There seems to be a never ending source of ways to get your message out in the market place. Just to name a few…
- Advertising (including Yellow Pages, newspaper, radio and television)
- Building signage
- Direct contact by sales people or account managers
- Direct mail
- Flyer delivery to residential addresses
- Focused advertising such as in trade magazines
- Internet
- Networking
- Promotional material
- Publicity
- Trade shows
- And so on …
Besides the well-known areas mentioned above, there are many others like text painted on the bitumen in car parks, advertising on coffee cups, pizza boxes and so on. And now even on hand dryers in public bathrooms …
With so many choices no wonder the poor business owner doesn’t know which one to use and which ones to avoid.
Here’s one very important tip which will SAVE you thousands of dollars…
If your prospect has a copy of your newspaper ad, leaflet, business card, etc – not a problem, but if they see your ad somewhere – they are relying on memory!
Hence, at the risk of upsetting the sales representatives from movie cinemas – don’t advertise there. It’s not likely that someone will remember a cinema advertisement after watching 100 or more minutes of a movie. Besides, most people I know buy something from the kiosk, or go to the toilet, or talk to their friend whilst cinema advertisements are running on the screens – so cinema advertising is an example of delayed response – not a good thing in marketing.
THE KEY POINT : Consider the time period from when your potential customer sees your ad to when they have the ability to respond to it!