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Understanding the Different Methods of Offline
Promotion
By Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
No business can
survive the long run without some form of consistent advertising. As a result,
most business owners will eventually consider using advertising to promote
their business.
The toughest part of the advertising equation is in
determining where and how to spend your advertising dollars. If you do it
wrong, you could plunk down your entire advertising budget and receive
absolutely no return on your investment. But, if you do it right, your
advertising could continue to bring a nice return for years to come.
HOW DO I MAKE THE RIGHT ADVERTISING DECISIONS
In order to make
good decisions concerning how to spend your advertising budget, you must first
have a good understanding of the different types of advertising and promotion
available and what can be expected to be achieved by each.
·
You must understand which markets the different media's can reach.
·
You must understand the demographics of the media's consumers.
· You
must understand the buying habits of the consumers reached through the
media.
WHAT OFFLINE ADVERTISING & PROMOTION MEDIA'S SHOULD BE
CONSIDERED
The media's that people think of most often are
television, radio, newspaper and magazine advertising. Of course, these are the
big boys that big businesses use regularly.
Other methods of promotion
include trade shows, press releases, direct sales, telemarketing, word of
mouth, branding and billboard advertising.
CONSIDERING THE BIG
MEDIA OUTLETS
The big boys of advertising media's generally cost
big bucks. Given certain circumstances, the big media's can be bought for very
little money.
Take for example, television, radio and newspapers cost
big bucks during their prime times, but can be bought for pennies on the dollar
during non-primetime hours.
Television primetime is between 7pm and
10pm. Radio primetime is between 7am and 6pm. With newspapers, the primetime is
Wednesdays and Sundays.
If you intend to hit a media during prime
time, get ready to drop some bucks. Primetime means that you will be able to
hit more consumers during these times. So, in most cases, a primetime buy will
enable you to reach more people with your advertising.
Non-primetime
hours can still deliver a lot of eyes and ears to your message, and sometimes,
these off-hours can be bought for a bargain basement price.
GETTING MILEAGE FROM EVENTS
Trade shows and press releases are
more event-driven. The trade show is the event, while the press release
generally exploits an event.
Trade shows are an exceptional tool when
you deal directly with potential sellers of your products or services. Other
shows are directed at the consumer, and those can be very valuable avenues for
sales as well.
The press release is aimed towards gaining attention
for a business by distributing newsworthy information about the business.
Sometimes the appearance of a business at a trade show or other show can
provide the necessary angle for a press release. But most often, a successful
press release will actually require more noteworthy information than the
appearance of a business at a show.
Yet, even the most mundane of
information could be spiced up to give the real air of importance necessary to
get your press release read and printed.
The great thing about a press
release is that might permit you to get relatively inexpensive promotion on
television, radio, newspapers and magazines; for far less than what it would
cost you to buy advertising in those same outlets.
UTILIZING A
SALES TEAM
Depending on what type of business you run and the
consumers you are trying to reach, you might find direct sales and
telemarketing to be very lucrative ways to drive sales to your business.
Both are very similar in nature. Direct sales can be very expensive, as it
requires a great investment of time to accomodate. Telemarketing seeks to
minimize the time expenditure, but it often leads to a smaller degree of
respect and attention.
Depending on your product or service --- and
always depending upon the people you employ to the task --- each method will be
more suited to each business on an individual basis.
BRANDING YOUR
BUSINESS
I grouped branding and billboard advertising together in
my original list for a reason. I did this because billboard advertising serves
most businesses best by helping to support the process of branding.
Branding is the process of establishing your business as the supplier of a
certain product or service, or in emphasizing a certain USP (Unique Selling
Proposition) as it pertains to your business.
If branding and USP
seems to be a confusing concept, think about Wal-Mart and their tag line:
"Always Low Prices, Always."
Think about Ford Motors, "Quality is Job
One."
Think about the Visa Card, "It's Everywhere You Want To Be."
You see, these top corporations have managed to make their USP part of
their branding.
Even if you are only competing in a local marketplace,
your USP can and should fit snugly into your branding strategy.
NO
MATTER THE MEDIA OR METHOD
Whichever method or media you should
choose to employ in your advertising and promotion, you should become
knowledgable about your market, and the consumers reached by each media. It is
important to understand which consumers can be reached by a certain media, and
in what quantities.
However you choose to spend your advertising
dollars, you should always track the results of your promotional efforts.
Failing to track successes and failures will ultimately lead to the failure of
a business.
When you know whom you are trying to reach and how you
think you might be able to reach them, you will begin to learn how to use
advertising and promotion to make your business successful. That is a good
thing --- after all, that is why you got into the business in the first place,
isn't it?
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
About The Author:
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Stone Evans
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