Advertising Training
Many small-business owners have in-depth knowledge about the technical details of their business but often do not have a basic understanding of advertising. This can result in failure to put together an effective marketing message, which means wasted spending on advertising. By better understanding and applying advertising principles and practices, small businesses can yield improved results from their advertising investment.
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Things You'll Need
- Copy of Claude Hopkins book "Scientific Advertising"
- Outline for a marketing plan
- List of social media sites
Instructions
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Develop a marketing plan. Get an outline from online sources.
Advertising should be driven by a marketing plan. A marketing plan clearly defines the products or services you are selling as well as the target markets you want to reach. Some small businesses make the mistake of thinking they can sell to too broad a market and don't get the benefits of more cost-effective targeted advertising. A marketing plan should define the benefits a customer gains from its products or services and should not overly stress features. For example, a feature of a car is anti-lock brakes. The benefit of that feature is the ability to stop the car more quickly and safely, avoiding an accident.
Media should be selected that best reaches a target audience. For example, if you wish to reach housewives, buying morning drive-time radio spots is probably not as good an investment as buying ads during the middle of the day when housewives are more likely to be listening to the radio.
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Become familiar with available media types such as radio, television and newspapers. Visit trade association sites such as the Radio Advertising Bureau, Television Advertising Bureau, and the Newspaper Association of America for media-specific orientation information.
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Use only direct-response and not institutional advertising.
Advertising should be measurable. Most small businesses should not invest in institutional image advertising because it is hard to measure. Institutional advertising does not promote a product or service but a company and its image.
Instead, most of a company's advertising should be in measurable direct-response advertising. Examples of direct-response advertising is the use of coupons or a radio ad that promotes a radio-only special.
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When promoting a product or service using a chosen media, place the ad multiple times.
Small-business owners should be trained to realize that repetition is critical for effective advertising. One newspaper advertisement will not be as effective as multiple ads because it takes time to grab a consumer's attention since they are barraged with thousands of advertising messages a day.
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Visit Facebook and YouTube. Find and watch online training videos on how to use each of these.
Social media, a relatively new phenomenon, should be explored because it is a no-cost to low-cost way to promote a business and gain a following of customers and prospects. Two primary social media platforms are Facebook and YouTube. Video is now inexpensive to produce and provides a way for consumers to relate personally to a business owner.
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Read Claude Hopkins's book "Scientific Advertising." It is one of the most influential books in advertising and marketing because it explains important advertising principles that can generate more profits for your business.
Regardless of what the message is or what media is used, small-business owners can significantly and continuously improve the results of their advertising by testing. For example, in a newspaper ad, two different headlines should be tested to measure which ad produces the best results. Once the better-performing headline is identified, a new headline should be tested against the original headline.
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Tips & Warnings
Read books and articles about headline writing and the best-performing headlines. Adapt these concepts to write your own headlines. Subscribe to an online newsletter with advertising tips.
Understand that advertising training has two primary purposes: to train people who want to apply what they have learned to create and place advertising and to provide individuals with a basic understanding of advertising to help manage employees or outside organizations hired to handle advertising for a company.
Training is only the first step for someone entering the advertising field. Don't confuse training for orientation versus training for direct application of advertising principles.
References
Resources
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