Top 9 Small Business Advertising Tips

"A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed, you ain't got nothin'." ~ Leo Burnett

Whether it's gifts and novelties or industrial supplies, effective advertising can attract many new customers for your small business at low cost. The following tips will help you advertise better.

1. Target the right people – Buying advertising space is costly, but that shouldn't lead you choose advertising media that's inexpensive. To get your advertising message to the right people, identify your prospects' favorite hangouts such as magazines, radio stations, television program, websites for placing your ads. Advertising in the right places will get you to the right audience and make your investments yield a better return.

2. Fine tune your advertising message – Once you know what your target audience's needs, motivation and pain points are, tailor your message accordingly. Don't try to reach out to everyone who will be exposed to your advertisement. A focused message is more likely to get the attention of your prospects than a generic advertising pitch.

3. Emphasize your unique selling proposition (USP) – Stressing on what differentiates you from competition will make your ad stand out from others and get you more attention. If you don't include a USP, your ad will pass off as "just another ad."

4. Make your business recognizable by symbols – FedEx, Mercedes, Nike, McDonald's all of these companies are recognizable by just a glance at their logos, or exteriors. You don't have to be as big as some of these giants to create an instantly identifiable symbolic image for your business. These images will go a long way to help you with your advertising and popularity.

5. Don't skimp on ad spending – While there are many ways for you to minimize your ad spend, you should try to optimize it instead. To get the maximum benefit from advertising you need to place your ads in the right places and choose the right media. Further, you need to advertise via several media for better results. But many a times the advertising spaces will be costly, so you should be willing to spend the money.

6. Earmark ad money for emergencies – For the most part your advertising plan will dictate how you spend money. But since you never know how your customer and competitors will behave, or how the market dynamics of you niche will pan out, you need to have some funds kept aside for each month to be used during emergencies.

7. Test run your ads – If possible, before launching an ad campaign, try your ads on focus groups. Review whether your ads convey the message that you want, are they attractive, etc. A test run will help you spruce up your ads and weed out any problem areas.

8. Track your ad success – Ask your new customers about how they came to know of your company. Systematically record this data as it will help you to plan your ad campaign better next time.

9. Let your customers be your advertising agents – You can gift your new customers acquired after an ad campaign with promotional items, rewarding them for buying from you. Your promotional items in turn will further advertise your company when many more prospects inquire about the promo items from your recent customers. See Grow Your Business with Promotional Items for more tips.