Any businesses survival is dependent on two key factors A. The product or services being offered and B. A healthy supply of interested customers wanting that product or service. Advertising is the only way to bridge that gap between your business and your potential customers.
Some will say that they never advertise all their custom arrives via recommendation or word of mouth, but isn't word of mouth just another way of describing free advertising! When we think about advertising many images are conjured in our minds, the most obvious being television we are bombarded with these images every 10 - 15 minutes.
Many small business owners see advertising as an unnecessary expense one they can ill afford, advertising is something that large companies do because their budget can sustain advertising campaigns we cannot. But the funny thing is when these same small business owners start to have problems and business starts to slow down what's the first thing they do you guessed it advertise!
What they fail to realise is the unmitigated truth surrounding advertising,(sometimes all to late) that advertising is without question the single most powerful medium there is period!
Think about it everything we do is at some level linked with advertising. In fact our whole capitalist society and economic structure is dependent upon advertising without which, the system would collapse. So you see to dismiss advertising as a luxury or a unnecessary expense is complete madness and any business owner that does should be certified.
Before entering into advertising it is crucial that you actually have a fundamental appreciation of what advertising is, unfortunately most don't. They use it in the wrong way, do not get any results and then decide it is not worth the expense. Most businesses, (and you too may be guilty of this) place an ad in a newspaper or yellow pages explaining about their product or service giving contact details on how customers can reach them,and then they wait for the orders.
when they are not forthcoming a decision is made either to forget about advertising altogether or leave the ad in place for a while on the off chance that somebody interested in their business will see it, and anyway its good publicity at least the company name is out there. This is not the way to advertise this is a way to loose money.
Advertising is a science and to fully understand the principals of this science you must examine the origins of advertising. It is crucial for anyone contemplating using advertising that they understand the foundations, you have heard the saying "in order to know where your going you need to know where you come from" well in respects of advertising this statement rings true.
The fore fathers of modern day advertisers originated in America at the beginning of the 20th century, these giants designed and sculpted the landscape of advertising to reflect an image of ultimate professionalism and innovation. And the greatest exponent of this art, and widely acknowledged as the father of modern advertising was Claude C. Hopkins.
His methods, strategies and techniques laid the foundations for advertising to be seen to be profitable. His revolutionary idea on research had never been witnessed, ideas on testing were all new concepts at the beginning of the last century.
Therefore if you which to really grasp the true power of advertising and what it can do for your business look back so you can see forwards.
Related Articles
Are you Implementing These 3 Advertising Techniques for a Better Return on your Investment
By: Michael C. Podlesny | 30/10/2007 | Advertising
Advertising Articles, Advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy.
Blogs, Gray Zones and Pink Slips
By: Michael C. Podlesny | 10/12/2007 | Blogging
Stuff That Mail in your Business
By: Michael C. Podlesny | 13/12/2007 | Advertising
Advertising Articles, Advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy.
How to Use Headlines to Generate Maximum Profits From your Ads
By: Claude Whitacre | 29/05/2007 | Advertising
Advertising Articles, Advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy.
Blogging
By: Michael C. Podlesny | 06/12/2007 | Blogging
Are You Being Represented by Boring Business Cards?
By: Jordan Mummert | 25/09/2008 | Graphic Design
Is Your Business Advertising Effective? - How Do You Know?
By: Paul Sutherland | 11/10/2007 | Advertising
Advertising Articles, Advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy.
Blog it Down
By: Michael C. Podlesny | 05/12/2007 | Blogging
Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
Looking for online shops to list my Folk arts ........
By: nelson | 04-08-2008
Looking for online shops to list my Folk arts other than eBay, Any suggestions?
How can i unsubscribe from sms promo 216 and 116?
By: alice | 28-07-2008
how can i unsubscribe from sms promo 216 and 116?
Why is ad sense retiring? profit decreases or privacy issues?
By: Rick Marengo AXLR8 | 27-07-2008
Is that why the adsense stuff disappered suddenly from the right hand side of my gmail? Were there privacy issues or did that play a part?
I'm searching for contest sponsors
By: FendyBt2 | 27-07-2008
Currently I'm building my website backlinks by running a contest to get bloggers link their blog to me.
I'm just wondering where can I get some cool prizes for my upcoming contest. Maybe someone would like to sponsor me some cool prizes?
All the sponsors will get a link back from my website in the contest post and in my blogroll link. And all the bloggers that participate in the contest would have to put the sponsors link in their post. That's a lot of free backlinks just for sponsoring one contest. Anyone interested?
For more details please continue reading this...
Response to: The Golden Age of Digital Marketing - 23 July 2008
By: Ray | 25-07-2008
89N The Golden Age of Digital Marketing - 23 July 2008
It was with much interest that I read the report on the Netimperative Directors? Dinner discussing the golden age of digital marketing.
I completely agree that the marketing profession faces many challenges in its ambition to be taken seriously at the highest levels of business. As the various speakers highlighted, one of the key challenges is the perception of what marketing is.
Recent research carried out for The Chartered Institute of Marketing by Ipsos MORI revealed that 73 per cent of working marketers surveyed believed there was a large gap between the reality of what marketing does and how it is seen by other parts of the business.
Until marketing is recognised as a key driver of value in organisations, it will struggle to gain the respect of other professional business colleagues. However, marketing must earn that respect.
As highlighted by several speakers, marketers must reach out to colleagues in other functions and those at a senior level, and communicate clearly with them the value they create for the organisation, in terms they understand ? which in boardrooms is predominantly financial.
The Institute continues to promote the profession and attempt to change attitudes towards marketing in the wider business community. It has established links with various government departments to promote professional marketing, and has developed professional marketing standards that employers can benchmark their employees against.
The drive towards proper recognition and respect for the vital role marketing has to play in today?s organisations has to start with greater accountability and clearly demonstrating the value marketers create.
I am in no doubt that digital marketing, with its greater measurability, will be in the vanguard of marketers? increasing acceptance at the top table.
Ray Jones
The Chartered Institute of Marketing
25 July 2008
Small Scale Affiliate Marketing
By: Shikina | 22-07-2008
I'm looking to establish a direct affiliate relationship between myself (the affiliate) and one specific retailer that I deal with regularly. They're not looking for any other affiliates other than myself, but I need this to be a software-based solution. Anybody know of any generic code out there that I could modify and pass off to the partner? Are there any other solutions that don't involve paying huge upfront costs, or a recurring commission to a 3rd party network? Your help is greatly appreciated!
Q&A Powered by:
Advertising 
