Five Tips Guaranteed to Reduce the Cost of Your Yellow Pages Advertising

When you read your Yellow Pages contract you will see initials for various items success as BLN, WBLN, WFL, and ABLN. Most of these items cost between $ 7 and $34. Do you ever ask your sales Rep "what the heck is this?" The reason you don't ask is because the item only cost $ 30 dollars, and you had it last year, and you don't want to appear stupid asking questions about $ 30.. The problem is that these unidentified items can add thousands of dollars to your advertising bill.
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When you read your Yellow Pages contract ask the publisher's sales Rep what all the initials are and why do you need them. In almost all cases you don't need them because there is a cheaper or free version available.

White page listing (WBLN) - If you have a business phone you are entitled to a free listing of your business name, address and phone number in the White Pages and the Yellow Pages. You will be told that it's much easier for your customer to read a bold listing (BLN) and it only cost $31 than the semi bold free listing. Unfortunately it is not $31 but $372. The $31 is for one month but the contract is for a year. It is very clever the way the publishers show all costs on your contract by the month instead of by the year, even though the contract is for a year. Ninety percent of all business name listings in the white pages are the free listings version and their customers seem to be able to find them. People read the white pages alphabetically and the bold print can actually be confusing.
Tip! Free advertising isn't really free. It takes a great deal of time to post free advertisements all over the net.

White Feature Listing (WFL) - This is the super big print that you see in the white pages. A bold white page listing (WBLN) cost $31 a month while the super bold (WFL) listings cost $90 a month or $1080 for the year. Can you imagine paying $1080 for something that is free, yet thousands of businesses have WFL's.

Anchor Bold Listing and Number (ABLN) - If you purchase a display ad you receive a free Incolumn listing in the same heading the display ad appears. You will be told that it's much easier for the customer to read your name if it is bold. An anchor listing is the business name, address and phone number and where your ad is located (see our ad on page 456). The price of a bold anchor listing can ranges from $30 to $114 a month or you can get it for free (ARL). As my son would say Duuuh.
Tip! If a newspaper is delivered twice daily (morning/evening), it often offers 'combination' rates or discounts for advertising in both papers. You usually can reach more readers, so this kind of advertising may be something to consider.

Buy the largest display ad -All advertisers are told that the largest display and will receive the most calls. However research shows that the ad that contains the most pertinent information that the consumer is looking for, in an easy-to-read format, will receive the most calls regardless of size. Spend your money on ad design and copywriting instead of Yellow Pages ad space and you can reduce your advertising costs by 50% or more.

Process color ads - The Yellow Pages sales Rep will bring in a sample ad for your business that looks like it's straight out of Time magazine. Unfortunately a process color ad adds 40% to the cost over a black and yellow or spot color ad. There is no evidence in any study of Yellow Pages advertising that a process color ad increases customer calls.

Businesses that have followed my advice have been able to reduce their Yellow Pages costs by as much as 50%. Take charge of your yellow page program, and examine every item on your contract.

Never let the Yellow Pages publisher design your ad because they design all of your competitor's ads. The best money you can spend in Yellow Pages advertising is for a professionally designed ad. Remember the best designed ad will get the most calls.
Tip! Name what you are advertising in your headline If the headline is all that your prospects read, then at least tell them the name of what you are selling. If the name sticks, your ad will have at least made your readers familiar with your product.

Michael Warner, known as Doctor Yellow Page to many yellow pages advertisers, has operated a successful Yellow Pages consulting and design company for over 20 years, and can be seen and contacted at http://www.doctoryellowpage.com The good Doctor offers a free evaluation of your Yellow Pages ads and contracts.

New Tendencies in the Art of Advertising

How to sell things has become a science more than an art in the last few decades. Crowds of people of different professions work hard to find the way to be "different". They use all their creativity to be appearing.

New tendencies in advertising seem to be based on the idea "the first impact should be long-lasting and conservative". The more shocking an advert is the easier it remains in one's mind.

Ideas in advertising often rise depending on the kind of customers you are referring to and based on a complex market analysis.

Some tips for a trendy advertisement :

- Be short! Be creative!;

- try to have strong visual impact;

- put yourself in the customers shoes;

- use "scientific" messages (e.g : use "scientific acne treatment" instead of "acne problems");

- use statistics;

- express freely your own personality, beliefs, philosophy and values;
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- be funny, even humorous.

One of the new tendencies in advertising is to avoid focusing on a small percent of people. If you are selling an acne treatment product you should not design your advert for the adolescent target group.

If you are advertising a junior product you have to think about how to convince parents, grandparents and the children themselves to make sure that a connection rises in their minds so that they will buy your product.

About the author: Monique Barb is also writing for FamousWhy.com

FamousWhy.com - Famous People... Famous Regions and a Lot Of Articles

Advertising Strategies - Alternatives to Print, Alternatives Within Print

Is print advertising headed for extinction? No way, but I am seeing more and more companies pulling dollars from their print advertising budgets and moving them into other alternatives. The reason? To brand their product or service more effectively by balancing their ad campaigns and reaching their targeted demographic audiences from different angles. And even within the print medium, the playing field appears to be changing. Newspaper and Yellow Pages advertising has suffered a blow from the growth of the internet. Googling, Yahoo-ing and online news sources are pulling from their numbers. With internet research more easily available, more advertisers are targeting their prospective customers with direct mail campaigns which gives them the ability to pinpoint the demographic they are trying to reach by age, gender, income and location.

The internet is a growing alternative. Google Ads and Yahoo Sponsored Search "Pay Per Click" advertising is grabbing a growing share of ad budgets. This new medium gives you the ability purchase a keyword and only pay for it if someone clicks on your website. The way it works in a nutshell is, when someone does a search using your keyword, your website url and a three line promotional ad appears on the right side of the search results page. It can be as inexpensive as a nickel per click and you can limit what you spend per day, so that Google/Yahoo shuts off your ad campaign for the rest of that day when your budget "limit" is reached.
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Outdoor advertising and signs on buses and transit systems is often in the mix of successful advertising budgets.

Radio utilizes the magic of music and imagination to reach an audience in a lasting way. Of course this is one of my favorites because music, jingles and ad production are what I do. But all bias aside, radio is a way to reach a broader audience with the ability to drive home a message.

One lesser know alternative within radio broadcast advertising is the traffic or weather sponsorship. This is a ten second (or less) message that is read within the traffic report: i.e. "Today's traffic is brought to you by ________ ". Metro Networks, the Westwood One company created the traffic sponsorship industry years ago by putting a fleet of planes and "news" copters in the air to monitor traffic in the largest US cities. Instead if selling their services to the radio stations, Metro made a trade for advertising "air" time. So most of the flying traffic reporters that you think work for your local radio & TV stations are really Metro Networks employees who have cut a deal with the local stations. The local stations also sell traffic and weather sponsorships but they are usually not during the report, they come before or after it. So if you hear two traffic sponsorships for the same report, it probably means one was a Metro sponsorship and the other was a station sold sponsorship.
Tip! If a newspaper is delivered twice daily (morning/evening), it often offers 'combination' rates or discounts for advertising in both papers. You usually can reach more readers, so this kind of advertising may be something to consider.

Television advertising is a traditional advertising medium we all know well but the advent of cable television has changed the face of the industry. With cable advertising, you can now reach a more targeted demographic, very similar to direct mail, by age, gender, income & location and it can be done on a smaller budget. *If you decide to go in this direction, or in the direction of radio advertising check out my site and drop me a line. I will be happy to go into detail about branding alternatives to help you get maximum effectiveness from your campaign.
Tip! Free advertising isn't really free. It takes a great deal of time to post free advertisements all over the net.

With all these advertising options, it's best not to put all your eggs in one basket if you have the budget. The most successful advertisers use a balance of advertising mediums to reach their audience creatively and consistently.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email: barry@soundad.com.

Hope this helps... Good luck with your campaign!

Barry Volk is a former producer/staff songwriter/producer for ABC/Dunhill and Screen Gems-EMI Music Publishing, a 20th Century Fox solo recording artist, Musical Director for the West Coast Theater Company and National Director of Marketing for Metro Networks/Westwood One. His music production company, Barry Volk's Sound Advantage http://www.soundad.com, creates and produces jingles and custom music and comedy spots for radio and TV advertisers worldwide from small market to national in scope.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Direct Response Radio Advertising

How do we know what the 5 Biggest Mistakes are?
After over a decade in direct response, we have peered "under the hood" of hundreds of direct marketing campaigns across every type of category imaginable. Sometimes a new client will come to us after a failed attempt with another agency, or simply to get a second opinion on whether their campaign was or is being run optimally. As a result of this extensive experience, not only have we seen which decisions make campaigns successful, but also which decisions condemn campaigns to certain underachievement of their potential.

The most difficult part of writing about the "5 Biggest Mistakes" is narrowing down the list. It would be easier to write about the "Top 20 Mistakes". Nonetheless, this paper presents the blockbuster mistakes that are a) way too commonly made, b) sure to doom a direct response radio advertising campaign, and c) relatively easily avoidable. In other words, get these things right, and you'll live to face the lesser challenges with greater strength and greater knowledge.
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Biggest Direct Response Radio Mistake #1: Faulty or non-existent testing methodology
There are many ways for a testing methodology to fall short, which is why this is #1 on the list. Testing the wrong variables, testing in the wrong order, testing too many variables, testing too few variables. The list is long. The point to remember is that success requires a scientific approach. That means disciplined and well thought out - a "ready-aim-fire" approach verses "fire-fire-fire". Any good direct response agency has staff that understands the process for conducting scientific research, particularly research methods, statistics, and database management. The best DR agencies have applied this knowledge over time and have developed a proven testing methodology, along with the supporting technological infrastructure, that will get you from testing to profitability with the least amount of up-front time and money.

If you don't follow a well-defined, proven testing methodology, you are throwing your ad dollars away. Period. You simply will not know why one ad works better than another or whether there are other approaches that could work better. You will just be out of money before you can determine whether your campaign has legs.
Tip! If a newspaper is delivered twice daily (morning/evening), it often offers 'combination' rates or discounts for advertising in both papers. You usually can reach more readers, so this kind of advertising may be something to consider.

Biggest Direct Response Mistake #2: Inadequate data capture and analysis
The power of direct response radio stems in part from the ability to collect and analyze results from the bounty of data that can be collected - and to distill insights that drive further refinement of the campaign. As all experienced marketers know, it is the insights that lead you to grand successes. With the right tools, technology, and processes, it is possible to conduct station-by station analysis, look at performance by market, format, day of the week, daypart, and a whole host of other variables to understand what's working and what's not for a particular campaign. This is vital to the process of optimizing campaign profitability.

Yet many avoid this process, shield it from their clients, or conduct "analysis lite" on the data. The problem is that you can't distill the insights if you don't dive into the analysis. As a result, perfectly viable campaigns are being deemed failures. In these situations people declare "radio just doesn't work", and proceed to run away as fast as possible. Avoid this mistake by making sure your media buys are backed by thorough, detailed analysis, not a cookie-cutter approach cloaked in unproven, formulaic assumptions.
Tip! Include your selling promise in your headline The best headlines promise readers a benefit, such as fewer cavities, cheaper gas, whiter clothes. Your selling promise is simply the greatest benefit that you are advertising about your product, so include it in your headline.

Biggest Direct Response Mistake #3: Flying blind
It still astounds us how many people, smart businesspeople, ask us to move forward with advertising before they know the basic key metrics associated with their campaign. We refer to this as "flying blind." It is not unlike deciding to fly a plane surrounded by instruments that are providing you data you can't use to make important decisions about flying the plane. Turn left, turn right, speed up, ascend, descend? Scary thought? It should be, because absent a tremendous amount of luck it spells sure death.
Tip! Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc.

Every direct response campaign has a similar set of key profitability metrics and each one has a hurdle or break-even level that must be met in order to achieve some level of profitability. The big mistake is spending a dime before this exercise has been completed. Why? Because when you get the test results back, you won't know what to make of the data. You won't have a context within which to assess whether what you are looking at is good, amazing or awful. Bottom line: model the campaign, identify the key metrics, and know what those numbers have to be. And by all means, make sure your agency knows so they can maximize the profitability of your media campaign.

Biggest Direct Response Mistake #4: Having the wrong people on the bus
Each DR campaign is comprised of similar vendors. This includes a manufacturer, a creative and media buying agency, a sales center, a customer service group, and a fulfillment center. You can poll any one of these groups of vendors and there is one thing they would all agree on: not one of them alone can make the campaign a success. This is a classic team situation. If one member drops the ball, the whole team fails. As the client, perhaps the single biggest impact you'll have on the success of the campaign is how you decide to choose the members of your team - who you put "on the bus". Sales centers will always tell you they will meet the needs you've expressed (guess what, they're good at sales!). Big agencies will always try to convince you that only they can get the lowest rates and only they can grow your campaign really big (as if suddenly the laws of market economics don't apply). Will you choose the ones who say they've been around since the beginning of time and believe they know all there is to know, or the ones who are experienced but also unassuming enough to be constantly learning, improving, and giving birth to new ideas? Will you choose vendors who play nice with the other team members, or those who throw the others under the bus at the first sign of trouble? If you don't choose wisely, your campaign could fail for reasons you won't even understand.
Tip! Google Adsense: This PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is probably the most popular and widely used of all internet advertising web publishers, probably because it is the most nondescript and doesn't involve any animated banners that draw attention away from your website. You serve the Google text ads on your site and you get paid any time someone clicks on one of the ads.

Biggest Direct Response Mistake #5: A corrupted creative process
Once you communicate the definition of success, allow the creative process to unfold. A professional direct response ad creator is someone who has learned a tremendous amount about what works and what doesn't, on millions of other people's dimes. We've built a large database of direct response wisdom that can save you a lot of time and money. If you define success as an ad that reaches a certain CPO, and trust the creative process, you're much more likely to get an ad that produces successful results. Now that will make you proud.
Tip! The Right Message. Unless you have millions of dollars in your advertising budget, don't try to mimic those who do.

Final Words
Now that you are armed with knowledge of the top 5 Biggest Mistakes in Direct Response Radio, you are well on your way to boosting your chances of Direct Response success. To be sure, there are other mistakes to avoid. Knowing about these mistakes is half the battle. Knowing how to avoid them is the other half. How do you produce insights? How do you approach testing methodically? How do you know which vendors to choose? How do you develop breakthrough creative? How do you get the remnant rates on the best time slots?

Radio can be an enormously profitable customer acquisition channel for many businesses.

Brett Astor, Vice President at Strategic Media, Inc., http://www.strategicmediainc.com, has over 10 years experience in direct response marketing and radio advertising.

Radio Advertising Commandments

In my last article "Local Advertising - The Biggest Mistakes" we took a look at the major media available for local advertisers to market their products. To follow up, I'd like to discuss the many uses of Radio. Sort of the 10 Commandments Of Radio Advertising. This will take up several pages, for sure, so I'll start by asking the most obvious radio questions.
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Q: How do I know if radio will work for me & why should I use radio?

A: I usually have gotten these questions when a client is afraid & can't stomach the idea of paying for an Advertisement that they can't physically hold on to. In other words, they think that if they can't SEE their Ad, then no one else can. They seem to have a hard time believing that a disembodied radio voice can move people to buy their product.
Tip! The Right Follow-Up. Advertising is an investment that requires a tracking system to ensure effectiveness.

Yes, it's probably true that most advertisers get their feet wet with print advertising. Your typical print advertiser will place an Ad in a local weekly or daily newspaper and bingo, the next day - traffic. The results can be quite immediate.

Radio is a different animal and although it can work as effectively as print, it can be equally disappointing to a seasoned print advertiser.

Local radio advertising can turn off a new advertiser who expects immediate results, but it doesn't have to be this way. Here are 10 reasons why "immediate results" are hard to come by:
Tip! The Right Message. Unless you have millions of dollars in your advertising budget, don't try to mimic those who do.

1) the spots were not aggressive enough

2) the offer was not strong enough

3) there was not enough weight (number of spots) booked

4) the wrong local radio station was used to reach the desired market

5) not enough radio stations were booked

6) only radio was used

7) spots were poorly placed throughout the day
Tip! The Right Plan. Look at advertising as one part of your marketing plan.

8) the production was poorly executed or the wrong announcer used

9) timing of the campaign was off
Tip! Ezines mean flexible advertising.

10) the new client had no name recognition

This brings me to Commandment #1

Don't Underestimate The Power of Radio.

The voice is a wonderful thing.

Used properly, it can move you to tears, unleash a fury of anger, sooth both physical and mental pain, irritate you like chalk on a blackboard, hypnotize you into the most embarrasing behaviour, fire you up & motivate you to accomplish the most daunting tasks, fire up a nation to battle, seduce the most cold-hearted soul and yes, it can certainly convince you to happily part with your money.

In fact, the people who make radio production their livelyhood, are paid quite handsomely to get you to do things that are not on your priority list.
Tip! The Right Reason. Advertising can be a powerful ally, but only if done in a fashion to ensure you get the most out of every dollar you spend.

Ever listen to a movie trailer? Listen to the announcer. His job is to get you to see that movie. Whether you realize it or not, the impact of that voice lasts longer than you may be aware of.

You may remember the visuals, but it is the EMOTIONAL AUDIO IMPRINT that leaves you with a "I've got to see this when it comes out!" memory.

It is the same subliminal effect that radio can create.

The problem faced, is that most radio production quality can often be sub-standard.

Let's face it - the radio station copywriters are under the gun to write & produce dozens of spots a day & there just isn't enough time to write super creative & dynamic commercials. Even if the copywriter can squeeze out something really hot, there is often a lack of voice-over talent to make it happen. Let's not talk about the studio engineer's backlog!

This doesn't mean that you can't have an effective radio spot come out of a radio station. It just means that to make it more effective, you may have to go to a third party production house to get your spots professionaly produced.

This brings me to Radio Commandment #2

Get The Best Creative Production Possible
Tip! Sell your product in your headline David Ogilvy, an advertising pioneer of the 1960s and 1970s says that, on average, five times as many people read your headline as read your copy. So it follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money.

Why do you want the best creative possible? Well, there are several reasons.

1) it makes your advertising more effective

2) the cost of your campaign can actually be lower if more people respond to a better commercial, as fewer spots are necessary to make the same impact

3) better creative is more memorable.

4) strong creativity entertains and sells at the same time

5) powerful creative radio spots get people talking about the spot & consequently the product

"OK," you're saying, "but this sounds like it's going to cost a fortune!"

Nothing could be further from the truth. What will cost you a fortune, is a radio advertising campaign that falls flat because the production was not up to scratch!

Remember, advertising is an investment if you eventually get back more than you paid. It's a fortune if you don't get back anything!
Tip! If a newspaper is delivered twice daily (morning/evening), it often offers 'combination' rates or discounts for advertising in both papers. You usually can reach more readers, so this kind of advertising may be something to consider.

In order to make sure that there's a payback, I highly recommend you look at all the variables and creative production is high on the list!

This brings me to Radio Commandment #3

Develop A Strategy & Stick With It

There are many ways to use radio. Short campaigns, long campaigns, image building, promotions, product launches etc.

The first thing to be aware of is that new advertisers have to develop name recognition with a station's audience. This isn't as important for long time advertisers who have used other media, but it is crucial for first-timers.

Well known advertisers are seen as reliable and trustworthy. The longer you advertise, the more favour you win with listeners. It is like money in the bank.

I advise all new advertisers to start with an introduction campaign to highlight who they are, what their product is and the benefits of shopping at their store.

This doesn't mean that you can't break the rules and have a grand opening with a fantastic door crasher special. Certainly that will work. But ideally, the best results for that type of scenario come when a "teaser campaign" precedes the grand opening.

Let me state that much of the advice offered here is what I believe to be the "safe route" to effective radio advertising. Even under less optimal conditions, radio can be quite effective!

What you want to do, however, is not succeed by throwing tons of money into your advertising, but rather cover all the essentials so that you have an effective and cost efficient campaign.
Tip! Google Adsense: This PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is probably the most popular and widely used of all internet advertising web publishers, probably because it is the most nondescript and doesn't involve any animated banners that draw attention away from your website. You serve the Google text ads on your site and you get paid any time someone clicks on one of the ads.

Good planning can go a long way.

In my next article I'll continue with commandment #4

Use The Right Music Bed

Noah Salzman runs NoaSound Productions - a full service Ad Agency where for over 25 years, he has advised clients in the retail sector how to effectively market their products and services. His areas of expertise include: Graphic Design, Packaging, Jingles, Retail Advertising, Copywriting, Photography, Online Marketing, Web Design, Audio/Video Production. http://www.top10internetgurus.com

Humor and Advertising Don't Mix? You Just Don't Have a Sense of Humor!

Humor: One of the Best Advertising Methods

Sex, money, and religion. What do they all have in common? They are the three subjects that are most powerful when getting a person's attention. However, when it comes to developing catchy advertising, I can add another subject to that list: Humor.

Humor works and that's the bottom line. People always say to be wary of humorous advertising because it can work against you. These people believe that when you use humor you could offend some people by being stereotypical, too clever, not clever enough, or flat out insulting. But when advertising works against you, it can still work very much for you.

Before you jump all over me with your arguments, let me first lay out some ground rules for this article. I'm assuming that no business would be dumb enough to run an ad simply to offend people. You pull that kind of a stunt and you're going to get what you deserve - a lawsuit. Additionally, I'm assuming that when you run a humorous ad that has the potential to offend, you take that into account when planning the overall reaction to the advertisement.

Dispelling the "Offensive Humor Only Hurts" Story

Your business has a target market. And your advertisements, if done correctly, are geared towards this target market. This is the general rule companies follow. But other demographics are going to see your ad. You can't possibly stop this from happening.

So when Spike TV advertises some extreme wrestling match or a Sport Illustrated photo shoot, they are most likely going to use scantily clad women and crude jokes in the ads (if you don't believe me, take a look at their website). Some women will naturally be offended by this. But you know what? That woman will sit around with her husband, her sons, her brothers, or male co-workers and talk about how she was offended. These men, who the ad targeted in the first place, most likely enjoyed the ad, but it probably did not make a huge impression upon them. Having this woman bring up negative comments about the ad will actually remind the target demographic of how much they enjoyed it (or at least it acts as another impression).
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Let's take into consideration that this offended person does not talk to the target demographic like in the example above. These conversations still act as impressions even when these people did not see the ad. It is the truest type of buzz campaign - a campaign that gets people talking about a company's ads and products.

Don't Worry If You Offend People!

As I said before, no business advertises itself simply wanting to offend people and expects their ads to get published. However, the chance you offend someone with a humorous ad is definitely out there. But, you know what? That's good. Not everyone is going to love you or your sense of humor.

We can take our above example and combine it with the general rule of thumb that a satisfied customer will tell 1-3 people and a dissatisfied customer will tell 10 or more people. If you failed arithmetic in elementary school then please do not read on...

Let's say you're offending 10% of the people with the humor you use in your ad. This one person will have 10 conversations about your advertising. And they're most likely talking about your advertising - not your product! You could still have the greatest product in the world and this person is just criticizing your ads. As mentioned before, these 10 conversations could be with people who loved your ad or simply forgot it right after viewing it. Either way, this one person is getting 10 people thinking more about your ad. Now that's what I call good advertising!
Tip! Google Adsense: This PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is probably the most popular and widely used of all internet advertising web publishers, probably because it is the most nondescript and doesn't involve any animated banners that draw attention away from your website. You serve the Google text ads on your site and you get paid any time someone clicks on one of the ads.

Your Humorous Advertising Should Stir Things Up

If done correctly, your ads will inform your target market about your product and get them talking about it. Now if you are successful in generating a little bit of buzz, you'll reach even more people outside of your target market and your customers will start doing the advertising for you.

Humorous advertising, although risky, can be very beneficial. Your target market will most likely understand your humor. Viewers outside your target may get offended, but this will actually work for you. As long as you're not trying to offend someone, then the buzz that gets generated by your ads will be very positive to your advertising campaign.

Just remember, people that like your ads aren't going to tell you they like them. It's the dissatisfied or offended people that will make a big deal out of it. So take advertising complaints in stride and stick in there. Everyone has a different sense of humor. And if you're stirring some peoples' emotions up, then you're doing your job as an advertiser!

Marketing Tips Provided to You by: Heather Loftiss, President of Water Design Studio (http://www.waterdesignstudio.com), Author of The Customer Connection (http://www.morerepeatsales.com)

Advertising: Relationships vs Business Decisions

Successful businesses know the importance of building and maintaining good working relationships, whether it is with partners, employees, business or trade organizations, the government, media representatives, vendors, consumers, or the community at large. A business must carefully balance the benefits of these interpersonal relationships and should never allow these relationships to blind their judgment especially when it relates to what is in the best interest of the business's continued success and growth

Buying advertising media based on interpersonal relationships is a common mistake made by many small businesses. This strategy throws the business's strategic marketing plan into the winds of chance in exchange for the warm and fuzzy feelings that come with doing business among friends. However, when the smoke clears the business has made costly advertising expenditures with little or no results and the long term negative effects may not readily be seen. Simply, the marketing / advertising expenditures have been made, the budget may or may not be busted, and the results may be none to little measurable penetration into the business's target demographic market segment.
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Is buying media from a friend in the business always bad? No, however in order to choose the most effective media channels a business must first consider the audience or customer it is trying to reach. Developing a strong sense of the target demographics' buying and shopping patterns, interests and hobbies, entertainment and media choices for example will lend itself a tremendous benefit to making informed media buying choices. Once the advertising business has developed a strong sense of what media channels may prove to be the most effective it should try each a little at a time carefully tracking the results of each. Once this is complete the business will be able to make an educated decision on where to invest its marketing dollars, prioritizing expenditures into the mediums that have proven results for the business.

It is true that strong interpersonal relationships skills and the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with a variety of people, businesses, and other organizations are imperative in today's business environments. However, the importance of a well designed and implemented strategic marketing plan can not be understated and is paramount to the business's development and longevity never taking second seat to friendship.
Tip! Include your selling promise in your headline The best headlines promise readers a benefit, such as fewer cavities, cheaper gas, whiter clothes. Your selling promise is simply the greatest benefit that you are advertising about your product, so include it in your headline.

Amy Dube has over 16 years of sales experience and currently works in advertising for a major publishing company.For more free Articles and Marketing Tips go to http://adube.info

The Best Advertising Money Can Buy is Absolutely Free!

If your business involves selling a service, such as consultancy, you might find blatant advertising is counter-productive. After all, no-one wants to hire someone to help make their business more profitable when that other person is so obviously hungry for money!

But you can't just sit back waiting for customers to find you; it simply doesn't work that way. You must get out there and drum up business yourself, based on subtle marketing methods that sometimes go unnoticed. But work wonderfully well, drumming up valuable advertising while costing little or even nothing. These neat ideas will get you started...

NETWORKING

Networking simply means building a client list, comprising potential customers for your business and people who might recommend or refer you to others. Networking involves making and using contacts from various circles, including colleagues and friends, family and neighbours, established clients and customers from an earlier business, and so on. The whole thing is about keeping yourself in the public eye but unobtrusively. Next time one of your network contacts decides they want the particular product or service you provide, they should think automatically of you.
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For example, a leading consultant reveals his easiest, cheapest, most profitable method of generating business is to produce alerts about his area of business which is e-mailed regularly to established and potential clients.

Other networking ideas:

* Telephone just to say 'hello' whenever possible, but not too often - once every few weeks is about right.

* Find out when their birthdays are. Send a card or invite them out for a drink.

Get Listed In Directories and Similar Publications * This includes being listed in professional directories as well as trade and business journals and yearbooks. It also means having your details included in telephone and other advertising publications, including ‘Yellow Pages'.

ATTEND MEETINGS

Attend as many meetings as possible where referral sources and actual or potential clients are likely to be. Suitable gatherings might include association meetings, professional seminars, trade meetings, and so on. Always make a point of being seen but not by monopolising the proceedings. If you are an expert on some newsworthy topic, volunteer to be a speaker at some well-attended event or ask leading questions, provide answers, and so on.
Tip! Name what you are advertising in your headline If the headline is all that your prospects read, then at least tell them the name of what you are selling. If the name sticks, your ad will have at least made your readers familiar with your product.

MAKE SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS

Offer your services as speaker at popular events or to present awards, and so on. Appropriate contacts include trade and professional associations, civic groups, business clubs, large companies, and other high profile organisations.
Tip! Negotiate ad rates. Oftentimes advertising rates are negotiable.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Having your letter published - and more importantly, your name - increases your visibility and establishes you as an authority on your chosen subject. For example, a close colleague who is a management consultant, writes regular letters to management and business journals, always ending: 'M.D. is a management consultant specialising in Conflict Training and can be contacted on...'

RADIO AND TELEVISION EXPOSURE

Radio and television producers are desperate to fill odd gaps during the day when advertising falls short or other news is patchy. If you can be called on at short notice for a studio or telephone interview, you'll find plenty of takers. A friend specialising in conflict management has appeared on countless radio programmes as well as national and satellite television shows. Showing how it works he related a recent incident where the story of a local shopkeeper who had been assaulted hit the headlines locally. Mark specialises in training retailers to manage and control conflict and aggression and, following e-mailed and phoned messages to TV and radio stations, he was invited to appear several times in the days following the retailer's assault. Within hours he had also been approached by several organisations keen to have him address their employees and staff trainers in the art of tackling dangerous situations at work.
Tip! Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc.

PRESS RELEASES

A press release, as the name implies, means 'releasing' information to the press in the hope it will be published. It could be about a book you have written or a recent invention, providing it interests readers of particular magazines. Press releases can be sent - posted, faxed or e-mailed - to all kinds of publication, including trade and business journals, national and regional newspapers, professional journals, and so on. Response can be immense and can even generate more business than some firms can handle. A leading Canadian publisher, for example, sold over 20,000 books on the strength of one press release in one major magazine!

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and editor of eBay Confidential and webmaster of http://www.publishingcircles.com and offers many free articles and reports at http://www.pimpernels.com

Competition in Advertising for the Customers Interest

Good marketing and advertising is not easy for small business on a small budget however it can be done with the proper strategies. There is a lot of competition in advertising for the customer's eyeball and interests. Everyone is competing to get the customer to listen to their marketing and their offers. But are you asking yourself if the customer is listening to you? And have you thought to yourself why should they listen to you?
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Does your potential customer understand that your offer is credible and that the reputation of your business is long-standing and can back up its offer? Have you given the customer a reason to care about what you have to offer? Do you have any proof that your offer is better than your competition? Have you explained this in a clear and concise way to your potential customer in your advertising and marketing?
Tip! Ezines mean flexible advertising.

You cannot expect your customer to care in advance of what you are going to do for them or what your company is going to do in the future. But if you can show them statistics or proof perhaps in testimonials then you might have a chance. You must remember you are not the only company out there competing for the customers time or interest. He therefore have to make your case very quickly and back it up with information that can be digested very quickly. Have you done that?
Tip! Classified ads – This is the cheapest form of ezine advertising. Some publications offer free ads in exchange for your subscription.

Why not take a look at all your marketing and advertising right now and read it from the customer's perspective and ask yourself why you should the customer care about what I'm offering and why should they be interested if my competition is offering nearly the same thing. If you do not see this in your marketing and advertising you need to add it. And the sooner the better so, please consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Does Your Advertising and Marketing Talk to Your Customer?

It is paramount that your advertising and marketing in your company that you put out into the public talks to the customer. So often, small business brochures and advertising talks about the company and not about what is in it for the customer. You may have a great company and you may be very proud of this fact. But your customer cares what you can do for them not which you can do for yourself. Let's face it you are asking the customer to come to your store and buy something from you or to purchase services.
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When the customer does business with you it will cost them money and for this exchange of currency they want to know what they're going to get and what benefit it is to them. They are not interested that your company has been in business since the creation of religion or that your company has 30,000 ft. or that your company has 10 delivery vehicles. As a matter of fact if you make your company sound too big you will make it sound like you charge too much and you might actually turn away your customer.
Tip! Free advertising online does nothing to target your audience. In most cases, free advertising venues are actually counterproductive.

You need to make sure that your marketing materials and brochures, as well as all your advertising and marketing communicates a clear message to the customer of what is in it for them. You need to do this in a clear and concise fashion and you should avoid using industry buzzwords. Please consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Advertising Brochure Designs

So often, new business people will print custom designed threefold advertising brochures to give to new customers. I have seen new business owners spend two or $3000 doing this and defend only using half of them because they had changed their business or their prices.

It seems like an incredible waste of money and it may be smart to not print custom designed free folds glossy advertising brochures when you first start your business.

Having been in the franchising business for nearly 2 decades and launched our franchisees in hundreds of cities it became quickly apparent to me that even with our business model a basic virtual cookie-cutter there were regional variations in the things we had to change once we got started that made the brochures and valid.
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And this is coming from a franchisor who specializes in everything been the same to protect the consistency and quality of our services that represent our brand name. If a franchisor warns against advertising brochures right out of the gate of a new business, the you can be sure they know what they're talking about after setting up hundreds of units.

Regional variation is something that is very important and the best industry Association cannot tell you exactly what your response will be in your given community even based on the exact demographics and similar cities and other regions. You see, all politics is local and all small-business marketing campaigns must be personalized. Please consider this in 2006.
Tip! The Right Reason. Advertising can be a powerful ally, but only if done in a fashion to ensure you get the most out of every dollar you spend.

Lance Winslow

Ego and Advertising Do Not Mix

So often when small-business people design their advertising or their glossy three full-color brochures they do way too much bragging. It is if they are trying to impress themselves with all of their achievements. Your potential customers are probably not concerned about how great you are, but rather what you can do for them.

There are ways to tell your customer of all the great things that you have done in a way that also tells them why this is good for them. For instance, if your company is a family-owned business and it has been in business since 1965 that is a good thing. But what your customer really wants to know is that you do business the old-fashioned way, you do which you say you were going to do and you have built a reputation for quality and service. And therefore the customer can see the benefit to them.
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After setting up franchises in 23 states and several hundred cities I had noticed that our competition often tried brag on their flyers and brochures about how many trucks they had or how large the company was. In fact, they often made her company looked 10 times the size actually was. Many times their customers would tell us they wanted to do business with us because we were a local company and small-business.
Tip! Free advertising online does nothing to target your audience. In most cases, free advertising venues are actually counterproductive.

Actually we were a franchise in 23 states. Apparently their potential customers felt as if they were too big and great to do business with and they felt that it might cost a lot of money. Indeed, the truth was that our prices were higher and we were a much bigger company. So, you can see the problems that arise when you embellish yourself in your brochures simply for the sake of ego. Please consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Advertising Balloons – Pretty and Effective

There was a time when balloons were nothing more than kid's toys but now they are used for so many different things. One of the most popular uses of balloons is for advertising. Advertising balloons are popular for so many reasons but the most important one is that people notice them. There is something about a balloon that is fascinating to adults and children alike. We all find out eyes drawn to these colorful floating things and we always want to see what they say on them.

Advertising balloons are pretty and they are effective. They also come in many different sizes. Some advertising balloons are gigantic and are as big as a small plane while others are tiny. Some balloons float while others hand from different things, things like walls or poles or flags, anything really.
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These days the most popular kinds of advertising balloons are those shaped like different characters. You will see some shaped like giant gorillas or certain cartoon chartacters like Bart Simpson or Mickey Mouse. These are popular and they catch the eye as you drive down the road, some can even be seen from miles and miles away, they are colorful and fantastic.

The vast majority of advertising balloons are filled with helium gas so as to float in air with one end tied to the support that does not allow it to wander away. One good quality about advertising balloons is that they do not burst as they are not made from flimsy material. They have thick skins that keep them from getting poked and exploded by birds.
Tip! The Right Reason. Advertising can be a powerful ally, but only if done in a fashion to ensure you get the most out of every dollar you spend.

Though advertising balloons are dying out when compared to other neat things like laser beams that are used these days, they are certainly not going to leave the market anytime soon. Next time when you see a advertising balloon floating in mid air just think what it took to come with to come with simple yet such a brilliant method of advertising.

Balloons HQ http://balloons-hq.com/ for information about balloons from advertising balloons to weather balloons and much more.

Advertising Balloons

As a consumer, you probably have been in contact with different forms of advertising. Like most people, you have grown tired of the usual advertisements and commercials that seem to assail you anywhere you turn.
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While you watch your favorite program or listen to the radio, you are bombarded by an array of commercials in the process. If you surf the Internet, you will find an incessant flow of advertisements from pop up windows to big flashing site banners. Reading the daily newspaper also seems to shower you with different products and services available on the market. For most people, however, these advertisements do not achieve recall and do not stick in the minds of their intended audiences. There is suddenly a need for innovative forms of advertising and promotions to recapture the public's attention.
Tip! Negotiate ad rates. Oftentimes advertising rates are negotiable.

One of the more unique ways to advertise your company, event, product, or service is to use advertising balloons. These are big blimps usually mounted on top of a building. Advertising balloons are used mainly by companies so as to attract and bring in customers and patrons. They are mostly mounted outside or on top of a company's building so as to ensure a great range of visibility and reach. These advertising balloons come in different shapes, sizes, colors and hues, and designs. They also hold advertisements and promotions, and they could be customized as per the company's preferences.

Using advertising balloons is a huge advantage for businesses and companies. Compared to using and renting a billboard space, they allow companies to save more. The simple reason behind this is that utilizing advertising balloons means that there would be no billboard fees, rental fees, or advertisement fees to pay. The companies would only have to spend for the advertising balloon itself, and they would not have to worry about any other expenditures.

Since most of these advertising balloons are used outdoors, they are made from sturdy material so as to withstand different conditions. They can, however, also be used indoors. Some of these are ready for immediate delivery, but most require several days or weeks of notice before they could be actually delivered.
Tip! The first and most important rule in ezine advertising is: 'Track your Ads!'. You might place your ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred responses, but if you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.

Balloons provides detailed information on Balloons, Hot Air Balloons, Advertising Balloons, Balloon Bouquets and more. Balloons is affiliated with Medieval Swords.

Advertising Ingenuity

An observation I've had recently is about the commercialization of... everything. There are advertisements for curing depression/anxiety, and advertisements for learning to speak and write better; or as I like to say, "write more weller better good." Well, yesterday on the radio, I heard an advertisement for a program/product which claimed to help people speak better in social situations. It added that you would not have to worry or be anxious anymore about saying the wrong thing to someone.

Now, this basically combines the two ideas I just mentioned about phonetics and depression/anxiety. This actually sounds like a very interesting product, and could have helped me on more than one occasion. I sometimes worry about saying the wrong thing -- and usually do. The first one that comes to mind is the last time I came to work late. Before I even sat down, my boss asked me, "Why were you late?" to which I replied, "I was with your daughter most of the night, and we had a wonderful time exploring each other's anatomy and finding new methods of achieving ecstasy which would be incomprehensible to a balding, smelly man such as yourself."

My problem is now obvious. I said the wrong thing. The proper response -- a response I thought of later -- would have been something to the effect of, "My car broke down on the Interstate." If I had been less anxious about sleeping with his daughter and being late for work, I could have thought of a good lie, however, I was far too anxious at the time, which resulted in poor speech.
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Andy Alt
Mental Dimensions
http://mentaldimensions.blogspot.com/
A humor column for people who enjoy observational humor, political farce, comedy editorials, satire and spoof, along with an occasional dose of non humor