ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
When Times Get Tough... or When to Really Advertise
The Pundits say the economy is slowly, but surely, recovering. Maybe not at the rate of the mid-90s stock boom, but recovering nonetheless. It must be true, because ad agencies are running Help Wanted ads. So, ad budgets are getting bigger. Tsk tsk. They have been missing out. Actually, for maverick thinkers like you, that should be good news. When the Pundits say, "Times are getting tougher," usually the first thing to get axed in business are ad and marketing budgets. This makes nearly no sense. But, to your competition, you should say, "Tighten that belt another couple of notches!" Because that's when you go for the kill. So-called "tough economic times" should be a boon to your marketing. It's then that your competition will pull back their advertising efforts. And you should increase yours. Your competition is purposely weakening its position. It is the perfect time to fortify yours. Since most others are cutting back on their ad spending, media becomes more negotiable, if not altogether cheaper. Your messaging can become more visible with less clutter. Your message also needn't be more hard-sell in this type of environment. Traditional notion dictates hard sell is the way to go. But proper strategy, creatively executed, will nearly always win over a hard sell approach. Creative ads always get noticed, and often garner free publicity. Of course, you don't want to confuse "Bad Taste" with "Creative." If you have the proper strategy, that shouldn't be much of a concern. If you are presented ad concepts that bother you on a deeper level (more than the placement and size of your logo or other such trifles), maybe it's time to address the strategy as much as the concepts. The big payoff really comes when bad economic times rebound into good. When people have more money to spend, your business will have a higher, better mind share than the folks who chose not to advertise. Higher mind share leads to higher market share when the public starts buying again. There's the story of a brand of peanut butter that, due to government-mandated conversion of its factory for the effort during World War II, was not even commercially available. Yet, the brand was consistently advertised. When the war was over, guess which brand had higher market share? And it's in this atmosphere of free spending that market share is hardest to hold onto. More dollars to throw around, more choices, the market gets diluted. Why not go into that phase the leader, or the biggest gainer? So, when your competition rolls back their ad spending, pump yours up. You stand only to benefit from the less-competitive atmosphere. Still a little unsure? Then set up a dollar cost averaging system for marketing. Spend the same amount every week, every month, every quarter. You might be surprised you get more results in "down turned" markets. Marketing is everything. If it weren't, your company would only subsist on word of mouth and chance.~ Republishing part of or entire article, in all forms, is welcomed, as long as author bio info is printed and proper authorship credit is given. As a courtesy, please send author a complimentary copy. John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in- house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Internet Advertising: How To Use The Golden Rule To Enrich Yourself. What is the golden rule of internet advertising? Advertising: 10 Powerful Secrets To Help You Sell Your Ad Space Like Crazy If you want to sell more ad spaces, you must read and use the secrets I am revealing here: Not Another Calendar! - Choose Advertising Specialties That Sell As I was searching through a kitchen drawer the other day, I found dozens of pens, pencils, letter openers, sticky-note pads, oversized paper clips, rulers, dental floss, calendars, magnets, whatsits and thing-a-ma-bobs, each with the name of a business on the front. In looking through my "collection" I discovered some things I love and use and others that I can't imagine why I picked them up. Some, I'm not even sure what they are! The Graphic Problem Digital printing has revolutionized the sign industry. Current printers can reproduce an image at 1440 dpi (dots per inch) at virtually any size. But they are worthless if the original image is of low resolution. We define resolution using pixels. A pixel is commonly thought of as the smallest individual unit of an image (tiny dots if you will). If the pixel content is low, the image will look fuzzy. Anyone that has blown up a picture in a popular program like Adobe Photoshop has experienced the pixilation of an image. The most common way to express the resolution of an image is via two integers: the first is the number of pixel columns or width and the second is the number of pixel rows or height. Another common way to express resolution is by giving the total number of pixels in the image (usually expressed as megapixels). It is determined by simply multiplying the pixel columns by the pixel rows. How Much Money Do I Need to Spend on Advertising? Q: I've never really done much advertising for my business; I've always relied on networking and word-of-mouth. Now I'd like to launch a small campaign, but I'm frightened it will cost a lot of money. How can I figure out where to start? Electronic Reader Board Electronic reader boards are the most efficient way to convey the information. Therefore these nowadays are widely accepted all over the world. These have found admirers in all sorts of places, and continuous in serving in unlikely areas too. in the world of finance, sports, research, and many others, electronic reader boards are sovereign. The Power of... You certainly must know that Many Big Marketers consider COPYWRITING to be the most important skill you need to be earning online. 5 Tips for Hot Yellow Pages Ads Yellow Pages advertising is one of the most popular forms of advertising in the country today. Almost every home in America (96.9%) and business has at least one copy of "the book". What To Do With Your Business Cards Without a plan to distribute your cards, there's no need to print them in the first place. Should Your Small Business Hire an Advertising Agency? So, you own a small business, sales are down and you've come to the conclusion you need to start advertising. Questions: Where do I advertise, how much do I spend and do I need the help of an advertising agency? Promotional Vehicles It is difficult to miss a Hummer, but how many companies could afford to run one to promote their business? The answer is, of course, very few and it is doubtful whether GM's overgrown offspring would be the most suitable promotional vehicle for many of them. What then are the alternatives and how could businesses benefit from using a vehicle as an advertising medium? The Future of Voiceovers: Hold Your Tongue...Possibly Forever "Do we need to cast a voice-over talent for this project?" Print Advertising: Knowing What To Put In Your Ads So you've decided to run a print ad in your local newspaper. The paper may have even told you they could produce the artwork for you if you just tell them what should be in the ad. Problem is, you're not sure what should be in the ad. If You Want To Get More Customers, Heres 10 Powerful Stories To Improve Your Ads Remember, as a child lying in bed and listening to stories. Remember how engaged you were. Remember how you never got bored of them and always wanted to learn more. Juice - Scam of the Decade or Opportunity of the Century If you are an ardent web surfer and MLMer like I am, then I am sure you would have seen the sales pitch "Give away free broadband and earn £27 GBP each time". Does Your Brochure Pass the Test - Or is It Headed for the Trash? Part One The decision on whether or not someone will read your brochure is usually decided in the first 5 seconds they look at it. What kind of message are you communicating in that five seconds? Will you make a favorable impression with your prospect? Will you move your prospect closer to the sale? How Well Do Postcards Work? How Well Do Postcards Work?Before we get into the "how well" part of this question, let's look at how to measure the success of a postcard mailing. APPROACH #1: Revenue Return RateIf you use this approach, you decide that each dollar spent on your campaign should bring back, say, $10. Or $100. The amount is up to you. APPROACH #2: Cost as a Percentage of Sales With this approach, you benchmark the cost of your campaign as a percentage of sales generated. In other words, if you think that your campaign cost should be 5% of sales and your campaign cost is $500, then your campaign should produce $10,000 in sales. Your cards will work well if they meet or exceed the standards you have set, whether it's Approach #1 or Approach #2. Wheres Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms? We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place. The first discovery of gold was at Sutter's Mill by James W. Marshall in 1948, Mr. Sutter's mill contractor and builder. This discovery sprang thousands upon thousands of ambitious individuals to get rich which we refer to as the "Gold Rush." Boost Headline Believability With Specifics Don't use vague generalities in your headlines. Be as specific as possible. For example, you may want to put a date into your headline, or a profit increase of some specific percentage, etc. When you use something specific, like a date, an exact dollar amount, or an exact quantity in a headline, it suddenly becomes more believable. Present Your Product On A TV Show for FREE Would you like to get your new or existing Internet business moving nearly at the speed of light? Do you know what is required to get your business noticed and how to build your personal credibility fast, making clients secure enough to purchase from you over the Internet?
|
|
|
|
|
