Advertising Techniques for your Business
Why are Advertising Techniques important for your business?
Advertising techniques are very important for all businesses, as advertising is the main method of growing a business while obtaining name and brand recognition. Advertising can be conducted in all different forms through numerous mediums, randing from the traditional to the extreme.
Consider your type of business and observe how other similar businesses have used advertising to their advantage. No two businesses can benefit the same from a single advertising technique, but often repeating what works is the best method to learn what will work and what will not.
Advertising Techniques
1. Direct Mailing
Direct mail advertising is one form of advertising that many businesses both small and large have used. Direct mail involves the sending of advertising materials to a targeted audience through the traditional mail services. Direct mailings may be a simple advertisement with your business name, coupons for services, articles about your business or related stories, or even direct solicitations. Direct mail has fallen out of favor recently with more technologically advanced forms of communication.
2. Internet Advertising
The internet has created a whole host of new advertising techniques that many businesses have taken advantage of in order to grow their businesses. Emails can be sent just like direct mailings while eliminating the costs of materials and postal costs. Building websites, utilizing search engines, and linking to popular content websites are all methods the the internet has opened for businesses to advertise.
However, all of this easy availability comes at a price. The internet has become glutted with advertisements and solicitations, which has the effect of consumers tuning them out and ignoring them. Internet advertising now requires creativity and technological insight in order to achieve the goals of advertising.
3. Television Advertising
Television has been used as a medium for advertisements by businesses small and large. We all have become familiar with nationwide commercials and their regional cousins. While television viewer-ship is at an all time high, the costs of television advertisements have become very cost prohibitive for many small businesses. Television commercials also require production costs, as they need to be written, filmed, and edited for television.
Contact local marketing companies and television affiliates in order to determine how much television commercials will cost you. The exposure the advertisements may get you can be very helpful, however you also must consider if it is right for your business.
4. Print Advertisements
Many different forms of print are available for advertising. Newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and newsletters are some of the many forms available. Traditional print requires that you come up with interesting and unique content that engage your consumers while increasing your name and brand recognition. The costs of these advertisements vary greatly depending on the level of viewer-ship and how many other businesses want to advertise with them.
Print advertisements will require professionally written and laid out spreads that put your business in the best light possible. You may need to hire outside work to write the print information, graphic artists to design them, and layout artists to edit them for specific print.
5. Radio Advertising
The radio has been a traditional medium for advertising, however it has fallen out of favor in recent years. While many still listen to the radio while traveling in cars or outside of their home, the radio has been battered by competition from personal music players, satellite radio, and internet based music sources.
The radio should be considered for reaching older markets who have not adopted these new technologies and still use the radio on a consistent basis. Contact local radio stations for advertising information.
6. Non-Traditional and Guerrilla Marketing techniques
One of the more recent trends in advertising techniques is to develop new and exciting methods of reaching consumers. Hosting special events, posting interesting videos on the internet, or sponsoring a “flash mob” are just some of the recent ways businesses have advertised in unique and creative ways.
Guerrilla marketing takes these non-traditional advertising techniques to a whole new level, as some companies will place advertisements on city streets, pay people to paint their cars with their advertisements, or print hidden messages on strange places in the hopes to generate comments and garner the attention of consumers.
How to develop the Advertising Technique that is right for your businesses
All of the above are just some methods that businesses will use to market their product, but not all of them will work for you. You will first need to really understand you client base, learn about their behavior and habits, and truly understand the perception of your business before you can determine which advertising techniques will suit you the best. If you are having trouble making this determination on your own, many consulting and marketing firms are available to help you with your decision on advertising techniques.
Legal Issues for Advertising Techniques
The most highly regulated areas of advertising include fraudulent and misleading advertisements. While free speech is a protected right in the United States, many regulations have been passed that protect consumers from harmful forms of advertisements and solicitations. Many professional groups also regulate the advertising of their members. Lawyers, doctors, and tax professionals all must abide by their state's advertising guidelines. Before conducting any advertising, ensure that you are compliant with all advertising laws and consult with a legal professional in order to ensure that your advertisements are acceptable.
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