Well to be honest, most small businesses shouldn't be advertising at all and especially not if you are on a tight budget. There are so many other things you could be spending your marketing budget on, rather than advertising, and many of these strategies have higher returns than a traditional advert.
But if you do feel that advertising is a strategy you want to engage in then here are some Shoulds and Should Nots.
What you SHOULD do:
DO your research. Before you spend any money or make a commitment for any advertising spend, you need to know that you are considering the right publication for your advert. You can do this by matching up your target audience or your ideal customer profile with the publication's reader demographics.
All good publications/media sources will have this information in their media packs or if they don't, they will be able to provide this information to you. And if the readership doesn't match your target audience - then don't use this publication - it just won't work.
DO get the most bang for your buck! This is more media pack research and actually it's quite straightforward. Find out, from the media pack, what the per column centimetre cost for a display advert is. So, for example, a display advert (that's one that is graphically designed and not just text - or a lineage advert) could cost you £15/col cm.
That means, for every centimetre high that your advert is and for one column in width you will pay £15. E.g. a two-column wide ad that is 10cms high will cost you: £300. (£15 x 2 x 10 = £300.) Now you know how much your ad will cost, you need to divide this by the circulation figure of the publication. This will give you the per person or per item cost of your ad, which will enable you to compare two or more suitable publications in terms of their cost effectiveness.
DO negotiate or bargain! Don't ever, ever, ever pay the rate card price for your advert. EVER! The rate card price in the media pack is what the publication would like to get for that space and sometimes they do - but not from you. There are ways to negotiate discounts and get a bargain! Trust me on this - I have been on both sides of the coin - having run a publication and been a media buyer for previous employers and now current clients.
- Option 1: Check the rate for a black & white (B&W) ad and then ask for it to be in colour for the same price. Of course this only works if there is a B&W price and spot colour or full colour price options. This is less like these days as most publications are now full colour throughout and offer this as a standard option.
- Option 2: Agree to book a series - two or more adverts - for a discount on the insertion rate (the insertion rate is the cost for each time the advert appears in the publication).
- Option 3: If the publication you are negotiating with has more than one publication or edition in its series - get them to put the ad in more than edition for the original price.
- Option 4: Find out when the publication's deadline is and get in touch just before deadline to see if they have any last minute deals going. You might sacrifice choice over position but you could get a real deal.
DO always ask for a good position (i.e. early right hand page - pages 3,5,7,9,11) and/or some free editorial space. This is obviously not a direct monetary saving but it is added value.
What you SHOULD NOT do:
DO NOT (at the risk of repeating myself) pay the rate card price. There is usually no need to pay the rate card price. The exception might be if this is the only publication suitable for your business and/or it is oversubscribed and can charge a premium.
DO NOT make your advert too small. No point in having a tiny advert it will just get overlooked.
DO NOT try to squeeze too much into your advert. This is such a common mistake. I know what people are thinking when they do this - I am paying for this space so I have to get as much out of it as possible. Big mistake. If you overcrowd your advert you might as well have left the space blank. Too much information will make people not want to read it. If they do - by some miracle - read your advert, you will be throwing so many messages and information at the reader they will just give up or come away confused. You need to keep it simple, choose one strong message and use the space wisely.
DO NOT over commit yourself to any publication. If you are negotiating for a discount by block-booking then give yourself the option to cancel this agreement if you find the ad isn't working for you. One way to do this is to book three insertions (one a month) for a discount with just a verbal promise of similar block bookings if all goes well.
As I said, I don't believe that advertising is a good way to go for small businesses.
Although advertising means that you can say what you want to your target audience in the way you want to say it, compared to other types of marketing, including PR, it has little credibility - readers know you can essentially say whatever you want.
Advertising is also an expensive way to spend your marketing budget and the returns aren't great. As a former publication owner I know that advertising has very low conversion rate and ideally you need to have a consistent campaign to see results - as well as a fairly well-known brand to start with.
This means a longer term view for your advertising, whereas most people think placing one ad into their local paper will have people banging their doors down. This is not going to happen. Finally, to get the consistency needed to make advertising work - you need a much bigger budget than the one I bet your are considering right now!
I truly believe that advertising has its place in a properly planned and comprehensive marketing strategy, which that is critical and highly beneficial to even the smallest business. If you have a properly planned marketing plan then within that overall framework advertising has its place, however, remember one advert is unlikely to change your business world.
Just Too Busy ( http://www.justtoobusy.co.uk ) is a fun, friendly and focused marketing consultancy working with small businesses in West Sussex and Surrey. We LOVE developing great creative ideas and strategic plans for your small business marketing.
Our aim as marketing consultants for small businesses is to provide a service that is professional, flexible but above all 100% value for money. As a small business ourselves, we know that any expenditure is a serious commitment. We also know that marketing is a key investment in any business, so we do our best to make it a worthwhile and successful one for you.
As a team of marketing consultants and creative experts we have a wide range of marketing tools and services that will get you on track for successful small business marketing.
We help you come up with great marketing ideas for your small business, develop your business brand and marketing plan, create stunning marketing material, through creative design and professional copywriting (including logos, stationery, brochures and websites (and more!); as well as help you put it into practice too with promotion advice and support.
Alex is a natural entrepreneur and a strategic marketer who effortlessly combines passion, talent, insight, charm, wit, enthusiasm and knowledge with a positive and a can-do mindset. A marketing force of nature and fuelled by an innate business understanding Alex has an instinctive ability to bring the very best out of the people she works with.
Alex has been running her own businesses for nearly ten years and remains as motivated, driven, inspired and dedicated to helping other businesses, as she was on day one. Her fun and open personality complements her ability to really help businesses not only market successfully but ultimately to be successful.
