The purchaser must see your advertisement 5 (or 7 or 13) times before the prospects buy.
That is plainly not true. Ads perform much better the first time they are utilized, and their results decline rapidly over time. This myth materialized in the first years of TV. A study group showed that it took 7 impressions of a product term before the name was remembered. This has nothing to do with purchasing. It has nothing to do with the shopper wanting to buy. But this myth stays on the minds of advertising reps, and inexpert merchants as at this point there is rationalization to run an advertisement a number of times (and pay for the ad run) without testing the response. If advertisements started working better the longer they were run, we would really never see a brand new ad on TV or in magazines. Why would we? Does not the ad get stronger as time passes? Not at all.
You can not completely track your sales to your advertisements.
Certainly you can. In print, simply put in the advertising that they really need to bring in the entire advertisement with them to receive a particular bonus. In radio, the prospect says a special code remark, or asks for a particular person (a name nobody there has). You will then know, absolutely for sure, that this advertisement brought the customer in the door, or made them telephone. This works in any enterprise.
You need to budget a precise amount of capital for local advertising.
Occasionally this is in the form of a percentage of revenues. On occasion it's in the form of a dollar amount per month. Completely incorrect. If you can track an ads sales response, you will immediately (meaning the first month) recognize if the advertising generates a profit or costs you money. If the ad you run brings in five dollars for every dollar it costs, what should the monthly budget be for that advertisement? As much as you can. If the ad brings in sales that are a smaller amount than the advertising fee, how much would you resume to pay out every month on that? Nothing , I hope. If you track your ad results, you'll very rapidly know if you are advertising shrewdly. If an advertisement bombs, just don't run it another time. The results you get from the sales advertisement will never recover with repetition.
Your ad must be clever and you need a catchy slogan.
Have you ever watched an infomercial? Do they use witty catch phrases? Do you hear the people sing jingles? Never. Why? Because being clever takes intellect, but no knowledge of advertising and marketing. So it is the first place business owners go. They want to be amusing, and clever.
But being clever has nothing to do with selling. Advertising is selling. Creating jingles is fun, and company CEOs love them because it's about the company. But it doesn't sell. Remember "Where's the beef"? It was catchy, cute, and became a national catch phrase. But it didn't sell hamburgers. Nobody heard "Where's the beef" and then wanted to buy a hamburger.
I know I have a bad ad, when people I know say "Wow Claude, that's a great ad. Very clever!"
I want them to say "Wow Claude, How can I get one of those!". That's selling.
Your ad should have your children, wife, or puppy featured.
This is a lazy ad rep telling you this. Have you ever decided to buy something because you thought the advertiser's kids were just so darned gorgeous? Nobody has. And every parent on Earth thinks their youngsters are cuter than yours. The buyer wants to identify what your offering will do for them. They want to see what they get and how much it is. It's not that your family or dog is unworthy to be in the ad. But if you are paying out for the ad by the minute or by the inch, you would be better off by placing benefit statements, features, and real reasons to buy...in the ad.
Author Resource:
Small business advertising Authority Claude Whitacre is the writer of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can get the book at http://www.claudewhitacre.com or download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com
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