How To Tell If An Advertisement Costs Too Much

Writen by Rich Harshaw

People say it all the time: "This advertising costs too much!" They practically go into cardiac arrest when they see how much the advertising for certain media in certain markets is going to cost them. It is pretty easy to get sticker shock when you see that a sixty-second radio commercial on a popular Los Angeles station could cost you a thousand bucks. Each. Or when you realize that all the "Dot.com" businesses in Silicon Valley have made radio spots on top stations in the San Francisco market cost as much as $2,500. A Minute. Or when you realize that a newspaper ad in your city barely bigger than a Hershey Bar will cost a couple thousand dollars. It's easy to automatically think that's a lot of money. Now here's the important question for you, the advertiser: Does the ad actually cost too much?

So what's the answer? The savvy advertiser will tell you that the cost of the ad is not the issue. What's important is the return that the ad will bring. if you were charged even as much as $40,000 for a sixty-second radio commercial that generated enough sales to make you a profit of $50,000, then would the $40,000 be A LOT? The answer is NO! Of course not! You'd be a fool not to beg, borrow, or steal the $40,000 so you could make the $50,000 profit! Try getting that kind of return in the stock market!

How do you think that these big companies can afford to spend a million and a half dollars for a thirty second TV commercial during the Super Bowl? The know that an enormous amount of people will see it--enough to make the return on investment a good deal.

The point is simple; you've got to figure out how much money an ad will make you before you draw a conclusion of whether or not it costs too much. So how do you do that? It's actually pretty easy. Here's a simple process for determining the Return on Investment, or ROI, of an ad. First, you've got to know how much profit you make on each sale. For instance, if you buy it for $50 and sell it for $100, your gross profit is $50. Step two is to figure out what your closing ratio is. If, on average, you close one sale for every four people who inquire, that's a 25% closing ratio. If 9 out of 10 end up buying, then your closing ratio would be 90%. This is simple math.

Now, figure out what your break-even is. Do this by taking cost of the advertisement and divide it by the amount of gross profit per sale. Remember, we already figured out what your gross profit is a second ago. So how much do the ads costs? If the ads cost $1,000 and your average gross profit is $50, that means you've got to make 20 sales to make back the $1,000--that's your break-even point--in this example, it's 20 sales. Fourth and last, figure out the number of leads you need to generate from the ad if you are to break even. To do this, you've got to know your closing ratio, which we just figured out also. Let's say it's 25%, or in other words, you close one out of four people who inquire. So if you close 25%, and you need 20 sales to break even, that indicates that your $1,000 worth of advertising needs to generate 80 leads to break even.

Now I know that all sounds kind of complicated, but it's actually pretty simple. We just calculated in the example that if the $1,000 ads can generate 80 leads, you would break even. That's a return on investment of 0. I'm not saying that your goal is to break even. I realize that you are in business to make a profit. But let's start with breaking even; that's the bare minimum you can accept when running an ad. At least you didn't come up with a NEGATIVE return on investment!

So let's say your goal was to double your money? What would have to happen to your numbers? That's right, you'd have to double your lead flow, or in this case, generate 160 leads instead of just 80. That means that if you generated 160 leads, you would generate a profit of $1,000--again, on $1,000 spent. In other words, you've doubled your money. Your return on investment is 100%. That's pretty easy to follow, isn't it? By way of review, what we're trying to do is calculate your return on investment for your advertising. Here are the four steps again. Think about your numbers in your business.

What's your gross profit per sale?
What's your closing ratio?
What's your break even...in terms of number of sales needed?
How many leads does your ad need to generate for enough sales to break even?
What's your return on investment on any given number of leads that you generate?

Now realize something important here. What we've just done in this exercise is figure out how many leads you need to generate to break even on the cost of the advertisement, and then calculated the ROI for how many ever leads your ads end up generating. That's a good piece of information to have, but now I want to take it a step further. Let's figure out what's known as the Lifetime Value of a Customer. What if your average customer brings you a $50 gross profit per sale like in the example we just went through? Is that the only time that customer will ever buy anything from you? How many times does that average customer come back in the course of a month, or a year?

If your average customer shops with you one time a month and makes you $50 of gross profit every time, that customer is now worth $600 a year--in profit. And if you know that your average customer stays with you for 3 years, now that $50 a month client is worth a tidy $1800. So now how much would you be willing to spend to accrue that client? What if those were your average numbers, $50 a month for 3 years. Then in the example earlier, remember where we broke even with 80 leads and just 20 sales? Now those 20 customers would be worth an astounding $36,000 over the next three years. And it only cost you a thousand dollars worth of advertising. Now your break-even looks a lot better doesn't it! If you could accrue a $36,000 annuity every time you ran a thousand dollars' worth of ads, you should mortgage your house and spend as much money as possible on advertising!

Now, a couple of words of advice when figuring your return on investment for advertising. First, always estimate your numbers conservatively--or in other words, on the low side. Always figure on getting a lower number of leads than you're hoping for and expecting. Always count on a lower closing ratio than you're used to. If you calculate your numbers using conservative figures, then you'll do fine if your results are actually lower than projections...and in the event that you do as well as you had initially hoped, you'll just make more money than you expected.

Let me give you a real-life example to better illustrate ROI. There is a company who was promoting seminars where they would attempt to sell a service that cost $8,000. When they were starting to do advertising to promote these seminars, the question of how much budget should they allot came up. They wanted to start filling seminars with about a week after starting advertising, so they decided that fax broadcasting would be the best way for them to quickly get the message out about the seminars. Faxing can be done for as little as 7¢ per page in some major metropolitan areas, so they came back and said they thought they would want to send out about 25,000 faxes a week for the 5 weeks they would be doing seminars. When asked how many sales were they planning on generating, they said because of a unique financing plan that allowed them to sell their package on a low monthly payment basis, they thought they could sell at least 100 packages in that 5 week time period.

Well, 100 packages is a lot, and they were told that they would have to do at least 100,000 faxes a week for the 5-week period to get the number of leads required to sell that many packages. The man got his calculator out and did some quick math and realized that he had to spend $35,000! 7¢ times 100,000 faxes times 5 weeks! That number--$35,000--sounded so huge, it caught him off guard. His idea was to spend just under 2 grand a week, or a total of less than $9,000. Big difference. That's called "sticker shock."

So what he did was figure out the ROI, according to the steps previously explained. Again, first, figure out your gross profit per sale. His was about $3,250. Second, figure out the closing ratio. He thought his would be about 20%. So then, how many sales would he need to break even on a $35,000 advertising expenditure? Well, 35 thousand divided by $3,250 gross profit per sale is about 11 sales. Just 11 sales to break even. So if his closing ratio was just 10%, he'd have to generate about 110 leads to break even. 110 leads on 500,000 faxes?

Easily attainable. The last thing to do would be to figure out how many leads he'd have to get to reach his goal. His goal is 100 sales, and his closing ratio is 10%. That means he'd have to generate about 1,000 leads. On 500,000 faxes sent out, that's like a two-one-thousandths of a percent response. That is very reasonable. He'd generate a total gross profit on the deal of $325,000...and if you subtract out the $35,000 advertising cost, that's still a healthy gross profit. His attitude toward the $35 thousand changed instantly.

Well, do you see how that works now? Just run through your numbers and you'll know how much money is a lot of money when it comes to advertising.

Rich Harshaw is the founder of the Monopolize Your Marketplace system and CEO of Y2Marketing Business Marketing Strategies

A Lesson In Advertising From The Eighteenth Century

Writen by Patrick Quinn

Back in the 1760s, the great Dr Samuel Johnson delivered himself of the dictum that 'promise, large promise is the soul of advertising'. It's a good thought, a great thought; and I contend that what was true then is equally true today. But it seems to me that modern advertisers are tying themselves into unnecessary knots in an attempt to reach audiences which they believe are becoming increasingly indifferent to their blandishments.

Well, yes, markets are turning deaf ears and blind eyes, but they always have done, though not for the reasons generally espoused by the world's marketers. I am convinced that despite all the sophisticated research and marketing effort that goes into advertising these days, the real reason that markets are indifferent to advertising is because much of it ignores the many splendoured principle that people don't buy products, they buy the benefits of owning those products.

Today, the great proportion of advertisers don't deliver sales messages, they tell what they hope are emotive stories with which the market can empathise, then they drop the product in as an afterthought, hoping that enough emotional cross-communication has been achieved for people to reach for their credit cards. That it doesn't and people won't has resulted in huge advertising budget cut-backs in the developed world in recent years. Only a manufacturer who has taken leave of his senses will throw even more money at a strategy that doesn't work.

The strategy responsible operates under the title Emotional Sales Proposition (ESP), thought in some quarters to be an advance on the Unique Sales Proposition (USP) which, on the contrary, does actually work. What has been overlooked or, more likely, ignored, is that in developing the principle of the USP in the late 1950s, the brilliant Rosser Reeves was striving to replace an advertising strategy that had been in situ for 30 or so years and was fast running out of steam. What was the device he was hoping to supersede? Well, by any other name, it was the emotional sales proposition. I won't bore you with the detail, but if you'd like to find out more, you should lay your hands on Reeves' book, Reality in Advertising (MacGibbon & Kee – 1961). It could be an eye-opener.

So, it's true – the one thing we learn from history is that we never learn anything from history. Let's go back to Dr Johnson. It's worth remembering that the kind of advertising old Sam was talking about in the 18th century was fairly innocuous and largely unexceptionable. It could be read in coffee- house flyers, in chapbooks and in rudimentary newspapers; and it consisted of sales messages as diverse as where to get your wig powdered and the date of the next public hanging at Tyburn. Even so, the products and services on offer were as important to the people of the time as mobile phones and computers are to us.

In the human condition, nothing much changes. Our egos still need to be massaged and we are all in hot pursuit of happiness. Only our methods for achieving these goals, only our technologies, vary with time.

So the next time you are tempted to commit advertising, think about Sam Johnson and give your market a reason for owning your product. A good reason.

About The Author

Patrick Quinn is an award winning copywriter with 40 years' experience of the advertising business in London, Miami, Dublin and Edinburgh. He publishes a FREE monthly newsletter, AdBriefing. Subscriptions are available at: http://www.adbriefing.com

Generate Millions Of Advertising Impressions And Drive Your Business Forward

Writen by Tim McCarthy

What does your vehicle say about your business? You drive to work, commute through traffic, stop at the shop for refreshments, park up outside your business, take care of deliveries and run some errands during the day, finally, you drive home in the evening. How many people did you pass or meet today? All potential customers, but did they notice you?

Grab a significant advertising advantage over your competitors by covering your vehicle with your business image or message in the form of an eye-catching digitally printed self adhesive vinyl advertisement known as a vehicle wrap and take it for a drive around town to promote your business.

Vehicle wrapping is now being recognized as an extremely cost effective and unique form of outdoor media for all sizes of businesses and company promotions. Many companies are finding out that vehicle advertising wraps and full colour fleet and car graphics are a great way to reach new and existing customers. Compared to other forms of media, wraps are extremely cost effective and generate millions of impressions each year.

An innovative method of advertising a business by creating a moving billboard on a vehicle, vehicle wraps provide companies with a method of advertising on cars in three dimensional form, providing an extremely high retention rate among those who see the vehicle. Vehicle wrap advertising uses semi-permanent graphics that can be removed without harm to the vehicle if desired. It is typically used on vans, but also on cars, trucks, fleet vehicles, buses, trains and even aircraft, in fact anything on wheels or that has an exterior shell.

Many customers with vehicle wraps take advantage of their advertising in areas that normally would be very expensive. Booking advertising at such venues as trade shows, sports events, concerts and grand openings may need to be done well in advance and rates may be very expensive, this is ideal for your wrapped vehicle, simply drive around or park at a conspicuous location. Another advantage of this type of advertising is it is not like print, radio, or television. It cannot be switched off and the channel cannot be changed.

There is no standard price for advertising wraps which are normally installed by specialist signage companies, It depends on a number of factors including the total number of vehicles to be wrapped, how much printing is involved, how much vinyl material is required per wrap, designer time, how many installers will be involved and how long it takes to fit, All that becomes the basis for pricing a project.

Wrapping a vehicle is a sophisticated process of being able to print on vinyl films and perfectly cover the vehicle with that advertisement. A good wrap must be able to cover, but not hinder window visibility and all materials must be weather resistant to heat, UV, cold and wind. Good adherence to the vehicle body is important, as the wrap must stay on without it peeling off before purposely being removed. The process involves cutting edge software, durable printing inks, high performance adhesive vinyl materials and laminates. It begins with an accurate engineering drawing known as a template which is taken from the vehicle, the advertisement is placed on the template on a computer, this is printed on large vinyl decals which are then fitted properly into a seamless image by professional installers.

If the company doesn't want to invest in vehicle wrap advertising, it can place advertising on vehicles in the form of magnetic signs, bumper stickers, window decals, etc. Companies seeking to attract business with a different format have found advertising on vehicles using these methods to be effective, without having to go the full vehicle wraps direction.

Vehicle wraps are like giant billboards, only more imaginative, they move in the area your company services and they create a visibly striking presence. They work all day, generating awareness for your company and are constantly reaching new and potential customers. Vehicle advertising is the best and most cost effective form of advertising available.

(c) Copyright 2005, Tim McCarthy. All rights reserved.

D-Signs, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland
Signs, Printing and Display

The Advertising Campaign

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Armed with knowledge of your industry, market and audience, a media plan and schedule, your product or service's most important benefits and measurable goals in terms of sales volume (number of units sold), revenue generated or other criteria, you are ready for action. The first step is to establish the theme and, if appropriate, the specific tagline that identifies your product or service in all of your advertising.

The theme of your advertising reflects your special identity or personality as well as the particular benefits of your product or service. For example, cosmetics ads almost always rely on a glamorous theme. Many food products opt for healthy, all-American-family campaigns. Automobile advertising frequently concentrates on how the car makes you feel about owning or driving it rather than its performance attributes.

Likewise, a tagline rests on the single most important reason for buying your product or service. "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" (John Deere farm vehicles) conveys performance and endurance with a nice twist on the word "deer." "Ideas at Work" (Black and Decker tools and appliances) again signifies performance but adds reliability and imagination to the statement. "How the Smart Money Gets that Way" (Barron's financial publication) clearly connotes prosperity, intelligence and success.

Preparing the Ads

The initial design of your advertising, the creation of the tagline and the tone of voice you'll use to establish your personality are so critical that it almost always pays to have professional help. Hire the best designer and copywriter you can afford at the start. Later, you can ask newspapers, radio stations or magazines to follow your guidelines in preparing specific ads if you can't afford to continue relying on professionals. How do you know a good ad when you read, write, design or evaluate one? Most importantly, a good ad focuses on one message: the single idea you want this ad to convey. That idea may revolve around price, features, convenience, quality, enhanced technology or a time-limited offer. Support that idea with as much copy or illustration as time or space allows. Good ads rely on "The Three I's": Involve, Inform and Illustrate.

Involve the audience: A good ad arouses curiosity, lures in prospects and invites them to participate. It does that with words, images or sounds that are compelling and with information that aims at their strongest interests. Example: "Please Your Client and Your Accountant" appeals to the reader's desire to be doubly successful by giving good service and making money.

Inform the buyer: Your prospect wants the answer to one question: "What's in it for me?" This may be a faster, easier or less expensive way to attain a specific objective, "TransEuropa Express: The Fast Track to the Time of Your Life," for example. It may also be something less tangible: stylishness, prestige, praise or the admiration of friends and colleagues. Look at clothing, soft drink and health club ads for good examples of this appeal.

Illustrate the benefit: Even people who aren't paying much attention while turning the channel or the page can see your message in a micro-second if it's well illustrated. Effective display means illustrating not only the product or service but the benefit as well. Example: Campbell Soup Company's advertising shows mom and her kids in a traditional kitchen setting with a loving atmosphere and hot soup. Nordic Track ads portray a slim young man or woman exercising. Both imply that the customer will also look or feel that way by using the products being advertised. You can even illustrate radio and television ads with your choice of music and background sound effects.

Everyone persuades for a living. There's no way around it. Whether you're a sales professional, an entrepreneur, or even a stay at home parent, if you are unable to convince others to your way of thinking, you will be constantly left behind.Donald Trump said it best, "Study the art of persuasion. Practice it. Develop an understanding of its profound value across all aspects of life."

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you've seen some success, but think of the times you couldn't get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen's trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life. If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report "10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands." After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

10 Ways To Advertise Your Business For Free

Writen by Kenia Morales

At some point many small business owners are left with no or a small amount of capital to promote their business. But many entrepreneurs utilize these free or low budget yet effective tactics to promote their business online and offline.

1. Print out flyers or business cards and take them to your local stores, banks, beauty shops etc.

2. Word of mouth never fails, so tell your friends to tell their friends.

3. Make a cookie, candy or fruit basket and take it to your local store with your business cards.

4. Exchange links with other sites.

5. Post your brochures business cards at your local bulletin board.

6. At a restaurant when tipping include your card.

7. Send a press release to your local newspaper.

8. Submit your site to search engines and directories.

9. Give out free samples, promotional products, e-books etc.

10. Write articles for others to use on their website and newsletter include your web site URL and a brief description of your services/products.

About The Author

Kenia Morales is the publisher and owner of online magazine " For Every Aspect Of Today's Woman". To find more business related information and resources visit her site at http://www.kpatra.com; info@kpatra.com

Advertisingthe Best Marketing Tip

Writen by Jay Moncliff

The best marketing tip you will ever hear is to advertise your product or business. In fact, any marketing tip you hear or see will be related to some form of advertising. In this article, we will go over several marketing tips and the reason you should use them.

One great marketing tip is to use an auto responder. Autoresponders automatically send out emails to people on your mailing lists or to people who have been to your website. You can then send out advertisements of your business or service. This is a great marketing tip because it is often inexpensive and sometimes free to use an autoresponder.

A second marketing tip you may enjoy is the use of slogans or logos. This is an excellent marketing tip. People will always remember a clever logo or slogan. Many people find it best to use a funny slogan because it brings people happy thoughts when they think of your business. Try to think one up.

A third great marketing tip is to put your URL everywhere. Get yourself noticed. Put your ULR all over your site, in your autoresponder emails, hand out flyers, business cards, etc. This is always beneficial.

The next great marketing tip I have for you is to use an SEO. An SEO (search engine optimization) enables your website to be listed at the top of search engine lists. SEO uses keyword and link popularity to maximize this result. This leads to more visitors to your sight and more profit. Again, this is another great marketing tip.

Another great marketing tip is your web design. A great web design can attract more people to your site, and keep them coming back. In addition, another similar marketing tip is to use flash pictures to get attention. Or, another marketing tip is to use eye catching photographs or illustrations or your product or service. This will attract more attention as well.

My favorite marketing tip is to use testimonials and offer feedback to customers. This marketing tip is a must for anyone who wants to show positive feedback of their business. A similar marketing tip is to post these positive testimonials on your site or to send them out in your autoresponder.

Lastly, a great marketing tip is to keep your domain name simple and easy to remember. People can't find your sight if they can't remember it, let alone if they can't spell it. A catchy domain name is always helpful.

For another good marketing tip, try asking fellow business owners. I'm sure they will have a marketing tip or two to aid you. You can then make some friends in the business circle and swap ideas. Eventually it will all lead you to a successful and promising business.

Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.marketing-eficaz.net a website specialized on Marketing, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Marketing. For more info visit his site: Marketing

Writing A Successful Radio Commercial

Writen by Scott Perreault

When you enter the copy department of a radio station you see stress and creativity intersecting to form a radio commercial. This is an art form that is developed over time. When I was nineteen, there was an opening in the copy department of the regions number one station. The commercial load was heavy. It goes without saying, the station with the most ads is typically the favorite station. Advertisers need to reach the perspective consumers, and the best value for your advertising dollar is always with the most popular stations. The real test of the stations excellence is the copy department.

Handing copy to your radio personalities and then saying a prayer that it "turns out" acceptable to the advertiser is sadly a common occurrence in many stations.

Here are a few tips to help your write an effective radio commercial. The bottom-line fact still remains, the more talented the copywriter, the better quality of the commercial.

First, know your voice talent. Writing a script for a "Italian accent" without having someone on your staff who can effectively perform such an accent, renders the commercial a failure. Second, keep it simple. Too many commercials lose the intent with long explanations. You need to give the listener credit that after hearing the commercial, they will catch on. Third, never look back. Keep the commercial forward thinking. Positive. Finally, the object of the commercial is to sell. Ask for the sale. The commercial was sold to an advertiser by a sales representative who had to ask for the sale. Most copy writers spend all their time being creative with ideas. The exceptional radio copywriters spend the bulk of their time being creative on how to ask for the sale.

Scott Perreault (http://www.scottradio.com) is a commercial voice veteran with over twenty years of copywriting and voice work experience. From the writing, production and development of radio campaigns like the award winning "Oh Yeah©" campaign, Scott has experienced many facets of the voice business. Scott Radio offers free demo voice work. If you remember Promo code #98, the commercial is free.

Is Traditional Advertising Dead

Writen by Chet Holcomb

Talk to almost any advertising agency, or Fortune 500 company exec about advertising and promotion, and you will almost certainly hear the buzz words "fragmented advertising" and "consumer-centric campaigns" and long discussions about the many pitfalls and difficulties of creating effective advertising campaigns today.

What is fragmentation exactly? It's the increase in the number of available methods for getting your message to your audience.

One of the main difficulties faced by any entrepreneur is that advertising has changed and evolved over the last few years. It now includes visual, audio and electronic media.

In fact, if you do a Google search for advertising, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options available to you now -- if you just look at the options for your Website you'll find popups, popovers, audio messages, flash video, RSS, even animated "sales people" that can be programmed to appear right on your Website and interact with your customers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

So is traditional advertising -- which includes billboards, radio, television, newspaper and magazine -- dead?

Not by a long shot. According to one top advertising mogul, traditional advertising methods are still around because they still work.

The trick is to figure out who your target market is, what they want, and how they look for that information.

Mark Twain said, "Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."

If you know customers, you can spend your advertising dollars on the mediums they use to look for answers.

If your customers are senior citizens who are not online, then focus the majority of your advertising dollars on the newspapers, magazines, television, and radio that they are reading, watching or listening to.

If your target market are working parents, you need to know how, when and where they get their information. Is it on the Internet? What radio stations do they listen to? What magazines are they reading? Do they watch television? When? Why?

So what are your best options for creating an effective advertising campaign?

Here are some simple steps:

1. Know your audience. What do they want? Where do they shop? What do they read? How old are they? Where do they hang out? Do they need your product or services? Can they afford your product or services?

2. Know your competition. Be prepared to do a little detective work. What are your three main competitors doing to advertise? Where are they advertising? How often? What types of advertising methods are they using? How long have they been running? Are you reaching the same audience? Is your message different?

Look at what they're doing right, and figure out creative ways that you can make your advertising just a little bit better, or differentiate yourself from the crowd.

3. Next take a look at what the "big dogs" in your field are doing, and see if you can adapt some of their methods to your target audience and your budget.

4. Know your message. What exactly are you trying to say? What do your customers want to hear? Why should they buy from you, and not someone else? Make every word count.

Chances are, your customers are much more tech-savvy than they were five years ago, or even one year ago. The Internet has made unbelievable amounts of information accessible, but it also has contributed to the "information overload" consumers complain of.

Another side effect of the Internet is that your customers have probably become used to getting "instant gratification" when they are looking for information, products or services. They want it, and they want it now. Are you giving your customers what they want, when they want it?

If you want to have an effective advertising campaign, don't try to be everything to everyone. Think of your advertising as a conversation between you and your one "ideal" customer. Remember, if you're giving your customers what they want, they don't perceive your ads as a nuisance, they see them as a service.

Traditional advertising is not dead and you can use it to your advantage if you pay attention to who your customers are, and what they want.

Chet Holcomb of http://www.internetpromotions.biz is a successful marketing expert providing advice for web marketers and webmasters on how to promote your website, or product.

Electronic Score Boards

Writen by Paula Jones

Wide range of electronic Key venues around the globe has turned to Electronic score boards that not only look breathtaking from every angle and distance, but provide consistently reliable performance year in and year out.

Different type of sports including athletics, track cycling, running events, street cycling and mountain bike, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving as well as inline skating, water polo, ball spots, motor sports, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon are some of the areas where Electronic score boards perfect fits solutions for. Adopting the current technologies these boards provides high brightness flat panel screens and is an added advantage.

Electronics Scoreboards offers good sound and effective lights, which totally change the effect of the game. In football, basketball, hockey, volleyball where the time is so important and it is displayed continuously on the scoreboards reducing with every seconds. Then leave the game with the realistic sound of the buzzer as time ends!

Now let the board does the work for you. At the present, there is no time to keep counting everything in your head while you are playing. When you always keep counting the score in your mind then how can you concentrate your mind in the game? That is not your job. Let the board to do instead of you.

Some Electronic Scoreboards features a powerful horn system (in automatic mode), which is used to signal the start and end of a game, and the start and end of an intermission period. Such systems have manual 'override' facility, enabling the horn to be used at any time during a game for fouls, emergencies, etc.

Electronic Scoreboards use high brightness LEDs for maximum visibility and definition with a full-color spectrum, increased brightness and a great choice of designs.

In LED technology, display modules comprising red, green and blue LEDs make up each pixel. Each module can have between three or four LEDs in it (one red, one green and one blue) or dozens of them and typically range from 4mm to 4cm (about 0.2in to 1.5in). To build a scoreboard using LED technology, thousands of these LED modules are integrated in a rectangular grid. The size of the screen depends on the size of the LED modules.

Excellent technology, outstanding visual clarity, easy set up and use are the aspects which attracts most sports events to install which the event is being executed.

A pioneer in the world of Electronic signs, Jayex Technology specializes in developing customized visual display solutions for the sports along having scoreboards available in the store. Specializing in solution for all sports venues, Jayex Technology are suppliers of solutions for scoring, sports timing, message display information centres and clocks/time systems.

Electronic score boards display systems are housed in smart, lightweight, wall-mounted enclosure built using polypropylene panels on an extruded aluminium frame.

About The Author

Paula Jones

Jayex Technology Limited, based in London specialise in advanced information display systems. Established in 1978 we have pioneered the development of the LED display market and now have over 18,000 customers worldwide. We offer, probably the largest range of models from small single line signs to big screen Megavision screens that can display live video and action replay in stadia.

jayex.co.uk

What Do You Know About Yellow Journalism

Writen by Jeffrey Hauser

No, it’s not the historical battle between two New York newspapers in the late 1800’s to see who could dig up the biggest scandal to sell papers. It’s the world of directory publishing you know as the Yellow Pages. Yet ironically, it’s been around as long, if not longer. But it’s gone through many changes in the past century. For instance, it’s in full-color and printed on white paper with yellow ink, to give the appearance of yellow paper. It also has an Internet counterpart for every book printed. It’s also available as a CD or DVD in many areas. No, it’s not your father’s Yellow Pages anymore.

If you are reading this and an advertiser, it would behoove you to learn as much as you can about this media. You are investing your profits into a marketing campaign in an attempt to bring in customers. But what do you know about your ads? Let’s take a test. Can you answer “yes” to any of the following questions:

1. Do you know what the average customer is worth, within your industry?
2. Do you know the percent of profit you should spend on YP advertising?
3. Do you know what part of your ad is the most effective?
4. Do you know what part of your ad is least effective?
5. Have you recently looked at all your competitor’s ads?

If you even said “yes” to any of these, I am proud of you. If not, you’re pretty typical as far as being a not-so-savvy marketeer. But, then again, that’s probably not your expertise. And it shouldn’t be. You have a business to run. How can you keep up with promotional trends and such? But you ought to know how your money is being used and whether it’s working hard for you to bring in potential customers.

So, you have a choice. You can hire a YP consultant or pick the local YP rep’s brain. The first may be costly and the second may not work. That’s because they have little time to spend on just your account and they are paid by the publisher. Therefore, they may not be as unbiased as you might think. So they will recommend (a) what makes them a nice commission, and (b) what the publisher wants to sell you, this time round.

Instead consider something else. Educate yourself by reading about the industry and what it takes to create a successful YP campaign. There are a few good books available, but you might want to start with “Inside the Yellow Pages” for a solid overview of what you’ll need. It’s a small investment in your business future and might save you a lot of time and money.

Jeffrey Hauser's latest book is, "Inside the Yellow Pages," which can be viewed at http://www.poweradbook.com He was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.

Do I Need Raised Letter Or Full Color Business Cards

Writen by Mitone Cooke

If you've been searching around for business cards that will best represent the image you want to portray for your business, then you've no doubt encountered many options. The Big Two, as I like to think of them, are "Raised Letter" and "Full Color."

What are the differences in raised letter and full color business cards? What are the price differences? What looks best for how I want to represent my business? These are all questions I hear on a daily basis.

1. The difference between Raised Letter and Full Color printing is in how the ink is applied to the card stock. Thermography is the type of printing that produces ink that stands up off the page slightly. When you run your fingers across the surface, you can feel the printing on the stock. Each color that is printed has a separate plate, and the cards have to be run through the press for each color chosen. These types of cards have a very elegant and refined look about them, especially if the colors and stocks chosen are complimentary. There are hundreds of varieties of stocks and inks to choose from.

Full Color printing is much like printing from your ink jet printer at home. All the inks are printed on the page at the same time, and combined to create hues, shades--photo images. So, one run through and the cards are printed. These cards have been traditionally used by real estate agents, insurance agents and the like. But now, with this type of printing becoming more affordable and available, anyone can choose this option. These designs most of the time seem jazzier, sharper, more upbeat.

2. The cost difference is an oddity. Spot printing (the process of laying the colors on one at a time, as in Raised Letter cards), can be much cheaper--if only one color or black is chosen. White plate (65 lb stocks) will be cheaper than a cordwain or linen. But, if you start adding more colors (equals more time through the press) then you'll start racking up the cost. If your colors touch each other (called registration--the printer must make sure the cards run through correctly) then you'll tack on some extra expense there.

If you have a full color logo, the least expensive way to go would be with full color (process printing). But, you generally have to get a minimum of 1000. You can get 250 from some places, but you'll pay about the same price. It's the setup fee from the printer that is the biggest expense. Printing them is the cheap part, which is why the more you get, the better the price.

3. To choose the look that's right for you, I would think first about the image you are projecting for your company. Are you a doctor? You probably would rather have a classier linen stock with black and gold inks. Same for lawyers and other professionals. A handsome bordeaux (burgundy) on grey fiber stock would speak volumes about your professionalism. The raised letter would add to the expensive feel. There is really no need to add more than 1 color and black in printing raised letter cards. If that's the way you're heading, then you probably have a flashier business image and would need full color cards. A doctor or lawyer is usually using cards to provide clients with contact information, not get more business.

Full color is proven to get a 30% better response rate than regular printing, but this is only a bonus if your business aims to use the business cards to get more business. If you sell a product, using full color cards would be a brilliant idea--you can have a photo of it right on the cards. If you're in a service industry like real estate, you'll want your prospects to remember your face. Add your professionally taken photo to your cards. If you're trying to express a concept of what you can do for customers, then finding the right stock photo image can speak thousands of words with just one image!

In reality, cost usually dictates the biggest part of your decision making process. However, I would caution you to consider your IMAGE first. You might find that if you choose the card that has the best representation of your image, the cost ends up being less than if you choose the wrong one.

About The Author

Business card designer, Mitoné Cooke, specializes in full color business card designs at her website http://drbusinesscards.com. You can also give her a call at 1-800-431-3407 to order raised letter cards! Mitoné can be reached by email at moi@mitone.com. Sign up for the free e-newsletter about Business Card Marketing by sending a blank email to bizcardmarketing@getresponse.com.

Why I Hate Your Yellow Page Ad By A True Psychic

Writen by Jeffrey Hauser

That's right, I am a psychic Yellow Page consultant. As soon as you began reading this article, I peered into your mind and read your thoughts. I had a vision of your current YP ad and it's not a pretty sight. I see a jumble of different type styles, your business name at the top, and no apparent focal point. There are key elements missing that should be in place and…oops, I lost you, Sorry. My mind drifted off by the time I got just midway down the ad. That's because it never grabbed my attention.

By now you think I'm a wise-guy and you would be right. Actually, I'm a very wise guy. Let me explain. To begin with, I've been designing Yellow Page ads for the past 25 years. During that time, I was a YP rep and consultant and, prior to that, had my own advertising agency. I also have a degree in marketing. So I have expertise in YP creation and have advised almost 7000 companies on how to put together the most effective YP ads. If you have a display or in-column ad, regardless of size, color or position, I can tell you it's failing, to varying degrees. It might be in the headline, artwork, body text, placement, book, or heading (category). So, how can I be so certain? Because you are a typical YP business customer.

So it's not so much that I hate your ad, I hate the way you went about designing it. Did you create a terrific, thought-provoking headline? Did you add a consumer-friendly photo? How about including a feature-benefit story in the copy or employ a tracking device? My psychic intuition says not. It would take a book to explain all the various ways to improve your program and make it more profitable.

So that's exactly what I did. I wrote the definitive book on YP advertising. It's called, "Inside the Yellow Pages" and can be where you can learn how to make your Yellow Page ad more likeable. It's a your money at stake and you'll learn a lot. I see I'm getting another image and it's you buying my book and smiling. Now that's real vision…

Jeffrey Hauser's latest book is, "Inside the Yellow Pages," which can be viewed at http://www.poweradbook.com He was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.

The Graphic Problem

Writen by Tony Nagy

Digital printing has revolutionized the sign industry. Current printers can reproduce an image at 1440 dpi (dots per inch) at virtually any size. But they are worthless if the original image is of low resolution. We define resolution using pixels. A pixel is commonly thought of as the smallest individual unit of an image (tiny dots if you will). If the pixel content is low, the image will look fuzzy. Anyone that has blown up a picture in a popular program like Adobe Photoshop has experienced the pixilation of an image. The most common way to express the resolution of an image is via two integers: the first is the number of pixel columns or width and the second is the number of pixel rows or height. Another common way to express resolution is by giving the total number of pixels in the image (usually expressed as megapixels). It is determined by simply multiplying the pixel columns by the pixel rows.

Most typical file formats such as bmp, jpeg, png, etc. will give the physical image size. This is done through DPI. For raster images (those images in rectangular pixel format), DPI means the number of pixels printed within one inch horizontally and vertically. For example, if you have an image expressed at 600 by 300 (or 1.8 megapixels) and you want to print at 300 dpi, the image would need to be printed within two inches by 1 inch (you divide 600 x 300 by 300 dpi) – a very small image to get the needed resolution. The bigger you print the same image, obviously, the lower the amount of dots per inch. A 20 by 10 inch print of the same image would be only 30 dpi. Try to imagine how bad the quality would be if you had only 30 dots for every inch.

We commonly have customers uploading 600 x 300 jpeg images of the family dog, say, and ask us to put it on a vinyl banner 4 by 2 feet, for example. We refuse to print a sign with less than 300 dpi, because we know our customers will not be happy wth the quality. If we enlarged this image to fit the sign, we would get a sign with 12.5 dpi (only about 12 dots per inch).

We need to help educate so you will know that we are not trying to aggravate or, worse yet, price gauge when we ask for a better quality image. Believe me, we only do this so the customer will be happy with the final product. I always feel bad when I have to disturb a customer. I understand the buyer's position. They want quick results with minimal effort. But customers have to take a proactive role, because once and a while, a sign company will go ahead and print a borderline or low quality image. We won't do that – we insist on quality – which sometimes makes the customer think we lack some mysterious technology that our competition has. There have been those frustrating times when a customer will tell me they know of a local sign company that will print their sign with the image as is. And then they hang up miffed.

If we cannot get a higher quality image we need to convert the file to vector format. This format allows us to enlarge the image without loss in resolution. In fact, we have a full time graphic person that can do this rather quickly in some cases. We usually try to do it gratis for our customers, but sometimes we have to charge them. It is awkward because the customer does not always understand. Some even suspect we are attempting to add on frivolous charges. We want them to understand why!

But I also have to caution customers. Some sign companies will charge high prices for art work. Converting a diagram or clip art to vector format can be very cheap – about $10. But poor quality photographs require the artist to reproduce the file as a graphic drawing in detail. It takes time and most companies will understandably try to recoup their costs. But you should not be charged more than about $30 an hour and photographs rarely take more than 2 or 3 hours to convert.

To learn more about Magnetic signs and other types of signs please visit http://designasign.blogspot.com. To purchase Magnetis, Vinyl and just about every type of sign imaginable visit http://www.designasign.biz

Driving Customers To You Your Car As A Marketing Vehicle

Writen by Cathy Stucker

You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked. Here are some of the best ways to use your vehicle as a marketing tool.

Bumper stickers are so inexpensive that you may want to print enough for employees, friends, family members, customers and others. Publisher Susan Sabo of Small Dogs Press made bumper stickers saying, "I do bad things for love," along with the Small Dogs web site URL. The line is from one of their books, and everyone who sees the bumper sticker wants one. Sabo sells them at her web site, and gives them away at book fairs. Of course, she has one on her car, and says she has given them to all of her friends, too.

License plate frames are a favorite of car dealers and auto repair shops, but they can work for any business. You can have them custom made with your business name or slogan, along with a phone number or URL.

Magnetic signs are an easy and low-cost way to put a lot of information on your car. Put them on both sides of the car, and make sure the lettering is large enough to read, even from a distance and when the vehicle is in motion. Personal chef Sue Gaughenbaugh added an effective twist to this idea. She bought a supply of magnetic business cards and placed them around the sign on her truck. When customers see her truck in a parking lot, they can pick up a card to take with them. Gaughenbaugh started getting calls from new customers within days of putting the take-away magnetic cards on her truck.

Vinyl decals and window stickers are a highly visible way to promote your web site. Put the URL in large letters across the width of your rear windshield. After all, you never know who might be behind you in traffic. This is most effective if you have a catchy and descriptive domain name. Custom stickers are available at prices starting under $20.

You can order many of these items from local printers and sign shops. Or, do an online search for companies that can create bumper stickers, magnetic signs, decals and other promotional items.

And when you are ready to go all-out, consider a vehicle wrap. These vinyl decals look like a custom paint job and cover your entire vehicle with bright, high-quality graphics. This is not a do-it-yourself project, but you can hire companies such as www.coloredink.com to design and install the graphics. At an estimated cost of $3,500, this option is much more expensive than the others described here, but it will certainly make an impression on the other drivers you encounter.

When your car is a traveling billboard, the time you spend in traffic will become more productive.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with creative strategies that help your business excel. Get free tips and discover what she can do for you at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

Why Hire An Advertisingmarketing Consultant

Writen by Mary Ellen Martelli

As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do.. You may also consider hiring a full time marketing manager or even assigning the tasks, as they arise, to someone already working within your organization. Consider this… When your business needs plumbing work do you do it yourself? Hire a plumber to be on staff full time? Or ask your accountant to handle it?

Call in the Experts.

Though some advertising and marketing ventures seems simple enough to be handled ''in house'', nothing is as costly as a marketing misfire. Not only may you be sending out the wrong messages, to the wrong markets, but also by the time you catch it, your budget may be in no shape to recover and redirect. The truth is, no one can do the job as effectively and efficiently as someone who lives and breathes the industry everyday. Plus, the added perk of consistent media contacts that will prove to be financially beneficial to your business.

Seeing the forest and the trees.

When you hire a consultant you hire an objective opinion, as well as a fresh point of view. Sometimes a business may lose perspective on itself by being too heavily immersed in the day-to-day operations, and lose itself in the big picture, missing the small details… or vice-versa. Sadly, sometimes a business's marketing will clearly reflect this. The president of a private jet company's focus is on the bells and whistles of his fleet. It's what he sees as important in his view of his business. Inevitably, his marketing may also focus on this portion of his business, ignoring what he is really selling to his potential clients: The feeling and the status of private jets.

If you add another ball, technically it is juggling.

If you, as a business owner, or an employee take on the added tasks of the marketing of the business, attention is being taken from other projects and responsibilities. Inescapably, focus and demands are bound to pull from one and take away from others until something falls to the floor. Consultants are dedicated to one, and only one, portion of your business. Their focus is committed, and they allow you to keep yours where it should be.

The Gumby Factor.

Consultants are very flexible. Immediately ready and available to take on assignments at a moment's notice. Accessibility to getting a new project off the ground is just a phone call away. On the other hand, trying to hire a new employee specifically to handle your marketing needs takes valuable time to places ads; conduct interviews and then sort through applicants, hoping to find the right person for the job.

The M –Word Money.

When you total up the actual cost of bringing on a new employee, you will most likely find that hiring a consultant is much more cost effective. The hourly rates may seem to favor a full time employee, but when you factor in employee benefits, training time, vacation/sick time, 401(k), the added overhead involved in situating a new employee, and the sheer fact that you may be paying full time wages for something that may not need full time attention, the cost effectiveness will fall in favor of a consultant. Which bring us to....

The C- Word Commitment.

Hiring a full time employee is a commitment. And bringing on an employee to handle a special marketing project, or set up an initial marketing plan, may in the long run leave you scrambling to find a new project or position for that employee. Or worse yet, you find yourself paying a full time marketing director to do basic maintenance. Hiring a consultant requires no long-term commitment. When a consultant completes a project, they have the flexibility to move into whatever position you need them, from quarterly analysis, to basic maintenance, to completely out of the picture, but on the sidelines when you're ready to take a new step forward.

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Mary Ellen Martelli
MareMax Consulting
http://www.maremaxconsulting.com
Mount Laurel NJ 08054
609-413-0248
Advertising - Marketing - Public Relations - Web Design & Content

The Tv Shoot The Spoiled Brat And A Painful Lesson

Writen by Hal Eisenberg

It was two days before our shoot. I was in the office with the client going over the story boards and filling him in on all the details for his latest television campaign. At that time, with my agency being in its infancy stage, we were taking in any client we could, which is why I was seated across from the "Redneck Crazy Man" as I liked to refer to him. He owned a string of low end rental car shops and his only redeeming quality was that he was a quick pay.

For this particular shoot, my script involved an NBA star and a good looking young boy I had cast through a local talent agency. The boy had been in a few commercials and he knew how to take direction which is crucial when it comes to working with children.

As I was going over the script, the client stopped me mid-sentence, put a picture of a boy in front of me and said, "What ya think about this kid?" Not sure what he had up his sleeve this time, I looked at the picture of the 10 year old boy. "He's cute, why?" I asked. "Cause he's gonna be in the commercials." He said deadpan. "But I've already cast a boy through the talent agency who's perfect! He's coming in tomorrow to do the radio spot and he's contracted to do the TV shoot the following day." I replied. "Don't care". He said. "This here boy is my grandson and if he isn't in the commercials there ain't going to be any commercials." I looked at the picture again and looked back at my redneck crazy man client and shrugged. How bad could he be? I was about to find out.

The next day at our recording studio the "cute" grandson I'll call Jake in this article to protect all concerned, came in with his mother to do the radio commercials I had originally scheduled with the professional child actor. I gave Jake the script and because he had never been near a microphone, I began to coach him as to how close he should get to it, how to be careful about pronunciation, etc. "Let's try a few lines" I said, and that's when the fun began.

Jake I quickly learned, had speech problems. The client's name had a couple of "R"s in it and Jake pronounced "R"s like "L"s making the name of his granddad's car rental company sound like a Lithuanian side dish. In addition, he would put a "th" on all words containing an "S". No matter how many takes he did, the copy came out sounding like a foreign language. Jake grew restless and complained to his mom that he was bored and wanted to go home. And after a couple of hours of futility I ended up salvaging what I could and hoped the listeners were bilingual.

The following day Jake showed up (late) with his mom for the television shoot. Our crew had already been there several hours setting up for our first scene while the NBA star was in makeup. Jake looking bored, grabbed a basketball and started bouncing it on the court right next to one of the sound engineer's high end reel to reel tape machines. "Be careful bouncing that ball so close to that machine." I told him. "That is a very expensive piece of equipment." "Who cares?" He replied deadpan. "If it breaks, my grandfather will pay for it." That's when I knew we were in for a long day.

As I tried to get him to focus on the lines he was to deliver (in that special foreign language of his) his eyes went right to the craft services. "Donuts!" he cried as he dropped the ball right on the tape machine and began stuffing his face. I had rewritten most of the lines trying carefully to edit out any "R" words but the name of the company couldn't be avoided. When he was not causing mischief or complaining to his mom that he was bored, Jake was hungry or he was tired, sprawling around on the basketball court while I tried diplomatically to get him back in front of the camera. At one point I found him trying to flirt with some of the female crew telling them that when his grandfather "kicked" this would all be his. As I steered him into makeup, the makeup artist said, "My, what cute little boy!" "I'll get back to you at the end of the day to see if you have reassessed that opinion" I whispered to her.

The grandson was not only confrontational and rude to the crew but also to the NBA star as well who looked like he wanted to crush the little runt a few times. The rest of the shoot went as smoothly and after about 10 hours of work, I prayed we had enough film to choose from to finish the :30 second spot.

The makeup artist came up to me later in the day and when I asked her if she still considered the boy cute, I seem to remember her response including the word "strangulation".

What was the lesson in all this? Well despite what you have heard, the client isn't always right. In fact, sometimes the client is dead wrong. It all depends on your relationship and chemistry as to how you handle a difficult situation such as this. Don't be afraid to assert yourself in showing the client what's best for his advertising and marketing plan for it will benefit both of you in the long run. Just as he is an expert in his business, so too are you in yours. And if you are ever in a situation such as the one I've just described, the "grin and bare it" approach may be your only option!

Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, voice over talent and producer, as well as owner of The Eisenberg Agency, a full service advertising agency specializing in creative ads that get results.

Visit his web site at http://www.eisenbergagency.com
Mailto: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

Did You Come To Think Of Advertising Inflatables

Writen by Robbie Darmona

People advertise in many different ways to attract specific audience. Some of them use TV and radio broadcasts, some- newspapers, others- billboards and neon lights. But advertising inflatables are gaining up speed in the business world. Advertising using inflatables can be cheaper than any other way to show to the world. Many small firms with thin advertising budget prefer using advertising inflatables, as they are inexpensive and quite affordable…and, what is more, they WORK!

The basic advantage of using advertising inflatables is that ALL PEOPLE will see your advertisement. People passing by and people in their cars may like your advertising balloon and eventually get interested in your firm or in the service that you offer. So, you had better try it. In addition, you had better try with the most attractive advertising balloon that you come to think of. Before starting to advertise using inflatables, you should consider the appearance of your advertising balloon. How big should it be? Where should you put it? Should it emit light or be unlit? How about its colour? And the shape? What kind of artwork to put on the balloon? After you have answered these questions about the design of the advertising inflatable, it is time to start searching for the most suitable one. If you have specific requirements, your advertising inflatable can be custom-made for you. Remember, it is important to be as detailed as possible, so that your advertising balloon really becomes a symbol of your business.

Here are the answers to some specific questions about advertising inflatables so that you can decide upon what kind of cold air inflatable you want.

1) How can the advertising inflatable be displayed? They are inflated with a cold air fan. The fan needs to be on as long as the inflatable is displayed.

2) Where should advertising inflatables be displayed? Virtually in every place where people are walking to see them: in supermarkets, on the streets, on beaches, on rooftops, on cartops, in parks and so on.

3) What are the maintenance costs? They are considerably small. There is a negligible amount of electricity used by the cold air blowers per day.

4) Which materials are advertising inflatables made from? They are made from a nylon fabric, coated in long-lasting silicon. This material is extremely resistant to bad weather conditions.

5) Anyway, if they damage, how do we repair them? Advertising inflatables can be displayed even if minor punctures or cuts are detected on the surface. If the damages are extensive, factory repair services are available at low prices.

6) What do we get except the advertising inflatable itself? As extra accessories, you can find an electric blower, tie-down ropes, tarpaulin sheet and repairing material in a carry bag.

7) How long do advertising inflatables last? That basically depends on you and on the maintenance that you offer to your advertising balloon. If you strictly follow the rules in the manual, you may extend the life of your inflatables to the utmost.

8) Can the advertising inflatables be raised in the sky? Hoisting the inflatables is not an option as they are made for a steady base to stand on. You cannot hoist them either by inflating them with helium gas.

Article by Robbie Darmona - an article writer who writes on a wide variety of subjects. For more information click Advertising Inflatables.

Your Radio And Television Ad Schedules Are Quite Likely To Waste Money And Not Deliver

Writen by Michael K. Holmes

In my state, your hair is cut by a licensed professional, but no license or proof of competency is required to schedule your radio and television advertising. It is standard industry practice for broadcast outlets to hire people without training or experience and have them proposing advertising schedules in a very short period of time. The likelihood of your advertising money getting wasted is high, and it's intolerable.

Repetition is the soul of advertising. A person must hear your message regularly. If she doesn't, she forgets you, and she will do business with someone who is continually telling her about himself. How often the exposure depends upon what Wizard of Ads author Roy Williams calls an advertisement's Impact Quotient—that is, how well it persuades, and the nature of the product. Boring ads that lose listener attention in their first five seconds must be run many, many more times than an advertisement written by someone who knows what he or she is doing. Further, a great offer on a product with wide appeal need not be run as much as an average offer for a product with more narrow appeal.

How to schedule radio

The best way to use a station is to schedule ads from 6 AM to 7PM Monday-Sunday. You must run no fewer than 20 to 25 a week (more for average offers and general positioning, fewer for fantastic offers, and 50 to 75 for time-limited offers / sales), and get the station to give you what's called guaranteed equal distribution. It is not necessary to go with the station with the largest audience. Number of repetitions is far, far, more important than audience size. Now, if you have the budget to run the above schedule on the station with the biggest audience, fine, but never subtract commercials to be able to afford that large audience. Ten repetitions per person per week in an audience of 4,000 is far better than 2 repetitions to an audience of 100,000. You'll get more business from the smaller audience.

The above schedule will get you into each of the three major dayparts (6-10AM, 10-3PM, 3-7PM) every day. If you find that this schedule costs more than you wish to spend, even on your area's least expensive station, then subtract dayparts, keeping the same number of ads in the remaining dayparts. Each daypart is really a separate audience. Start with 6-10AM and run enough ads so you're in that daypart at least once a day (twice is better); then add dayparts until you run out of budget. It is not necessarily true that "drive time" has more listeners; many stations have bigger numbers in midday, 10-3 PM, and it's sometimes cheaper.

Next, commit to a schedule of no fewer than 6 months. It takes about 13 weeks before you'll begin to see results. This is called the chickening out period in the world of advertising. You run ads for five weeks and see money going out the door but see no results. Why aren't my ads working? Agencies with clients spending millions have done a great deal of research to determine what works and why. They've found that it takes a lot of telling to get people to try new things and to change buying habits.

Look at it this way: It takes an aircraft a great deal of power to get off the ground. When it reaches cruising altitude, it throttles back. The first 13 weeks is the takeoff; after that, people's awareness level of your business has been established and will stay the same as long as you keep telling them about yourself.

Always do what the big boys do. One thing they do is to never stop. Advertising on the radio is word-of-mouth raised to its highest level. It is the cheapest way to reach the greatest number of people the most number of times.

Here's why: Even with competition from satellite and onboard CD & cassette systems, radio is the most pervasive medium there is. Unlike TV, internet, and print media, radio has a captive audience. Because so many listeners are in cars, they can't get up to go to the bathroom or get something to eat when an ad comes on. They could change stations, but an ad has to be truly grating for that to happen. People are exposed to radio ads whether they want to be or not.

Radio and television are completely unalike and should never be scheduled in the same way. Raise your right hand and repeat: I will never, ever, buy any sort of rotator schedule on television. Reps sell them because in exchange for buying soap operas and other non-prime programs, you'll get several ads in good programs for a good deal less than the normal price. You'll think, "Wow, I'm getting into the 6 o'clock News for $45 instead of $400."

But that's the same as buying a large radio audience but hitting it only a few times.

You and I are loyal to television programs, not stations, not networks, not time slots. Programs. So buy programs only. Otherwise you will have no way of knowing if the same people are seeing your ad over and over.

Buy programs on cable rather than broadcast TV. Cable rates are so low they are in the radio cost range.

You must do three things if your advertising is to succeed: Know your Unique Selling Proposition -- the reason why people should buy from you and not your competition. A USP isn't friendly professional staff, wide hours or free parking, but specific, tangible or emotional reasons. Put this USP into every piece of advertising you ever do. Schedule your ads so that the same people hear them. Finally, never stop. Look at advertising as you do any other ongoing expense. It's what all successful businesses do.

Michael K. Holmes has created radio and television advertising for two decades. He lets the ad and jingle examples on his website do the talking. Hear them at http://commercialmagic.com

Free Advertising Vs Paid Advertising Campaigns Part 1

Writen by Trina Schiller

Maximize Your Online Advertising Dollars (part 1)

How much do you spend advertising your online business? How much money are you making from your online business? The two are directly related.

The adage, "You have to spend money to make money..." is an undeniable truth. You can't very well sell products if people don't know about them, and the way to tell people about what you've got, is to advertise.

ADVERTISING COSTS MONEY.

Big corporations spend millions of dollars to advertise their products. Now, they wouldn't spend all of this money on advertising if it didn't generate more in revenue than they originally spent. The key here is to put your advertising dollars where they will be the most effective. You must target your audience.

Think about this:

Why do you always see cereal and toy commercials during Saturday morning cartoons, but you never see beer commercials in the same time slot? Because Saturday morning TV viewers are children. Kids eat cereal and play with toys. They don't drink beer.

The commercials are targeting the children because they are selling children's products. Once a kid has it set in his mind that he has to have that cereal, or toy, the advertiser's job is done. The child then goes to his parents and creates his own sales pitch to Mom and Dad. And we all know how persuasive children can be when they want something.

Beer commercials, on the other hand, are slotted for prime time TV, because that is when adults are watching.

Maximize your advertising dollars by targeting your audience. Sell to those who are looking to buy what you have to offer.

Why spend money on advertising, when there are so many free advertising options available? Before I answer that question, let me ask another...

Do you ever see advertisements for Miller High Life, or Coors on a traffic exchange? No. The marketing executives for these companies know where their market is; not in front of a computer screen, but in front of a television. They spend millions of dollars for a Super Bowl ad, because they know that a large portion of Super Bowl viewers are also beer drinkers. That investment generates tens of millions of dollars in sales. I doubt anyone would be moved to buy a case of beer, from viewing an ad on a traffic exchange, or a classified. These companies purchase targeted advertising because it works!

So what about free advertising?

1. Free advertising isn't really free. It takes a great deal of time to post free advertisements all over the net. Most people who rely on free ad sites spend hours and hours, each day, to post their ads.

So what's your time worth, $10, $15, $20 per hour? Let's say that you spend 20 hours per week, posting to free ad sites. At $15 per hour, you've just spent $300! That's right, $300 in just one week.

How many sales have you made?

2. Free advertising online does nothing to target your audience. In most cases, free advertising venues are actually counterproductive. You are promoting your products to sellers, not those who are looking to buy your stuff. This is about as effective as running an ad for a diaper service in, 'Hot Rod Magazine,' or classic car parts in, 'Ladies Home Journal.'

Free advertising, for the most part, is expensive and wasteful. In this case, you've spent $300 worth of your time promoting to the wrong people. Again, how many sales have you made?

If you want to make money, you've got to spend it. And what's more, you've got to spend it in the right place.

Target your market, and sell to buyers. The best way to do this is to first establish who your market is, and then get yourself into the search engine results for that market, based on the keywords they are using in their searches.

Consumers do not sign up to traffic exchanges to find what they are looking for. That would be an incredible waste of their time, surfing sites for hours on end, hoping to find what they need. They do go to search engines to locate what they're after. So, it just makes sense to spend some of your advertising dollars, getting yourself in front of your market through search engine placement.

Take that $300 of your time and convert it into cash. Spend it on a targeted advertising campaign, and make money selling your product to those who are indeed looking for it. You are sure to yield a better return on your investment, and it will cost you less, in the long run, than spending hours plugging away at posting free ads everywhere, or surfing for traffic.

Copyright © 2006
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://www.ezines1.com

About the Author:
Trina L.C. Schiller
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Internet marketing and home business resources and information. Serving online professionals since 2001.
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine
Publisher - AdsOnQ - Article Distribution and Syndication On Quikonnex http://www.ads-on-q.com

Creativity And Getting Outside Of The Box

Writen by Barry Volk

Sitting in front of a blank piece of paper? Wondering where in the world to start? I have a suggestion. Turn the page upside down. Or better yet flip it over onto it's backside. Let it know who's boss. If your first idea is terrible, write it down anyway. If the next one is silly, redundant or stupid, write it down. Who knows, it may end up being a comedy direction and that first terrible line may end up being the punch line. You never know. You are jumping off a precipice into the unknown world of creativity and you need to be a leaf at the mercy of the wind or you will come crashing down with your fears in a ball flames every time.

Throw as much as you can against the wall and see what sticks. I own a jingle and music production company and I had an assignment to create a jingle, positioning statement (slogan), campaign for Petaluma Auto Plaza in Northern California. They have a huge electronic sign on Hwy 101 and we decided that this landmark was our key. So, what do you do with a big sign? It's huge and you can see it from everywhere. It's so big, it's like a monument. And what do you do with a monument? We decided to worship it. So I brought into the studio Jeannie Tracy (from Whitney Houston's band), a gospel singing Diva, to sing the following full-on hand clapping gospel jingle I SAW THE SIGN: "I was lost in the gloom of auto dealers and sales pitches, then I saw a light shining bright standing tall (Where to turn?)... I saw the sign (chorus answers 'I saw the sign') in Petaluma ('Petaluma Auto Plaza')" and on and on... If you'd like to hear it go to: http://soundad.com/sounds/ and click on Pet Auto Plaza. It's a smashingly successful campaign.

Sometimes "getting outside of the box" is about simplicity. I had a chain of camera stores in need of a jingle to brand their company name and a positioning statement (slogan) to bring people in. We did a market analysis and concluded that they were trying to reach two buyers: #1)Professional photographers who were developing their film. #2)New camera buyers who were serious about learning the craft. We came up with a simple line that appealed and spoke to both: WE DEVELOP PHOTOGRAPHERS

Creativity is not something I pull out of thin air. There is a process that I trust will lead me to something spectacular. I throw everything possible up against that wall without judgement or self criticism. If doubt creeps in, I throw doubt up against the wall. If I'm getting bored, I throw boredom against the wall and suddenly there is a humorous side that begins to appear. If I don't need humor, I throw it up against the wall and a new perspective opens up.

It's all good in the creative process and those of us who live it should honor it. It keeps us young because it's all about letting go, letting things flow and crawling outside of the box for a few moments.

Barry Volk - EzineArticles.com Expert Author

Barry Volk is a former producer/staff songwriter for ABC, MCA & Screen Gems-EMI Music Publishing, a 20th Century Fox solo recording artist, Musical Director for the West Coast Theater Company and National Director of Marketing for Metro Networks/Westwood One. His music production company, Barry Volk's Sound Advantage http://soundad.com, creates and produces musical identities and jingles for radio and TV advertisers worldwide from small market to national campaigns.

Information To Include On Your Business Card

Writen by Erin Ferree

The logo and graphic elements that you include on your business card are quite important, but having the right text and contact information on the card is equally important. Here are our tips about the elements to include:

Your name — Consider whether you want to include your middle name or initial, degrees or professional credentials that are unique to your field.

Title — Including a title on your card will help your potential clients to identify your position within your company. Including a title can also make your company seem larger. A reason to not include a title would be if you're a consultant, and want to market your solo nature as a benefit to your clients.

Address — Always include an address on your business card, even if you are operating a business out of your home. Including your address greatly increases your credibility and makes your business appear established. If you're concerned about privacy, a post office box is a great way to go. When signing up for a post office box, consider using a commercial mailbox vendor (such as the UPS Store) instead of a box at the United States Post Office. At a mailbox store, you are given a street address instead of the typical "P.O. Box". The store also accepts shipped packages from UPS, FedEx, and other carriers, so you won't need to give out your home address as a shipping address.

Phone number (and toll-free number) — Include your phone number and, if you do business long distance, consider including an 800 or toll-free number as well, as an amenity for your clients.

Cell phone number — This is an option to consider if you'd like to make your services available to your clients around the clock, or if your business often takes you on the road. If you'd like to keep your cell phone number private, you can do that tactfully by offering to make your cell phone number available to clients once they have signed up for your services — then your clients will feel special and know that you're taking good care of them.

Fax number — If you have a fax number you should include it on your card. If you rarely receive a fax, or if you don't know if faxes will be useful in your business, you can try using efax (www.efax.com). This is an online service that can provide you with a free fax number that will email all of your faxes to your email account. They also offer a paid service that is available as an upgrade if the number of faxed pages you receive per month exceeds their free offering. That enables you to upgrade if needed, without changing your fax number and reprinting your cards.

Email address — Your email address is an often-overlooked opportunity to brand your business. Instead of using a generic email address such as "yourname@aol.com" or "yourname@comcast.net", purchase your own branded domain name to use as your email — yourname@yourbusiness.com. It's inexpensive and easy to set up, especially if you use GoDaddy.com to register your name and set up the new email address to forward to your existing account. This makes your business look larger and more professional.

Website address — A website is a must in today's business world, even if it's a simple, one-page site that gives a few paragraphs of information about your business offerings and your contact information. A website offers potential clients an easy, no-pressure way to both learn more about your business, or to refer you to new clients. This is also another way to take advantage of the branded domain name that you set up to use for your email address — using it for your website URL will extend your business brand further.

Tagline — If you have a tagline, including it on your business card will contribute to your branding and memorability, and a graphic treatment of the tagline (font, color and any graphic effects used) can add visual interest to the card as well.

License Numbers — Include your license number if you are required to display them by your industry regulations (i.e., insurance or contractors), or if your being licensed is a benefit that you offer to your clients, or if it differentiates you from your competition.

If you have room on the front, or would like to create a two-sided card, consider adding:

A few bullet points about your business offerings — This provides you with an opportunity to further explain what you do. This is most helpful when your business name is not specific, so potential clients can identify what you can do for them.

Your photo — The people you meet while networking will remember who you are. Putting a face to your business also makes your cards more personal for potential clients. However, we recommend that you do this only if it's appropriate, or somewhat standard, in your industry (for example, with certain types of coaching, or real estate).

A "next appointment" area — If you often make appointments with clients (for massage therapy or health care, for example), consider printing a line or two on your business cards to make them into appointment cards as well. This makes a lot of sense from a printing standpoint — you'll be able to print a dual-purpose card for the same price as printing one card design

About the Author

Erin Ferree, Founder and Lead Designer of elf design, is a brand identity and graphic design expert. She has been helping small businesses grow with bold, clean and effective logo and marketing material designs for over a decade. elf design offers the comprehensive graphic and web design services of a large agency, with the one- on-one, personalized attention of an independent design specialist. Erin works closely in partnership with her clients to create designs that are visible, credible and memorable – and that tell their unique business stories in a clear and consistent way. For more information about elf design, please visit: Logo design at http://www.elf-design.com

Advertising Primer For Fast Learners

Writen by Nancy Fraser

Advertising, when done well is a very effective way to increase your customer base and ultimately grow your bottom line.

Many businesses have no idea how to advertise; they do a little bit here and a little bit there and end up saying that advertising doesn't work. Advertising, like everything else in business, requires a systematic, consistent approach. Even when you are getting results, tweaking a good message can make it a great message.

Fundamentals of good advertising:

1. Use a great title…not a cute title but one that grabs attention and communicates what the purpose of the ad is. If you start the ad with the name of your business, you will discourage a large portion of prospective customers from reading your ad because if they don't know what you do they will often assume you are not speaking to them.

2. Test titles and messages on an on-going basis and measure the response, small adjustments in the ad can increase response by 100% or much more.

3. Take the response you got from an ad and divide the cost by the response to see if it was worthwhile. An ad that doesn't elicit a response is too expensive no matter how little you spent on the advertising. Give it time don't just advertise once.

4. Don't advertise everywhere. Initially choose one medium and one company for your advertising and stick with it. Once you have figured out what works add another medium or company to the mix.

5. Before you place your ad, look at the characteristics of the audience and consider if it matches your target market. Don't make the mistake of assuming everyone is your target market because they are not. Even if your product has a broad appeal when you consider all factors of who buys you will be able to identify demographic or specialized interest groups that will provide a better return on your advertising investment.

6. Don't always blame the medium for your lack of result. Once you have identified the unique characteristics of your market it's incumbent on you to speak to that market using phrases, and communication styles that they relate to. If the publication, radio station, TV station etc. has thousands or hundreds of thousands in their audience and no one responds after a few weeks of advertising, take a good look at what you are advertising and more importantly how you are communicating the information.

7. When you have developed an ad that is working, test small changes to see if you can boost the ad response even more. Make one change at a time to ensure you can identify what the strongest pluses of the ad are.

8. Have you ever heard someone say that they turned their money over to a money manager of some sort and before they knew it, they had lost thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars? You wouldn't do anything that foolish would you? Well then why would you turn full control of your advertising dollars to a media sales person for them decide what to advertise and how to communicate it in an ad? Most media reps have your best interest at heart…they want you to get results because it will make their next sale to you that much easier but the ultimate beneficiary of successful advertising is you and you had better be involved. Ask your rep to educate you about their medium and give you some information on their audience. Take the time to read it. Advertising is not an expense; it's an investment and requires attention to ensure success.

9. If a prospect reads your ad, is there something in the ad that says what you expect them to do? Do you ask them to call and give an accurate phone number or do you want them to come into your store and you give them the address. I don't know how many times I have seen ads that left off the address or the phone number has a wrong digit or isn't there at all. If they need to make an appointment, clearly articulate that in the ad.

10. When someone responds to your advertising, make it easy for him or her to do what you expect. If they have to keep playing telephone tag to try to connect with you then it's going to reduce the effectiveness of your advertising dramatically.

Nancy Fraser is the President of Nota Bene Consulting. She has been helping clients improve their advertising results and grow their businesses for over 20 years. Free advertising and marketing information in Notable News http://www.notable-marketing.com

Why Some Ad Agency Relationships Stand The Test Of Time

Writen by Bill Fritsch

The pressures that wear on relationships between advertisers and their advertising agencies are increasing. Today's growing focus on immediate results, instant return on investment, cost-cutting, and purchasing department attitude about advertising creative has changed the character of the advertising industry over the last decade. Many industry insiders worry that agency/client relationships are becoming less strategic as a result. Ad agencies are increasingly seen as providing commodity services best handled by the lowest bidder.

For those who take advertising seriously, these trends threaten agencies' ability to manage client brands long term. In order to do this, agencies must be seen as trusted stewards of companies' external messages. Relationship longevity between advertiser and agency is important to building unbreakable bonds of trust.

Locally there are great examples of advertisers and agencies that have journeyed together for decades. The local poster-child is DDB Seattle and its decades' long relationships with McDonalds, Holland America, and Jansport. Founded in 1981 as Elgin Syferd, the agency's first important account win was with McDonalds the same year. This was followed in 1983 with the Holland America account. It was clear at this point that Elgin Syferd was not an ordinary start-up, but a break-out agency and a local industry leader. The Jansport business followed in 1987. In 1990, the agency was acquired by DDB Needham. More growth followed. When asked what makes these relationships last Ron Elgin said, "We took our lead from McDonalds Founder Ray Croc. Kroc built McDonalds believing that no matter how well McDonalds served customers each day, they may not show up tomorrow. He focused his crews each night on making things sparkling fresh for the next day."

Elgin added, "To keep clients for the long term, you need a great deal of paranoia and to keep in mind that no matter how well you have done, it is never quite enough." Well said.

Let's not underestimate just how difficult it is to keep accounts over decades. This time span covers recessions, new marketing administrations, terrorist attacks, successful ad campaigns, some less than successful campaigns, cost-cutting, major growth, and continuous attempts by bigger agencies to win the business. Holland America decided in the late 1980s to hire FCB West to handle broadcast advertising, relegating Elgin to an important, yet smaller role. This lasted one year. Then, all the business snapped back.

Sedgewick Road has been doing a superb job for Washington Mutual for over a decade. Copacino + Fujikado has been working with the Seattle Mariners since 1996, and Jim Copacino's creative leadership on the account dates back to 1990. HP and the Washington Forest Protection Association have counted on FCB Seattle since the mid '90s.

Great advertisers reward their agencies' hard work with fidelity, trust and stability for a number of reasons.

• Advertising is not about clever headlines and trendy slogans. It is about a group of craftspeople understanding the heartbeat of a client company and translating this in a way that is compelling to consumers over time. This can't happen with short term agency relationships. This requires trust between agency people and client leadership.
• Agencies become more efficient as they learn to chart courses through client organizations. Well oiled relationships take labor out of the process of creating advertising. Ultimately, this is the best way to keep unnecessary costs out of the advertising mix. Repeated change in agency relationships means new learning curves, inefficiencies, and higher costs.
• Client industry knowledge and expertise at the agency grows in direct proportion to the stability of the client agency team. As outsiders, agencies become indispensable resources to clients in providing competitive intelligence and industry opportunities that can be exploited through great advertising.

There are few shortcuts in achieving financial success in American industry. No matter how hard we try to get more and more efficient and to ROI every little action we take, real success may lie in taking a longer view of what we are trying to achieve in running our companies.

The least expensive way to succeed in advertising may be to build lasting teams. With longevity, teams grow in knowledge, wisdom, determination, and efficiency. Smart advertisers work with agencies that provide stable environments and retain their people (thus retaining client industry wisdom). They insist on continuous improvement, yet are realistic in what they want to achieve and how long it will take to get them there. Most importantly, they are in it for the long haul. For agencies, the best way to win is to have a healthy dose of paranoia that you haven't done quite enough to earn your clients complete and total trust.

Bill Fritsch is president of Hydrogen Advertising, an award-winning, Seattle-based advertising agency emphasizing superb ideas efficiently produced. Reach him at 206-389-9500, ext. 224 or email bill@hydrogenadvertising.com. For more information, visit http://www.hydrogenadvertising.com.