Five Characteristics of Highly Flawed Small Business Advertising
Five Characteristics of Highly Flawed Small Business Advertising
Unless you are in the advertising business, chances are your strongest skills are not in advertising. If you are like many small business people, your small business advertisements are likely guilty of at least one of several common flaws.
Identifying what is wrong with your advertising is the first step toward making corrections that will result in greater response, increased revenue and stronger profits.
Following are descriptions of five common characteristics of highly flawed small business advertising. There are more, but correcting these will make for a great start.
Unfocused Market
Many small business owners make the mistake of thinking a bigger market is a better market when choosing where to run their ads. The result is they spend their advertising dollars to reach a larger but less focused market.
Are the places you choose to run your ad laser-focused on your market?
When your ads are focused squarely on your market you increase the likelihood that the readers who see your ad will actually have a need for your service. The more effectively you place your advertising in front of an 'already interested' market the more likely they will be predisposed to noticing and reacting to your ad, which is what you want.
For example, imagine your company specializes in helping law firms reduce the cost of prosecuting long, ongoing cases. If you choose to run a series of full page ads in the New York Times instead of the New York Law Journal you will likely be disappointed by the response to your campaign; despite reaching the considerably larger audience of the New York Times you would be missing the focused attention of the legal minded readership of the New York Law Journal.
How can you tell whether or not you can focus your advertising on a more receptive market?
Lack of Distinction
The next most common problem with small business advertising is that advertisements for companies in the same industry often fail to distinguish themselves from their competition.
How can you expect to win the lion's share of your market if your advertisements pretty much look the same and contain the same elements as those of your competition?
Furthermore, distinguishing your company from your competitors is often made more difficult because, within a given advertising vehicle, advertisements for companies in similar industries appear virtually on top of each other. This scenario is particularly true for yellow pages listings and pay-per-click advertising. In order to succeed with your advertising your ads need to stand out and above those of your competition.
For example, if you are the owner of a pet supply company and your ads simply say, "We Sell Pet Supplies" they will be passed over along with every other bland advertisement for Fido's food.
On the other hand, your ads will stand out and attract much more attention to your shop if you state that you sell, "King Sized Bones and Bowls for the Royalty in Your Family." By focusing your ads on the owners of large breed dogs you distinguish yourself from the crowd of pet shops that simply sell pet supplies and make it clear to the owners of large dogs that you sell what they need.
Be sure the copy of your ads has the effect of making what you offer unique. Your highly targeted prospects will reward you by noticing the difference in your ads and buying from you.
Do your ads distinguish your business clearly above your competition?
Failure to Demonstrate Value
Another property of flawed advertising is that it fails to demonstrate the value of any products or services provided. By failing to demonstrate value in your advertisements you give your prospects only a foggy idea of the benefits you provide and no clear reason to buy from you. Demonstrating value will also help you set yourself apart from you competitors.
How can you change your ads to demonstrate the value you provide?
Too Much Focus on Products and Services
Consumers buy products and services because they fill a need or solve a problem. If your ad copy focuses too much on your company and the products and services you provide you miss your opportunity to demonstrate to your prospects that you provide the solution they need.
For example, imagine you are recovering from knee surgery and need to work with a physical therapist to regain your full range of motion. Would you be more likely to choose a therapist who advertises his new and modern equipment or the one who advertises that she will have your knee working and feeling like new again in just three weeks?
What should you focus your advertising on instead of your products and services?
Lack of a Clear Call to Action
A fifth characteristic of a highly flawed advertising is a lack of a clear call to action. An ad without a clear call to action is like calling 911 and not telling the operator where you are. Why bother calling?
Don't assume that your prospects know what they should do once they've read your ad. You need to tell them to be sure they know.
If you've gotten their attention, demonstrated your value and shown them that you are the solution to their problem, don't waste your good work by neglecting to instruct them to take the next step and contact you.
Move Your Marketing Forward™
Stop wasting money on ineffective advertising. If you are disappointed with the business your advertising generates why not take action to correct your dysfunctional ads?
Five Characteristics of Highly Flawed Small Business Advertising - To learn more about this author, visit Jeremy Cohen's Website.
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Behind every disappointing small business advertisement there is at least one reason for its failure. The good news is that any flaw with your advertising can be corrected, if you are willing to try new ideas.
Unless you are in the advertising business, chances are your strongest skills are not in advertising. If you are like many small business people, your small business advertisements are likely guilty of at least one of several common flaws.
Identifying what is wrong with your advertising is the first step toward making corrections that will result in greater response, increased revenue and stronger profits.
Following are descriptions of five common characteristics of highly flawed small business advertising. There are more, but correcting these will make for a great start.
Unfocused Market
Many small business owners make the mistake of thinking a bigger market is a better market when choosing where to run their ads. The result is they spend their advertising dollars to reach a larger but less focused market.
Are the places you choose to run your ad laser-focused on your market?
When your ads are focused squarely on your market you increase the likelihood that the readers who see your ad will actually have a need for your service. The more effectively you place your advertising in front of an 'already interested' market the more likely they will be predisposed to noticing and reacting to your ad, which is what you want.
For example, imagine your company specializes in helping law firms reduce the cost of prosecuting long, ongoing cases. If you choose to run a series of full page ads in the New York Times instead of the New York Law Journal you will likely be disappointed by the response to your campaign; despite reaching the considerably larger audience of the New York Times you would be missing the focused attention of the legal minded readership of the New York Law Journal.
How can you tell whether or not you can focus your advertising on a more receptive market?
Lack of Distinction
The next most common problem with small business advertising is that advertisements for companies in the same industry often fail to distinguish themselves from their competition.
How can you expect to win the lion's share of your market if your advertisements pretty much look the same and contain the same elements as those of your competition?
Furthermore, distinguishing your company from your competitors is often made more difficult because, within a given advertising vehicle, advertisements for companies in similar industries appear virtually on top of each other. This scenario is particularly true for yellow pages listings and pay-per-click advertising. In order to succeed with your advertising your ads need to stand out and above those of your competition.
For example, if you are the owner of a pet supply company and your ads simply say, "We Sell Pet Supplies" they will be passed over along with every other bland advertisement for Fido's food.
On the other hand, your ads will stand out and attract much more attention to your shop if you state that you sell, "King Sized Bones and Bowls for the Royalty in Your Family." By focusing your ads on the owners of large breed dogs you distinguish yourself from the crowd of pet shops that simply sell pet supplies and make it clear to the owners of large dogs that you sell what they need.
Be sure the copy of your ads has the effect of making what you offer unique. Your highly targeted prospects will reward you by noticing the difference in your ads and buying from you.
Do your ads distinguish your business clearly above your competition?
Failure to Demonstrate Value
Another property of flawed advertising is that it fails to demonstrate the value of any products or services provided. By failing to demonstrate value in your advertisements you give your prospects only a foggy idea of the benefits you provide and no clear reason to buy from you. Demonstrating value will also help you set yourself apart from you competitors.
How can you change your ads to demonstrate the value you provide?
Too Much Focus on Products and Services
Consumers buy products and services because they fill a need or solve a problem. If your ad copy focuses too much on your company and the products and services you provide you miss your opportunity to demonstrate to your prospects that you provide the solution they need.
For example, imagine you are recovering from knee surgery and need to work with a physical therapist to regain your full range of motion. Would you be more likely to choose a therapist who advertises his new and modern equipment or the one who advertises that she will have your knee working and feeling like new again in just three weeks?
What should you focus your advertising on instead of your products and services?
Lack of a Clear Call to Action
A fifth characteristic of a highly flawed advertising is a lack of a clear call to action. An ad without a clear call to action is like calling 911 and not telling the operator where you are. Why bother calling?
Don't assume that your prospects know what they should do once they've read your ad. You need to tell them to be sure they know.
If you've gotten their attention, demonstrated your value and shown them that you are the solution to their problem, don't waste your good work by neglecting to instruct them to take the next step and contact you.
Move Your Marketing Forward™
Stop wasting money on ineffective advertising. If you are disappointed with the business your advertising generates why not take action to correct your dysfunctional ads?
Five Characteristics of Highly Flawed Small Business Advertising - To learn more about this author, visit Jeremy Cohen's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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