Efficient Advertising Drives Growth
Now is a Perfect Time to Properly Re-Build your
Advertising Program
Written By Barbara Castilano, President, Marketing Options LLC and
Jessica Rapp, Advertising Specialist, Marke 9/8/2009 10:40:00 AM -
Article #2499
 Every
company has been forced to re-think and make cuts to their marketing
program. Making cut-backs in the right places is a tall task. If
your company is cutting back on advertising the answer is no. Sales
are already down as a result of the recession, and when a company
stops advertising to save money, sales plummet even further. As we
round the corner out of this recession now is a perfect time to
properly re-build your advertising program.
There are still ways to continue advertising without completely
cutting the advertising budget. It is important to start looking at
advertising differently to both stretch the budget and generate
qualified leads. A successful advertising program will include a
wide range of opportunities from print to online sources, and you
need to take a hard look at all of them. Here are the steps to
review what you need to accomplish and the advertising opportunities
that can get you there.
Step 1. Know Your Buyer
This seems simple but too often, advertisements are not talking
to the right people. Read the media kits carefully to understand the
people receiving the publication. In all cases, ask what their
response rates have typically been for similar advertisers. Take a
look to see if your competitors are advertising in these sources.
And, importantly determine if this publication (online or print)
covers your targeted area; for example, if you sell robotics, you
would want a publication to be writing about automation on a pretty
regular basis.
Step 2. Make Your New Stuff Easy to be Found
Don't run an advertisement on a featured new item that hasn't
been uploaded to your Website. The goal of any advertisement is to
generate qualified leads by encouraging them to make a phone call or
visit your Web. Once you get them to your Web, make sure it is super
easy for them to find your featured item, in detail.
Step 3. Advertising Costs
If you have selected a publication (online or print), let the
negotiations begin! To maximize an advertising budget a company
should run the least expensive ad possible that will still reach a
large amount of consumers and likely buyers. It's essential to
remember a well designed ad will always help your product to get
noticed. During a recession, times are tight for everyone including
the media. This means many media outlets will be willing to
negotiate deals and offer specials. Areas they will often offer
specials include 4-color at the 2-color rate or a buy two get a
third free, or receive a free banner advertisement with the purchase
of a print advertisement. The latter also gives you the ability to
try a new source, for free.
Step 4. Try New Outlets with Press Releases, for Free!
If a publication has been bending your ear about trying their
publication, send them your press releases to see the response
rates. It is always a good idea to be on top of new opportunities
that you haven't tried, by continually sending them your news
announcements. Outlets that will welcome your news include print,
newspapers, tabloids, tradeshow publications, online portals, online
publications, and news directories. Don't forget to track where your
leads come from, and you may be pleasantly surprised to find them
coming from a new source that featured your press release. Knowing
the outlets your audience deems valuable is priceless.
Step 5. The Beauty of Online Advertising Sources
There are many online sources these days and we suggest
evaluating all of them. Online sources unlike print, have the
inherent ability to report back quantifiable results. Banner
advertisement click rates to your Web, and conversion rates from
viewers clicking on your whitepaper are all available through online
sources. With online advertising, it is easy to ask the publisher to
provide statistics from similar types of companies to really know,
if your audience reads a particular e-newsletter, Website, or online
directory. It is also important to check your Web statistics to see
which online sources are bringing viewers to your Web.
Our advertising budgets always include print advertising along
with a variety of quantifiable online products including: directory
advertising, banner advertisements, adwords for search engine
optimization, targeted newsletters, as well as company developed
e-newsletters. Banner advertising, which used to be a royal waste of
money years ago has turned itself around with the help of strong
database management tools. Finally, you can have your banner appear
on certain sites, after your particular targeted keywords have been
entered. Voila, your advertisement is only talking to people that
are interested in your product line.
Probably the biggest problem with Internet opportunities is that
there are so many of them. If you are a manufacturer, there are
general manufacturing Websites, directories, magazines and online
e-newsletters. Drill it down to more specific areas such as
packaging manufacturing, and you have another entire host of
opportunities to select from.
Step 6. Competitively Speaking
Chances are your competitors have cut their advertising budgets,
making this an ideal time for you to benefit from their short-sided
market reaction (as the consumer no longer sees their product).
Chances are also good that in addition to cutting their advertising
budget, they also cut their public relations efforts and R&D
activities to develop new products. Grab the brass ring by making
your company more visible and you will make your company much more
accessible to the consumer.
Step 7. All About Frequency
We always say, more is better as long as it is targeted.
Maintaining visibility must continue, even through a recession.
Advertising research shows that consumers need to see an ad five to
seven times before responding. Buyers won't necessarily notice the
ad immediately, unless they are in the market for your product, so
don't pull the ad prematurely. If your company isn't visible to the
consumer when they enter the market for a product, then your company
won't be considered in the buying decision.
Step 8. How to Re-Build your Advertising Program
If you are re-building your advertising program, consider smaller
advertisements, 2 color versus expensive 4-color, and perhaps a
reduced number of print or online advertisements. People don't like
buying products from a stranger, so keep advertising even if your
budget is getting smaller.
The key thing to remember as we work our way out of this
recession is that advertising remains important. Be sure to target
your marketing strategy, while increasing advertising at the same
time. Continue to advertise in both print and online media to
increase the chances of being noticed by the public, so when a
consumer is ready to buy a product your company will make the sale.
Marketing Options is a full service marketing consulting firm
with. Web design, e-marketing, public relations, sales, research and
marketing support specifically for manufacturing companies. The
company serves these industries: plastics, foundry, packaging,
steel, custom machinery, automation, die casting, robotics,
integrators, metal, printing, and specialty equipment.
Contact:
Barbara Castilano
Tel: 937/436-2648
Email: bcast@moptions.com
Web: www.moptions.com
|
Twitter
Facebook
