Advertising: necessary evil or evil necessity?

The word advertising comes from the Latin, ad vertere meaning ‘to turn toward’ and that’s exactly what it has always tried make people do. To make them focus on something and stay focused, on a colour, a sentence, a polar bear drinking a well-known soft drink with its unbelievably cute offspring; remembering it for a day, a week, a month or the Holy Grail; ‘forever’ (whispered softly).

Now some ads are more successful than others, and I’m sure like me you’ve wondered at the stupidity of some ads while sharing others on social media because – “you have to see this – it is genius”. Well that’s called targeted marketing my friends, and like me and everyone else you’ve fallen for it because it works. It taps in to something inside your head and latches on for dear life, magically making time, money and cupboard space disappear with ease. Some of these things you need, some of them you don’t – but a beautiful free market economy can’t tell the difference – and the world turns.

It’s easy to call advertising and marketing evil, but the truth is that as a business you need them. They sell your product and get that product in whatever form into the world and into the minds of consumers – the nice people who pay your rent and make sure you always have Pop Tarts (maybe that’s just me). Big companies use brand recognition and a steady slew of new and improved audio and visual aids to bombard your mind and achieve their ends – but as a small business you don’t have that kind of buying power.

The most important thing to remember when designing an advertising campaign, however small, is to keep it simple and keep it in line with what you do and who you want to do it for. There’s no point advertising in bass fishing monthly with a full page spread if your business is making treehouses. There may be the odd bass fisherman that wants a treehouse but it’s not really going to tap into your target audience – think building and lifestyle magazines (or Tree House Times – yes it’s a real magazine).

Where to advertise?

There are literally a million places to advertise a business or service but as mentioned above using all of them will be a waste of time and money. There’s the usual suspects, which I’m sure you’ve thought of already:

Word of mouth, Newspapers/magazines, Direct mail, Business cards, Email, Websites, Social media, Trade shows/conventions.

It’s all about attracting the right people, the people who will want and benefit from what you’re selling – so target, target, target. All of the above are useful and finding the right mix might take a little trial and error.

Be different, be creative, be bold

Easier said than done – right? Well sometimes, but with a little creativity and a lot of Google power you can come up with something to reel in the customers and make yourself memorable. I recently heard of a company that designs lighting, sending out an invitation that could be only be seen in the dark – ingenious – well – to start with maybe, but they also used them as their convention leaflets in a huge hall with a thousand lights and no dark corners. Make sure your genius works in the environment it’s going to be used in.

Here’s few ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• Make your flyers/leaflets something to do with your business – for example, a karate studio that sends out balsa wood flyers that can be broken down the middle.
• Sponsor an event or sports team – this will make you part of your local community and get people talking about you and your business – also a great place to network (take some business cards).
• Reward your customers – everybody likes free stuff. Offers and discounts are good but some indirect marketing with free t-shirts, mugs or beer cosies are better (and all with your brand and slogan on them).

Every business is different and some market research will help you to focus your campaign and attract the people you need. Even if you have to paint the logo on your dog to get it done.

Customer satisfaction

A small business relies on repeat customers and the chances are you’ll get to know them. Remember everything (birthdays, Christmases and Bar Mitzvahs) and send a handwritten card, an email, or a carrier pigeon; whatever makes them feel valued – because they are. People are social creatures and everyone likes the personal touch. If you have happy customers they will tell their friends and then there will be more happy customers; one more step to retiring early and reading your copy of bass fishing monthly.