Advertising Information

How To Make Your Advertising Work!


Many believe that when it comes to advertising, it's a necessary evil.

At least that's how some businesses approach it. Some view it as simply a tool to showcase price and product while others see it as a way to counter their competitor's ads. Know what? They're all wrong.

Here's what you should be thinking about when putting together an advertising campaign:

1) Who am I trying to reach?
2) What medium will be the most effective to reach them?
3) How much is it going to cost?
4) What will my message be?

Hard to believe: Some of my client's advertising approach prior to working with them was basically, "I have this amount of money to spend so how much can I buy with it?" This was usually followed by a call to their favorite radio station, or to a television station carrying their favorite program and asking for rates.

Granted there are many, many choices when contemplating where to place your ad dollars and it can be very confusing given all the choices that are out there. Especially for example, when you call radio stations and every account executive tells you that their station is number one. That's why it helps to have experienced people on your side who can help you choose the best media mix for your ad dollars. Of course it make sense at this point to put in a plug for my agency, but if you want to get a better understanding of what is involved, refer to the four questions above. For example, "Who am I trying to reach?" means who is your target customer? Every retail or service oriented business has a target customer base and once you've established yours it will help in narrowing the list of possible media choices.

Many businesses put off advertising until they feel they need it. The truth is, if you have a business that sells products or services you need to advertise all the time, not just when you have excess inventory or sales are down.

I'm sure you've seen and heard many auto dealers advertising "red tag" or "tent sales". This approach is a quick hit type of campaign designed to move inventory but the end result is usually just a waste of ad dollars. Instead piling on these price driven ads and doing battle with every other dealer advertising in a similar way, these auto dealers would be smarter to concentrate on building their brand through consistent advertising and separating themselves from their competition with solid points that answer questions on consumer's minds like, "What will you do for me that the others won't?" "Why should I shop at your dealership?" "What makes your dealership different?" along with coming up with a clever branding image that makes them easy to remember when the consumer is in the market for a car if not now, down the road.

Yes, money talks. But if everyone is shouting the same thing like, "We'll save you money!" the consumer has no incentive to visit one dealer over the other.

Last but certainly not least is the importance of the message itself. Time and time again I'll hear or see a campaign where it's obvious the media buy was well executed but the message is muddled or confusing or worse, boring. If you're going to go through all the trouble and expense of putting together an ad campaign, make sure the message cuts through the clutter in a clever, creative way because that is what branding (getting people to remember your business) is all about.

So how do you make advertising work? Remember that establishing a budget, determining who your target customers are, careful planning, consistency, and a clever message will put you on the road to success.

Like what you've read? Want to read more? Visit The Eisenberg Agency web site at: http://www.eisenbergagency.com

E-mail: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, creative director, and owner of The Eisenberg Agency, an ad agency specializing in cut-through-the-clutter ads that get results.


MORE RESOURCES:
Google

BBC News

Why Microsoft will win Yahoo
CNNMoney.com - Jul 4, 2008
Google has acquired that kind of position in search advertising. If it were to succeed in the recently-announced deal to combine some or all of Yahoo's ...
The Case Against Google-Yahoo BusinessWeek
DoJ investigates Yahoo Google deal VNUNet.com
Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! team up for search advertising advice ... Marketing Week
San Jose Mercury News - guardian.co.uk
all 235 news articles


Public will be informed on climate plan
The Age, Australia - 8 hours ago
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has hinted at a government advertising campaign to inform the public of measures to counter the threat of global warming. ...
Meet Penelope Ying-Yen Wong, the person responsible for our future Sydney Morning Herald
Can Wong avert carbon-fuelled train wreck? The Age
Prepare for dim, costly future The Age
all 23 news articles


Advertising in race works best if you take your time
Augusta Chronicle, GA - 3 hours ago
By Bill Kirby | Columnist Another great Atlanta Peachtree Road Race is over, and once again I have spread the news for a local cause, proudly displaying my ...


Jane Phillips Medical Center?s medication administration system ...
Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise, OK - 3 hours ago
By Special to EE Jane Phillips Medical Center recently was featured in an article published by IntelliDOT and distributed at the American Society of Health ...


Albert Lea Tribune

City played big role in advertising history
Albert Lea Tribune, MN - 15 hours ago
The advertising gimmick first used back in 1926 was to have five or six signs on posts in sequence along a rural roadway on the fence line about 100 to 200 ...


Regionals team up with the net in a marriage of convenience
guardian.co.uk, UK - 9 hours ago
Like other titles, the paper has been deprived of valuable advertising as the downturn in the property market means fewer homes are being sold. ...


If I were in Charge of Advertising
Headliners, UK - 20 hours ago
Jamila, 14 wishes she were in charge of advertising. I would make sure that the adverts promoted, were ones that advertised and informed people of issues ...


Canada.com

MSFT?s acquisition of Powerset is not about search
ZDNet - Jul 4, 2008
The recent $100 million acquisition of Powerset, the semantic search engine company, by Microsoft looks to be more to do with advertising than beefing up ...
Microsoft acquires semantic search firm Powerset AFP
Microsoft buys linguistic Web search firm Powerset Reuters Canada
On the rebound from Yahoo, Microsoft buys into semantic search instead iTWire
ReadWriteWeb - WebProNews
all 284 news articles


Iraqi newspapers hit by huge drop in government advertising
Menassat, Lebanon - Jul 4, 2008
The decision was a huge blow to independent Arabic-language newspapers, who depend for 40 to 70 percent of their income on government advertising. ...


City council committees to consider advertising for bids
Marion Star, OH - 21 hours ago
MARION - Advertising for bids for formula grant park projects is among items to be discussed Monday by Marion City Council committees. ...

Advertising - Google News

home | site map
© 2007