The Essential Guide To Advertising Your Business

No matter which market you currently operate within, knowing how to successfully and effectively advertise your business will be a key element in the eventual prosperity you achieve further down the line.

Some methods are more suitable than others, so which ones you choose should depend heavily on the nature of your company, and the basics set out in your original business plan.

All too often we see promising young firms getting things wrong, and unless you’ve got a serious financial cushion for such an eventuality, it’s probably wise to avoid following in their footsteps.

I realise some people like to learn from their own mistakes, but in business this simply isn’t viable, and so you need all the help you can get.

You see; it’s all about striking when the iron is hot and identifying the most lucrative techniques before the competition catch on.

Also, it’s wise to spend some time working out which avenues definitely won’t suit your business in the early stages, as many people waste considerably large sums of money without realising there are actually much more profitable marketing ideas out there.

During the last couple of years alone, hundreds of thousands of startups have gone bankrupt, mostly due to the fact that their advertising plan didn’t hold it’s weight.

This is something you stand a good chance of avoiding if you simply do some research.

At the end of the day, nobody in the business world is likely to point out the possible errors you might make because they have a vested interest in seeing you fail – but as C.S Lewis once said:

failures are just finger posts on the road to success

so don’t worry too much about all that bitterness between competitors.

This is a cutthroat world after all.

So, let’s see the different solutions for advertising your business, and if you need more knowledge, be sure to join a Distance Education in Marketing Management.

 

Online Advertising Solutions

With the rise of social media has come a tremendous revolution that’s seriously changed the landscape of modern advertising.

Now it’s possible for anyone to set up a business page, post interesting articles and give customers and clients real-time updates on your latest deals and offers.

Facebook is definitely the most popular website at the moment, but you should still register on all the other major networks to ensure maximum exposure. Most also provide paid advertisements that often produce incredibly positive results, and so this is something you should definitely look into as soon as possible.

Alternatively, Google run an impressive advertising service at the moment called AdWords. This is proving to be incredibly popular amongst small businesses and startup firms because of the control allowed, and the minimal spending required to create significant interest.

It’s suggested to go for a mix of Facebook and Google for the best results, but there’s no need to risk large amounts of capital at this stage. Just try it out with a few hundred dollars and see how much of a hype you can create.

The targeting tools on both are top notch, which means you can select exactly whom you wish to market to, based on their age, location, interests, workplace and even if their friends have got a birthday coming up in the next few months.

On top of all this, some firms like to pay specialist companies to utilise methods such as creative content marketing, as this area has proved to be very gainful over the last few years.

Basically, it involves using SEO techniques to create an element of false popularity online that helps to get firms noticed by more people and it can also help out immensely with search engine rankings – something you need to get your head around when trading via the internet.

 

Newspaper Advertising Solutions

Although you might not read newspapers anymore, hundreds of thousands of other people still do, which is why this method should not be ignored completely if it suits your business model. Most national publications charge anywhere between $300 to $30,000 for an ad within their paper, and the cost usually reflects the amount of space you’re renting.

So, perhaps getting in touch with your local news team or even a national/international media giant could be a good move.

You’ll obviously need a lot of money to invest, but if you have it to hand, this could prove to be an extremely wise move.

Still, there are other ways of getting into the newspapers, many of which are slightly underhand.

Don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to do anything illegal or get reported on for a negative action, but if you can think of something that will catch the attention of the press due to a public interest element, then I say go for it; you’ve got nothing to lose.

You probably remember the news article about Amazon starting to run a service call Prime Air, which involves 30 minute delivery times via futuristic autonomous drones that are programmed to drop the parcel just outside the recipients door at a designated time.

Well, although this certainly isn’t impossible, it’s not likely to happen anytime in the near future, yet Amazon have managed to score themselves tonnes of free publicity just in time for Christmas – do you see what they’ve done there?

 

Indirect Advertising Solutions

Believe it or not, some firms find the most lucrative form of advertising to be indirect. Don’t understand?

I’ll try to explain. Let’s presume you own a wool shop , right? Now, you could spend thousands of pounds on advertising your brand and creating awareness, or you could simply do something that incites people to take up knitting.

For instance, you might pay for a celebrity to mention in Hello magazine they’ve recently taken up the hobby, or you might even pay for a campaign group to release a statement saying that wool is going to waste, and sheep will soon disappear from farms because of it. Both of those ideas would encourage people to start knitting or using wool in some way, which would, therefore, increase your customer base indirectly.

Do you understand now? It’s always about making people buy from your company, but it’s not always about promoting your brand.

People tend to respond better when they feel like they’ve made the decision to purchase from you themselves, rather than being hounded by bill boards or flashy ads.

I’m not saying those two methods don’t work because they obviously do. Again, it’s all going to depend upon the nature of your company and the type of products or services you offer.

 

Customer Testimonial & Review Solutions

Sometimes getting people to your website isn’t enough, occasionally you’ll need to put in some extra work to convince them of the value of your product or service, and this is where having a facility (editable) for previous customers to leave reviews and testimonials about their experiences when dealing with your company can help significantly.

Also, it works as a form of advertising in itself.

 

Television Advertising Solutions

Most business owners don’t even give this a second thought as they seem to presume that it’s going to break the bank, and in truth, for a lengthy package it probably will.

Even so, basic 1 minute adverts can cost as little as $3000 if that’s all you’re looking for. However, those with around $50,000 to spend could see their brand plastered all over TV in the advert breaks.

Again, you could be a little underhand and try to get yourself on the news for something noble. Perhaps you’ve decided to give a few thousand dollars to a local charity, or maybe you’ve started giving out soup for homeless people in the area your business is stationed.

Either of these ideas is sure to attract media attention when handled properly. You’re going to need someone who’s experienced in writing and distributing press releases for this, and who might also have some useful contacts already established that you can utilise.

 

So there you have it, that was the essential guide to advertising your business and becoming successful quickly.

I hope you’ll take something away from the information provided and will now make better decisions when the time comes.

There’s an old saying that goes “it’s not enough to have the will to succeed, you must first have the will to prepare to succeed”, and I think you should spend some time pondering upon that one.

Please share your views in the comments below, thanks!