Advertising Everyones Doing It But Nobodys Doing It Right How About Your Small Business

Writen by Jeremy Tuber

Are you advertising right now in a publication? If you are, how's it working for you?

Did you know that most business ads:

• Look all the same as everyone else's
• Provide no real reason to choose their company over a competitor
• Use tired, overused phrases that customers don't believe or care about, like, "We've got great service", or "been around since 1776".
• Don't give the prospect a call to action – something that specifically tells them "Do this now!"
• Neglect to focus on what their customers REALLY want

So why don't more businesses, including your competitors stop wasting money?

It's simple; business owners have been fooled into thinking that the main reason why their ad didn't get any action was that no one reads the publication.

Wrong! The leading reason why ads don't work is that they don't have a consistent, powerful marketing message that compels people to act.

Let's say that your ad generates an average of 30 calls per year, which translates into 18 sales. Your figures might be more than that, maybe less. Have you ever wondered if your current results could be better than they are?

If I was working for you, here are a couple of things I'd discuss with you before we invested a penny on advertising. If you like what I have in here, and you're tired of wasting money on ads that don't work, give me a call and let's talk about how to stop working for your ads and start having them work for you.

What to watch out for:

• Advertising does cost more money than time over other prospect building options like networking
• There are a lot of publications out there that are more than happy to take your money; you want to make sure the publication you're considering is read often by the people you sell to.
• Avoid guessing. Unless you're a marketing expert you'll want to hire a business savvy designer to create your ad. The number of ineffective ads typically outnumbers the good ones 10-1.

I would recommend you advertise if:

• Your ideal target market often use magazines or the yellow pages to find vendors like you.
• The people you sell (your ideal target market) to like to read
• You are committed to running the advertisement over a reasonable period of time
• You're going to do it right - you want to work with someone to develop a unique, compelling ad, and you are willing to invest in getting your ad designed by an expert.
• You don't like to, or don't have the time to write articles
• You are committed to tracking the ads results (your designer should be able to help you with this)
• You are competing against ineffective, boring ads (this is usually the case)
• You need sales quickly; you don't have the time or don't like to network
• You need more customers, you need more sales
• You've got a good sales process to convert prospects to customers once they've decided to call you
• You want to better customers that are more in line with who you really want to work with

A business savvy graphic designer is often a contradiction in terms; however, Jeremy is a unique combination of sharp business marketer and creative designer. This one-two punch provides clients with targeted marketing, advertising and design projects that yield outstanding results and a terrific return on their investment; they actually work. Companies looking to feel more confident and credible with their business brand, tired of getting lost in a crowd of competitors and always feeling like they have to compete on price, need to call Jeremy at 480.391.0704. If you are looking for more free insight and inspiration, you'll want to get in on the "Can-Do Confidence Builder". Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your investment and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition. Email Jeremy at comments@candographics.com and asked to be added to our list or visit www.candographics.com.