Advertising! Most probably the greatest waste of money in any business expense area whether it is in a large or small company.
Sponsorship is often an expression of the ego of the company owner or Chief Executive Officer rather than a serious investment to increase sales.
If you can’t measure it don’t invest your hard earned money.
Don’t run more than one campaign at a time for even if you don’t have any other form of measurement you can use whether your sales increase, decrease or remain static.
Ability to measure is one of the reasons for the continuing success of online selling despite huge expenditure by the traditional advertising mediums of print, radio and television to support non on line advertising and promotional activities.
Be careful of the image concept promoted by advertising agencies which usually means they can’t measure its effectiveness or don’t want to because they are unsure of their proposed campaigns chance of success.
If you have a successful advertising campaign doesn’t be talked into making changes based only on the opinion of your advertising agencies executives.
NB They sell new commercials or campaigns as a method of raising additional income for their agencies.
NB Advertising agencies creative staff frequently become bored with a particular campaign long before the consumers does.
A very old guideline which can be used for most advertising.
The greater the appeal of the proposition the less you have to spend on media.
Eg To sell $10-00 notes at a $5-00 will have consumers breaking their neck to reach you
Conversely the weaker the proposition the greater you have to spend on media.
Eg To sell $5-00 notes at $10-00 would almost be impossible.
The best promotional investment for your product or service is a satisfied existing consumer. They can alone generate an increase in sales without any investment in media only consumer service. Well trained, product/service knowledgeable and motivated staff can be your best investment in generating increased sales.
NB Conversely unsatisfied customers can wreck havoc with even the best of advertising/promotional campaigns.
NB If a campaign fails to achieve its objective then check on your own business activities first before taking the advertising agency to task.
Just by adhering to simple guidelines you can increase the effectiveness of advertising and promotional expenditure.
