Recognizing the importance of small business to a strong economy, Yellow Pages Publishers Association (YPPA) has joined with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to help meet the information needs of existing business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. This discussion covers the fundamentals of advertising planning.
Advertising is an investment in your business, similar to other
investments to improve and expand a firm. The return you receive
depends on the planning and thought that precede the actual commitment
and expenditure of advertising dollars. By first developing an
effective advertising plan you increase the likelihood of a positive
return on your advertising investment, regardless of the amount
of money you spend.
The basic premise of an advertising plan requires you to thoroughly analyze the answers to key questions before you can make effective advertising decisions. There are four key questions to ask yourself:
In a specific business situation, each question has any number
of potential answers. As you think about each question do not
accept any answer until you have considered and explored the full
range of possibilities.
What Do I Want My Advertising To Accomplish?
The first step in developing your advertising plan is to specify your advertising goals. Be as precise as you can as to why you are advertising and what you want to achieve. Everyone wants advertising to increase business, but for your advertising plan to work it requires you to be more precise. Some possible goals for your advertising are:
It is possible you may want your advertising to achieve all of
these goals plus some others. What is important is that you prioritize
your goals. Advertising works best when it is developed to meet
one specific goal at a time.
Who Should My Advertising Speak To?
Once you set goals, you can select the target audience. Ads that try to reach "everyone" rarely succeed. Good ads are written with a specific customer in mind. Try to picture the person you must reach to achieve your advertising goals. Try to describe your target in each of the following:
What Should My Advertising Say?
After you know your target audience and what it is looking for
in terms of the good or service you offer, you can decide what
your ads will say. Ads should always be written to communicate
a message that will be seen as important by your customers. Ads
should clearly and convincingly "speak" to your target
audience, explaining the important benefits your good or service
offers. In deciding how to discuss the major benefits of your
good or service in your advertising, keep "AIDA" in
mind: attract Attention, hold Interest, arouse Desire, and motivate
Action.
Where Should I Place My Advertising?
Every month, new advertising options become available. Beyond "traditional" media, you can place ads in airports, on ski lifts, and on TV in the front of grocery carts. Where you place your advertising should be guided by a simple principle: go where your target audience will have the highest likelihood of seeing or hearing it. Many advertising media work well to reach a diverse range of target consumers. There is no single medium inherently good or bad. A good medium for one good or service may be a poor medium for a another. As you consider media choices, look for one that fits your advertising goals, reaches your target efficiently and cost-effectively, and is within your advertising budget. Based on these considerations, the following summarizes the relative advantages and disadvantages of the media most frequently used by small businesses:
TV: It provides a way to reach a great number of people in a short period of time. Small firm will typically use either spot TV or cable TV. A spot ad is placed on one station in one market. The number of people who see your ad depends on how many viewers are tuned into the TV station at a specific time. Cable ads are placed either on a local cable channel or on a cable network. The number of people reached by these ads depends on cable penetration and cable channel/program viewership in a given market. Beyond TV's reach, an additional advantage is its ability to convey your message with sight, sound and motion. The disadvantages of TV advertising are: relatively higher cost -- both in terms of air time and production, limited length of exposure, short air time (making it difficult to present a complex or detailed message), and the clutter of many other ads. TV ads may require multiple exposures to achieve message retention and consumer action. Also, many commercials are considered intrusive, prompting viewers to switch channels to avoid them.
Radio: It, like TV, can quickly reach a large number of people. The major advantage of radio lies in its ability to efficiently target narrowly defined segments of consumers. The vast array of radio program formats lets an advertiser gear ads to almost any target audience. Beyond this advantage, radio is commonly used by small businesses because it is relatively inexpensive (in terms of air time and production costs) and because deadlines for placing radio advertising are relatively short, providing an advertiser with increased flexibility. The disadvantages of radio are: an advertiser is limited to an audio message so there is no visual identification, clutter can be high, and exposure to a message is short and fleeting. Similar to TV, multiple exposures may be required for message retention and consumer action. Also, listeners may change stations to avoid commercials.
Newspapers: They let an advertiser reach a large number of people in a specified geographic area. Newspaper advertising has several advantages for the small business. An advertiser has flexibility in terms of ad size and placement within the newspaper. Exposure to the ad is not limited, so readers can take their time with your message. Short deadlines permit quick response to changing market conditions Disadvantages of newspaper advertising include: declining readership and market penetration, expensive ad space, clutter of competitive advertising, and a relatively short lifespan (newspapers are typically read once and then discarded), thus requiring multiple insertions.
Magazines: They provide an advertiser with a way to reach highly targeted audiences. Specific groups can be reached by placing an ad in a magazine whose editorial content specializes in topics of interest to that target. This is true of both consumer and business publications. Audiences can be reached by placing ads in magazines which have well-defined geographic, demographic or life-style focus. Beyond the ability to reach specific audiences, the advantages of magazines include relatively long ad life and repeated ad exposure (magazines are typically looked through several times before discard), excellent reproduction quality, and passalong value. The disadvantages of magazines include: long lead time, limited flexibility in terms of ad placement and format, and the potential for high costs in production and placement.
Outdoor (Billboards): It is typically used to reinforce or remind the consumer of the advertising messages communicated through other media. The advantages of outdoor advertising are: ability to completely cover a market and high levels of viewing frequency. The disadvantages of outdoor advertising are related to viewing time. Because target consumers are typically moving, an outdoor advertisement must communicate with a minimum of words. Messages must be simple, direct, and easily understood.
Direct Mail: It is used for targeted mailing lists to reach highly specialized audiences. In addition to low waste in ad exposure, direct mail provides an advertiser with great flexibility in the message presentation. The disadvantages of direct mail include: relatively high cost per contact, obtaining mailing lists that are updated and accurate, and the difficulty in getting the audience's attention (direct mail is often considered "junk mail".).
Yellow Pages:
This is an advertising medium that shares many of the strengths
of other media, while at the same time avoiding some of the limitations
or disadvantages. As such, the Yellow Pages are best used to complement
or extend the effects of advertising placed in other media. Like
other media, the Yellow Pages permit an advertiser to select a
well-defined geographic area, ranging from a neighborhood to an
entire metropolitan area. Once the geography is defined, a Yellow
Pages ad has permanence: Yellow Pages are kept as a regular reference.
In addition, Yellow Pages support your other advertising by providing
a convenient way for consumers to contact sources and obtain information
on the goods or services they desire at the time they are ready
to "take action." Also, the Yellow Pages are relatively
low in cost, in terms of both ad production and placement. The
disadvantages of the Yellow Pages include: lack of timeliness
(ads can be changed only once per year and there is no opportunity
for "price advertising") potential clutter in some classifications,
and not as much creative flexibility as other print media.
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