Advertising For Small Business

We are concerned that many small businesses are being lured into advertising that isn't suited to their size and finances. Recently a client of mine received a proposal for a complete rebranding of their business. The problem was that the amount of advertising they suggested was close to the total of their turnover per week. This leads to the question, what type of advertising suits a small business?

Small business advertising is essential to get your message to your customers but which type should you use.

There are basically 2 types of advertising

Brand Advertising
- This is commonly used by large corporations trying to position the company in their market with a specific message. If you have huge advertising budgets and huge turnover this is important. Small businesses are best to develop their own distinctive image on business cards, letterheads, websites and promotional materials with the same theme. Try to create an identifiable look and make it consistent. Don't be sucked into expensive television commercials that try and brand like public companies such as McDonalds. In a small business you just don't have the funds.

Direct Response Advertising
- This means that for each ad that you place you can measure the results. Test and measure is the best way of thinking of it. An example would be to place an ad in the local paper and give people a special deal. You know by the number of responses and the net profit from the ad whether that advertising works. If the money you make from the advertisement is less than the cost of the ad stop doing it! This is especially true with yellow pages ads. One way of measuring this is by connecting a new telephone number and using only that number for the ads. You can have the calls monitored and thus ensure that you know whether your advertising is working.