My Advertising Isn’t Working Very Well

The purpose of advertising is to sell or help sell your company’s product/service. It can also be used to build a company or product/service image, and build name or brand awareness, but these are not the primary purpose of advertising. In business, especially small and mid-sized businesses, the only reason to spend money is to make money. The good news is that advertising does sell.

Six Purposes of Advertising for Increased Sales

Direct Sales. Some products/services are best sold directly from an ad or through direct solicitation. This works best with products/services that have clearly defined benefits and are not sold through local retailers and are priced under $1,000.

Generate Sales Leads. If you don’t have a large budget for marketing, the best use of your money is to generate immediate sales leads. This type of advertising encourages responses by making free offers such as free consultations, free estimates, free information, etc.

Educate Your Prospective Customers. Advertising can communicate information about your product/service, your business philosophy, your unique advantages or approach to solving prospective customers' problems, etc. Advertising highlights these key advantages/differences to the reader. Service businesses are often successful with this approach.

Create Awareness. In today’s information overload world, getting your message to prospective customers and making them aware of your product/service, is exceedingly more difficult. With so many products, services and ideas bombarding them every day, it is important to make sure your prospective customers are aware that you offer a solution to their problems.

Establish Credibility. Even if you have the perfect solution to a prospective customer’s problem, he or she may not respond because they may not know your company or its product/service. Basically, they have no trust in you yet. People have a natural uneasiness about dealing with unknowns and prefer to buy from well established companies. Advertising helps build familiarity and establishes that your company is successful enough to spend money on marketing.

Keep Your Name Top of Mind. With so much information overload, our experience suggests and research supports that a prospective customer will only remember your company name or product/service for up to six weeks with no additional contact. As a result, to keep your name at the top of their mind, you need to keep your name in front of them within this six-week window through out the year.

The Rule of Seven
The Rule of Seven is an old and proven advertising rule. It states that if you want a prospective customer to buy from you, you must connect with him or her a minimum of seven times within an 18 month period (we think the time line is outdated in today’s information age and now is seven times in 42 weeks).

Only then can you reasonably expect the prospective customer to know what you can do for them and get him or her to take action on his or her behalf. To overcome the prospective customer’s indifference, disinterest, and distrust, you must repeat your message over and over again until it sinks in.

We have found that the Rule of Seven works best when the form of these seven connections come in different manners and from different sources. For example, prospective customers get your message in these ways:

See/hear your advertising in radio, television, newspaper or magazine; and

Receive a newsletter in the mail from your company (or e-mail); and

Read an article or listen to a radio or television program (free press); and

Receive a direct mail letter or postcard from your company; and

Receive a direct sales phone call or a telemarketing call; and

Hear good things about your company from an independent source they trust such as their CPA, banker, attorney, industry leader or a customer of yours that they know, and

See your company name as a sponsor of an event they are participating, and

Talk with your people at an industry trade show.

No matter what the mix of connections is, the idea is to connect to your prospective customer as many times as possible and through multiple sources.

Checklist for Advertising

Goal: Create the perfect Ad

Headline. Is the headline the primary visual of the ad? Does it attract the reader?

First Paragraph. Does the first paragraph encourage the reader to read the rest of the ad?

Visual. Does the ad contain a good visual of the product? Does it support but not overpower the headline?

Medium. Is this media outlet (newspaper, radio station, billboard etc.) the best medium for the ad?

Location. Is the ad situated in the best spot in the medium?

Size. Is the ad large enough to do the job expected of it? Does it have to omit important persuasive elements to fit the size? Is the ad too crowded?

Product. Does the ad contain persuasive information about the product/service that are important to the targeted audience?

Layout. Is the ad inviting to the eye? Is it easy to read?

Prospective Customer’s Paradigm. Is the ad written and presented with the prospective customer’s point of view in mind or the company’s? Does it address the prospective customer’s wants, needs, desires, fears etc.?

Believability. Does the ad “ring true” or does it make statements without believable support?

Ask for a Response. Does the final paragraph of the copy ask the reader for a response and does the ad provide a means to respond?

Branding. Does the ad support company branding or product/service branding efforts that help the prospective customer quickly identify the company or product at a glance?

Key Information. Does the ad include key information such as store locations and hours, telephone number, website, credit card acceptance, etc.?

Other Resources

The following list of resources is by no means all inclusive of what you need but do represent resources that have helped our firm get to the Next Level

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Take you advertising efforts to the Next Level!
Our advertising gurus work to ensure that every element of your campaign – from text to taglines, graphics to grammar – is cohesive, consistent and conveys your big idea.

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