Small Business Advertising Plan to Realize Big Profits

To have an effective small business advertising plan you need to put some thought into who wants to buy your product and why. You also need to ask yourself the right questions to have your plan take off.

Kick start your business by using the following strategies and see your profits soar. Whatever the new product or service is you want the buying public to know about, don't just advertise, think strategy. But plan it first.

Your Target Market

This is the end-user the buyer you are targeting. But who is he/she? How will he/she be using your product/service? Who will be buying the product? What age group, socio- economic group, professional or blue collar, man or woman? Why will they buy the product or service? Where will they buy it and why? Define your market. Find out what your end-users' interests are. What her needs are. What his priorities are and what type of lifestyle she leads. Single or married. Depending on your product, you have some idea already about the end-user and his/her needs.

Now create the advert/sales letter, flyer, or whichever means of advertising you want to use to address that end-user directly. Appeal to their interest, their hobby, their style if it is a fashion product. Speak directly to them. Remember the poster of Uncle Sam recruiting soldiers? The slogan was "We Want You", with a finger pointing right at you. That is direct. But it was effective.

Let them know what you can do for them and what you want them to do.

You want them to respond to your advertising but all you have done is attract their attention. Now what? Why should they buy or use your product service over another companies' product? Once you have their attention, you need to let them know what you can do for them in a way that portrays your service/product as "unbeatable": your product quality is guaranteed, your delivery time is extremely fast, your price offers more value, your product can not be found anywhere else, etc.

This is your edge over your competitors, and should cover about 50% of your advert/letter. Your satisfied customer file will back up your advertising claims. This is good practice for any small business that if a client is happy, ask them to put it in writing, in a letter, an email or video testimonial. This file of recommendations is gold and builds your company's reputation. Happy clients tell their friends, who will tell their friends...

Motivate the buyer to act

Put action statements into your advertising. First make them want the product, tell them why they must have the product, then tell them that it is only available for a limited time, or while inventory lasts or because it's your wife's birthday and this deal is gone tomorrow. Make them act.

Now tell them what response you want from them

Finalize your small business advertising plan in action by telling them how they can reach you, buy your product, and find out about your business. And make sure someone is manning the phones, or email, or fax machine. Do not leave this last bit unattended.

Marlene Dewitte makes it easy for small company entrepreneurs to generate far more buyers without using additional staff or marketing budget. To find out about more detailed small business marketing plus cash flow producing tasks stop by small business associations.

How to Avoid Failure in Your Small Business Advertising

by: Joe Farinaccio

Small business advertising shouldn’t be done like most of the advertising you see on T.V. … or hear on the radio. There ARE exceptions, of course. But for the most part, small businesses shouldn’t do much of the following:

1) Institutional advertising (a.k.a. “Madison Avenue” type advertising).

2) Public relations or simply publicity seeking.

3) Any type of response advertising that's non-measurable.

The kind of advertising you SHOULD be doing is measurable. By this I mean you can …

a) … control costs.

b) … measure results.

Small business advertising that doesn't fit these criteria is mostly like throwing money down a hole. (Like I said, there are exceptions. But if you try to promote your business using public relations you’d better have a business that can benefit from that …plus get the help of a professional who specializes in it.)

Institutional … Madison Avenue type stuff … doesn’t work in small business advertising any more than it effectively works for big companies using it. It’s just that big companies typically have big budgets they can spend on bad advertising without going under financially.

That’s a luxury most of us don’t have.

Direct marketing is different. You can control its costs. Taylor it to your ad budget. And measure its effectiveness based on response to the offer in the ad or sales letter.

Examples of response triggers used in effective small business advertising include:

* Phone calls asking for a direct response … like a sales appointment … or a purchase … or an invitation to come into the store with a certain customer “code” one can use to receive a gift or purchase discount.

* A TV or radio commercial that asks for a direct response … like having the customer write or call in and tell what station they heard the ad on to get a free gift or special discount.

* Any type of media that asks for a direct response … like redeemable coupons sent through the mail … a sales letter send through the post or Email, with an invitation attached for a special “after hours” sale … a postcard offering a 2 for 1 restaurant special … or an invitation to call in and ask for free information.

Your small business advertising is going to be very wasteful unless you make the right offers to the right people. Being in tune with the needs, desires and motivations of your potential customers is crucial.

For example … if Jack’s Sporting Goods store advertises a 30% discount sale on all golf equipment by sending 5,000 brochures through the mail to nearby residents the waste-factor is going to be extremely high.

After all, how many of those residents are golfers? Probably only a small percentage. And of those who are golfers, how many of them will come in for Jack’s sale?

In this case, most of his small business advertising dollars are wasted.

However … if Jack takes that same offer … and sends it directly to 500 golfers in his area the response will be much higher. He’s able to get the names and addresses of likely golfers from a list broker by renting the names of people in his area who receive golf magazines.

See the difference?

Jack doesn’t even have to mail out all 500 letters at once. If his budget is a little tight, he can stagger his mailing over a period of days. Or even limit the sale to those bringing in a coupon received through his mailing to test the effectiveness of his direct mail campaign.

Any small business advertising failing to …

* offer a free gift(s)

* give a time limit on the offer so buyers will be motivated to act quickly

* award a bonus or premium of some sort just for coming into the store

* present a sale or discounted pricing

* announce something new (i.e., product, service, price)

… should be avoided. As a matter of fact … the more of these elements in your advertising the better.

An ad containing each of the above ingredients … targeting prospects known to be interested in the product/service… stands a very good chance of being a winner.

Your small business advertising doesn’t have to fail. Once you learn the key ingredients you’ll never again worry about throwing advertising dollars away.

About The Author

Joe Farinaccio is an advertising specialist and copywriter. To get LOTS of information on getting customers to call … and buy stuff … visit his website at: www.sales-letters-and-marketing.com