Advertising: It's witty, memorable and totally wrong!

Four easy steps to matching your message to your market...

A lot of businesses approach advertising like a dart game. They throw all their messages out there and hope they hit the bulls-eye. No aim, no strategy, no consistency. This is simply a waste of your time, and more important, your money.

Matching your message to your audience and doing it effectively takes diligence, patience and knowing your customers or clients intimately.

To help you maximize the effectiveness of your game plan and concentrate on what's really important, we've put together a short four-step program as a guide.


1. Who's your audience and what do they want?
Unless you're Boeing, Microsoft or Coca Cola, chances are good that there's a lot of people who don't know your business exists. Without customers, it's tough to succeed. And to get customers you have to advertise and market constantly. But advertising can be very expensive, particularly when it's executed poorly or targeted to the wrong audience.

It's important, if not vital, that you decide beforehand whom you are trying to reach and what your goal is in reaching them. Are you looking for affluent customers willing to pay for your premium services? Or is your business based on a low-price strategy that appeals to bargain hungers. Is your product unique? Does it serve a niche? What is its value proposition? If you have a target audience in mind, it will help you spend your limited advertising dollars more wisely.

Once you know who you're targeting, ask yourself what you want them to do after they see your message. Do you want them to buy from you? Are you simply building a contact list? Do you want existing customers to buy more from you? Set your goals for your advertising and it will help you determine if it was a success. For example, if your goal is to get more people to buy from you, compare revenue before and after the advertising runs to see if it affected your bottom line.

That said, don't get trapped into the belief that one ad will do it. The average person needs to be hit 9 to 12 times with the same message before they're act so you need to build that into your budget. Repetition, repetition, repetition!


2. Choose wisely
There's a lot of mediums out there that you can use to deliver your messages. There's direct mail, newspaper and magazine ads, the Internet, local cable TV commercial buys, signage, radio... the list goes on.

If you don't know what to do, consult a professional. They can provide you with objective counsel that will save you money and keep you on course.

Here are some other tips:

Print ads can be less expensive, but stay away generally from large display ads in the local Yellow Pages. More and more people are using online phone directories and these ads can be very expensive. If you buy print in local newspapers or publications, buy in bulk. A one-time ad will cost you a lot more than buying several over the course of the year (remember the 9 to 12 rule). And don't forget to consider targeted publications, such as professional trade magazines that reach your target audience.

Have a good-looking, professional web site with content that helps your customers or clients make a purchasing decision. It should go beyond a brochure and offer advice, tout experience and allow visitors to follow up through a simple form or contact information.

Local television advertising can be very inexpensive. Now that cable companies can insert local spots in nationally televised shows, you can get your message out to your target audience for as little as $1,000, including the cost of producing the commercial.

Whichever medium you choose, make sure you understand the specifications. Find the format the publication needs. You can't use web pictures for print (see our inkjet article) and most printers require the ad to be in a specific piece of software, such as Freehand, PhotoShop, PageMaker or similar professional-level design tool.


3. It's all about the message
Now that you have a medium, you need to have a message that is compelling, memorable and effective. Don't put too much information in a small space. Your audience has little patience for confusing messages. Cleary convey whom you are, what your unique offer is and how to find you. If you're unique or have a valuable offer for them, make it the most prominent message. It's the age-old adage: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

And don't change the ad's format constantly. Come up with a look and stick with it. Vary parts, but keep the overall look the same throughout a campaign. You want to create an image and make that image point back to you at all times.


4. Now it's design time!
We've seen a lot of bad ads in our time. Unless you have experience designing your own, work with the company you're advertising with to see if they can do it in-house or if they can recommend someone to work with. It's worth the extra money to hire professionals who know how to design and prep a file. And they know how to present the information in a graphically interesting and content pleasing way.

Once your ad is ready, take a careful look at it. Make sure the information is all correct, that there's no typos or other mistakes. Then show it to colleagues, family and friends to see what they think from an arm's length perspective. They may have some valuable insights.


By Robb Zerr, EIEIO – Mister Know-it-All
CommuniCreations, Inc.

Robb Zerr is Mister Know-it-All at CommuniCreations, an award-winning creative agency providing clients worldwide with innovative and creative solutions in an increasingly templated world. CommuniCreations’ services include digital video development, graphic design, online marketing counsel, writing, web design and on-demand creativity consulting. The company is based in Melbourne, Florida, within a shuttle abort of the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center.