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   Introduction   

Cost may limit your aspirations, but your final choice of advertising media is probably going to be decided by how broad is the cross-section of the general population your product appeals to.

As a general rule TV, radio and national/local press advertising works better for products that appeal to a wide audience.

The narrower your target customer market becomes, the more likely direct selling options will be more effective. This will include direct mailings, focused advertising campaigns in trade magazines, and of course deployment of a sales force.

We examine some of the choices that are available to the smaller business, and provide a few tips you may care to consider.


Radio Most small businesses will be surprised to learn how relatively inexpensive radio advertising campaigns can be. Although there are marked regional variations, £4,000 could probably secure a very effective all-inclusive campaign lasting a several weeks.

Obviously you can spend a lot more, but it is worth speaking to the station's advertising team to see what kind of deal they can put together. Such teams tend to work to very high professional standards which you only stand to benefit from.

The initial investment is nearly always higher than other forms of promotions, but so is the potential return.

If your competitors are advertising on your local radio, then the chances are high you would benefit from doing so as well.
   
Press advertising You don't have to look far through a national or local paper to start recognising that some adverts are a lot more effective than others.

Advert copywriting is a skilled profession. If your budget runs to it, you will benefit from contacting an advertising agency or marketing consultant. Apart from delivering a professional service, they may well save you money in the long run. From experience, they will know which publications to recommend you advertise in. What works and what doesn't for your market sector. And they will often secure lower advertising rates than you could on your own.

Here are some general tips for press advertising:
a) Always try to get your adverts placed as near to the front of the publication as you can. The more frequently you advertise, the greater your bargaining power becomes to secure the better positions.
b) An advert is going to be read more often if it positioned on the right-hand page, right-hand outer column(s), near the top. It is worth sticking out for this position, and even paying a premium for it.
c) Graphics and colour liven up an advert to make it more eye-catching, but they should not detract from the text-based selling message.
d) Every advert should have an attention grabbing headline. Followed by a compelling offer (the hook) that motivates the reader to take some positive action (call to action). Always write in terms of benefits not features. Just take a look at what other advertisers are doing and then emulate them. If their adverts worked for you, they will probably do so for your clients.
e) Pay attention to detail in designing the advert. The message should be as short and as clear as possible. Use plain, conversational English. Make sure it is proofread to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors. Always test the advert before submitting it. You will be surprised how often your test subject will point out a problem that you had not seen.
f) Confirm with your publishers the format the advert is required to be delivered in. And make sure you meet the submission deadlines. Ask for, and check all final proofs from third party agencies.
g) Make sure your advert is finally published in accordance with your instructions.
h) Chose the publications you advertise in carefully. You can increase the effective life of an advert by many months, if you choose the kind of magazines that are kept on coffee tables and in doctors' surgeries.
i) Every advert should have a unique marketing code, that provides you with the means to objectively work out how many responses it pulls. It will not take you long to work out what works and what doesn't. Make sure your staff always collects this invaluable information.
J) Advertising costs vary considerably depending on the size of the advert, the position, and the publication. An advert costing £100 in a local paper might cost £8,000 to run in a National. At the end of the day it is not the absolute cost that matters, it is the return the advert generates that will dictate whether you run it.

If you intend to advertise in just one paper, research what other similar papers are charging before you approach your final choice. You may be able to negotiate a much more advantageous rate if you have an idea of what the immediate competition are charging.
   
Direct Mailings Although most of us claim to hate 'junk mail', direct mailings continue to be a very effective selling tool. Increasing competition amongst the mailing list providers, and Internet technology have conspired to make commercial mailing lists cheaper and more accurate then they have ever been before.

If you are looking for a list supplier, then the Internet can be a good place to begin. You should look for lists that give contact names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses as well as the postal address details. It is also becoming common practice for some suppliers to provide a reusable license by compiling a list to order, and delivering it on a CD. You can use the list as many times as you like. You of course pay a premium for the privilege, but if your market is a fixed and stable part of the population (i.e. a group of professionals like accountants, solicitors, doctors etc) it will clearly pay you to buy a reusable list. Expect to pay anything from £50 per 1000 records upwards.

Warning: Before you even begin to contemplate it, do not think you can take a free ride by extracting addresses out of publications like Yellow Pages or Thomson Local directories. They retain copyright, and they do enforce their rights if you misuse the information. How do they catch you? They seed false addresses in their listings so if they receive a mailing at this location they know you are using the listing for improper purposes.

A small business should budget about £350 for every 1000 direct mailings they send out. This includes stationery, a brochure and the cost of second class post. Unit costs decrease as the size of the mailings increase.

Even a successful mailing's return rate will be measured in terms of only 5% and below. So with a cost of £350 for a 1000 mailings, if the margin on any one sale is less than £7.00, it is debatable whether the promotion should be run at all. This is because at best (5% returns) you would normally only expect to break even (£7.00 x (5% of 1,000=£350). On the other hand, a margin of £100 would mean that you need only win four sales to break even. Should the mailing go on to achieve a 5% return rate, you would emerge with a £4,650 profit.
   
Yellow Pages & similar You will qualify for one free line entry if you have a business telephone. But is it worth going for a separate advert? The answer is almost certainly "yes" if your customers are locally based.

Most people refer to either the Yellow Pages or The Thomson Local directories when they need a supplier. As these directories find their way into nearly every home and business, and they have such long shelf-lives, advertising in them is a very cost effective option.

Remember that the advert will be visible for the next twelve months. The same guidelines given above should be followed when designing your advert. The one difference is that directory adverts must not contain any commitments you may not wish to keep for the next year. Clearly reference to specific pricing policies should be avoided altogether.
   
Internet If you have been in business for any length of time, the chances are you have already been contacted by an organisation that will offer to make "your business the area's exclusive service provider or retailer for their website's directory listing" ..... for a fee of course.

There is no doubt that the Internet is a very good source of potential referral business. You can also waste a lot of money before you find one that pays a return.

It is certainly worth exploring the local community websites that allow you to sign up to their business listing for free. You just have to be careful in your choice.

Many of these "free" sites make their money by collecting your details for mailing lists they then sell on. If you don't mind receiving unsolicited junk mail then some of these sites can generate valuable business.
   
Website There is no question that every business should have an Internet presence.

You only have to consider what we have achieved on this site to appreciate the value of having a web-presence.

You can expect to pay about £400 for a professionally created, entry-level website. You can pay a lot more for e-commerce options that take the functionality beyond the "here we are, and this what we do" kind of site. But even the delivery of e-commerce options are beginning to come down in price to well within the reach of the smaller business.

A website is a tremendous marketing tool for any business, and it is worth investing your time in learning how to use it properly. If you are considering commissioning an outside agency to build your website then you should keep the following points in mind:

  • The relationship you have with your website provider is just like any other service provider you intend to use for an extended period of time. You need to assess whether they will prove to be reliable and professional. will they be there to support you beyond the completion of the initial work?


  • Is the website they build for you, one to which you have full access? You may wish to move it to another host provider, or even take control of running the website yourself in future years. What, if any, restrictions apply?

  • Always take responsibility for your own domain name registration. Remember that registrations have to be renewed after two years. The organisation that controls the ".co.uk" registrations, Nominet, issue a renewal notice at the end of the month in which the registration expires. A further two notices are issued, and if no response is received the registration then lapses.


  • It is easy to underestimate how much effort has to be put into letting the World know that your website is there. There are many organisations that provide advice and support to push your domain name up the list which is generated from web search engines. This may well be worthwhile if your market is worldwide. Most businesses, however, rely upon local trade so your efforts should be concentrated on making sure all your promotional material, letterheads, office/shop facias and company vehicles clearly display your website address. If you have something useful to say on your website, it doesn't take long for word to get around.
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    Journalism If you are an effective communicator, you might care to explore if a publisher is prepared to run a series of your articles on your specialty subject.

    This can be an incredibly successful promotional tool for your business. Your articles will need to be commercially unbiased, but you will be normally be permitted to sign off your article by stating your business name. You may even get a reference to your website past the editor.

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