Advertising your small business

Advertising your small business can be tricky. It’s difficult, time-consuming and if done incorrectly, can be a waste of time and money.  Far too often, small business advertising is done in vain due to the “spray and pray” method that many businesses use.  Unfortunately, without a niche marketing strategy, your small business advertising probably won’t generate any kind of response from customers.  When that happens, you can tell yourself that your advertising is “branding.”  Really, what it’s doing is draining your bank account.

You need an effective niche marketing strategy to maximize your results while minimizing your investment.

Advertising is part of your small business marketing.  Just as in marketing, when you’re advertising you should always take the first 3 of the 4 P’s of marketing into consideration: product, price, place.  The 4th P is for promotion – promotion as in “advertising’.

Advertising your small business to a tightly targeted audience

One of the most effective advertising techniques your small business can utilize is to tightly targeting your audience.

This technique can increase your advertising effectiveness while lowering advertising costs.  Not only will you be spending “less” by targeting fewer eyeballs within the market – but you’ll also increase the likelihood of members of your target market carrying your marketing messages to others within their circle.

Sometimes – determining your target audience is defined by your product or service while other times – you must make the choice.

Demographic targeting can be as broad – or limited – as you want it to be.  By tightly targeting your demographic – you can create a compelling message which breaks through the protective mental barriers consumers have constructed to preserve their sanity from an over saturation of media.

However, you must be careful when you’re tightly targeting your demographic audience.  It seems to be very easy for your message to take an unexpected “wrong turn” and instead of connecting with your target audience – you’re offending them.

Oh poor Summer’s Eve and their “talking va-jay-jay via hand puppet” ads.  Unfortunately, they’re not the only company to offend and entire gender with an offensive ad.

Just because you’re targeting men doesn’t mean you have to create ads which are offensive to women.

During the 2011 Super Bowl – daily deal site Groupon took home the “award” for most offensive ad of 2011. Just like Summer’s Eve – Groupon tried to limit the damage.  They limited access to the ad online once the poo hit the fan.

The increasing number of offensive ads is in part a response to many large advertisers feeling of “futility”.  They are afraid their ads are being “over looked” and in response – have responded by creating ads with stir controversy.  Like the teenager who cuts herself to feel “alive” – these ads are destructive to the brands which are airing them.

It is extremely rare for small business advertising to go so horrifically awry.  It usually takes an ad agency spending someone else’s money to let things go so horrifically awry.

So take heart!  As a small business owner, you don’t have money to burn on advertising.  You’ll instinctively shy away from any message which would offend your community.

Target your demographic audience is an incredibly effective advertising technique.  Just make sure you don’t air the wrong message – because tightly targeting your market not only increases effectiveness – it also increases the destructiveness  of a message gone wrong as well.