It isn’t a closely guarded secret that small businesses do not have as much to spend on advertising as some of the companies in the FTSE 100, but that shouldn’t stop you from really selling your product or service.
There is no formula for virality, and there is no magic combination to likability, but when you’re next brainstorming for your advertising campaign, you do need to think about:
What you can offer
Who are you offering it too
Being original or not
Your advertising medium
Being understandable
What you can offer
Small businesses are the life and soul of the UK economy. The reason small businesses can compete with the multi-billion pound giants is because they offer something different, better, cheaper or more convenient. This is something that you need to be shouting about in your advertising campaign. .
The best way to figure out what you need to boast about is to stop and think – “why would someone choose us?”. Whatever it is that makes you great as a business needs to come out. There’s no point advertising unless you shout about what you’re good at.
Who are you advertising to?
In other words, who is your target market? You absolutely need to know this before you start to think of ideas or sketch-ups for your campaign. Your tone of voice, image style, location, where you’re directing them to etc all changes based on who you’re actually targeting.
How you portray your business and even the appeal of what you’re selling vastly changes from the 25-34 market to the over 60’s market. Think about how you can use this to your advantage. You’re more likely to get success from a twitter hashtag, or an app with the 25-34 market than you are with any other market for example.
Originality
Originality isn’t always the absolute golden ticket, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be overlooked. Here comes the cliche: Don’t fix it if it hasn’t broken yet.
Sticking to traditional marketing methods and advertising styles obviously has it’s merits, or else millions of businesses wouldn’t be using it. At the same time, it’s undeniable that a clever, original, advert does catch the eye, and certainly gets talked about.
What we suggest: Don’t be original simply for the sake of being original and quirky, but if a quirky, original and interesting advertising campaign really works – go for it!
Where you advertise
Choosing where to advertise is almost as important as making the actual advert good in the first place. You need to think about your business, your target market and the benefits of advertising in certain places. Would advertising on the TV be good for a solely online business? Can you monitor the CTR?
Get creative with where you place your adverts. Deciding on either digital or print or even both will narrow your ad space search down by a lot – Think about new ways of advertising – Social media advertising, PPC ads, Amscreen screens, Pre-video adverts on relevant channels etc.
There are many, many ways to push your product/service in front of the eyes of your customer – try to experiment with the new.
Be understandable
Perhaps the golden rule of advertising – make sure viewers/readers know exactly what you’re showing them, after they’ve seen your advert. You can consider it a wasted effort is the consumer doesn’t know who you are or even what you’re offering after viewing one of your advertising pieces.
Think about:
Relevant imagery
Logos
Appropriate taglines and text
Clear message
Contact details or a URL/Address to go to
Experiment
The best way to really find out what works for you, what engages your market, what gets people buying and what goes viral is to simply do your research and try out some campaigns.
In the words of Dr Pepper’s tried and tested advertising campaign, “What’s the worst that can happen?”