The Advertising Process

From looking into what advertising is, my next step is to discover the marketing basics of being successful in the competitive envirorment of advertising.

-Review the fundamentals of targeting a buyer segment and marketing strategically to that particular niche. One example I have looked at is 'Guerrilla marketing'.
-Determine who my existing customers are, and define the target market I want to reach.
-Know what I am truly selling, once you determine the intangible benefits of my product or service, I will have a clearer sense of who else offers that intangible and what advertising approach and image I need in order to compete successfully.

Taking into account target market, sales message, images, and competitive environment, determine your underlying objectives in running an advertising campaign - objectives such as expanding the wholesale side of your business or developing a more affluent clientele.

Equally important, establish a realistic advertising budget. By rule of thumb, it should amount to three to five percent of your annual revenues, although you'll need to consider adjusting up or down depending on the extent and spending levels of your competition. This budget should cover any community sponsorships you may provide, as well as your advertising in newspapers, magazines, Yellow Pages, internet, on radio and television, by direct mail, and any other promotional avenues you choose.

Here are six guidelines I found related to developing an ad program:

Do your homework - start compiling your own ad file. Collect ads you like as well as competitors' ads to give you ideas. Read books on advertising.

-"Sell the sizzle, not the steak." The old rule about selling products based on the benefits and excitement they provide has proved true time and time again, so focus on your U.S.P. and on those intangibles that motivate human behavior and generate sales.
-Stick to your own image and personality; stay with the basics of who you are. Make sure that the personality and image projected in your advertising ring true.
-Work as a team. The best advertising results from a synergy of your expertise in your business and your ad specialists' expertise in advertising.
-Carefully explain your product, market, and goals, and let the ad people go from there to develop their ideas. Advertising is a give-and-take process, and both sides need to communicate and work together without dictating until the outcome feels right.
-Give each advertising medium you choose a fair test. Advertising rarely brings sales overnight. Run your ad at least five times - or at least two months in weekly publications - to test the market properly. Often, consumers need to get used to seeing your ad before they'll act on it. Results take time.
-Don't overlook current customers. Nobody sells you better than a satisfied customer, so in your efforts to gain sales from new prospects, remember that you can build sales equally well through customer referrals and repeat purchases of existing clientele.
-Maintain a mailing list and, at your earliest opportunity, start producing sale notices, newsletters, catalogs, or other goodwill and sales-generating materials for current customers. Some of these items lend themselves to a direct mail campaign targeted at new prospects as well.

Below are some of the advertising pitfalls which need to be avoided:

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to good advertising is excess. Ads can end up so crammed with ideas and features that they appear dense and uninviting. If over-designed, they can be more artistic than motivational, obscuring the sales message. If over-written, they can become too subtle or cute. Certainly, some of the best ads ever created are clever and visually arresting, but good ads must also sell. Similarly, selling points may over-promise. Use "largest," "best," and other superlatives only if you can back them up. Avoid any claim that could be construed as deceptive.

In addition, make sure the overall tone of your ad is upbeat and appealing. Emphasize the solutions you provide, not the problems you address. Get outside opinions on your new advertising concepts to be certain they carry the personality and message you intend.

Client Led Advertising

Client Led Advertising Selection is employed when a client requires niche skills, multiple hires, or a senior member of staff. We often recommend an advertising or marketing campaign and are able to advice on target media and manage the campaign from the production of the advertising to response screening.
A client is a paying customer regardless of the initial contact of either party. It can work either way, but the theory would lean more toward the advertising agency contacting them first. Advertising agencies have to advertise to get a client, therefore initial contact will more than likely be initiated by the advertising agency through ads or cold calling.
Even if the client bought a magazine and saw the ad for a good advertising agency and then called them, the client still would have been communicated with first.