How Can a Small Business Get Started With A Marketing Services Company?

If done correctly, small business advertising can prove to be a marvelous tool to boost product sales, which directly translates to more revenue and success for any small business. Of course, getting started with it is not an easy task, and you may need the help of a marketing services company. Nonetheless, if used to the advantage of business, there is a lot that magazine, newspaper, radio and television advertising can do.

What Can Advertising Do For A Business?

= Attract new customers
= Encourage existing customers to purchase more of a product and/or service
= Enhance reputation
= Establish and maintain a unique identity
= Promote business to customers, investors, and others
= Remind and inform customers about the benefits of a product and/or service
= Replace lost customers
= Slowly build sales to increase bottom line

Two Integral Benefits Of Advertising

Complete control: Unlike public-relations efforts, precisely how often, when and where the message will appear, and what it will say are among the many things that can be determined. Any desired audience and very particular geographic areas can be targeted more readily.

Consistent: Through advertising, the image and sales message of small business can be pressed such that awareness and trust are built. Eventually, a distinct identity will become clearly associated with the company. The brand and product will be quickly easily and quickly recognized by customers as long as the presentation is consistent.

Getting Started With Small Business Advertising

Usually, a marketing services company follows the steps below to draw a blueprint for the advertising plan of a small business.

1. Design the Framework
Every advertising program must have a purpose. Therefore, the first thing that marketing companies do is help define the long-range goals of the company and map out how they can be attained through marketing. Advertising routes that compliment the marketing efforts should be emphasized. Measurable goals should be set up so that the success of the advertising campaign can be evaluated. An amount that is affordable enough to invest must also be determined.

2. Fill in the Details

Next the benefits and features of the product or service being advertised are determined. Every product or service has certain features that provide some benefits to the customers, and that is what must be determined. A product or service can be marketed more effectively if it helps customers in some way. A profile for the best customer must also be created, being as specific as possible. This is how the target audience is determined.

3. Get Information

Knowing as much as possible about the audience, industry and market being targeted is the key to successful small business advertising. Information can be acquired from a variety of sources, in which case no expensive market research will have to be conducted to stay in touch with buying trends, the industry, and the market. A professional market research firm may also be hired through that is a more expensive alternative.

4. Build the Action Plan

Selecting advertising vehicles upon which the message will be carried and establishing an advertising schedule is the next step that is taken. In a majority of cases, the right media through which the sales message will be delivered most effectively can be chosen more easily if the target audience is known. As many tools as are affordable and appropriate should be used at this point. Many manufacturers offer co-op advertising programs that can prove to be beneficial.

5. Using Promotional Avenues

There is more to advertising than just placing ads in magazines, newspapers, on the radio and television. Imprinting the company graphic identity and name on calendars, clocks, paper, pens and other giveaway items for prospective customers is also one of the options. Events with nonprofit organizations can also be co-sponsored, advertising fliers can be sent along with billing statements, sales kits can be developed with brochures, or leads can be generated using telemarketing. Depending on the budget, there are endless promotional tools that can be used to deliver the message.

The Advertising Campaign

Once armed with all of the above, the time to take action arrives. Word of mouth is never enough even for a small business because it can be slow, and for new business, it can be may be practically non-existent. The need to grow the customer base more quickly calls for the business to advertise and to seek assistance. A marketing services company is the ideal way to reach your target market efficiently and effectively.