Advertising strategy: ten FAQs

1. What sort of businesses does advertising work well for?
2. What can my advertising realistically achieve?
3. How do I plan a campaign?
4. How much do I need to spend?
5. Where can I find out about advertising opportunities?
6. Where should I advertise?
7. Should I use an outside agency?
8. What sort of look should I go for?
9. How long does it take for an advertising campaign to work?
10. Should I try to match my competitors' advertising? 

1. What sort of businesses does advertising work well for?

Most businesses need to advertise at some stage, but for some direct selling or direct mail will achieve better results. Although press advertising is the cheapest way of reaching a large audience, small firms usually need to be more targeted in their approach. If you have access to a well-compiled and targeted list, then mailing will probably be more cost effective. 

Bear in mind consumer advertising (in the local press or specialist interest publications) can be expensive, as you usually need to advertise repeatedly to build your reputation. 

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2. What can my advertising realistically achieve?

A good advert might attract a lot of enquiries but lead to few sales because the sales literature is poor, the price is out of step with customer expectations, or you are tardy in following up. 

Measure the effectiveness of your advertising by monitoring all responses in a sales enquiry book, ruled into columns to support each channel - for example, Yellow Pages, local press, radio and specialist journals. 

A well-designed advertisement can serve several purposes - generate sales or enquiries, improve your company image, create awareness of your products or services, support a sales promotion offer, or help establish you in new geographical areas. It is important to decide what precise purpose you want your ad to meet - before you design it. Remember to lead with a customer focussed proposition. Clear is better than clever. 

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3. How do I plan a campaign?  

The best time to advertise is when your target audience is most likely to buy your product or service. Set out what you want to achieve, which might include: 

• Launching a new product or service.
• Letting customers know about a change of premises or expansion.
• Attacking a new market segment.f
• Recruiting staff. 

The campaign should cover the placement of adverts, budgets, design, timing and follow up reviews. 

Try to make your adverts just that bit different so that your limited budget goes further. Much of advertising is simply being memorable. 

Small firms commonly underestimate the timescales involved. For example, many magazines are writing their features and planning layouts six months ahead. Bear in mind, Christmas issues may well be fully booked months in advance.         

You need to decide the following: 

• Who do you want to talk to?

Draw up a profile of your target group. For example, are you contacting prospects or regular customers? Are they mainly male or female? Are they from a certain age group? Do they have a particular lifestyle? If you recognise that you have three different groups, accept that you may need three different campaigns. 

• Where are these people?

Decide whether your target audience is local or regional, national or international, or a mixture. The chosen media should suit the target. 

You might want to try newspapers (local, national, trade or free-sheets), magazines (general interest, specialist, in-house or local), local radio, cinemas, posters (on public transport), brochures and leaflets, point-of-sale displays or directories. 

• Why?

The objective of advertising is not always to increase sales. It might be to educate people about new developments or special offers, to create awareness of what you do, or even to reassure existing customers. If you are not clear exactly what you want to achieve, the confusion will show through in your advertising. 

• What do you want to say?

Keep your message simple. Stress the benefits, not the features, of your offer. Try to build in a unique selling proposition and make a claim your competitors cannot match. Unless you are world famous your logo should be at the bottom not at the top in most cases. 

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4. How much do I need to spend?  

Consider how much you normally spend and how effective it was in relation to your business objectives. Assess what your competitors are doing, as if they are advertising heavily you might need to do the same to ensure your message is heard. 

Consider how far you are from achieving your objectives. For example, if you are launching a new product you may need to spend heavily to increase awareness. Consider what your advertising is worth to you. Calculate how many extra sales you need to make to justify your spend. 

If you want to get value for money, only undertake campaigns that can be tested and revised as you go. 

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5. Where can I find out about advertising opportunities? 

Find information about newspapers in your area and how to advertise in them on the Newspaper Society website at www.newspapersoc.org.uk. Check circulation figures verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations on the ABC website at www.abc.org.uk. 

Look in the BRAD directory (available in good reference libraries) for lists of newspapers and specialist magazines. Look for a publication whose readership is close to your target niche or segment. 

Order a media pack that will include a rate card and a back copy. Check the circulation figures (which should be ABC audited), but be aware that this may be very different to the number of people who will actually read the publication and see your advert. 

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6. Where should I advertise? 

Always match your customer profile with what the target segment reads or engages with. If you are uncertain, sample a few target customers and find out. Measure each of the approaches you are considering in terms of the cost per thousand target viewers. This comparison sometimes yields surprising results. 

For example, a poster in the High Street may seem cheap, but it might only be read by a small proportion of your target audience. To reach a thousand people, it may have to be there for several weeks, making the actual cost higher than expected. A small advertisement in a specialist magazine may initially be more costly. But if it reaches the target audience immediately and works out cheaper on a cost-per-thousand basis, it may be a better deal. 

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7. Should I use an outside agency?  

As a rule of thumb, only consider using an advertising agency if you plan to spend more than £10,000 on advertising. Typically agency fees will amount to around 15 per cent of your advertising budget. 

Look for an agency that has experience of your industry or type of business. Look at samples of their past work. Ask for brief ideas to get a feel for what they can offer you, but do not expect too much without paying for it. 

Whether you decide to do your own advertising or use an outside agency, remember that your advertising creates an image of your company. It is better not to advertise at all, rather than have a poorly thought out, mediocre piece of advertising that damages your reputation. If you decide to do it yourself, get as much help as you can from people you know with experience in this field. 

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8. What sort of look should I go for? 

On average, a casual reader will spend about two seconds looking at your advert. If it has not caught the eye or grabbed their attention in that time, this reader will move on to something else. How your ad looks is therefore very important. 

An eye-catching headline is essential. It may be in the form of a question, a statement, an invitation or even a testimonial based on what your customers tell you. In the same way, well-chosen illustrations and the use of colour can help your advert stand out from the clutter. 

Always leave detailed design to the professionals, as this is an area where amateurs with cheap DTP packages can look very foolish. The image of the advert should reflect your market position and carry through the same values and content 

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9. How long does it take for an ad campaign to work?  

If you monitor the effectiveness of your campaign, you will get a measure of how long it must run to achieve its objectives. If you are not getting the anticipated results, tracking what is going on in this way will show you when and how your advertising needs to change. 

Advertising should not be used as a quick, short-term fix, only brought into play when something is going wrong. It should be planned to support your overall marketing strategy and to complement all your other communications. 

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10. Should I try to match my competitors' advertising?

You should keep an eye on your competitors' advertising, as this can give you valuable insights into their marketing strategies. But don't try to copy them. 

Marketing is all about creating a competitive advantage. Just keeping in step and doing the same as your competitors does not put you ahead of them. Either do better or be different but above all, work to your own strengths and don't feel the need to compete with your competitors for the sake of it. It is much better to put your energy into creating a customer offer that is attractive and profitable.

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