Small Businesses need to Wise Up.

When it comes to small businesses advertising, I am often amazed that they are willing to risk their business, and sometimes even family over a concept and idea without any marketing plan or any fundamental understanding of marketing / advertising.

I am not saying here I don't appreciate the risk of the entrepreneur, to the contrary, I am an entrepreneur and there isn't a demographic I can appreciate more than those risk takers. What I am saying though is they have a great product or service, but then when it comes to how they spend their advertising dollars, where to spend it, who the target market is, what should be the message, they have no clue.

Small business advertising is both art and science. Companies often miss the fundamentals of advertising. Regardless of the size of the business, a simple understanding of advertising can reap huge rewards.

According to Small Business Administration, 5% of an entrepreneur's gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. 5% isn't that much, but if done right, it can be extremely beneficial.

Here are 6 Rules for Small Business Advertising Success

1. Have One Message: A high response rate ad usually conveys a single message. Your advertising needs to quickly communicate its core message in 3 seconds or less. You're fighting for eyeballs. Consumers want the "What's in it for me?", and you have merely seconds to tell them. Why should I leave my dentist for your dental firm? Why should I eat at your restaurant? An example of "To the Point" messaging success are the series of books, "________ for Dummies". People thought, I am a "Dummy" on this topic, so although their may be a myrids of other titles dealing with that topic, the "For Dummies" series have been extremely successful, because they focus on one message.

2. Add Credibility: It has become human nature to distrust advertising. All too often, businesses make unrealistic and unfounded claims. Claims need to be credible and realistic. Roy Williams, author of the "Wizard of Ads" states, "Any claim made in your advertising which your customer does not perceive as the truth is a horrible waste of ad dollars." Resist the idea to tell the consumer how great you are. They know you think you are good, or you wouldn't be in business. Again, what's in it for them. Focus on what you CAN do.

3. Test Everything: No business should waste money by guessing if their advertisement is working. Test. Ask. Rarely do I show up at a Restaurant and they give me a survey asking me how I heard about them? Are they all soo successful that they don't need to know where my wife and I heard about their businesses? No matter how successful, you need to know where your customers are coming from. Use surveys, coupons, codes, and specials to measure the headline, timing, and placement of your ad.Testing can be as simple as asking every customer for several weeks how they heard of your business. Most people are happy to share.

4. Easy to Contact: Every advertisement, brochure, email and all company literature should have full contact information including: website and email address, phone and fax numbers, and company address along with your tagline. Simply put, be everywhere.

5. Match Ads to Target Audience: Successful advertising speaks to one target market only. Know your medium. Who is the demographic? Speak to your market. Focus your message to the target group.

6. Create Curiosity: Successful advertising does not sell a product or service. It may be strange to say, but your goal is to generate interest. You want your potential customer to say "Hey, I want to check that out, we should give them a call / stop by." This can be as simple as a coupon offer, free video, publishing a testimonial of a satisfied customer, special for new clients. Why should they contact your company?

After you have addressed these rules and you market, it will be trial and error. Having a poor reponse rate is not the medium's fault. Remember, advertising is not a guarantee. Timing, current economics, location, your product or service need, price, etc., are just a few examples of factors involved in the consumers decision. Also, have realistic expectations. Getting a 2% response rate is often a huge response. Two things that are guaranteed to work in advertising is, consistancy and longevity. Applying the above rules, over and over again, will generate the business you need.

Again, having a poor response is NOT the medias fault. All too often we see businesses blame the medium and pull their ad, but yet they told the designer how to design their ad, told the advertising agency what to write, and often had a friend or family member create their advertisement for them, and they thought it looked good. Companies don't think twice about hiring a book keeper or accountant to handle their books, hire a lawyer to handle their legal affairs, but then they handle their own advertising instead of getting council from an advertising agency. I am not saying you must hire an agency to be successful, but I am saying, advertising should be an investment, not an expense and you should listen to outside council, to your customers, employees and yes, advertising firms.

Often the problem is the message. Advertising is not just running a quick advertisement to getting more business. It takes planning, testing, inquiring and constant exposure to have an impact. Done correctly, advertising is a winning strategy.