproduct markets well 'sight unseen', classified ads might beappropriate.
* Classified ads usually focus on a single offer. Displayadvertisements can include several products, or an invitation tosend for further information, obtain a catalogue, send forsamples, and so on.
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