| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Advertising on a Budget -- Part 2: Thinking Small
This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.com. Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Advertising regularly was essential. Yet it was also essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could. How did we do that? We "thought small." We bought one inch by two column inch ads (a column inch in this particular publication is approx. 1.88 inches). The ads were one inch high and almost 4 inches long. To reflect the small ad, the copy also had to be short and sweet. Like so: www.PrescottWeddings.com. Everything you need to say "I do." Just the name of the business and the slogan. We put the name in large type and made the tagline much smaller. Did it work? The first day this ad ran, we garnered 350 hits on the Web site and several phone calls from business owners who wanted more information. And that was just the beginning. Hits steadily grew during the campaign, and every time it ran we always noticed a jump. Not bad for a little ad. Conventional wisdom says bigger is better. And while it is true that big ads stand out (after all, they do take a big chunk of real estate on the page) it doesn't mean big is the only way to go. Small ads can pack a punch too. Why did the PWC ad work? First of all, it got noticed because it stuck out (yes, small ads can stick out). It had an odd shape -- long and thin, not a square like so many other ads. The name was big -- bigger than many other fonts surrounding it. (But not so big that the ad lacked sufficient white space.) But probably the biggest reason it worked was because the message was simple. This is clearly a Web site about having a wedding in the Prescott area. Therefore if you're involved with weddings, whether as a business or on a more personal level, and you're also associated with Prescott, then this is a Web site clearly worth taking a peek at. People instantly got the message. And they got it even if they only scanned the paper. It was quick and painless for them -- something all ads should strive to be. What's also interesting is how this ad hit its target market. I've spoken to people (mostly men) who have no interest in getting married and have never seen the ad even though they read the paper. Conversely, businesses in the wedding industry and brides have said they see the ad all the time. Now, you may have a business name that doesn't capture your business' products or services as well as PrescottWeddings.com (my business name for example). In this case, why not think of a catchy tag line you can use in those small ads to drive people to your Web site? Web sites can be huge, wordy, information-stuffed selling tools. So use short, sweet one-message statement to get people to go look and learn more about your business rather than try to shove everything in an ad. Don't forget to include your business name and logo for branding purposes. Okay, so small ads with one simple message work. For the final key in PWC's marketing program, check out Part 3: Frequency, frequency, frequency. Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Books, Bibles and Fast-Talkers Every community has 'em. Fast talkers who roll into town with a clever idea to sell to people in business. How To Write Ads That Get Response Your print ads should do more than just get noticed. Their job is to bring you business, and if all they do is lay around and attract attention, they're no different from the lazy employee who does nothing all day but look busy. 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?The Simple AnswerThe primary answer is putting potential clients in a comfort zone relative to your product quality and your reputation as an authority in your marketing niche.One SolutionMarket it on television. Advertising on a Budget -- Part 2: Thinking Small This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings. The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Brochures Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they'll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same. Five Characteristics of Highly Successful Advertising Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales?Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads.Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry's top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertising to pay for itself, and then some, in order to justify its cost. Take Advantage of Your Foes Let's take an example that is easy to check: I am French. Among the readers who reacted while reading that, an half felt their painful stomach ulcers starting up again while the others remembered their burning desire for visiting France. Diamonds Are For Evil The task of executing successful advertising campaigns for products made exclusively for women is understatedly tempestuous. Any Average Joe consumer would relay the message that feminine product commercials put him under a great deal of stress and discomfort. 7 Tips for Better Ads The content of advertising is basically the same no matter what the media. It is good and it works, or it is bad. I Dont Want to be Different To succeed in today's crowded marketplace where most of the products and advertising look exactly the same, a small business owner must stand out, shouting above the din with a message so clear and compelling that prospects stop and take notice. It's a matter of business survival. Power Headlines for Promotion Success Do you send email to your Online audience to let them know about an upcoming teleclass, your service or your book? Do you have a seminar "flyer" on your web site? The biggest mistake professionals and entrepreneurs make is to announce, rather than promote themselves. Each piece you send or put on your web site should begin with the #1 copywriting winner--the headline. Ten Secrets for Getting FREE Advertising The opportunities for getting free advertising for yourproduct or services are only limited by your imagination andenergy. There are so many proven ways to promote withoutcost it's truly mind-boggling! Here are ten proven methods. Create A Killer Brochure: 9 Steps to the Perfect Piece If you are creating a brochure, make sure you follow these 9 steps to get best return on your investment:1 Grab Attention You need a hook that gets your audience interested. The headline or main text is your first chance to grab attention. Which is Better Digital or Offset Printing? As technology continues to improve, the quality of digital prints also improves. Technology advancements have also made it easier for more and more businesses to enter the printing industry. How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing Measurements to Increase Your Profits! John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." Fortunately for today's marketers, there are scientific ways to determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements. Direct Mail Rules of Thumb First and foremost - You should identify your target market. Target your direct marketing lists. Vinyl Banners for the Right Occasion The sinage marketplace is competitive! Consequently, some companies are going to focus on price and neglect quality. To complicate the situation, companies that produce stock vinyl banner material offer a bevy of different materials based on weights/thickness, color, reflective properties, ink absorption properties, etc. The First UK Man To Become a Human Billboard an Interview Advertising on humans using tattoos is rapidly kind of freak niche that is definitely growing. It all started about two years ago (to the best of my knowledge) when a guy ran an ad on eBay offer his forehead as a billboard. Hiring an Amateur Could Mean a Potential Lawsuit for Your Business These days, everyone's looking to save a buck. But if you plan to cut corners by using a fledgling copywriter or marketer, expect to put the money you just saved towards a really good lawyer. How to Write B2B Ads That Catch Customers Are your business-to-business ads working for you? If they are not making sales, are they at least generating interest in your company? Are they making an impression on your potential customers by making you stand out in a crowd? If not, then you should take a look at this article and get those ads working hard for you.Don't just fish for customers, catch them!1.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2007 |
