Doing advertising well is more challenging than ever before. There are thousands of ways to target consumers, and the choices can be confusing and hard to navigate. Done properly, advertising has a powerful impact on your top line, and it leaves distinct marketplace impressions with your most important audiences. Done improperly, advertising can drain away valuable resources and make a questionable contribution to a company's success.
If dramatic revenue gains are at stake, consider these five tips for doing the very best that you can with your advertising investment:
•Know you competitors, especially those who have a head start in your marketplace. Most companies do a poor job of tracking their competitors' strategies and how they change over time. Take advantage of all their knowledge by tracking their programs and budgets. If your competitor is repeating a campaign, you can bet it is working for them. Learn from their success.
•Start every year by planning ahead. Challenge every assumption. Simply doing what was done last year and adding 5% leads to advertising programs of questionable value. Evaluate the success of each advertising initiative, look for ways to cut marginal activities, and concentrate dollars into programs that make clear contributions to your success.
•Avoid the 1000 drops in 1000 buckets syndrome. The smaller the budgets, the more things people try to achieve with them. There is a lot of comfort in doing many things. However, the feeling of being very busy is often mistaken for being very productive. Avoid wasting ad dollars on tiny ads that lack impact and don't give your company visibility. Don't spread your message too thinly across too many media. Concentrate your dollars on the few things that when done well have the power to move your market.
•Put the right person in charge of your ad program. The best advertising people are innovators by nature. They are also bridge-builders who work well with other departments and external partners. They look for ways to get more and more impact for the dollars you spend and have courage to try new things. Choosing someone with advertising experience in more than one industry leads to more informed decisions.
Bill Fritsch is president of Hydrogen Advertising, an award-winning, Seattle-based advertising agency emphasizing superb ideas efficiently produced. Reach him at 206-389-950o, ext. 24 or email bill@hydrogenadvertising.com. For more information, visit http://www.hydrogenadvertising.com.
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