Five Ways to Cut Ad Costs
By
Kevin Nunley
© 2005
Advertising and
marketing are two of the most expensive and necessary parts of running a
business. Whether you have a service outlet in a strip mall or a web site,
getting people through the front door is never cheap.
More than half of business owners say advertising is the most puzzling part
of running their business. More than half of all new businesses that don't
make it say they simply ran out of advertising budget before the customers
started coming in.
So it's vitally important you advertise enough, while making sure you can
afford all that advertising for as long as it takes to build your sales (and
that can often take many months longer than expected).
Here are five simple ways to make your ad dollars go farther:
1. Stay with a single ad campaign. Pick something that is important to customers,
promote it, and stick with your message. Each time your ad runs it builds
upon the last time.
Don't listen to your friends, your employees, and that little voice inside
your head that says "I'm sick of this same ad." It's just when you think
you can't stand to see that ad one more time that prospects are starting
to notice it for the first time.
2. Don't waste money on fancy stuff. Make your ad no better than it has to
be. There are plenty of designers, copywriters, producers, and ad agencies
who will push you to spend more. Make sure it really will make your advertising
more effective, and otherwise don't spend extra.
3. Buy small ads regularly. That is better than plowing all your money into
one big ad that runs only now and again. Consistency, even when it is small,
builds sales.
For years I've put my clients' ads in DEMC. This 'zine has one of the largest
subscriber audiences around. Even better, the intense and consistent quality
of the content makes sure those many readers are really *reading* the newsletter
issue after issue.
For less than 40 bucks an issue, your little ad can be in front of over 200,000
targeted readers. Can you find anything like that anywhere in radio, TV,
newspapers, or even online? Not hardly. THAT'S the kind of bang-for-your-buck
advertising you need to always be on the lookout for.
4. Target, target, target. Putting your ad in front of 12 people who are
known to REALLY want your product or service will always get more sales than
blasting your ad to millions who couldn't care less.
Most of us will get more results from an article in a small home business
magazine than we will from an ad in Newsweek.
Targeted advertising usually costs more, often a LOT more. But in the end
you will get far better response from it.
5. When an ad doesn't work, do your best to find out why. Don't just settle
with "it doesn't work, I'm ditching the ad." Often there are other reasons
why you aren't getting sales. Timing may be wrong, the ad hasn't appeared
enough, or the product needs to be changed. Many times I've seen a perfectly
good ad get the boot when something else was clearly causing the lack of
response.
About the Author:
|
|
Web
Development
