Setting Advertising

Purpose of Advertising

The purpose of advertising is simple: to make potential buyers aware of products or services - and to do them to act! That act may be inquiring for more information, calling for an appointment, coming by your store or sending in an order by mail. The outcome of these actions should, of course, eventually be a sale.

Advertising is uniquely able to deliver consistent messages reliably, quickly and efficiently. Unlike other marketing communication tactics, such as public relations, advertising allows you to control the message, the placement and the frequency. In other word, you call the shots!

Through advertising, you deliver a message about your product or service. (Other ways to deliver messages about your products and services include word of mouth or public relations activities, but let's focus on advertising now.)

Additionally, advertising can:

· establish and maintain an awareness and positive image of your company, products or services;

· develop a need for products or services;

· develop sales leads;

· persuade customers that your products or services are the best;

· promote events.

Some unexpected results from advertising include attracting new salespeople or retailers and improving employee pride and morale.

Setting Advertising

Spending money on advertising without first establishing goals not only wastes money, time and effort, but could do more harm for your business than good by sending the wrong message! Even advertising with a specific plan in mind is still no guarantee of success. Advertising is much more of an art than a science.

Some items for you to consider when setting goals for your company’s advertising strategy follow. (This is not an inclusive list, but should serve as a starting point to stimulate your thinking.):

· What target market do you want to reach?

· What image do you want to portray?

· What product or service do you want to emphasize?

· What sales volume do you expect?

· How much money can you spend?

· When is the right time to advertise?

When setting goals, remember to make them specific. A general goal is nearly as detrimental as no goal at all. An example of a general goal is. "We want to increase sales." Making that same goal specific would be: "Our goal is to increase sales revenue by $10,000 during the first half of the year."

Your goal for every ad campaign may not be directly related to sales. For example, you may develop a campaign to enhance your company's name recognition. Certainly, in the long run, this should pave the way for future sales, but for that specific campaign, the goal is company awareness.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14