How has your advertising changed over the last few years? Or has it stayed the same? Are you still sending out Newsletters? Leaving flyers and Magnets in doors? Are you mailing postcards? Brochures? Paying for Ads in Newspapers? For Radio Spots? Newspaper Inserts? Leaving Business Cards in Magazines at your Doctor’s office?
Or are you using the net to get your message across? Are you the owner of a content rich website? Are you writing a blog? Are you podcasting? Do you use Flickr? Meebo? Are you connected online – via social networking sites? Are you monitoring groups and forums?
What is the “right” way to go about this advertising dilemma? The very vague, but correct answer would be: It depends. It depends on your business model, where your clients come from and who they are.
In addition it depends on your willingness to embrace/learn new applications (blogging, podcasting etc) and the time you can schedule for these activities (assuming you would want to be your own spokes person and writer). Signing up for new technologies won’t help your business if you don’t have the time to implement them.
Today, having a website is pretty much expected. Not many businesses can ‘get away’ without one, with a few exceptions. Example: We have some small, family owned restaurants here in town that have a very loyal following and NO website. From observing their business – it doesn’t seem to hurt them. Does that mean their business wouldn’t expand if they had a website? Who’s to know….
However – if you have a website – make it rich in content. Don’t copy and paste – write original content, engage the viewer and update when possible. This is part of your advertising!
As for blogging/podcasting/etc vs. traditional print marketing – you have to know your audience. Do you ever survey your clients as to how they heard about you? How they found you? What questions they might have of you? And if you do track – what’s your return of Investment from the different advertising options?
Don’t spread yourself thin by using all advertising options, but concentrate your efforts, track them over time, and try to create a conversation with your clients. Today’s Consumers no longer appreciate the “Interruption Methods of Advertising”, used 10, and even 5 years ago. Today’s Consumers are informed, they researched the subject, the products and quite possible you. So your advertising needs to engage your clients, offer new information and consider the client’s point of view – not the business owners/companies point of view.
check out the following links for more information on this topic:
Filed under: Advertising, Business Tips, Marketing, Small Business Owner | Tagged: Advertising, Small Business
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