Management Tips

A marketer knows how crucial it is, to promote a product if it has to sell. Advertising is one such art to promote your business. Advertisements have a long history and have evolved over changing times. At present, internet advertising is the most popular form of advertising, however the traditional/ conventional methods like TV, radio and newspaper have significance of their own. In fact, they present a different type of advertising. Today we will look at how conventional advertising techniques can be used in the present advertising world to great effect even for small companies.

‘Outdoor Advertising’

The traditional printed ‘brochures’ or ‘leaflets’ carry your message to various sets of customers, by reaching inside their homes. They are very cost effective provided you have good distribution channels i.e a good delivery company and if done in the correct way can get your phone ringing immediately. The mass distribution or door-to-door distribution approach has proven for some industries to have a higher ROI for B2C ( Business to Customer) than an online advertising campaign of the same nature. Apart from leaflets, and brochures, posters or banners can be printed and placed on various public sites i.e billboards if youcan afford it or places like local Banks (seen as trustworth on the most part) is always a good place to advertise as they have local boards for advertising and local shops. These advertisements are also cost effective, have repeated exposure to customers and provide quick communication, with local boards in banks if they are busy banks you may need to go there twice a month to renew your ad. None of these methods will work for you if your message is not concise with a finishing touch of creativity.

‘Newspaper advertising’

Newspapers or magazines have a mass reach and therefore are a good means to reach many customers by a single ad. You get the attention of your target customers by strategically choosing the section where you put your ad, be it classifieds or in an editorial section. If you are publishing an ad in editorial section make sure that it is more of an image building or awareness creation activity rather than a sales pitch. The biggest advantage of using newspapers and magazines is the mass reach among the already classified audience which means you can target your customers easily. Since the newspaper or magazine ads have a short life span, they ought to be creative enough to get and sustain the attention of the reader. The Proviso here do your research on the reach of the paper you are putting your ad in make sure it reaches a significant amount of the right type of readers (target the type of reader and the type of newpaper or magazine you use),also haggle on the price you pay to advertise always try to get a discount on long runs or extra weeks free.

‘Mass media advertising’

TV, radio and cinema are the conventional means of advertisements. They have proven to be most effectivethough they are not cheap. Because they cater to such a large audience it becomes difficult to capture any target audience unless what you sell has a wide ranging appeal i.e. a product like chocolate. A TV or a radio ad must contain a message that has a repetition of ads in order to sustain the attention of customers in these cases. In fact, repetitive advertising is not very costly in the case of radio, as radio ads don’t have images, but the message you want broadcast must be quick, sharp, to the point and of broadcasted quality.

‘Direct interaction with customers’

Reaching out to your target customers by direct interaction with them is a useful promotional method. one of the ways is ‘direct mailing’ which is, sending a sales letter to a list of customers by mailing or by inserting them in newspapers or magazines. You can also distribute CDs containing an audio or visual message. Though the responses are not always one hundred percent but a fraction of customers are still captured. You can also organize PR events where you can involve the public. But you need publicity for such an event to be successful. Such PR activities are better than mass advertising as you get on the spot feedback for your campaign. Last, but not the least, is the ‘word of mouth’ advertising. If you have established a reputation for your brand, then all you need to do is to showcase your product and its features; the rest will be done by your customers. Remember, your customers become your promoters if they like your products or your worse crritics if they do not.

Conential advertising is far from dead it still is a better form of advertising for some business types than online marketing and does have the added advantage of something physical which many people still can associate with far easier than virtual advertising. There is still a lot of potential in conventional advertising provided you know how to utilise it. remember that like all advertising these methods can be your friend or enemy depending on how well you have researched and planned your campaign.