One of the most common questions people ask when they are deciding which kind of advertising to use is, “how do I know it’s going to work?” And the biggest problem people face when choosing what kind of advertising they want to use is, choosing the right company to work with.

I want to inform you about this topic because there are so many mistakes being made by advertisers and consumers, when they could otherwise be avoided. I also want to talk to you about this because there are some advertising and marketing companies that are more interested in the client’s money, rather than the client’s best interest. I’ve seen first hand web-companies charging tens of thousands of dollars for something that would otherwise cost about 2-3 thousand, and they are doing it because they have the experience and knowledge, and instead of informing the client about the market place and how the internet works, they keep it to themselves and profit from the client’s ignorance.

So the main question every business owner and entrepreneur needs to ask themselves is this, “is my advertising working?” And if not, “WHY?!”

Often times when people are deciding which kind of advertising to use, they find it difficult to decide what company to go with, and as a consequence of not choosing a professional advertising company, they decide to listen to a family member or a friend. Not that family members don’t have good ideas, they do, but we know that more often than not family members and friends, who don’t have experience in that specific industry, will lead you astray from the goal you really want to achieve.

So rather than listening to an experienced firm with years of results and professional consultants, you decide to listen to someone with no experience in advertising, who is not exactly looking after your best interest, and may have been making the same mistakes as you.

That is why it is important to find the right advertising and marketing firm. One that has experience, professional consultants, a wide array of advertising options, and one who is looking after your best interest. Remember, the RIGHT kinds of advertising work! That is why it is one of the most important assets of any business. But if you’re not choosing the right methods, and listening to inexperienced people, than you are putting your company’s future at stake. Choose the right company to help you with your advertising and your investment in your future will return you a profit.

What Is The Difference Between Advertising and PR?

Advertising and PR are two different functions, however, many business do not know the difference. Since spending your advertising budget and your PR budget effectively is crucial, how can you expect to accomplish this important goal unless you understand the difference?

When thinking of advertising, billboards, glossy spreads, quarter-page newspaper advertisements and other forms of highly visible promotional material comes to mind. This is clearly advertising. Branding or creating a well-recognized presence for your company is a clear example of effective advertising. Business cards with pizzazz are a form of advertising.

What, then, is PR? Public relations are those things that must be accomplished to let the world know who you are and what your company offers. Press releases, news conferences, professional networking and exhibitions or trade shows are examples of PR work. PR is not as flashy as advertising but it is every bit as important.

Effective Advertising and PR

In today’s competitive marketplace, it is crucial to spend every bit of your advertising and PR budget strategically. Public relations can provide a mix that uses advertising but also enhances the efforts of your advertising dollar.

It has long been a “supposed fact” in business that word of mouth is the best advertising. This is not necessarily true. It is an unfortunate fact that a customer who has an exceptional experience dealing with your business will tell one or two people about their experience. A customer who has a bad experience will tell at least a dozen people and your business gets negative advertising.

Word of mouth is, however, one of the most effective PR tools available. Offering school tours, sponsoring science fairs or children’s’ sports teams, volunteering for public speaking opportunities, attending trade shows or presenting at conferences are rather inexpensive ways to build a wealth of good will and put your name out front.

Have you noticed that television commercials for a product often run a 15 to 30 second advertisement of a really great advertisement and within a few weeks shorten the advertisement to the most important 5 to 10 seconds? The reason is that the initial advertising is meant to brand the product or service and associate the advertisement and the product or service in your mind. It works very well – provided you have really memorable advertisements.

My background begins with a degree in advertising, running my own ad agency, followed by 25 years as an advertising consultant for the Yellow Pages. During those 35 years, I believe that I’ve learned a thing or two or three about what makes a successful ad campaign. I even wrote a book about my directory experiences and how to make more effective Yellow Page ads while saving money. But enough about me, this is about you and what you need to do to bring in that consumer.

From the title, you have already gathered it starts with the headline. Whether it’s a newspaper, magazine, or Yellow Page ad, the headline is like the ignition of the car. Without one or at least a good working one, nothing happens. The car may stutter or whine, but the end result is wasted time, for both you and the reader. I was always amazed at what my client suggested for headlines in their YP ads. Can you guess what they asked for?

Most felt that it should just contain their name. In most cases, they figured that was enough. Now if their name happened to be, “Jones Plumbing, where we fix all pipes and drains for a low price with 20 years experience and have a full, money-back guarantee,” I would disagree. Many only wanted their name, like “Harvey’s Appliance Repair” across the entire top. Now what does that really tell us? To begin with, the ad was already under “Appliance Repair,” in the phone book. And why would I want to give someone my business simply because his name was Harvey? Even if it was “Smith Toyota Auto Sales,” does that alone convince you to go there to buy your next Corolla when there are five other Toyota dealerships? I think not.

The headline is an opportunity to challenge the reader and offer a feature or benefit story. It can ask a question, provoke a response, or provide valuable information. Rather than describe every possibility, let me list a few examples:

“You Don’t Really Need Insurance, ask us why” (it’s for your survivors, family, etc.)
“The 7 Things You Must Do Before Calling a Locksmith”
“Are You Risking Your Life by NOT Seeing Your Dentist Every Year?”
“Don’t Repair Your Brakes Until You Read This”
“We Didn’t Go into Business to Make Money” (to help people)
“Take This Window-Washing Test Before You Call Anyone”
“An Ordinary Pest Control Service Hurts More Than Helps”(using harsh chemicals, etc.)
“Not All Pet Foods Are Made Equal. Ask Us Why.”
“What Painting Contractors Don’t Want You to Know”
“Why We the Most Expensive Dealer in Town and That’s the Good News!
“Learn the Secret to Better Carpet Cleaning”
“The One Thing that You should Know about your Real Estate Agent”
“Why We No Longer Sell Burglar Alarms” (we sell safety, piece of mind, etc.)

So, what happened to all the business names? They can be anywhere else in the ad that you choose. The main purpose of the headline is to get the reader to continue into the heart of the ad. Would you be intrigued by these headlines? Are they better than the name and phone number alone? You can use these as a springboard by plugging in your own type of business and then explaining in the sub-text what is really going on. Wouldn’t you like to know how you are risking your life by NOT seeing your dentist? It’s because improper flossing can lead to a stroke if the bacteria ends up in your bloodstream.

Advertising specialty services involves generating promotional products for a variety of companies and organizations depending on their specific marketing needs and their specific themes, logos, emblems, etc. Promotional products are used by companies to market a specific brand or endorse a particular product.

For the purposes of marketing, advertising specialties offer a variety of services that can be selected by the client according to what suits the brand or product best as well as what falls within the company’s budget. Most of the services involve printing on a fabric or a solid surface like that of a mug, pen, keychain, mouse pad, etc. These promotional pieces are very popular; thus the advertising specialty business is quite lucrative.

Promotional advertising specialty services offer a convenient and powerful way to send any message a company wants to extend to a targeted market. Many companies use promotional pieces to thank customers and employees for their business or a job well done. The selection of merchandise is endless and can be as simple and cost effective as a key chain to something quite expensive like a golf jacket or leather bag.

The other services that advertising specialty agencies offer are distribution of the promotional products to the retailers or distributors and the outlets where they will be available to the customers. They also, manage the transport and handling of the promotional products for the client, all for a fee of course.

The Internet has a wealth of advertising specialty sites offering any and all types of promotional items. You can order almost anything online and give specific details regarding graphics, messages, etc. The company will usually e-mail or overnight you a sample, and if you’re pleased will go ahead and complete your order. Depending on the quantity, jobs usually take a week to 10 days to ship. Many companies offer, ‘rush job;’ however, a rush could add as much as 50% in final costs to your order.

LCD displays are a suitable advertising medium for any environment, however, depending on which State it is to be sited, consideration must be given to the temperature control. Hot and humid States like Florida require a temperature regulator and cooler to keep the sealed unit working at its optimum level, as they work best in cool and dry conditions. This is a simple yet effective addition, included in the unit during manufacture.

Air conditioning is a suitable way of combating this overheating issue, though installing a small cooling unit (opposite effect to a heater) inside the steel enclosure, will provide adequate protection against overheating and lessening the damage to the screen from the sun’s glare and heat.

As condensation may also build up inside the enclosure, it is worth contemplating a combined cooling/heating unit (known as a closed-loop system). If a sealed steel enclosure for digital signage were placed outdoors and the overnight weather was cold and damp, then the build up of condensation from the morning sun could cause untold damage to the display unit, as damp will enter the electrics and destroy the screen and possibly blow the power supply.

Using a closed-loop system eliminates the need for external air being brought into the enclosure, thus minimising the possibility of bringing in external elements, like dust, dirt and moisture, all of which would damage the signage. This system features a regulator which operates at a specifically set temperature, so as the temperature dips; the system kicks in to reach its optimum operating temperature.

Business of any kind depends on a lot on advertising, because you need the word to convey to potential customers. Choosing the right advertising media is very important if you want to see our customers grow, yet many do not end up wasting resources on useless ads.

How advertising media to choose a:

Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an advertising medium.

1) What are the characteristics of yourproducts you want to emphasize?

2) Are you building a brand for your business or just a product to sell?

3) How much are you willing to pay for advertising?

4) What is the profile of the targeted customers?

5) How often will your products be purchased?

6) At what time do you want the ads to show? People have different moods at different times, so that ads have different psychological impacts on the basis of the time of the display ofadvertising.

Types of ads:

There are different types of ads, depending on the customer profile, brand, product etc.

1) Category Specific Ads

These ads are "one size fits all" manner, where all you have to do is to fill your product name in a preset template. A typical category-specific advertising can be used for a variety of products in similar categories.

2) Franchise Advertising

These ads are useful when it comes to building a brand.The ad builds hype around a brand, and therefore costs more than a category-specific ad.

3) Store-specific ads

Store-specific ads are highly specific region, who works for a shop in a place can not work for another in the same or a different location.

4) product-specific Ads

The product-specific advertising is about to purchase the product. It has nothing to do with trademarks, company, or any other topic related to the seller. Thisads are the best option for small businesses and franchisees. However, it must ensure that this franchisee ads not only highlight the manufacturer's business, but also the products you retail on behalf of the manufacturers.

What Your Advertising firm never told you:
When selecting an advertising media, you must not think only in a lot of money would do trick. Here are some surprising findings by the Wharton SchoolBusiness of the University of Pennsylvania.

1) The effectiveness of the ad has nothing to do with what you have on them.

2) content of the advertisement is more important than how much money you paid for it.

3) Review of advertising is a very effective way to get your message across.

Best Advertising Media:
Some of the most popular advertisingare the following:

1) Billboards

2) Television

3) Radio

4) Newspapers

5) The direct mail to potential customers

The above guidelines will help you generate more revenue through higher sales as a result of effective advertising. Good advertising is more about good content, and it must be delivered to the preservation of the profile of the customer in mind. Your adviser can hire a small business will help you with choosing the best advertising media for yoursmall business if you want to know about the ad for more information about the type of vehicle that best suits your business.

So, you run a small business and you are asking yourself where can I best put my money to get the most bang for my advertising buck? Well, let’s discuss this for a moment shall we? Everyone realizes that online advertising is the best way to save money, but you cannot always reach all your customers that way. Of course you could add a blog to your website for your customers to communicate your latest offers, perhaps even have downloadable coupons?

You should also add your company to local Internet Directories, and do all the free ones first. Develop an email list and fax list and ask your customers permission to send them coupons and information on your latest specials. Flyers are most inexpensive form of advertising next to websites and the internet, but to effectively distribute flyers you need a plan, one which DOES NOT involve flyer’ing windshield wipers of cars in the parking lots in town.

What about print advertising? Well, newspapers are dead, but sometimes inserts will work if they do not get lost in the clutter, try to do an off day when other companies are not inserting their mini-catalogs and flyers. When distributing flyers you must blitz the areas in sequence. Try a zone offense strategy especially if you have a location based businesses or a local service business with a small trading area.

Also consider Community Based advertising with small nonprofit groups. Try advertising in local sports programs. Be specific to your target market and area where you draw your best customers. I believe if you do these few things you will outlast the recession and it will be over before you know it and you’ll still be on top.

A leaflet rack is an effective advertising display. Its features are made for eye-catching qualities that draw attention to its style, contents or both. A standard rack consists of a literature or more specifically, leaflet pockets; as well as brackets, which are usually adjustable that allow you to change the height of each pocket.

A more stylish leaflet rack has a graphic area for personalising its design. It can be an artwork or photograph of your choice, or even your company’s logo. The design will peak customers’ interest, enough to entice them to go ahead and get a copy of your pamphlet. A poster frame for instance, is an effective eye-drawer, especially if the picture is a good one. You can choose a design that reflects your products or services. For example, it is not surprising to see a sports establishment use “play in motion” shots, of athletes, or impressive sporting gears as poster. For travel agencies meanwhile, it is common to see photos of famous destinations and tourist landmarks to entice customers to know more and hence, to take a look at the leaflets.

By using visual aids to send your message across, you are inviting consumers to your leaflet rack. There are racks with clear, plastic lenses to protect the images while still promoting your business and sending your message to the consumers.

Double-sided rack is also a top choice for its attention grabbing and space-giving qualities that allow for more leaflets to be displayed and to make them visible in multiple directions. Clear acrylic is a popular choice for this same reason. It gives more visibility to the leaflets and does not distract away from the materials.

How else can you grab attention and hold them long enough for your printed materials to be examined by potential customers? Simply, by choosing a leaflet rack, that will actually get noticed. Leaflets, brochures, pamphlets, and other printed retail materials can be overwhelming to look at, but if you have a rack that is attractive and striking in the first place, it can be an inviting tool for checking out what a business can offer.

While other entrepreneurs may prefer smaller racks for countertop use, the bigger sizes are also worth considering. Big doesn’t always mean bulky. One that has a sleek construction will not eat too much space, and with its large presence, intrigue customers and get them to know about a product or service. A big leaflet rack is perfect for conventions and exhibits settings. It can house your different promotional materials and advertise your business to the public. A big size commands attention too, and this is what you need for promoting your brand.

A smaller rack on the other hand, is the ideal choice for saving space and for multiple displays. You can place leaflet racks on the cashier counter, information desk or on any countertop that can accommodate them. Smaller leaflet racks will give your printed materials more areas for advertising your products and services. To hold more leaflets, go for a multi-tier leaflet rack.

Get your brochures and leaflets noticed without having to wave them around to get people to see them and to hand them out practically for every person to actually read them. The right leaflet rack is all you need.

Fast Food Restaurants also known as Quick Serve Restaurants (QSR) have learned that digital signage is the most efficient medium for effective advertising, specially the restaurants with multiple sites, now restaurant managers are looking into digital menu boards for the first time.

Digital menu boards are the most cheapest solutions available to get the promotional word out about your meal deals. Especially with the new government bill that states that the products nutritional value must be available, before an order is placed.

Managers of restaurants are also waking up to the fact that a digital menu board solution can give an excellent return on investment (ROI), with massive cost savings made in marketing, savings on inventory as well as employee training. An additional benefit is the rise in sales due to in store offers and day parting.

Day-parting is when you target consumers at particular times of the day, for example at breakfast time, lunch and dinner, there would be a different promotion for the drinks on offer during these three time slots.

Dynamic advertising using digital menu boards can also increase customer loyalty whilst decreasing the perceived wait time, also called time warping.

Time – warping is when customers are entertained whilst they are waiting for something such as a flight at an airport, or in line for a table in a bar. They then feel they have not waited the actual time they have due to them seeing the daily specials and being entertained.

Some of the above points are why cafes are turning to digital menu boards, irrelevant of business size. One excellent example is a part of a well known food brand including KFC, who plan on adding calorific information to their menu boards in its company owned cafes, as well as encouraging franchise owners to do the same.

Needless to say, without advertising most, if not all, haunts are dead in the water. With advertising taking up a big chunk of your budget shouldn’t you get the most for that hard earned money? I’ve had some haunt owners tell me that advertising on the radio wasn’t worth the money.

Radio advertising is actually a very cost effective way to advertise your haunt and it is also the most intimate of all mediums. People usually are alone when listening to the radio and many have a very loyal relationship with their favorite station in town. You can reach many more targeted people than any other medium. The radio is on everywhere, you have the opportunity to reach people that are listening for hours each day, all day at work, when they are in their cars driving to and from work, running errands. The average time one spends listening to the radio is 3 hours per day.

Every station tailors their programming to a specific demographic of people, finding out what station targets what demographic is key to making your ad work. When you are working with an account executive at a radio station make sure to ask to see the CUME ratings of the station you plan to run your ads on. The CUME ratings will show you the average number of people listening at that time. So if you see the CUME for XXX station, Monday through Friday 10am to 3pm and the rating is 1,200 then you can count on roughly that many people, in your targeted demographic, to hear your ad if you run it during that time slot.

I mentioned that radio advertising is very cost effective. Just think that, for say $40 per airing during a heavily listened to timeslot. Your event can be exposed to thousands and thousands of people each time your commercial airs on the station. The best part of all of this is that you are the boss. The station caters to you. You can have the ad air 5 times during the morning show, not air in midday and then air 10 times from 3pm to midnight, whatever you decide is the best way to your ad heard by the demographic that is most likely to attend your event.

Don’t forget that instead of paying however much the station is charging per airing, you can also try to barter commercial time. Talk with the promotions department and try to strike up an agreement to air your commercial XX number of times for XX number of tickets to your event. The station now has a promotion they can do; give away tickets to your event on the air. Think of how many times you hear a DJ plug an upcoming contest. Those pre-promotes for the station keeps people listening to them longer and gives you more exposure. For many people if their favorite DJ says your event is fantastic (whether or not they have actually been there), many of them will go to check out your event.

When it’s finally time to put together your commercial, your price from the station probably includes production. It is totally up to you if you would like to use the radio station production staff to create a commercial for you or if you want to have someone who does freelance voiceover work, or even outsource it to a different production company. Keep in mind the station usually won’t take out the fees that are built in for production, so if you use an outside service you will pay extra. The same goes with writing your script, you can use the stations creative writer or outsource it.

In making a commercial there are many things to consider, do you want a :60 second commercial, :30, :10 or even a sponsorship. Once you decide this you can then get a script together. There are five steps to make a great commercial. The first is the first line of your commercial, the first anything, a bad step here can cause a person listening to your ad to turn it off. The first part of your commercial gives the listener a reason to keep it on. Secondly, the answer to this question “why should I give my money to you instead of your competitor?” Next you should have your offer, what are you offering the consumer? Then call them to action, this gives the consumer more reason to take you up on your offer, what do they need to do to get the offer? Lastly, don’t forget to cap it off by reminding them of the offer and call to action. Those steps can create a good commercial for you but with the unique nature of our industry, I think the most important thing is to catch the listener and entertain them with your commercial, make a story of it, have one of your “characters” give the background of your event and then tell them when and where you are located.

Another great alternative to dealing directly with the radio station and abiding by their prices you can use a reverse auction to get your spots aired. The company Bid4Spots.com lets you list your commercial. You can pick markets, demographics, specific stations, timeslots, the works. Stations that meet your criteria will get notified when a new auction is posted and they can then go on and bid for your business. This can greatly reduce the cost for running your ad, but like many things this won’t work for everyone. I think it is worth the shot though.

Radio advertising is not a dying medium. You can reach more targeted demographics and increase the likelihood that they will spend their money with you. Once you decided to create a commercial using the radio station, outside production company, you can then plan your attack and even barter for extra (or cheaper) commercial time.