Do_s_and_don_ts_of_advertising - DOC

							Title:
Do's and don'ts of advertising

Word Count:
627

Summary:
Such a lot of people think that adv
ertising and marketing are the same
 thing, but they aren_t at all.

Advertising can turn out to be the
fastest way to waste money on your
marketing.

There are ways to get the best out
of your advertising and today I_m g
oing to share the best of these sec
rets with you.
Keywords:
advertising, marketing, promote you
r business, advertise your business

Article Body:
To start I need to tell you that ad
vertising is not the best way to ef
fectively market your business, the
re are many better ways to market.
Advertising may be the most popular
 method, but far too many people st
op there. Since advertising is ofte
n the most expensive marketing opti
on it_s not surprising that many bu
sinesses get bogged down over marke
ting. Wouldn_t it be great if there
 were other, more cost effective wa
ys to market your business?

Well there are, like Direct Mail, I
nternet, Telephone, Email (with per
mission), etc, and I_ll get to them
 later, for now, if you are adverti
sing already, here are some importa
nt do_s and don_ts.

First make a decision to stop any c
urrent advertising that isn't worki
ng for you. I have to say that firs
t because, although it may seem obv
ious, many businesses keep on adver
tising in the same places year afte
r year, whether they know its worki
ng for them or not!

Next work out a way to measure whet
her your advertising is working for
 you. Far too many businesses use u
p their advertising budget every ye
ar, without testing to see what is
working for them. This doesn_t make
 sense! If an advert is working the
n fine, you want to keep running it
 and maybe even expand that particu
lar advert further and spend more o
n it, but if an advert isn_t workin
g you need to stop running it now,
and instead allocate the money you
would have used on it to other mark
eting methods, which have a much hi
gher chance of success.

Then you should choose adverts that
 are designed to bring in a respons
e. That is _direct response adverti
sing_. There is a lot of talk in ma
rketing circles about _brand_ adver
tising, but unless your company is
a household name, brand advertising
 will have very little chance of wo
rking for you. Those large companie
s which use this method have spent
thousands if not millions establish
ing their brand. If you are a small
 business then brand advertising wi
ll be a waste of your money.

This means that the purpose of your
 adverts should be to obtain a resp
onse. The bonus of this is that res
ponse advertising is easier to meas
ure to see if its working for you.

So how do you put together a direct
response advert?
Here is the proven formula for succe
ss: -

The most important part of the whol
e advert is the headline. If you do
n_t have an actual headline then it
_s the first few words of the adver
t itself. It MUST capture the reade
r_s attention.

Tip if you have been using the name
 of your company here, stop, you sh
ould use this important space to le
ad with an exciting statement about
 your product or service.
The main body of your advert should
 speak to the reader personally and
 tell them about the benefits they
will get from your product or servi
ce.

Don_t forget to include a call to a
ction. This is where you tell the r
eader what they should do to follow
 through and get in touch with you
or place an order etc. When you boo
k an advert you should insist that
it is placed on the right hand page
, which is where people_s eyes are
drawn first, so statistically more
people will actually see, and have
a chance to read and respond to, yo
ur advert.

Don_t book a long advertising run,
or a large advert, until you have t
ested the advert first, and then on
ly re-book if its working for you.

So, don_t waste your money on ineff
ective advertising, you could get m
uch better results for less money u
sing a mixture of other marketing m
ethods. And meanwhile, only use adv
erts that have proved profitable fo
r you.