FIVE PRACTICAL TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

Big companies and multi-national corporations are able to spend millions on advertising. Small businesses, on the other, don’t have the same luxury. In today’s digital marketplace, however, that doesn’t mean that small businesses don’t have any advertising clout.

As a small business, however, you must be vigilant about how you spend your marketing dollars when setting up an advertising campaign, so you get as much as possible out of it. Here are some practical tips to ensure that you don’t squander any of those dollars!

Tip #1: Carefully Define Campaign Goals. While it is easy to say that you want more sales, this is too broad of a goal and will likely lead to you squandering your resources. It is important to be specific. Do you want to focus on lead generation? Brand awareness? Launch a new product?

Tip #2: Identify the Target Audience. Your target audience will be your ideal audience for this particular campaign. You want to zero in on a particular segment of buyers or consumers. It also is important to find the best ways to reach these individuals. Are they likely to respond best to social media? Email marketing? Print ads? Telemarketing?

Tip #3: Time it Right. Are you going to use a variety of marketing methods-direct mail, social media and email, for example? Then you need to time the launch of these elements to best complement each other. A combination of inbound and outbound marketing techniques is a great way to maximize your advertising dollars.

Tip #4: Create the Appropriate Message. Whether you are calling prospects, sending emails or using print ads, what you say is crucial to any campaign’s success. This may seem obvious, but you may be surprised how many businesses become so involved in the overall scope of the campaign, they forget what they want to say. You may have to bring in help with this aspect of your campaign. For example, if you are using telemarketing, choose a firm that can help you with script creation that hits the mark.

Tip #5: Measure Results. At the end of any advertising campaign, it is important to determine if the goals you set out to begin with were achieved. In most cases, this will mean much more than how many sales you made. For example, are more people aware of your brand as a result of the campaign? Did you obtain a list of solid leads?

Small businesses don’t have to resign themselves to sub-par advertising campaigns. They just need to know how to use their resources in ways that give them the best return on their investment.