Creative Advertising Ideas and Techniques That Work Like Gangbusters

In this article, you'll discover 3 creative advertising ideas and techniques that work like gangbusters. Although the advertising industry is competitive in nature, it is also one of the most versatile and stimulating to be around.

I've even heard that to be in advertising is to be paid to play around with ideas. From nothing, you have to create something. And even people who are not familiar with the industry agree that there are a lot of creative advertising ideas and techniques out there.

Some of the best ideas hold remarkable recall. These can be timeless, classic, funny or just plain memorable. Here are some of the creative advertising ideas and techniques that have proven themselves to be winners, over and over again.

1) Keeping It Real.

People like seeing "real" people and "real" situations. They make the product that you're advertising more relatable.

For example, if you're trying to sell a dishwasher detergent, you can compose a "real" situation of a housewife washing the dishes. Stay away from overused copies that make your talents sound fake. Be as real as possible. If you want to portray a suburban household, be sure you know what a suburban household really looks and feels like.

2) Create A Character.

One of the most effective creative advertising ideas and techniques is introducing a character to the audience. This character will serve as your product's representation, so make sure you create someone who represents your desired values or characteristics.

Like the technique above, having a character helps people relate to your product. It makes all forms of ads more interesting too. In most situations, the character is used repeatedly in different ad materials. The character usually grows with each instance as well, depending on the story you have set out for it.

3) Introduce A Problem.

A lot of creative advertising ideas and techniques involve introducing a problem. However, make sure that whatever that problem is, your product can solve it.

This kind of technique has been working for advertisers for many years now. Don't be afraid to experiment with it though. You may start out with a problem; but how you present that problem and how you determine the solution is another story altogether. This is where you can get really creative.

There are plenty of creative ideas and techniques out there for you to discover. These are just some of the ideas you can work with in the future. But don't just stick to these methods. Who knows? You just might come up with something so creative that your style would outshine the ones discussed in this article.

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How Poster Printing Matters in Your Advertising Campaign

Some people are already asking if poster printing is still practical in today's world of digital media. In fact, you might say that a lot of people are now favoring more digital and interactive media.

Slowly, they are slowly ignoring traditional advertising media. However, I am here to tell you that posters still matters in your advertising campaign. In fact if you look at movie, campaign and even shopping posters, the traditional medium is still alive, even thriving.

Poster printing is alive for various reasons, and if you do not know these reasons yet, and then let me tell you about four of them. So, read on and learn how such traditional ways still matters in your advertising campaign.

* Complete demographic coverage - For one, these materials offer almost complete demographic coverage for a target audience. Everyone can freely see it as long as it is posted on a high visibility public area. You do not have to worry if they are young or old, rich or poor, with or without a computer. As long as they are at a place where your poster is up, they will see and hopefully understand your poster. They basically cover the "blind spot" of digital media advertising, getting you a more holistic coverage of all your potential customers.

* High visibility - Also, they still offer what they have been offering for more than one hundred years, and that is high visibility. As long as you print and distribute them in the proper way, you can reach a huge chunk of the mass market. If they are almost everywhere, people will see, read and understand what they are about within moments. It can be as effective as or even more effective than newspaper advertisements, fliers and brochures.

* Tangible marketing tool - Custom posters also offer something important that digital advertising media cannot, and that is a tangible marketing tool. All digital media requires some sort of power source for them to "exist". Cut that off temporarily and they will technically in fact disappear. Moreover, it costs money for them to exist since you do need some power to display them. On the other hand, posters are just there always. No batteries needed. It is just a continuing advertisement that you can play with and hold every time.

* Integral part of an extensive marketing campaign - Finally, in any kind of marketing campaign, especially if you plan on an aggressive and extensive approach, color posters should and will always will be part of that plan. It is almost standard practice in all major companies. Only the designs become more hi-tech but the tradition of poster printing remains. Therefore, if you are wise, you will use them too in your own campaign. Almost all good companies are expected to do so.

Good. I hope that makes you realize that traditional advertising media are indeed important even in today's digitally enhanced advertising. So do not be afraid to print posters if you like and see the benefits it provides.

Katie Marcus writes about the color posters or poster printing technologies used by businesses for their marketing and advertising campaigns.

Promotional Gifts Can Be Used in Varied Ways!

Well, it's the right time to look for some of the best and effective marketing strategies as the competition among businesses is increasing day by day. Surviving in this fiercely competitive market is really tough and businesses are now opting for different marketing strategies to achieve new targets. In this regard promotional gifts can offer you great platform on which you can start visualizing the growth of your business sector. These days, many businesses are opting for promotional items and they are integrating this stuff with their marketing strategies to make it more compelling. On the other hand your boss may be looking for something unique to add for the marketing standards of the company! Well, you can suggest him for the promotional items, as these products are proven to be the most compelling stuff that can be added with your marketing standards.

All you need to convince the boss about such products and the best way is that speaking his language and he will understand the thing easily! There are several ways for how to use promotional gifts for your business improvements and here you will look for few of them.

• Promotional gifts are the great way to get brand recognition from the market. Brand recognition is what getting more necessary for business and without it you cannot make your products or services successful in the market. A branded gift or the slogan of your company on an attractive product can bring the brand recognition for your business. And that is what exactly promotional items can achieve for you

• Promotional gifts are the best way to get the right kind of impression about your company from a potential customer. Select something stylish and attractive and print the name of your company on it. The customers are surely going to remember it when its time for business.

• When you package your message as helpful you can look for double or triple of your trade show. It's always better to give out promotion items before you opt for the trade show. You will surely get double traffic. This is a good way to achieve more contacts hence the sales rate will improve significantly.

• Promotional gifts are also coming for corporate sectors. These are the best products to gain customer loyalty. If you are selling your product through a network created by distributors then promotional items are going to cement your business relationship with the distributors. This is also going to ensure that your company will gain preferential billing when it's all about making the sale.

• Promotional gifts can be used as thank you gifts for your esteemed customers. This is a good way to retain customers and also a great way to explain your customers that you value their relationship.

Paula D. Jones is the webmaster of http://funprintables.coolestwebtips.com where she provides a huge selection of high quality printables for ALL ages & ALL occasions for FREE. Come take a look...

Buying Advertising - Go For the Value, Not the Deal

Buy Value - Not Price!

I want to talk about value in advertising...because I just cannot understand why some businesses buy what they buy when they're trying to attract more customers. I have met with so many businesses who buy advertising based on three principles:

• I want it cheap
• I want to spread by money around to several media
• I want to market to everybody

Technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with any of the three by themselves if you know what you're doing and you have a really big ad budget. BUT....don't you love those Buts?....it typically does not work.

More than anything, you want the best advertising media VALUE in your market . In some areas, it could be coupons or a niche magazine. But most often, it's one of two media - cable TV or the internet. Why?

They are the only two media sources overall that are actually growing and are actually changing as the future changes. Most businesses though don't understand either of them all that well. The Old School Business owner LOVES the newspaper, or any print for that matter. Here's what I'll say to that...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Not only are newspapers a really poor value....they are swiftly on the decline as far as usage and cost an astronomical amount for the targets you hit! Let me illustrate -

You buy a 1/2 page ad in your newspaper and it costs $2,000. It goes out to maybe 50,000 households. You don't know which section your ad will be in because most papers won't tell you. Once the papers are delivered, read, and recycled, your ad is gone. IN ONE DAY - IT'S GONE!

You take that $2,000 and put it in cable TV on Fox News, CNN, ESPN....ok toss in a little Food Channel, and you get 200 commercials over a few weeks. Not one day. They have staying power and will most likely reach about 10 times the audience with sight, sound, motion, and emotion.

So What Defines Value?

Value is very simple - how much does it cost me to reach each person in my Primary Demographic Target audience? Your PDT is that group of people where most of your business comes from - that one group you cannot do without - or else! If you are trying to reach women 35-54, it's a guess whether or not the newspaper will do that for you. However, you KNOW the Food Network, HGTV, Bravo, and Lifetime zero in on that target. That's Value because you get so much more advertising dollar for dollar AND your target is hit over and over. The definition of advertising is: "The number of times you can hit your primary target over the head when they are in buying mode".

Let's go back to the three points - Cheap, Spread Your Money Around, and Target Everybody.

My dad always said, You buy cheap - you get cheap. That's often true...unless you know a little secret that I'll reveal in my member lessons. Honestly, you can go into a cable TV or radio station and get really "cheap" advertising. You just have to know a few tricks of the trade. Most business owners just try and get the price down, and that can really hurt your chances of running in good programming.

Spreading your money around is great if you have a whole lot of it and don't mind flushing some down the toilet. But here's the secret - do a media mix that makes sense. And one that makes sense has two ingredients - Reach and Frequency. You can "reach" your target audience on any budget and you can do it "a lot of times" if you are in the right medium. If your media doesn't do this, cancel it!

If you want to target everybody....I can honestly say to you that you need professional help marketing your business. It's not that you don't WANT everybody, you can NOT spend your hard earned money trying to TARGET everybody. You absolutely have a PDT - Primary Demographic Target. We'll spend some time later defining that more....but take some time and find out who you really need to go after. Who's the Bread & Butter Client? That's where you need to spend your energy....others will come too, but go for the Bread and go for the Butter and we'll talk later about how to get more on your sandwich than just butter!

Have a great week and have fun!

© Tim Orwig 2009 - Tradezone Marketing

Tim Orwig is a marketing and advertising coach, specializing in helping local businesses attract and keep more customers. Using his unique methods, his clients saturate and dominate their local markets and eliminate the competition at every customer contact point. Having spent several years in the marketing and advertising fields, his insider knowledge to leverage local advertising has helped hundreds of clients thrive in any economy.

You may contact Tim at Tim@DominateYourTradezone.com, http://www.Twitter.com/TimOrwig, or visit his website at http://www.DominateYourTradezone.com, where you can register for free weekly advertising tips or have your TV, print, or radio ad reviewed for free.

Do Ads That Use Cliches Or Humor Work?

Do cliches, humor or corny ad slogans work? Here are some examples of what I am talking about: "The Summer Sales are Really Starting to Heat up!" or "Check out our Vacuums, they Really Suck!" We see and hear these all the time, whether it's TV, Radio, Print or Internet ads.

You would think our instinct is to roll our eyes and maybe let out a chuckle and move on right? The answer surprisingly is no, we may indeed roll our eyes, we may even chuckle out loud, but we do not skip the ad! As a matter of fact, not only do we check out the ad it usually sticks with us for the day we even tell at least a few of our friends and co-workers about it. This is exactly what we want from our ad and if we are clever enough to ensure our brand is related in some positive way, they will remember your company.

What was the last commercial you remember with serious, dramatic or worrying content? If you can come up with an ad that contains even the slightest bit of humor it will usually sell for you. I believe, we find it easier to see things with humor involved especially during a recession and there is a different variety of humor from slapstick to sarcasm that will make people laugh or smile. Let's face it most of us will groan at a bad joke but we will remember it.

Now I would not base an entire ad campaign on humorous or cliched ads, however, now don't laugh, I would definitely include at least one humor ad in my campaign! There is no real downside as funny will sell and if the ad doesn't generate sales it may set up a sale for the next time they see another one of your ads.

He enjoys working full time for Adlandpro an Online Advertising Company. Helping others promote, advertise and market their online business! He has worked in several areas of marketing and promotion which include all forms of advertising (TV, Radio, Print and Internet) He has also attended various North American Trade Shows (Canada/U.S.A.) representing companies in both promotions and sales. http://www.adlandpro.com

How Much Should Small Businesses Spend On Advertising During Recession?

There are several factors to consider when determining your annual marketing budget:

First, the amount of money you spend on marketing should be directly related to the growth stage of your business. Is your business still in its infancy, or is your business mature and well-known? The stage of your business certainly impacts how much money you need to spend to promote it. What industry does your business operate in? Different industries require varying marketing investments to remain competitive. On that note, what are your competitors doing? It's important to maintain a level playing field at the very least.

Marketing experts generally advise, on average, that NEW BUSINESSES spend 10% on advertising and marketing the first year. After the first year , ad budgets should be around 5% of gross sales, on average. The 5% figure should be maintained indefinitely, even in good times. In slow, recessionary times as we're in now, advertising should be maintained, if not increased, according to experts. Many make the mistake of cutting back on advertising when business is slow, only to further in the hole. Recessions are actually a good time to advertise when competition is NOT advertising, thus, resulting in a stronger share of the market. In a recent survey, over 50% of small business advertisers said they plan to spend the same or more on the following: ONLINE ADVERTISING (including Coupons) - 69%, DIRECT MAIL (including Coupons) - 51%

Second, you need to plan what new products, services or enhancements you'll introduce to your small business in the upcoming year. Naturally, if you're launching a new product, you'll need to invest enough in the marketing of that product to raise awareness and recognition of it.

Third, you need to determine what business goals you have set. If you want to grow your business by a certain amount within the next year, you need to invest enough money in promotional efforts to help you get there.

Bottom-line, you should invest 5%-10% of your gross sales into your marketing budget. Make a plan and stick to it. Set aside a bit of your budget for opportunities that might arise throughout the year. Most importantly, use your marketing budget. It might sound like a great idea to hold onto that money during these slow times but just the opposite is true. Advertising can and will bring in that missing business and set you apart from your competition, which is NOT advertising.

For More Information on the recently -surveyed TOP 2 ADVERTISING MEDIA for SMALL BUSINESS:

http://www.YellowPagesCoupons.net ONLINE ADVERTISING
http://www.CouponCountry.com DIRECT MAIL MARKETING

Make an Impression That Sticks With Business Card Magnets

In the world of business, whether you are a mega corporation or a mom & pop venture, advertising is important. Fifty years ago, a colored, embossed business card with gold trim was a status symbol, similar to today's expensive signature cars. That merit card meant you were the very best in the business because you could afford the expense to manufacture the sales tool.

Recipients of these business cards, automatically put the businessman or businesswoman on a pedestal, as the best in their field of expertise. How else could they afford such an expensive card, if they weren't top-notched? And can you believe this, they handed me their deluxe business card! This made the receiver of the card feel special and flattered to know a "celebrity".

To produce those cards, compared to today's printing industry, was expensive, few could afford it, and extremely time consuming, which are more reasons why business cards were so coveted. You were somebody, if you had a collection of business cards. Those cards were hoarded, flaunted, and kept in leather-bound books.

Times have changed, and the archaic business cards are decaying in the local landfill. Once they touted greatness, now they are a dime-a-dozen, and anyone can get instant, professional results, on their home computer and printer. The cards are cheap, and everyone knows it. They are hurled into a waste container, without a second thought.

So why would you magnetize your business card? If they aren't cost effective, aren't you spending money fruitlessly? If I were an office manager, I would take my magnetized cards and place them on a metal surface, filing cabinet drawer or the metal back of the workstation, near my phone, making an easy access to the phone number. I don't like digging through an alphabetized circular wheel or rummaging through the phone book.

If I didn't have the capability, of putting important phone number's on speed dial, my hands-on, visible, "cheat sheet" would be a great stand-by. This enables more productivity. If I need a plumber, I have one at my fingertips. If I need a pest control company, I'm dialing. Magnetic business cards, perpetually and permanently advertise business services, providing you deliver good services! Most magnetic business cards are not filed under G, for garbage. Others who visit the workstation may ask about the magnetic card; if they need a service or are looking to purchase goods. The magnet could also hold up other important papers, like carryout lunch menus!

As an individual, I find it very handy to keep magnetic business cards on the side of my refrigerator. Again, it is a convenient and faster way to call to get an appointment for service or to purchase goods. Pulling out the phone book or finding my personal address/phone book is cumbersome and time consuming. Putting the business on speed dial is an option, but those numbers are generally reserved for family and friends. The magnet business card could also generate questions, if guests should see it. In addition, it could be used to hang up a child's drawing on the refrigerator or a quick call for Friday night pizza!

If you've enjoyed all the information you read here about using business card magnets, you can find out more here business card magnets.