Making their right to advertising decisions

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 accommodate. 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 knowledgeable 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, right?

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Fire Your Advertising Agency

There is a startling way for most businesses to double their business - fire their advertising agencies. Businesses spend an enormous amount of money on advertising for new customers. Unfortunately, often that money is wasted. The money is wasted because the agencies are strictly placing ad dollars in media and doing production. Often, the ad dollars are spent without any knowledge and use of direct response marketing, and the game plan that will be used towards keeping those customers.

Before you spend one dime on getting new customers, try putting a fence around the ones you've got. First define who your active and inactive customers are. Your active customers bought from you and service with you. Nationwide, these active customers only account for an average of 19 percent of your total customer base.

Next, identify who your inactive customers are and begin a campaign to make them active. You may send a cycle of three letters with the same theme. Maybe the first letter is something to the effect of "We Miss You," the second might be "You Must Have Not Gotten Our First Letter," the third would be "We Are Sending Out a Search Party."

Each letter would contain a significant reward and bonus if they become your customer again. It's not enough to sell them every four or six years; we have to create a continual relationship with contact that encourages and creates servicing and purchasing other goods and services.

Don't spend one more penny toward new customer acquisition until you have designed an ongoing continuity program to keep them active by rewarding them. You can keep those customers by actively designing an ongoing automated contact and reward system. Don't buy a Business Development System or a Customer Relationship Manager System and expect this to be a magic button to do this for you.

You must first decide what results you want and work backwards to design the steps to accomplish it. Let's say that you want to reward your customers and create an ongoing personal relationship. Design a whole year's worth of contacts based upon a theme or several themes, offers and added value.

Use multiple media to deliver the message, such as postcards, letters, dimensional mail, e-mail, e-mail newsletters, voice broadcast, free recorded messages, special reports, coupons and others. All the media should have what my colleague Nido Quebin calls "Intentional Congruence." Each choice of media should feed the other and connect the dots between each other. Each department should intentionally feed the other.

Many businesses contain four or five different businesses within a business, such as new sales, used sales, Finance and insurance, service, parts, and body shop. Each department in your business should have its own marketing messages, tailored to fit its unique services. Try breaking your database down into active, inactive, different departments, different make buyers, different model buyers, different year purchases and more. Segment your database and talk to them differently.

It costs seven times the amount of money to acquire new customers as it does to keep the ones you have. It is also the surest and best way to grow your business exponentially while also insulating your company from so-called bad economies, mistakes from manufacturers and new buyer behaviors and patterns.

When you have designed a system that touches your customer base a minimum of 48 times a year, you can now begin to work on your mass merchandising. Mass merchandising for new customer acquisition is also vital to the health of your company.

I would invite you to think first in ways that cost a lot less dollars. Try creating coupon swaps with other businesses such as dry cleaners, coffee shops, restaurants, car washes, etc. Try creating alliances with other companies where you can do a mailing to each other's businesses that introduces each other as a trusted source and offers a large inducement to take action.

Think lead generation in your mass media advertising at first. Create a "Free Special Report: Seven Things Everyone Should Know Before They Buy a _____." Create an e-mail, fax or toll-free telephone line auto-responder system to deliver this report to people who request this from your ads. This will create a two-stage lead generation source that asks potential customers to raise their hand and show interest instead of asking them to make an instant buying decision.

If you use an advertising agency and they are not talking to you about your overall marketing plan that contains elements for your existing customers, lead generation and how to create continuity programs, you should fire them and get someone who has the correct knowledge of marketing. They should create a plan that creates a healthy and wealthy business for you now and in the future.

Mark Tewart - Speaker, Consultant and Author of "How To Be A Sales Superstar: Break All the Rules and Succeed While Doing It" published by Wiley - Order a copy now at http://marktewart.com

888 2 Tewart (888 283-9278) / 513 932-9526 / info@tewart.com
Tewart Enterprises Inc.
Tewart Management Group Inc
Ninth and Main, LLC

Electronic Advertising Signs: Can Your Business Use One?

Companies that are looking to purchase Electronic Advertising Signs for their business should be very cautious when deciding upon a sign supplier.

Although electronic advertising signs, or electronic led signs as they're also known, can be a powerful message medium, it's in any company's best interest to research some facts before spending any money.

An Electronic Advertising Sign display is a integrated display system, which combines microelectronic technology, photonic technology, computer technology, information processing technology.

It is gradually becoming the leader in display field by virtue of its vivid colors, wide dynamic range, high brightness, long time span and steady capability.

LED display, which is the advanced media in the world, are widely used in advertising, securities, information spread, news release and so on. LED display is a kind of screen which is used to display text, graphics, images, cartoons, videos and other information, controlled through certain control.

They are widely used in large squares, sports centers, traffic systems, shopping centers, parks and buildings.

To your advantage, The Sign Guys both designs and manufactures LED Commercial Signs and outdoor full color signs for the purpose of electric advertising, which are more suitable for displaying large video and images than other video equipment.

APPLICATION

Electronic advertising signs are typically applied in large square areas, sports centers, as a traffic system, in bazaars, other public areas, shopping centers, parks,etc.

SIGN SPECIFICATIONS

The basic specifications for electric advertising signs are as follows:

P10mm, P12mm, P14mm, P16mm, P20mm, P25mm, P30mm,

P31.25mm, P36mm, P40mm, P50mm

SOME ADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTRONIC ADVERTISING SIGNS

* Ability to reach a larger customer base

* Ensure that your customer's will receive any and all messages that will be up-to-date and absolutely relevant

* These types of signs also have the ability to promote Brand Awareness, thus making your business' name, logo or slogan more memorable

OUR SIGN FEATURES

*High brightness that can be adjusted based on the change of the environment automatically.

*Best uniformity, with the excellent consistency of luminescence

*Clear, delicate and vivid display effect of the videos, images, texts etc.

*Big viewing angle, no picture change, no color excursion

*The sign is capable of being serviced from the front or the back.

*Distinctive modulization design, easy to carry, install, dismantle and maintain.

*Life time is more than 100, 000 hrs with lower power consumption.

In conclusion, if you want to purchase Electronic Advertising Signs, be sure to use the information above as a basic guideline.

Being business savvy means that you're smart enough to decide to follow the guidelines, learn your options and chances are you will be able to save thousands of dollars.

The best way to ensure that you'll be purchasing an electronic led signs is to go to contact us first as we'll be able to easily guide you through your purchase and help you get more information on any type of sign you may need.

Carlos G. Garcia gives tips on Electronic Advertising Signs Visit his blog at www.Chicagoleds.com for more free tips and information on all types of led signs.