According to an article in AdWeek “Digital technologies have put the very definition of advertising and marketing up for grabs. Now, when a marketer asks for a new campaign, the response from the team is literally a question mark. “What kind of campaign?” “Which agencies should we ask for guidance?” “What do all these technology companies do?” “Is anyone right?” “Is everyone right?” “How do we measure success?” Every campaign, if it can even be called that, begins with a blank slate. There are just too many ways it could go.”
Advertising is used to encourage, inform, persuade, or manipulate an audience to take or continue to take some action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior. While advertising can be an effective tool for informing people about your business, it needs to be used very sparingly and cautiously, especially for smaller businesses. If not done correctly you will find that you’ve just wasted a bunch of money and saw little to no results for your efforts.
Advertising is simple in the fact that it can achieve many important objectives, such as:
- Make customers aware of your product or service
- Convince customers that your company’s product or service is right for their needs
- Create a desire for your product or service
- Enhance the image of your company
- Announce new products or services
- Reinforce salespeople’s messages
- Make customers take the next step (ask for more information, request a sample, place an order, and so on)
- Draw customers to your business
The tricky part is in knowing where, when, how often and how much to spend! For the majority of small businesses whose resources are scarce, I say avoid advertising online! If your business’ target market is local with a very specific demographic and you have a budget for it, then I’d say you should explore advertising locally (including online), otherwise it’s a slippery slope of potentially money down the drain! If you’re still confused, just remember…I’m always happy to help!
A special thank you to freedigitalphotos.net and KROMKRATHOG for the image used above.
Danielle Foley, President ~ www.FoleyMarketingAdvisors.com ~ dfoley@foleymarketingadvisors.com ~ (973) 632-9170