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When you advertise online you need to define what you want to achieve. In marketing this is referred to as a conversion. You can think of a conversion in terms of your customer making an order, calling your business, signing up for a newsletter, etc. These are the goals you have in mind when you start advertising either online or offline.

For small businesses, advertising can be perceived as an costly expense, but if you don’t measure your return (ROI) you have no way to judge either way. Some business owners will even ask how much their marketing or advertising budget should be.  Then we have to go back and ask the fundamental question of what are you trying to achieve?.

Put another way,  how much must you spend to achieve your goal, and what does a conversion mean to you in terms of dollars.

Step 1: Decide what you want to achieve?
What do you want to have happen if someone responds to your advertisement. Is it to order your catalog or make a purchase? Starting with this, you can then determine where you might want to advertise or how to word your ad.

Step 2: Are you Spending on Search Advertising?
Studies have shown that small business use search engines to get found online, so you are probably already spending money on search ads. And if you are, then are you over spending? Or should you be advertising somewhere else? Without understanding how much a conversion is costing you in terms of advertising spending you will not know if there is a cheaper alternative.

Step 3: Have you made the conversion easy to do?
After you have generated interest and someone has responded to your ad do you make it easy to make an order, or find your catalog request form? These are key questions to ask yourself. If you have an effective ad but do not have a landing page or any easy to follow process after they click or respond to the ad you will lose customers.

Step 4: If you are heavily spending on one medium have you tried another?
Lets say for instance you only print flyers or advertise in the local paper. If you haven’t tried another audience or another medium such as paid search advertising or sponsorships how will you know if your returns for money spent is expensive or not. You might see better or worse results but then you will know if you are spending too much for each conversion or where you might be able to improve.

Step 5: Branding
Some people may suggest that all advertising is good because it gives you exposure in terms of brand awareness. However for most small businesses advertising is something that needs to generate results through conversions. If you are not getting conversions than it really doesn’t matter how much brand awareness you have. Perhaps you are marketing to the wrong audience, or using the wrong message. And hopefully you have made it easy to convert for those that wish to buy from you.

Image Credit: City on Fire (via Flickr)

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Developing your ads is no walk in the park. You need to ensure  your newly created advertisement will  attract your target market.

How many ad’s have you seen on TV that were designed to appeal to a demographic other than the market group/segment that took notice of the advertisement’s content? Part of the reason this happens is advertisers are trying to stand out from other TV commercials by being edgy or innovative.  Sometimes they will even have a great ad that people enjoy watching but can not remember what company or product the commercial was promoting. According to Ipsos Research, only half of the consumers who can recall an ad can also correctly name the advertising sponsor.

You know the ones I am talking about the Ads we can’t get out of our head. Those Super Bowl ads that are entertaining to watch but don’t cause us to open up our wallets and run out and buy the product being advertised after the football game.

So how do you craft an advertising message that will speak and relate to your target audience, if creating an ad is so darn hard. When building your ad you need to consciously de-emphasize how your business is better than everyone else in your industry. And instead speak to your customers about their own needs. However this is rather counter intuitive because as a business owner, you probably spend every waking hour talking about how your business is providing the best service and at the best price, and is superior to your competitors. But thinking from a consumer perspective this is not what speaks to them. They want to know how your product is going to solve one of their immediate problems.

Real example of a consumer brand that focuses on their product benefits:

So for example if you are looking to change your shaving razor and that night you happen to see a Gillette commercial. Would you change razors if you saw an advertisement for a  new one that has new features and benefits? Selling more razors with more blades is big business. The key point is the Gillette commercials we see are more about their product which may be the Mach 3 or the Fusion razors, and less about the company advertising the product. Sure they may use celebrity endorsement to grab your attention and build credibility but they always focus on the product first.

How to focus and create an ad that will lift sales for your Small Business

You are on a fixed budget and are trying to reach just a small portion of your potential market with your ads. I am talking about local advertising and and ads you may insert in the weekly local newspaper for example. Don’t spend money trying to get your name out there; that is what big advertising budgets are designed to do. Instead focus on how you can get the best reach and speak to your ideal new customer. What would you say to close the sale if they were standing in your store now? Likely not how great your store is because they have already taken an interest. This is precisely what you need to accomplish when designing your next advertisement.

1. Determine who you are trying to send the message to (also called target audience)
   Maybe you are advertising to a local community or even a union association trying to send offers to their members. The more targeted you can make your message the more effective it will be at speaking to that new customer. Perhaps you could highlight a recent community sponsorship and how your business gave back to the community through holding an event or donating to a local cause. These tactics will help get your business noticed first, and then you can sell your offer.
2. Always provide value in your offer
   There must be a what is in it for me. If I act now, within a limited time I receive more value which will increase the perceived value by your customer. Think about the last paid advertising spot you saw, “but wait” if you call within the next 30 minutes we will throw in something extra.
3. Build a relationship and credibility
   Sometimes it is important to establish trust and familiarity before just trying to close a sale. For example you could use an ad to promote a customer’s recent success using your services to get the attention of similar business owners. In some sales situations the purchase price is high and it may take some time to build rapport before a customer will entertain signing a check. It is always important to understand how much a new customer means to your business’ bottom line. Consider if you were selling a monthly subscription with a one year term. One single new customer could result in new revenue for the next year and thereafter.

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