For the bigger multi-national companies advertising was a no-brainer in many cases - it's what they needed to do to keep up awareness of their brand and keep top-of-mind.
The answer for small business owners was a bit different. Some advertising opportunities were a good fit and made sense but many times, spending money on traditional advertising just doesn't make sense. This is especially true if you provide your products and services to a large geographic area - not just a local location.
In reality, there are several things inherent in advertising that just do not make business and money sense for small businesses and service professionals.
1. Advertising is usually a mass medium
This means that advertising is usually aimed at everyone - it's hard to just "talk" to a niche market with advertising. Because of the large focus of TV, radio, newspaper and magazines, small business owners can spend a lot of wasted money - advertising to people who aren't in their niche target group.
2. Advertising is expensive
Because of the larger audience available via traditional advertising (think of all the people who watch TV and listen to the radio!), the costs associated are usually quite high. To produce, create and run a television commercial can run you in the 6 - 7 figures; ads in national magazines can costs in the tens of thousands and even radio commercials can be several thousand dollars.
3. Advertising doesn't allow for frequent exposure
Due to the high cost of advertising and the limited space and time to purchase, it's very expensive to advertise enough times to get noticed. We had a saying in the advertising world that you needed to have a 3+ frequency - this meant a person needed to see/hear your advertisement at least 3 times before they even barely noticed it.
In this media-saturated world we live in, where we're bombarded with thousands and thousands of messages each day, advertising doesn't get our attention like it did in the old days. If you can only afford to run one magazine ad or a handful of radio commercials, you're really just throwing your money away.
4. Advertising doesn't have the ability for strong follow-up and call-to-action
Getting someone's attention is only the first step - you then need them to take a specific action, such as visit a website, pick up the phone, visit a location, and so on. Because many times small business owners can only afford a small ad, there isn't the space or size to outline a clear call-to-action and next steps. Many prospects can be left not knowing what they should do next if they're interested.
As well, follow-up is key to converting prospects into customers and the expense and lead time of advertising doesn't allow for much follow-up at all. Again, prospective clients are lost due to advertising's inability to provide follow-up.
Advertising has its place and can work for small businesses, but there are many more cost-effective and high-impact marketing strategies that you can employ to get a return on investment much quicker, effectively and consistently.
So… you've found an opportunity and now you need traffic. Are you unsure where to begin? Maybe you already have some ideas but are not getting any results. Well you've come to the right place. In this article I am going to introduce you to some marketing tactics that will help you get traffic without breaking the bank. Because, let's face it we are trying to make some money not spend all we have. I am going to share with you an idea, and when I'm through I will provide you with the link to further research this idea. I think by the time you finish this article you will agree with me that this idea makes sense.
OK, here is the idea; you need to be able to promote all of your opportunities in one place. If I have learned anything from trying to make money on the internet it is that you must create multiple streams of income. But, having multiple opportunities you are promoting is not enough. If you want to promote multiple urls without breaking the bank you need free advertising. Free advertising is easy to find virtually everywhere. The part that is not so easy is actually getting any type of results from free advertising.
One example of free advertising is traffic exchange. The way a traffic exchange works is you get your advertisements displayed after earning credits by viewing other members' advertisements. Unfortunately in order to earn enough credits to get any real results you would have to spend all day everyday viewing advertisements. And let's face it if you have to invest that kind of time you may as well have a job. So, in order to earn enough credits to get the results you need you have to get referrals so that they can help you earn.
How do you get referrals, by promoting your referral urls. Now, wait a minute does that make any sense to you? You join a traffic exchange in order to promote your money making opportunity so that you can make some money and now you have to find a way to promote the traffic exchange if you want it to be effective. It's beginning to look like a never ending cycle that will end in nothing but wasted time and frustration. But there is a better way.
The secret is to have one website that not only allows you to promote multiple opportunities, but that also directs you prospects to the very traffic generating programs that you use. This web site will give your prospects and then customers a step by step plan to begin promoting. And what happens when they follow these instructions? They sign up under you in all the traffic generating programs that you use and start earning advertising credits for you. Why should you spend your resources to promote all your urls separately if you could promote them all on one site. This really is a no brainer you have to work smart not hard.
Both Jody Gabourie & Leea Mathis are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jody Gabourie has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide, Small Business and Marketing Strategies. Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, delivers simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to help business owners find and keep their most profitable clients. To learn more about how she can help you take your business to the next. Jody Gabourie's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.
Leea Mathis has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide. Hi, I am a 31 year old mother of three. I am successfuly earning an extra income online and you can too! clik here