Let Customers Know About Your Business
By Jim Schneider
Advertising is an important part of operating and growing your small business. Among small businesses owners that I have encountered over the years, there are two basic philosophies about advertising:
- “Advertising is extremely important and it must be done with a consistent look and done with some regularity,” or,
- “I don’t need to advertise because word-of-mouth works best for my business.”
Both of these have validity and they aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, advertising can support word-of-mouth referrals as a visual reminder and conversation starter to the person making the referral. And, savvy advertisers often consider using first-person testimonials as part of their print ad campaigns.
Advertising can be very effective in drawing clients to your business if done with a consistent message and with regularity. Your ad should look the same for all advertising and perhaps with a different message to it. For example, the image could be the same and a coupon could be attached with a different savings or incentives offered for each time you advertise.
The general rule that I have heard from advertising sales representatives is that it is necessary to have your ad displayed at least three times before people begin to recognize it. Given this, the regularity of advertising is important. Advertising recognition takes time to have people see the ad and remember your business location or to have the need or desire to buy your product.
The advertising you do should be well thought out in terms of who you are trying to attract to your business, the cost of the advertising as it relates to your sales (current and projected) and the publications in which you choose to place your advertising, among other considerations. There are many ways to advertise without spending too much money. One cost-saving method is cooperative advertising, often refered to as “co-op advertising.” You could advertise cooperatively with your neighbor businesses or ask your Chamber of Commerce or Business Association to work with local publications to offer some form of cooperative advertising through area publications.
Co-op advertising is an excellent way to share the ever increasing cost of advertising. Two or more small businesses can share the ad space and also share the clients attracted to the businesses. Some publications will not allow this, but if they have enough requests for this, they may find a way to supply the demand.
Word of mouth is excellent and a valued part of advertising. If that is the only way you choose to advertise, you could offer any incentive to your clients to tell their friends to shop your store. In a sense, they are working for you to draw more sales dollars to your business and there should be some incentive for them and others to tell their friends about your business. You could develop some simple-to manage incentive program for your clients who find time to tell others about your business. Over time, you could have hundreds of people doing this for you and the benefits to you could be great.
Whichever method you choose, you need to be telling the world that your shop is here to serve the needs of your present and future clients and advertising should be an integral part of your business operations and success.
Jim Schneider is Executive Director of the Adams Avenue Business Association. If you have ideas for this series of articles or would like to ask a question about small business, please contact the editor of the North Park News (kgrant@sandiegometro.com) to have your questions answered in a future Business Cents article.
