Advertising

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.

A prime example of being unique is in the outdoor advertising industry. You can now buy ads on lorries, cars, purpose-built city vehicles with LED displays, screen ads in service station toilets and huge digital media in Leicester square, London. This is now developing as quickly as any other medium and observers in the US can certainly understand the changes more than most.

If you can think of a unique angle for your business then try it out on friends and your existing customers first. Don’t be afraid to ask them for their input – existing customers will just see that you are being pro-active in developing your business. It is really important to get input from friends, as they’ll probably offer completely unbiased and very honest views about your idea. They may see something you didn’t and possibly come up with a simple, but very logical reason for not including it.

Remember, people in business often get wrapped up and follow their business logic into their personal lives. Whatever you do, always see every angle before making a key decision. These non-commercial and non-associated ideas from friends can be a huge help – what have you go to lose in hearing them out.

On the subject of media ideas, take a look at this example from a PR about a new service on Virgin radio in the UK. You may be able to adapt a service on your website or other advertising medium with a targeted twist!

Access All Areas travels in a new direction, as Virgin Radio unveils electronic accountability in bulletin advertising

Virgin Radio is once again leading the radio industry with the launch of the latest element of its Access All Areas initiative – Roadies. The station which was the first to guarantee post campaign analysis on all campaigns, and the first to introduce the concept of radio advertorials, is creating the first national opportunity for radio advertising within travel bulletins which is fully accountable..

Roadies, provides advertisers with a unique slot within the RDS toneburst, where research has proved that people are listening harder. It is the only traffic slot reaching a national audience, which is fully JET compatible ensuring the value and impact of your campaign can be assessed.

These initiatives offer clients greater flexibility, testing creativity and accountability, ensuring that every penny spent works as hard as it can for their brand or product.

Lee Roberts, Sales Director at Virgin Radio, says, “Roadies are the third element of Access All Areas. We now offer clients a unique route into our car crazy audience nation-wide. There are several packages for traffic bulletin advertising in the radio marketplace but Virgin Radio Roadies is the only one to offer advertisers the security of accountability.”

So, could the listener be paying more attention? Can you come up with a great angle for your business?

Virgin has opened up a new market, where potential listeners pay more attention than they would have if they were in a rather more subliminal state of mind. Remember, people don’t usually hear ads on radio unless they can associate the message with their own personal needs, or they can relate to a jingle or song within the message.

However, radio can be engaging – I remember driving 20 miles further than I should have when listening to an in-depth radio discussion.

So, try to implement a section or service that offers something unique and of real value. This might take some thinking about for online media, but I’m sure that when you look at the needs of your target market, you’ll come up with some great ideas.

When advertising, it’s important to understand that your advertising efforts work by more than just an immediate result. You are also looking for name recognition so that your advertising works for you for years into the future. You want potential cleaning clients to think of your name when they think of hiring a cleaning service. This is what large corporations do.

I bet when you think of car insurance you think about that lizard or the caveman, or when you think about buying a gift for someone, you might think about Wal-Mart, right? This is because of the constant advertising campaigns that these companies keep on top of. It’s a little different for cleaning services because not everyone needs a cleaning service when they see your advertisement, so dollar for dollar, it can cost more to advertise a product or service that not everyone needs or uses at the time you are advertising.

Similar to that lawyer that has the ad that says “Injured?” on their ad in your local phone book. You may not be “Injured” when you see the ad, but if you ever do get injured and think about hiring an attorney, you will know where to look right? This is the type of thinking to keep in mind you when are advertising your cleaning services.

Don’t see advertising as a waste of money, ever! Keep your company name out there and visible. It’s a good idea to set aside one evening per night and devote a few hours to searching for new ways to advertise or get the most of the advertising you are already doing. There are plenty of places to get advertising, or links to your website.

A few things you can do is post useful articles on forums and blogs, be sure to mention your business name and/or website in the article. This is a great way to get your name out there. Freshen up ads you already have, like your ad on The Cleaning Service Directory. Add a free gift certificate icon, or change the wording of your ad, list the towns and cities you service and get rid of words like “and surrounding areas.” Search engines don’t know what “Surrounding Areas” are and certainly no one searches for terms like that either.

Put a lot of thought into your ad before you change it. Also, if your ad appears at or near the top of the pages on the CSD, you are much more likely to receive leads. Make your listing stand out, jump off the page when your listing is amongst competitors. This is a proven fact. So the bottom line is: Keep your name out there and in front of as many people as you can by keeping your ad visible.

On The Cleaning Service Directory, we place Premier Members over Basic Member and in each of the two categories; we rank the members by the amount of “Points” in their accounts. Your points can be seen on the far right side of your advertisement in blue text. Many members still have the standard amount of points (1,000). In many cases, just adding $5.00 to your account will put your listing above most (if not all) of your competition in the section where you are listed. Being seen near the top gives potential clients the feel that you are responsive and will actively answer their questions. It will also give your business much more exposure!