Contrary to what the ad person says, your small business does not need to advertise every day.The goal of small business advertising should be to generate memorable impressions of benefits, so then the time comes for the use or your product or service the memory triggers your small business name (top of mind awareness).The mind is a powerful instrument and easily confused. You can show it and ad every day and it will think it has seen an ad every day. But, you can show the ad every other day and it will still think it is seeing an ad every day. So why advertise every day? Take advantage of the Assumed Frequency Syndrome (AFS).Since you can fool a memory into thinking you are there every day, all you have to do is to “appear” to be there everyday. Think every other day. Spend less money make the same impressions.Whoa! The people selling the ads will disagree and jump up and down. Not because it won’t work, but because AFS will be cutting their commission checks in half. So much for keeping the customer’s best interests up front.Here’s a way to “appear” to be everywhere with your small business advertising.First, set up a media mix of advertising that carries the same theme and promotes the same benefits. Don’t let the radio people make up a commercial that is different from what you have in your newspaper ad.Use radio Monday, Wednesday and Friday of week one and buy newspaper Tuesday and Thursday of that week. Same theme, same copy points.Reverse it for week two with newspaper getting Monday Wednesday, Friday and Radio getting Tuesday and Thursday.One week of newspaper advertising has given you two weeks of newspaper exposure. Same with radio. Two weeks of impressions, one week of expense. Neat huh? Since you are working to get memorable impressions and your business is now in memories everywhere as being there everyday, you can knock off all advertising for a week and not lose much momentum.Yup, take week 3 off and spend nothing and still keep the impression your were everywhere every day (AFS). Wow! Three weeks of ad impressions, one week of expense. You gotta like this!Start week 4 with a radio Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Newspaper Tuesday and Thursday again, just like week one. Any sagging impressions in the ol’ memory will be bolstered by the new schedule and pop back into the “everyday everywhere impressions folder”.As long as your message and theme and copy remain the same, you can continue to use this half, half and none 3-week rotation.In any 3 month period (an average of 13 weeks) you will be on the radio and in the newspaper for 10 weeks (for the cost of five weeks because you split full weeks into Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Tuesday, Thursday).In any 13 week quarter, instead of spending for 13 weeks, you are only spending for 5 (10 half-use weeks). This cuts advertising expense from 52 weeks a year to 20 with little or no loss of assumed exposure. By taking every third week off, you gain another 12 half-weeks of budgeted money to spend on extras and promotions. Ad this 6 full weeks to the 20 above and you have 26 weeks of expense, 52 weeks of impressions. Half price.The extra 12 half weeks allow you to ad another radio station to the mix, or include the local Shopper in your print schedule or buy a billboard! You can be a tightwad and skip the extra spending and pocket the savings.You can further save by changing the size of the newspaper ad each week, which will appear as two or more campaigns. Don’t make it any different, just change the size (shave off a column). Do one week regular size, next week smaller size. Still works.You can also increase radio impressions by having the same commercial, same words, recorded by different voices. Every time it comes up, there you are again, same message, different delivery. Reinforcing the always everywhere goal.Remember, if you appear to be everywhere, you will be remembered to be everywhere through the Assumed Frequency Syndrome. Similar messages and themes are the key. It must all coordinate like a fashion ensemble.
Direct Marketing Ad – Nine Ways To Effectively Advertise Your Business In Magazines
Have you ever spent hundreds or thousands of dollars placing an ad in a magazine and not have a good response? Have you been confused as to why your ad did not work like you had hoped?Here are 9 basic tips for advertising your business in magazines.1. Color ads are generally more effective than black/white ads. The exception is, if the page you are advertising is in color and your ad is black/white. The black/white ad can even be more profitable if it is done well.2. A full page ad is often thought to do better. Again there can be exceptions to the rule. If you have a black/white ad against color ads, you can have the ad smaller and generate more response. Or, if your ad is placed in a more opportune location in the magazine.3. The most effective placements in a magazine are the following: First the back cover of the magazine, second, is the inside front two pages. Third, the inside back two pages. Also good placements for ads are on the outside of each page. As people browse through, they will see those ads before they see ads closer to the center.4. Ads that are placed with wording around them are ideal. The reason being that while people are reading they will glance more than once at the ad. It gives you more exposure time. Remember, you only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention.5. The ad itself needs to be neat and eye catching. If there is too much verbiage, you have lost potential business. Most people are visual and will not take the time to read a lengthy ad. Make sure to get your point across with a picture (or pictures) and words.6. Bullet Point your ideas. Keep them brief and to the point. Take time to think about your company. Make a list of the most important things your company offers. What are you most passionate about? Translate those ideas to your ad.7. Make sure phrases, words, prices, phone numbers, etc., are eye catching. Use various fonts, sizes of fonts, bold, italic, etc., to draw attention to different points. If the font on the ad is the same, it will blend in and important information will be lost.8. It is critical when placing an ad, to choose a magazine that hits your target market. If you sell health products, advertise in a chiropractic magazine. If you have a home based business, advertise in a home based business magazine or entrepreneur magazine.9. Get statistics from the company. Number of circulation, areas of circulation, how the magazine is distributed, etc.I am convinced that you can have effective advertising if you use these guidelines. The goal is to keep advertising costs to a minimum and still receive the response you are looking for. Statics show that people will look at an ad up to seven times before responding. Be patient, your phone may or may not start ringing off the hook. However, if you have done everything right you will receive good business from your advertising.