Thinking about advertising pays big dividends

By Andrea Hill

One of the consequences of living in a fiercely fast-paced world is the limited amount of time we have to think about, well, anything. Most of us go through entire days of doing without ever pausing to reflect on the purpose we are serving or how we might do things better. The negative effects of this phenomenon show up dramatically in marketing efforts. 

To break the cycle of acting before you’ve spent enough time thinking about your advertising plans, ask and answer the following five questions. Consider making this activity a daylong process.

Question #1: What am I trying to accomplish with my advertising in the next quarter?

If you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish, how can you determine which things you should do? When creating your list of answers, include very specific, measurable goals, such as:

• Open eight new wholesale accounts

• Attract 800 new consumers to my website

• Entice 10 new customers per week to come onto my store

Question #2: Why am I trying to accomplish the things in my answer to question #1?

This is your first check-and-balance step. If the “whys” aren’t good enough, you’ll have to cycle back to question #1 and start all over. (This is why it’s wise to set aside a day for this task.) Again, be specific with your answers, such as:

• I want to open eight new wholesale accounts so I can meet my overall goal of 30 new wholesale accounts this year.

• I want to attract 800 new consumers to my website so I can create dozens of opportunities to refer clients to and build goodwill with my dealers.

• I want to entice 10 new customers per week to come into my store so I can meet my overall sales growth of 15 percent (to figure this out you must calculate walk-in conversion rates and average spend).

Once you have answered the first two questions, you can begin to develop meaningful thoughts about your advertising strategy.

Question #3: What messages and images will best achieve my goals and objectives?

Marketing is all about communication, and when we communicate, we are sharing messages and ideas. Yet most of the messages in small business advertising are afterthoughts or filler copy. You will stand out from the crowd in your advertising simply by getting a handle on your messaging. Think about the one or two things that you most want potential and current customers to understand about your business—the things that are most important to them. Cindy Edelstein of The Jeweler’s Resource Bureau likes to ask designers, “What is your one word—the thing you want people talking about you to say?” When you distill your message into a few powerful thoughts about what makes your company special and important to your target customers, your advertising improves immediately. Once you figure out your core message or (at most two) messages, write them down and use them over and over in your advertising. You can change the words around, but never lose sight of the core message.

Question #4: What media should I use to accomplish my goals and objectives?

Did you think we were going to design your ads next? Not quite! You must understand what types of media will work best for you before you put your campaign together. The answers to this question will include things such as:

• If I want to open new wholesale accounts, I should advertise in well-read trade magazines that I know my target wholesalers are reading.

• If I want to attract 800 new customers to my website, I should invest in improving my SEO (search engine optimization) ratings, as well as create banner ads to run on sites that cater to the same clientele.

• If I want to entice 10 new customers per week into my store, I should advertise in local or regional media that serves my target customers. This could include newsprint, Facebook, radio, or local versions of national media, such as a local ad in the Wall Street Journal.

Question #5: How do I put all the answers from questions 1 to 4 together in a few cohesive ads that will give the strongest overall impression of my company?

If you dread producing or directing ads, you will love how things go from here. Once you have answered all these important questions, the actual advertising production becomes fun and interesting. Most of the struggle with creating ads is not knowing what to say. Using this process eliminates that problem.

Then do all the advertising work in advance. For example, create one horizontal and one vertical ad; you can always size up or down to fit the opportunity. Create a 30-second radio spot; you can always edit it down to 10 or 15 seconds later. Create two internet banners in the standard sizes. With the basic ads created for your target media, you’ll be ready for anything.

The next time you are flying around doing things and that nudgy advertising salesperson calls you for your ad, you won’t have to panic—and you’ve already taken time to think. Just send in your ad, sit back, and be more confident than ever that those dollars will do what they are supposed to do.

Five Advertising Don’ts

• Select advertising images and messages on a whim, generally based on whatever product is ready to release or current competitive pressure.

• Produce advertising graphics or copy at the last minute, typically when the ad salesperson calls and says time’s up.

• Once an ad is produced, run it for the next 12 to 24 months because: (a) it was such a hassle to produce in the first place, and (b) the business hasn’t changed that much in the meantime.

• Run the same ad in many different media, without considering the customer type engaged with that media.

• Produce scattered, kitschy, or obscure ads for social media because it’s “free” and requires little thought or planning.