What’s The Best Time To Post On Social Media?

What’s The Best Time To Post On Social Media?

The emergence of social media in the last few years has transformed the way we live and work. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, LinkedIn and so on permeate our everyday lives and should be in every business’s marketing mix.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that social media is no longer an option for any entrepreneur or small business.

If you aren’t using the major social networks I’ve mentioned and don’t know the best time to post on social media, the chances are that your customers are not finding you, not engaging with you and ultimately not buying from you.

Besides being free and fun to use, social media can be a powerful way for businesses to connect with large numbers of people. Conversation, engagement and dialogue are what make us human. But they also build trust and studies show that people buy from people (and businesses) they like and trust.

So communicating with your potential customers and converting these prospects or leads into customers for your product or service should be your number one priority.

Just think about it for a second.

How often do you meet someone at a business event and then check them out on Facebook or LinkedIn? How many brands or businesses on TV or radio advertise that they are on Twitter and invite you to follow them there?

Whats The Best Time To Post On Social Media? EpreneurTVThese days, people no longer have to wait until they are in front of a computer or back at the office to find out about you.

With the surging popularity of smartphones and app technology, information about you and your business is available at the touch of a button.

It’s therefore critical that you not only choose the right social media networks for your business, but that you also post at the right time to get the “biggest bang for your buck” .

After all, you don’t want to be shouting into a void, hoping and praying that someone will hear you?

If you want to reach the greatest number of people and get the biggest return on investment for your social media marketing efforts, here are 3 things you need to consider;

#1 Know Your Audience
This process starts with knowing your target market, their habits and the times they are most likely to be online.

Office workers and professionals are unlikely to be online until after they have finished work.

But freelancers and entrepreneurs, especially home-based ones, may be using social media during the day since they can often dictate their hours of work.

Stay-at-home moms may dip in and out of social media throughout the day depending on their family commitments e.g. while the kids are at school and then later in the evening once they are in bed.
So, how much time is spent on social media and when your audience is likely to be online will vary and constantly change based on the specific people you are trying to reach.

#2 Social Networks Differ

The next step is to be aware that each social network is different, and that its audience may have different behaviors as well.

Facebook users tend to socialize more than those using Twitter, possibly because the 140-character limit of tweets restricts what you can say and how you say it.

Time spent on the different social networks varies greatly and can be an important indicator of how users engage with that social media site and how likely they are to stick around, interact and even buy.

In contrast to Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is a visual social media network where sharing rather than commenting rules. And if you’re using LinkedIn, you should be aware that these users tend to be higher-income professionals more interested in networking and business topics rather than chit-chat.

#3 Track And Measure

Usage, demographics and peak times vary from network to network. It might be convenient for you to post out in the morning if you are located in the UK but if you are targeting people in the USA then no one will be up to hear what you have to say.

Study each social media site and use scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Buffer to monitor engagement and see what times your content gets the most retweets, likes and shares.

Don’t be afraid to test different times of the day. Is there a pattern emerging? You might be surprised.

Facebook Insights can also be a powerful source of information about the habits of your Facebook fans as can the recently launched Pinterest Analytics tool. But even analyzing your Pinterest activity feed and Twitter timeline can provide helpful insights.

This excellent infographic by Social Media Today take a deeper look at how each social network is being used, by whom and what the key social media trends to look out for are.



Source : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=555178514517932&set=a.420503944652057.81676.200237580012029&type=1&theater

Are We Addicted to Social Media?

Are We Addicted to Social Media? 

Source : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=550602264975557&set=a.420503944652057.81676.200237580012029&type=1&theater

Low Cost Advertising Tips

If there is one mistake small town businesses make more often than any other it's, "What ever is left over, we'll use for advertising."

Marketing and advertising is an investment, not an expense. I know it sure seems like an expense to me when I'm writing the check, but trust me it's not.

Without enough money put aside for advertising your sales can go down and you suddenly have less and less for promotion.

When do you advertise the most? For most businesses it's the first day of business. Don't you have a Grand Opening, balloons, flyers, ads, on-site radio stations, contests, and prizes? Did the income from sales pay for that? No, it didn't. You advertise most when you need business. You advertise more when you don't.

An average cost of advertising is usually 1 to 5% of gross sales, which can vary according to location, local advertising rates, and industry. Car dealers need more advertising than funeral homes.

Before we get to the 25 tips let's look at the basic strategies of successful advertising.

* In order to be successful, your advertising must provide a consumer benefit or solve a problem.
* That benefit or solution must be wanted by the consumer.
* The product or service you are offering must be tied directly to that benefit or solution.
* The benefit or solution must be distinctly communicated through medial advertising. In other words, be clear, forget the advertising glitz and make sure the message isn't lost in the ad.

A small-budget advertiser doesn't have the ''deep pockets" to develop big advertising campaigns. Some time you need to break the rules to be noticed. Avis did it by admitting they were "Number 2" in the car rental business and that campaign took them from 6th place to second place. When they stopped that campaign they dropped back to 6th again. In the past year they have gone back to it.

Budget conscious advertisers must achieve top results for their advertising dollar. Expand your dollars by adopting some creative techniques.

Here's 25 tips I hope will help you.

Radio, newspapers and magazine specialists will frequently give free help in developing an advertising strategy. Things like demographic information, money-saving ways to produce your ads etc.

Place your ads in off hours or in unusual locations for less. Many times you can still reach your target market with these spots.

Instead of a one-time big splash ad, be consistent with frequent small ads that work.
Monthly magazines sometimes have unsold ad space at the end of the month they will sell at a discount.

If you have an 800 number, put it in every ad for immediate response and feedback.

Try advertising consistently in the classifieds. These ads may draw more customers than more expensive display ads.

Can you barter for the cost of ad production? Maybe the newspaper needs painting in exchange for an ad about your paint store.

Piggyback advertising are the ads you receive with your Mastercard bill. Is there someone in your town that sends out a lot of bills? Can you put a small flyer in with their bills and split the postage? Or pay a small fee?

Split advertising costs with the people who sell to you. Vendors and manufactures are always looking for exposure. Let people know you carry their products and have the vendor pick up part of the ad cost.

Are there up front advertising discounts for cash?

Consider advertising in regional issues of national magazines. The costs are lower and you can still reach your target market. TV Guide is a good choice. It stays around for at least a week. Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report may stay in local doctors offices for years.

Share ad costs with neighbor business. Video stores and Pizza parlors are natural partners. Have coupons to each others stores or share the cost of flyers.

Try reducing the size of your ad (not in the Yellow Pages) or length of your radio spots. A 60 second spot is not twice as much as a 30 second spot but you won't get twice as many customers for a 60 over a 30. Going with small ads or shorter spots will allow you to do more ads which normally pulls more customers. It's better to be there every day with small ads than every month with one big one.

Develop tight production controls to minimize the need to reject finished ads. The message is more important than the messenger. Don't try to produce ads that win awards, produce ads that sell.

Who are your very best customers? Aim your ads to talk directly to people like them.

What will suppliers give you in the way of point-of-purchase materials. Posters, stand ups, handouts, etc. Some have excellent display racks you can use.

Some national chains like Coke and Pepsi provide outdoor signs for businesses. There are also indoor lighted signs you write on with special markers to advertise your special offers.

Can you sponsor a community event? A fun-run, golf tournament, or other event that will be well publicized in the community. Your name may not be prominently displayed but sometimes the positive exposure in the community will bring in new customers.

Small businesses can seldom afford saturation advertising. You must be selective in the media that reaches your customers. Pin your ad reps down and make them show you exactly how their media reaches your target audience.

Exploit the media you choose to the fullest. If your message is verbal, you don't need TV. Use radio, billboards and newspapers to the fullest.

Consider direct mail. A letter and brochure before customer contact can increase business. An IBM study concluded that selling time can be reduced from 9.3 to 1.3 total hours with direct mail advertising. A Sales and Marketing Executives International Study showed salespeople went from eight orders per 100 cold calls to 38 orders per 100 when direct mail was used.

Try an editorial style ad. These are ads that look like actual stories in the newspaper. They will have "advertisement" at the top of the article. Develop a good headline, and 50% more people will read the article than would read an ad of the same size.

You can't match larger competitors dollar-for-dollar but, you can use unusual approaches (like the Avis idea above), color, music, slogans, humor (be careful here), or media selection to win your market away from the big guys.

Due to the high costs of conventional advertising on, radio, TV, newspapers, many cost conscious business have been forced to look for lower cost methods. Can you advertise on parking meters, taxi boards, balloons, blimps, and grocery shopping carts. Community bulletin boards, movie ads, and weekly newspaper shoppers.

Key your ads. Put something in the ad that will let you know which media it came from. On coupons, put a code that will record the paper and date of the ad. In radio or TV, have them mention the ad to get the discount. Ask every customer how they found you.

Plan for a rainy day. During the year put a small amount aside each month for emergencies. You never know when you'll need to react quickly to whatever the competition is doing. You must be able to capitalize on breaking national events or news regarding your industry. If negative things happen in your industry you may need to respond quickly to make sure the right message is presented.

Always give the customer more than you promised and more than they expected. This is tip number 27 of the 25 we advertised. Maybe this last one is the one you needed.
I hope these tips will help your business grow. Not all may be relevant to your particular situation. Hopefully, they will illustrate the importance to plan and control your advertising budget.

The True Meaning of Social Media

So, social media. It can be pretty confusing, right? After all, one person tells you one thing about it while another person tells you the complete opposite not 5 minutes later. And then the day after, you have someone else telling you it’s something in-between the previous two explanations! No wonder social media is so confusing. So what does it mean?

To be honest, social media is exactly what you want it to be. You want it to be a way of finding cool and interesting websites that you would never have found before? Sign up to Stumbleupon. You want to know what blogs are popular? Get yourself a Technorati account. History of all the comments you’ve ever left? Backtype. And the list goes on.

For me, however, the true meaning of social media can be found in the way that people who would normally be business competitors offer support, knowledge and different expertise to those who need it.

I’ll give you an example. On my Twitter account, I’m probably connected to around 40 or so people from the PR and copywriting industry, whether it’s through me following them or them following me (or both, even). Now, in the “normal” business world, they would be competitors so you’d think the last thing we would want to do is help the other out.

Yet instead, Twitter sees any request for help or advice answered almost immediately, and often with information that would offer a distinct advantage if kept private. Now to me, that’s social media at its finest.

Yes, we’re all in business and we all want to succeed, but gone is the “at all costs” attitude of the last decade and beyond. With the Internet opening up a whole new world of commerce and potential customers, there really is enough to go round for everyone. And people are realizing that.

Not only that, but people are also encouraging others to succeed and offering up the tools with which to push for that success. You can’t get much more of a truer meaning of social than that, media or otherwise. Perhaps we should get the leaders of the world into social media? After all, they could use all the help they can get.

How to make an Easy advertisement of Facebook

Go to Facebook.com/advertising
Click "create an ad" above the ads on the right side.

Decide where to send people
Enter the Web address for the page you want people who click on the ad to go to.
For the purposes of this example, we'll pretend we need to entice people who work at Google's office in New York to read more SAI (they already read it!), so we've entered the URL for our story "The Google Brain Drain Goes On And On."

Write a clickable headline
Use 25 characters or less. Don't be too spammy.

Write the ad copy
You only get 135 characters, so bring your Tweet-writing skills to bear.
Remember: Because of Facebook's impressive targeting, you can address your audience specifically. Here, we address Google New York employees directly.

Find an image for the ad
Don't waste time with photoshop.
Just take a screen grab of your logo or use a picture of your product already on the Internet. Make sure you own the image rights. We're using the "Google Brain Drain" logo we already created for the post.

Upload the photo
Click "browse." Find your image. Then click "open."

Proofread your ad
If it looks good. Click "continue."

Target by Geography
You can target your ad by country, state/province, and city.
We're targeting our ad to New York and Mountain View, where big Google offices are.

Target by…a lot!
You can target your ad to users based on age, sex, education, workplaces, relationships, sexual preference, language, group membership, page membership, and application usage.
We're targeting everyone who work at Google, so we filled out the workplaces box and left the rest blank.

Check your scope
Facebook tells you about how many people you're targeting.
Is the number way too big or way too small? If it's too small, target more people. If it's too big, make your targeting more specific. If it's a fine size, click "Continue."

Set your budget
We're going to spend $2 per day on this campaign because its just a demonstration.
But spend as much as you like…there's no maximum.

Decide your schedule, bid and metrics
We're going to run our ad indefinitely, though this screen grab shows how we could have set it to run for a month.
Since this campaign is more about raising our awareness among Googlers in New York, we decided to pay per impression. Keep in mind, it'll be easier to track ROI if you choose to pay per click. Either way, Facebook will estimate how many clicks or impressions your ad will get each day. Click "create."

Enter your credit card
Please don't use our number to buy stuff on the Internet! Click "place order."

All done!
Facebook will review your ad and throw it up ASAP.
Bookmark this page to track your campaign.

Introduction of how Internet Marketing Works for our Business

In today's time, people want information instantly at the click of their fingertips.
They are come to the Web to find products, services, and information. We first have to create our own foundation by defining how Internet marketing works for our Business, and identifying its distinctions and components. Then discuss planning and Internet marketing strategy, as well as determining our target audience, and measuring the results of your marketing efforts.

Planning and building a Web site is crucial to the success of Internet marketing strategy.
The key elements for establishing a Web presence, including creating compelling online content for Website, in the form of articles, social media posts, online press releases, and even e-mail newsletters.

Great Web site content can only take us so far without having an audience, so we have to reach and grow our audience through successful search engine marketing, including search engine optimization, and paid and local search.

Use the power of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as blogging to keep our audience updated, informed, and engaged.

And finally, we have to jump into online advertising, as well as e-mail marketing, to help gain valuable sales and exposure.

Article marketing the true competitor for online marketing

If you are looking for marketing your service or product in the online world, the best course of action to pursue in today’s competitive scenario is articles marketing. No doubt, other means of marketing your articles including online marketing too exist and people have been trying various strategies including email marketing, sharing through social media websites and word of mouth to promote their services and products. However, it is a fact that article marketing is the true competitor that has emerged over the block.

The reasons for article marketing being the true competitor to online marketing are unique too. Below are listed some of these reasons that will help you realize as to why article marketing is considered a challenge to online modes of marketing that exist today.



Great combination of Keywords

Article marketing is the viable way of having the right combination of keywords and keyword phrases for promoting your venture. The dominance in SEO world is all about correct portrayal of keywords in the most appropriate places. Have the correct combination of keywords and half of the work will be done.

If you decide to go in for article marketing chances are bright that you will have the desired audience for your articles as the same will get highlighted owing to correct and adequate presence of the keywords. This cannot be said with certainty about other mediums of online marketing as not much emphasis is paid there to adequate and correct use of keywords.



Helps one use Keyword Rich Anchor Text Effectively

If you decide with article marketing, an added advantage comes in the form that it helps one use keyword rich anchor text effectively. This is itself makes your article or content more readable and acceptable. Increased visibility will ensure and your ideas will reach across to more people than you might have thought.

Additionally, you will be able to provide your readers with quality content and help them connect with you in a better an organized manner. This in no way is possible with other means of online marketing as sharing through social media or email marketing. Through these means, you might be able to reach the customers but will never be able to make a mark in their hearts as they will merely know about presence of your business venture. With many others in your niche vying for making a mark with readers, you are not likely to make a mark with the readers. This happens owing to the fact that you would not be using Keyword rich anchor text in any of its form.

Article marketing helps one get over these limitations as your efforts will naturally get focused on creating keyword rich anchor text, helping you maintain a lead over others in the market who would be trying the online marketing mode for making their presence felt among readers.




Focus on Quality Articles

This might not have struck your mind but if you decide to go in for article marketing for promoting your venture, your focus will shift to quality instantly. You will want to make a mark with your readers and this will encourage you to write qualitative content that is well researched.

The readers will appreciate you for your seriousness and earnest efforts that you have put in to make your venture a success. This can never be thought about in other means of online marketing as merely your presence will get reflected in the market and they will never realize the true intent of your ideas. Quality always counts and this holds true in the creative field. Go for article marketing and realize its true benefits.




Better Way of Reaching Quality Conscious People

Article marketing is a better way of reaching quality conscious people. Those who prefer quality tend to do deep rooted research on various concepts they are looking for. Article marketing helps to reach such people effectively. You will be able to increase the reach of your business effectively, as such people rarely care for joining an email list or checking out social media websites for buying a product. This makes article marketing a viable option for business owners who wish to better their prospects in the competitive online world.




Helps develop Personal Bond

Article marketing help one develop personal bonds with potential customers. Serious customers rarely connect through social media, therefore taking the idea of online marketing, a step behind.

Go for article marketing for promotion of your venture and see the difference it makes to your online presence. Your hold in the niche area will not only get strengthened but you will be able to reach much more people that would have been possible with online marketing.

Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't)

From Best Buy to Old Spice, these 11 great spots show why Madison Avenue is still a $70 billion business

I was having dinner with friends the other evening, and one of the guests made a familiar statement. "I am not influenced by advertising," she said.

For those of us in marketing, this is a familiar thing to hear. I often respond by pointing out that U.S. companies would not invest $70 billion (yes, that's the size of TV's ad market) in something they thought didn't work. Companies expect advertising to produce returns, just like any other investment. The reason that my friend -- and, I'm guessing, many of your friends -- think advertising doesn't "work" is that they think advertisements are trying to make them do something immediately.

They're wrong. 

Successful advertising rarely succeeds through argument or calls to action. Instead, it creates positive memories and feelings that influence our behavior over time to encourage us to buy something at a later date. No one likes to think that they are easily influenced. In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that we respond negatively to naked attempts at persuasion. 

Instead, the best advertisements are ingenious at leaving impressions. Consider my dinner party friend, who, after claiming to be immune to marketing, proceeded to describe an erectile dysfunction ad with impressive detail. She then intoned cigarette ad slogans ("Cal-l-l for-r-r Phil-lip Mor-ray-ssss") from the early 1950s when Philip Morris sponsored the "I Love Lucy" show. You can check out that clip, and other favorite advertisements hand-selected by me and the Atlantic staff, in the gallery below.

In sum, the best advertisements use images, jingles, and stories to focus attention on the brand. They are not just creative for creative's sake.

FROM CATCHPHRASES TO CASH 

Of course, as tickled as advertisers are to know they're writing catchy jingles, they don't make TV commercials for the honor of giving us free new music. They want us to buy something. The crucial challenge for marketers is: What's the best way to translate these memories into actions?

Some imagine a debate between two groups. The first group believes in raw persuasion. Its focus is on crafting a compelling argument that will encourage you, with the delivery of "new news," to buy something right away. The second group believes in the power of engagement. Its focus is on creating a positive experience that will influence you over the longer-term. Here, the objective is to seed positive ideas and memories that will attract you to the brand.

But this distinction is largely a myth. Advertisers have little control over how audiences receive their message. New news might appear relevant and credible to some ("Geico can save me 15 percent or more? Let's call!"), while others consider it unpersuasive ("Allstate's cheap enough"). Similarly, a TV commercial designed to engage the viewer might cause you to buy the brand immediately, simply because it reminds you of how much you enjoy the product ("Cute Coke spot. You know, I am kinda thirsty..."). 

Once in a blue moon an advert might leave you thinking, "Just what I need!" and send you running out the door to buy something. More often, however, you barely attend to the commercials you see. You do not reflect on the scenes and messages unless triggered by something else at a later date: seeing the advertised brand on the street, when you need to buy the product or, in the case of my friend, talking about it at the dinner table. Even then, it is not the ad that matters. The ideas, impressions and positive feelings about the brand that matter. Any memory that will predispose you to view the brand in a more positive light than its alternatives is a plus.

ALL ABOUT GOOD VIBRATIONS

As demonstrated by my friend, advertising memories can last decades. But my friend's discourse on advertising also touched one of the biggest pitfalls to creating successful TV advertising. Crafting a compelling message or creating an engaging impression is not easy (particularly when trying to reach an increasingly digitally distracted and time poor audience). It is equally difficult to make sure that the intended memories stick to the right brand.

My friend correctly identified the brand in the erectile dysfunction ad as Cialis. Why? Because the ad ended with a couple sitting in separate bath tubs. Bizarre? Yes. But also memorable. And, by dint of repetition, easily linked to the right brand.

So contrary to many people's beliefs, advertising does influence them. But advertising's influence is subtle. Strident calls to action are easily discounted and rejected because they are obvious. But engaging and memorable ads slip ideas past our defenses and seed memories that influence our behavior. You may not think advertising influences you. But marketers do. And in addition to millions of dollars, they have something else most people don't have: Access to data that proves their point.

The Do's and Don'ts of Dot-Com Marketing

Just because marketers are moving campaigns onto mobile devices, as well as Twitter and Facebook, doesn't mean the government will give them a pass when it comes to making sure ad disclosures and disclaimers are clear and conspicuous.

But figuring it out could be a challenge. The long-awaited updates to the Federal Trade Commission's Dot-Com Disclosures offer a lot of helpful advice, but add up to more "don’ts" than "do’s"—leaving it up to marketers to put the guidance into practice. “The FTC won’t relax enforcement just because the ad is in a constrained space. Marketers will need to figure it out,” said Linda Goldstein, a partner with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which represents advertisers.

Since the FTC released version 1.0 of the disclosures in 2000, screens on which ads (and disclosures) run have gotten smaller, which can inhibit the consumer's ability to see the disclosure—rendering it potentially deceptive. "Disclosures should not be an add-on but something that is designed to be in every message and work across all devices," said Tom Chernaik, CEO of Cmp.ly.

The Value of Advertising

Advertising increases value for consumers

By allowing companies to differentiate themselves and highlight their unique selling points, advertising stimulates competition in the marketplace.


Competition, in turn, means companies need to keep improving the value of their products for their consumers: pushing down prices and pushing up quality.

Just think how competition among TV manufacturers has brought about a steep fall in the price of flat-screen televisions while simultaneously increasing both their image quality and their size.

The link between advertising, competition and consumer value is immediate: when bans on advertising were lifted in some US states, the prices of spectacles fell by 30-40% thanks to increased public awareness and competition.1



Advertising promotes choice

Clothes, car insurance, computers, holidays... we have never had so much choice as consumers. Yet we all have different tastes and needs. No single product is right for everyone.


Companies use advertising to tell us about the distinct products they offer in response to this diversity. When you see an ad for coffee, for example, it can

Inform you about lower prices (e.g. 'buy one get one free' promotion).
Tell you about differences in quality (e.g. improved packaging that keeps the coffee fresh longer).
Tell you about the options that best fit your individual tastes and values (e.g. coffee certified with the 'Fair Trade' label).
Inform you about the options that best suit your lifestyle (e.g. coffee capsules for instant espresso).
Advertising, in other words, allows companies to provide a much broader range of options than would otherwise be the case. By telling us about them, advertising ensures that we don't need to settle for second best. It helps us exercise our right to choose.

Unique billboard advertising idea

In London an interactive billboard set up just off Tottenham Court Road, the billboard allows passersby to have pictures taken of themselves and the words “I LOVE YOU MUM” — something that could be handy ahead of next mothers day on the month of may. As Simove says, “I wanted an original way to send my Mum a Mothers Day greeting — greeting cards and flowers are a bit old hat, but a billboard, now that’s exciting! I quickly realised that I could design a billboard so that other people could interact with it as well and send their mothers a fun ‘photo greeting’ too”. This would be a great idea for you business here in the Canada not just for mothers day but some other special days of the year.

Tried and True Small Business Advertising Ideas

1. The Yellow Pages.

There’s still a lot of people who use the yellow pages to find the businesses they’re looking for – and they won’t find you if your small business isn’t listed there. Get the biggest yellow page ad you can afford; the more visibility the better.

2. Newspaper advertising.

Besides box ads and advertising inserts, local newspapers also often offer special advertising features showcasing particular businesses – all powerful small business advertising opportunities. Don’t overlook special interest newspapers as an advertising idea if they exist in your area. They may be delivered to exactly the audience you want to reach.

3. Direct mail.

Direct mail can be very effective small business advertising – and is much more favourably received than other direct marketing media, such as email or telemarketing. And even if you don’t have a mailing list, you can still geographically target your mail.

4. Magazine advertising.

This advertising idea can be a very effective way of reaching a target market. The trick is to choose the magazines or e-zines that best match the market you’re targeting.

5. Business cards.

Sure, they’re advertising. Every time you hand one out to a prospective client or customer, you’re advertising your small business. But why not take this advertising idea further and Make Your Business Card a Marketing Vehicle?

6. Joining professional/business organizations.

Every professional or business organization offers exclusive advertising opportunities for their members, ranging from free promotion on the organization’s website through special section newspaper advertising. And being a member can be good small business advertising in itself.

7. Vehicle advertising.

The reason you see so many vehicles emblazoned with advertising is that it works; vehicle advertising is very visible small business advertising. If you’re not ready for custom graphics or a magnet quad sign that sit atop your vehicle, go for a magnetic sign that you can take off when you want.

Advertising Ideas You May Not Have Tried Yet

8. Sending promos with invoices.

Little advertising ideas can be powerful, too. If you’re sending out an invoice, why not take the opportunity to include some small business advertising? To draw new customers, try something such as a “bring-a-friend” promotion.

9. Cable TV advertising.

So you can’t afford to advertise your business during the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the household reach of TV. Cable TV companies offer advertising ideas within the budget of small businesses, from advertising on the TV Guide Listings or Real Estate channels through running infomercials.

10. Radio advertising.

Another advertising idea you may not have thought of is radio advertising. Running ads on a local radio station can be both effective and relatively inexpensive.

11. Bench/bus stop advertising.

Looking to reach a mass audience? Then transit advertising may be the best advertising idea for you. Contact your local transit company for information on bench, bus and shelter advertising possibilities.

12. Local website advertising.

More people are spending more time online than ever before. Cover all your small business advertising bases by ensuring that your business is listed on websites providing business information for your local area. Many municipalities, for instance, offer business listings on their sites.

13. Trade show participation.

One of the main reasons to participate in trade shows is to be seen and get known. While participating in big trade shows can be quite expensive, there are a lot of smaller opportunities that may work well for your business, from trade shows put on by local business associations through trade shows focused on particular industries. See Trade Show Marketing for how to make the most of your trade show experience.

14. Email advertising.

If you already have an in-house mailing list or are able to develop one, email advertising can work for you. I see this advertising idea as more of a way to communicate with current customers than to bring in new ones because of the ever-growing hostility to spam.

15. Community involvement.

Visible, tangible involvement with your community is more than good PR; it’s also very effective small business advertising. So choose a charitable event or community association to get involved with and let yourself be seen as a business that cares.

16. Cross-promotion.

Joining forces with other businesses can greatly increase your advertising power and your marketing reach. Kare Anderson explains how this advertising idea works and how to jump-start your cross-promotion efforts in Attract More Customers through Cross-Promotion.

17. eBay listings.

eBay can be a fast and inexpensive way to make your potential customers aware of your products. When you list an item for auction, you’re also advertising your business to whoever views the listing. Get started selling successfully on eBay with 7 Tips for Selling on eBay.

Will all of these seventeen advertising ideas work for your small business? No! But by choosing several of these advertising ideas and focusing on them, you’ll be able to grow your customer base much more quickly than you would by relying on word-of-mouth alone. Like any kind of marketing you do, of course, your small business advertising will be most effective if you plan your advertising campaign and track your results.

Advertising Techniques – Do’s, Don’ts and Simple Tips from Years of Learning

1. Internet Advertising Techniques

Do understand the most powerful advertising technique on the Internet is showing up in organic search results (ideally first page, in the first three results).

Do understand that Wordtracker.com is currently your best tool along with Pay Per Click suggestion tools (from Google, etc) to discover which search terms get the most search volume.


Do understand that text links almost always outperform banner ads as advertising techniques because they look more like content and people are used to clicking on content (text links) far more than ads.

Do understand that Internet display ads perform best with flash animation, motion, or video.

Do understand the eye reads top left to bottom right and that impacts your click-through rate depending on where your text links or display ads are on the page.

Do understand that the page upon which the consumer clicks is just as important than the ad or link that got them there.

Do understand that improving or optimizing your own pages and your own site has more impact than optimizing your advertising techniques in text links or display ads.

Don’t underestimate the importance of this sentence above.

Don’t assume that just because you built a website people will visit it.

Don’t underestimate the power of words: You, your, asking a question, amazing, discover, now are all proven “power” words that produce far higher response. See more on this down below.

2. Direct Mail Advertising Techniques

Do use a stamp vs. a bulk mail endicia – Open rate on envelopes with physical stamps is 13% higher.

Do make your letter look like newsworthy content – Content gets read, not advertising.

Do attach news articles blown up to fit on 8 ?” x 11” paper as an attachment to your direct mail piece.

If you are using a card vs. letter, use 6” x 9’ stock or larger.

Do not use any “special offer inside” language on your envelope or “hey look at me” advertising techniques when using a letter envelope.

Do not use an adhesive address label unless it’s a label from Stamps.com or endicia.com.

Do not use an 8 ?” x 11” letter in B2B direct mail, but do use A4 or executive sized stationary – higher read rate and higher response rate vs. full sheet letter.

3. Writing as Advertising Techniques

Note: this applies to anything to do with Direct marketing, Internet marketing, even memos to your boss.

Do understand that the use of certain words are power words which produce results.

Do use present tense – better response than past tense.

Do use the word “you” or “your” far more than “I” “me” or “we.”

Do use words like these in your writing or advertising techniques which produce demonstrated higher response rates:

You
Your
Now
Discover
This
These
Amazing
Do understand that asking a question with the word you in it is one of the best ever advertising techniques.

Don’t, however, ask a question where the answer can easily be “no, and I don’t care.”

4. TV Advertising Techniques

Do use TV as a way to legitimize your brand, launch your brand, or reposition your brand. When used prudently and selectively, it can be one of the best advertising techniques depending on your situation.

Do investigate buying “remnant” TV media and making opportunistic buys for a fraction of retail prices.

Do make sure your TV spot looks like nothing else on TV (in order to stand out).

Do make sure you have a compelling offer, and a compelling newsworthy announcement.

Do pay special attention to audio in your TV spot…recall of ads with music in the ad (not background music) produces higher recall and captures more attention.

If you have people in your TV spots, do make sure to have them with their eyes looking right in the camera…the stopping power and attention rates are higher with ads that have people looking at you directly in the eye.

Do have a response medium (website, telephone number, SMS number, etc). If you don’t, it could be one of your worst advertising techniques.

Do understand that for response, early AM and late evening produce higher response rates (if someone is up at those hours, they often have nothing else going on and are paying more attention than normal).

Do understand that the creative that you put into the costly media of TV makes all the difference in the world. A bad TV spot in good TV media can be one of the worst advertising techniques.

So: do test your TV creative on the Internet before putting it on TV…or test at small levels before putting on untested TV creative in large media buys.

Do understand one of the cardinal rules of TV creative: see and say. See the product when the words are said. P.S. don’t forget to show the actual product. See and say in TV is one of the most basic, but often forgotten TV advertising techniques.

Do understand that likeability of ads (plus the offer) produces the highest correlation to sales.

Do understand the basics of targeting, but index the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) with the index of propensity to buy your type of product/service (e.g. a TV show with an index of 180 for buying laptops @ $20 CPM is actually more expensive than a TV show with an 130 index @ $10 CPM).

Don’t always do what you like…let the numbers dictate.

Don’t accept mediocrity in your TV creative. Mediocre TV spots in costly TV media, is the most common blunder in all advertising techniques.

5. Public Relations as one of the “Earned” Advertising Techniques

Do understand that Public Relations is fundamentally different than advertising. PR is not necessarily in the genre of advertising techniques, but on average PR is 6X more powerful because people pay attention to content 6X more than advertising (that’s starting at 500% higher ROI).

The four keys to PR are the following:

A great story: see the chapter in my book for the five most frequently written news stories in America.
A great headline: consumers read headlines 19X more than body copy and the same is true for reporters you are pitching. Also know that the first 8 characters in your headline are more important than ever because a reporter only sees the first 8 characters in their Blackberry. Headlines are 19X more powerful than body copy—you should spend 19X more time working on the headline. Headlines should be less than 11 words.
A great database: contrary to popular belief, it’s not who you know, but if you have a great story. Even if you know the editor of The Wall Street Journal, it means nothing if your story isn’t newsworthy. You need a large database blended between custom and a standard news reporter database. Reporters are everywhere today and so is the Internet. All reporters want great stories…you need a database not necessarily a chummy rolodex.
Luck: yes. Reporters have 4-7 stories in various stages of development. If you happen to land on their desk when they just finished a story, it’s luck and the law of large numbers when sending/phoning a pitch. Luck is a factor.
Test your pitch much like you would test a direct mail piece using the advertising techniques learned here. Test small, see what responds, and what doesn’t. Find out before you blast a big push which may not work.

And my shameless self-promotion: everyone should know the five most frequently written news media stories in America. These five most frequently written news stories are in my book, Buzzmarketing.

6. Print Advertising Techniques (Newspaper, Magazine, etc)

Do understand that a print ad which looks like an “ad” will fail unless you have an amazing offer (great discount, sale, limited time only). Without an offer, an ad that looks like an “ad” won’t get read.

Do make your ad look like content (use the same font style and layout as the publication) or make your ad look like no other ad in the pub (reference Infiniti print ads from 2005 and Pfizer’s Celebrex print ads from 2007).

Do understand that white space can stop people in their tracks, and produce a higher response rate. One of the greatest advertising techniques is white space.

Do understand that a photograph of a person with their eyes looking directly at you produces a higher response than a photograph of a person with eyes looking elsewhere. Perhaps the most powerful of all advertising techniques in print, or even on the Internet.

Do understand that a print ad with a “Drop Cap” gets read more than without one.

Do understand that ads with lists and bullet points get read more than ads with paragraphs.

Do understand that a photograph’s caption is extremely important…a good photograph can be the first thing a reader sees, and the caption the second thing they read. If the caption fails, they skip the rest of your ad…if the caption works, your ad gets read. Smart captioning can be of the most effective print advertising techniques.

Do understand that copy in quotations gets read 13% more than without quotations.

Do understand that ads delivering news value get read more than anything else.

Don’t ever use a reverse print ad (black background with white font) it’s hard to read and has proven repeated lower response rates…one of the worst advertising techniques.

7. Radio Advertising Techniques

Do understand that radio advertising works best with high frequency and proper timing.

Do understand that the first five seconds of your radio ad may be the most important…a cell phone and the radio preset button is a moment away from avoiding your ad.

Do understand that you need to say your brand name a lot more often than you would ever imagine in a radio ad (people daydream in their car), and you need to drill your brand name often.

Do understand that reads from DJ’s get more attention because they seem like content from a familiar voice versus a stranger’s voice.

Do understand that one of your most powerful advertising techniques is to produce fresh radio creative every week versus running the same radio spot for more than a week.

Do understand that if it sounds like content, people will listen…if it sounds like an ad…people won’t.

8. Word-Of-Mouth and Buzz as Advertising Techniques

Note that word-of-mouth or buzz is created with pull, not “bought” like print advertising.

Also note that this lost art which was practiced before the advent of Television is more powerful than any other set of advertising techniques (Euro RSCG Study found it 10X more effective than TV or Print advertising).

Do understand that the root of all buzz is a seven-letter word: stories.

The crux of buzzmarketing and word-of-mouth is to give people a great story to tell, which they, in turn, can tell others…and by them telling the story it makes them interesting, fascinating, and newsworthy.

Do not confuse buzz marketing with some other services which pay people to talk about products (still a push technique). Buzz marketing is about creating a pull. Creating a story which gives people social currency. Buzz marketing is about creating a story which pulls a brand along with the story (like my own renaming of Halfway, Oregon to Half.com, Oregon).

What creates a good story can be found in my book or in the free chapter download on this site’s book page.

Buzz marketing happens when people start conversations that begin with “Hey did you hear…” or “Hey, you’re never going to believe…” and then they tell a story which pulls your brand along with that story.

Hope these advertising techniques were helpful.