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How to Make Your Ad Stand Out

October 21, 2020 admin

Marketing techniques, such as creating advertisements, are the backbone of every business.

With hundreds of entrepreneurs crafting new products and services every day, effective ads let your business stand out from all the competitive noise in your industry. Some of the most significant advantages of an effective ad include:

Helps you earn profit
Promotes your product and services to prospective customers
Widens your audience reach
Increases brand recognition and awareness
Helps you gain a competitive advantage

May it be online or offline, making business ads is not as easy as it seems. You have to consider many factors such as ad design and brand voice to make it stand out among millions of other ads out there.

Ensure that your advertisement material can pierce through the eyes and minds of your target market by implementing these ad design strategies.

1. Pour in Brand Originality

Whether it is scrolling through an Instagram feed or walking in a local mall, people come across hundreds of business ads all the time.

Figure out what kind of unique product, service, or experience you want to bring to your target audience. Show them why they should focus on you alone and not your competitors. Once you find out this specific uniqueness, incorporate it creatively throughout your ad campaigns.

Here are some ways on how to find and show your distinctiveness to your audience.

Think of a creative, unique selling proposition to use. It encompasses your brand voice, uniqueness, and what you have to offer by just utilizing a one-liner or carefully crafted string of words.
Include a smart and well-thought-out call to action.
Incorporate visual metaphors related to your business. It should be comical or clever enough to get your audience’s attention, but not so much that they would not get your meaning.
Use a powerful headline or an appealing offer that they can ponder on.
Include a hidden visual relationship with your ad design. This is the usage of two unrelated concepts that, when paired, create a strong message to promote your brand.
Use iconic people, objects, and ideas in your ads that can represent your brand.

2. Make It Appealing

Of course, all forms of advertisements should be appealing. However, what we are talking about here is the kind of appeal that will pique the interest of your target group of consumers.

Identifying your audience is an essential step in all marketing strategies. Your audience’s wants and needs will eventually become your business’s foundation and purpose. You need to know what they want and what appeals to them to be able to market your product.

Dig deep and determine your target demographics, then create an unforgettable ad that they can relate to.

3. Don’t Tell Them, Show Them

The “show, don’t tell” practice has been a general rule for many forms of art may it be a movie or a commercial, because it actually works.

Your business is not the only one in the market. Millions of others also offer the same product or service, use the same quotes or call to action, and make similar guarantees to consumers.

The only way to stand out is to use visual representations, ideas, and concepts that allow consumers to experience your product just by looking at your ad.

4. Keep It Short and Simple

Ad design is a challenging feat since you need to combine various factors–image, color, size, and font–and hope they blend to create an effective ad.

However, you do not need to exaggerate your ad with splashy designs that overlap with each other and a long explanation of why people should buy from your store.

An average person’s attention span only lasts for about eight to twelve seconds. So if your ad requires a whole minute to be understood, then chances are your audience will not give it the time of their day.

Take note of these tips to craft short, sharp, and straightforward ad copy.

Keep it simple but make sure to pack it up with quality content.
Use images and graphics to denote your message instead of filling your ad with paragraphs.
Avoid fillers. Get straight to the point and present it immediately to your customers.
Use relatable, one-line puns, and touches of humor to make a lasting impression on your audience. However, it should resonate well with your product or service and brand voice.

Keep ads short, concise, and direct to the point, and let their imagination do the talking for you. Make sure that the audience will only need a glance to understand and remember your ad copy.

5. Make It Fun and Interactive

Sometimes, you need more than the best headline to cut through the noise. Most consumers have seen it all, so it is hard to actually make them remember you by just giving them a white paper ad copy.

So why not include them in your ad campaign by making it interactive? Many large brands had already used this tactic to grab their viewer’s attention and hold it through interactive content.

In fact, 70% of marketers revealed that an interactive ad design is a useful tool in converting visitors.

Some ways to make your digital ads fun and interactive include:

Clickable or playable digital copies
Personalized ads such as quizzes and surveys
Video advertisements so customers can engage by answering questions.
Mobile ads like calculators and QR code
Use augmented or virtual reality.

6. Elicit an Emotion From the Consumers

The primary job of advertisements is to market a commodity by making a lasting impression on its consumers. Most ads do this by invoking a certain kind of emotion from their viewers.

With the right combination of visuals and graphics, you can stir the feelings and pull on the emotional strings of your target audience. Some themes that can significantly trigger a consumer include love, friendship, loneliness, achievement, and memories.

An ad’s emotional impact influences a customer’s buying decision more than the ad’s actual content.

Decide what feeling you want to elicit, then align your ad design towards that particular emotion.

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How to Reach New Audiences with Print Advertising

September 21, 2020 admin

Print advertising is still alive and well. As a matter of fact, some people favor consuming print media more than digital media. It’s no secret that these days digital and television media have a lower standard of journalism than most print outlets do. This fact alone can leave a bitter taste in many people’s mouths, thus giving print media an edge in all areas, not just in journalism.

Here’s an interesting fact: according to a study done by MarketingSherpa, 82% of respondents said that they trusted the print ads in magazines and newspapers. It’s not hard to see why; the barrier to entry for print media ads is much higher. Whereas with online advertising, anyone with an internet connection and a credit card these days can create a website and slap an ad on it.

So not only can print ads help to build brand trust, but they can also help you reach a whole new audience of people. But how can you bridge the gap between print and digital so that your print ad will complement your digital campaign? In other words, how can you maximize the effectiveness of your printed ads?

1. Bust Up the Norms

The idea behind this technique is simple: contrast is key. If the print outlet features mostly text, you should use a highly visual ad with bold colors and images. And vice versa. For example, if it’s a magazine that features mostly photos and art, then your ad should focus on text and blank spaces.

2. Consistent Branding Is Key

One way to bridge the gap between print and digital in your advertising campaign is to make your branding recognizable on any platform. Whether it be print or digital, your campaign should be instantly identifiable. You can do this by using the same hashtag for both your print and digital campaigns.

3. Look at Your Top Posts as a Blueprint

What was your best performing social media post? In effect, an excellent social media post is just like a great print ad – it has compelling visuals combined with perfect headlines. Look at what your best performing posts have in common and use that information to design your print ad campaign. Things to look at are the headlines and visuals you used, and which audiences were they relevant for. Then you can use these insights to make your messaging relevant across different mediums.

4. Use QR Codes

Your print ad doesn’t just have to sit there and do nothing anymore. A QR code and custom mobile apps can foster interaction between consumers and your brand. By merging the real world with the digital world, you’ll be able to reach both audiences at the same time. And since QR codes are still a novel experience for many, you also have the bonus of creating a memorable experience for people. Consequently, your brand will be more memorable and motivate them to share with their family and friends.

How Does a QR Code Work?

For the uninitiated, a QR code can be scanned by a customer’s smartphone/tablet and take them to wherever you want them to go online. It’s a completely seamless way to integrate your real-world ads with your online presence.

5. Shorten Your Ad Copy

Long paragraphs aren’t exactly conducive to capturing people’s attention. Therefore you’ll want to keep your ad copy on the shorter side.

Your headline should be eye-catching,
Include a couple of sentences of copy
Keep your visuals simple and clean
Make your ad tell a cohesive story about your product or service

6. Pack Your Ad With Value

There are a few elements to a value-packed print ad:

Include a call to action
Include both online and offline benefits
Make your ad stand out

If your ad has these elements, it will likely be more memorable because your audience will have a reason to keep your ad and not discard it.

7. The Rule of Seven

The rule of seven states that it takes at least 7 different exposures to a product for a customer to take action. With this rule in mind, you can try to fill in the seven blanks on your customers’ “buyer’s journey.” This journey likely includes both online and offline elements, so using print and media together to guide their journey can actually be cost-efficient and effective if the customer’s journey is straightforward.

8. Tease, Don’t Tell

Tie your print ad copy directly into an interactive element. This also entails not giving away the entire story in your print ad. Tease them, and you’ll hook them. That will be the best way to generate more traffic with your print ad.

9. Understand Your Audience

This is one of the most well known but paradoxically most overlooked tips for print advertising. Understanding your audience means learning who they are, where they live, and what they’re looking for. The best ad copy you can come up with won’t be effective if it’s put in the wrong place. If you aren’t sure, then research first. The proper research can inform you about how, where, what, who, and when to reach them.

10. Consistent Messaging Is Key

You might contemplate using different messaging across both print and digital, but this would likely be a mistake if both campaigns are meant to complement each other. Both campaigns should align on a single message. That way, your audience gets the same message across multiple touchpoints.

11. Remember the Key Components to Success

Like with digital, the key components to success include research, intelligent targeting, and backing it all up with an excellent design.

Conclusion

Disregarding print as an advertising method means that you’ll miss out on lots of potential business. However, before embarking on your first print media campaign, you must do your due diligence and research your target audience, as well as the best channels for your brand. You should also set up parameters in advance to help you measure analytics and calculate ROI.

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Top 5 Advertising Trends Worth Trying in 2020

August 28, 2020 admin

This era is the 21st-century era. This is the era or year of people who are very eager to try something new. They enter the business world because it is very convenient for them to work inside the comfort of their homes, they can create their own schedules, and they can have the income that they deserve.

Business is extensive and very complex. Handling a company, whether small or big, requires a big responsibility from the owners. It is not an easy task to do. It has a lot of requirements and qualifications to meet.

A lot of business owners are very creative in their business. Some business owners are looking and hiring other people who are creative and have enough knowledge of advertising. These people are best in advertising, and they also know how to catch the attention of the viewers or potential consumers.

There are a lot of things to consider when entering the business world. There are a lot of risks that you will encounter every step of the way.

That is why if you own a business, you must have the best advertising medium. You should spread your business to a lot of people to gain more potential clients. You need to place your business into an advertising medium that can spread it as fast as possible.

Having the best advertisement is a significant advantage for business owners:

It can lead to more clients and customers
A business owner can get good feedback
Other people can recommend your business to their family members and friends.

There are a lot of ways to advertise your business. These are some of the best advertising trends that you can utilize for your business:

1. Social Media

The 21st-century era consists of people who are very fond of using the internet. Every individual knows how to use a cellphone, laptop, computer, tablet, and other gadgets. Most people are also engaged in their own social media accounts. They mostly do everything with the use of social media.

Social media or the internet itself can be one of the best advertising trends that you can use in your business. A lot of people can see it. You can gain a lot of potential customers or clients for your business by using it. It can be a great way to spread awareness of your business to other people.

But the problem with social media is that a lot of people can get your ideas and copy them without giving you much (or any) credit. There are a lot of people that can get photos of your products and services and post them on their own social media page. They can also get the details of your business and use it for other purposes.

You can use social media and the internet as an advertising medium, but make sure that your accounts are secured to lessen the problems that can occur. To keep others from using your images, try adding a watermark of your logo or just your logo in general in one of the corners. Keep it small so that it doesn’t take away from the image or message.

2. Broadcast Media

Most of the people today have their own televisions in their homes. Some people have cable connections to their homes, and that can connect them to even more channels. This advertisement can also be a big help to encourage other people to visit your business.

TV ads work especially well for people who are mostly inside the house. They tend to watch TV a lot, and they can see what product or service you are trying to sell. They can see your advertisement twice or thrice per hour, and that is an excellent way for other people to know about your business.

Other than televisions, some people also use radio as a medium for their advertisement. Some people are still enjoying listening to the radio. People inside their cars, bus, cab, and other transportation are always listening to the radio to ease their boredom while traveling. This can also help a business to grow. Some people are also auditory learners, and they tend to understand more about a particular discussion when they are listening to it.

Broadcast media is also an excellent way to post your advertisement, but it is kind of expensive. If you are a small business owner, then you might consider other options because this requires a lot of money. Do your research and see what medium would work best for you. Be sure to think about where your audience is and who you are trying to connect with.

3. Influencers

A lot of people in this generation love to listen to their favorite influencers. Every time their favorite influencer shares their favorite products or services, people tend to buy or avail them.

This is a person to a person type of advertisement. This is one of the easiest ways to promote your business, but it can also be a little bit expensive. You need to pay or even provide free products or services for the influencers to try out and provide feedback on.

It is an excellent way to promote a business. Still, you will need to find an influencer that has a lot of followers so that your business can be promoted to a wide audience. There are many online platforms that can help with finding the perfect influencer to promote your business. Be sure to look them up and check out their social media accounts to see if they are a good fit before approaching them for work.

4. Game Advertising

Often, people are spending their free time playing games on their mobile phones, laptops, computers, and other gadgets. They spend most of their time focusing on the game that they are playing. It is also a nice place to put an advertisement.

If most people tend to play games, then there are a lot of chances to gain potential customers for your product or service. It can be a great help for your business to spread fast.

5. Print Advertising

This type of advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising for your business. Print advertising is very timely and timeless. Even in this digital age, a lot of people are still reading magazines, newspapers, looking at a poster, etc. Most people still rely on what they see on the print media. Some are still using this as an option to find new discoveries.

Print advertising can also spread your business rapidly. It can gain more potential consumers because you can see it everywhere. If a person is reading a magazine and they saw your advertisement, there is a big possibility that he or she will look for your business. He or she can also recommend it to his or her friends or family.

It also costs less money than other advertising mediums. It only requires creativity to advertise your products or services. This is one of the most reliable and most effective ways to advertise your own business because this medium never gets old.

There are a lot of advertising trends that you can take advantage of for your business. Choose the one that’s the most convenient and cost-effective. However, be sure that they can advertise your business rapidly as well and reach the audience you are looking to connect with.

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Can Print Advertising Make a Comeback?

July 29, 2020 admin

With the massive innovation of advertisements over the past years, everything is now going digital — with little room available for print media. However, prepare for the resurrection of the dead, because print advertisements are now back on the market.

It is crystal clear in the eyes of people that the wide spreading of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) across the world had resulted in nothing but the downfall of the economy and health of people.

Though the pandemic may have closed down malls and various establishments, influenced people’s physical states, and knocked down the economy and stock prices; the long-gone print advertisement may have benefited from this unfortunate catastrophe.

In the industry of advertising, the first rule is that your adverts must be seen by the general public to take effect. But this might not be happening anytime soon with the virus taking a toll in the country.

With people locked up in their homes, their usual go-to digital consumption services are either social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or streaming services like Netflix, HBO, and Amazon Prime Video. This personal preference is hitting the vulnerable spot of most print advertisements companies.

The Current Statistics

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, almost 24% of media buyers, planners, and brands have paused their advertising spending. Meanwhile, 46% said they would adjust their ad spend across the time period.

In China, the total media ad spending tops digital and television with $81.06 billion and $16.27 billion as of the March 2020 forecast. While these numbers are occurring in the United States and China, which dominates most of the print media, it is evident that amid a pandemic, ad revenue for print advertisements is down and will continue in that trajectory in these trying times.

Numbers do not lie, it is factual, and it is the reality. Though the numbers conclude that print advertisements are long out of the picture, the recent Sunday New York Times turned the tables. It might be a significant risk at this moment. However, the publishing company carried six different long forms of print advertisements where one is a two-page spread from MasterCard to articulate its support for the GLAAD’s NEON Legacy Series, a photo and video collection by Black LGBTQIA+ creators.

Aside from this, brand categories that are not included to be most impacted by COVID-19 saw incredible changes with their business as the pandemic peak.

The Comeback of Print Advertisement

Ryan Zamo, co-founder and CEO of Z-SkinCosmetics, a company that specializes in organic and handmade e-commerce beauty brands, experienced incredible growth in their affiliate marketing because of the hand sanitizers they sell and make.

In line with this, they took advantage of the moment. Z-SkinCosmetics promoted their hand sanitizers while their sports nutritional supplements are down in sales. It can be presumed that a profit increase is gained when the target market wants to be knowledgeable about what is happening around them. This is the marketing strategy that Zamo and his brand did with their hand sanitizer product line.

Moreover, when John Caples created some of America’s long copy of ads back in the 1960s and 1970s, it inspired David Ogilvy, another ad legend. David discovered that long copies sell more than short texts.

Though this may seem in contrast with the digital age wherein time is valued, and everything is fast-paced, characters are limited up to a 145-word count, and a piece of single information must be flashed in no more than 15 seconds. Today, productivity lies in quantity, so as much as possible, the totality of everything must be summarized.

Aside from the pandemic, people had to battle and protest with the LGBTQIA+ community and the Black Lives Matter or BLM movement. These social movements and communities happened to change print advertisements overnight.

Facebook, who acted deaf on its own employees for racist posts, is now advertising a full-page on the significance of voting. This voting information started on the 3rd of July, wherein Facebook users who meet the voting age will see it at the topmost part of their timeline and information on how to vote.

This initiative will also be available on their sister sites and applications like Instagram and Messenger all throughout the summer.

While a vast and famous brand, Procter and Gamble, features Serena Williams for their deodorant and antiperspirant line, Secret, to push for gender equality. The same strategy was done in another P&G product, Olay, featuring a quote from an activist and MSNBC contributor, Brittany Packet Cunningham, who took a stand against racism.

These are just a few of the many businesses who spoke their truth and stand with social movements and initiatives through the print media. This has massively contributed to the revival of print advertisements because the people buy these brands to make a stand.

So gone are the limitations on word counts and characters, because now, people have all the time in the world to read and be educated.

Conclusion

Since we live in an information-seeking environment, advertising your small business can be done in a long copy of print advertisements.

A brand is more than what it offers or sells; it is how they brand their image to other people that reflects who they are. In this chosen medium, a more in-depth understanding may open the hearts of people to entrust their needs to these brands fully.

At this point, print advertisements have fully revived after sitting in the dark for so long. It might be unfortunate to come back during a pandemic and gain profit because of societal inequalities and issues.

However, it is essential for the community and the rest of the world to know the truth and be informed of factual information through these mediums.

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Most Effective Small Business Advertising During COVID-19

June 18, 2020 admin

The COVID-19 pandemic brought in a lot of different challenges, especially for businesses. Many of them had to close, and those that are not closed yet have very low traffic and few clients in between. Since the lockdowns will pass eventually, it’s very important to make sure that we focus on small business marketing. This will help spread the word for your business and bring in more leads and customers in the long run. But what can you do in order to implement the right marketing ideas during the pandemic, no matter if you are a part of print advertising or any other industry?

Creative Advertising

A good way to promote your business right now is to use creative advertising. The #StayAtHome creative ads will help you showcase your company’s ideas while also bringing in a way for people to either stay informed or laugh, based on the situation. You can encourage people to focus more on hygiene and use a hand sanitizer, for example, while also coming with all kinds of simple ideas you can use on a day to day basis. The idea is to adapt and implement new features that really work and which bring in creative benefits.

Including things like social distancing, self-delivery, wearing a mask, and so on will show that you care about your clients, and you are offering them the information they need and the services they require.

Establish a Social Campaign

The COVID-19 pandemic definitely brought in a lot of challenges to many people in very specific fields like doctors, nurses, firefighters, and so on. This is a great time to create social initiatives through which you encourage people to support frontline workers or local communities. You can start volunteering, help seniors, donate for various causes, and so on. It helps your business, and it also shows that you care about the community. That will make your business easier to relate to, and the results can be great.

Free Access to Paid Content

A lot of companies started to offer free access to paid content recently. This is an interesting approach, and they do a very good job with that. The main focus is to show customers that you care about them. It can be one of the most effective small business advertising ideas. People love free content, especially if they can get paid content for free. A lot of companies already started offering freebies, such as National Geographic, Harvard, Netflix, HBO, Apple TV Plus, even the Museum of Modern Art has a set of free online courses.

Why should you use this strategy? It really works; it offers brand recognition, it brings in more brand engagement, and on top of that, it’s a great source for word of mouth. Plus, you can generate publicity and media coverage, offering people the value and support you need during these trying and challenging times.

Create Online Experiences

Due to the pandemic, people have to stay at home, and that means you need to offer them some ways to enjoy their time indoors. That also means focusing on all kinds of online experiences. For example, the Faroe Islands created a tourism remote control that you can use to explore the locations live if you want. Or you can have an online session via Zoom and other tools where you talk with one another and focus on bringing in a very rewarding and powerful user experience. If you’re an offline-only service provider, you need to do whatever you can to enter the online world, and the experience itself can be a great one every time.

Email Marketing

Another great method you can use to connect with people during the pandemic is definitely email marketing. What this does is it allows you to share alerts related to the COVID-19 situation, but also things like being in it together or offering access to the free content available online. You want people to have a reason to sign up for your email newsletter, and this certainly seems like a good idea to focus on. You can also share plans for the future or a source of entertainment, whatever you can in order to show people the value you have and the quality being brought to the table.

Entertain People

Find a way to entertain people if you can. Sharing some fun self-isolation stories and creating all kinds of challenges or contests on social media will come in handy. It’s also a really good idea to prioritize the user-generated content. It will boost user engagement rates, and people will be happy this way too. You can also create live streaming sessions and offer entertaining resources for free or establish online events. Again, the main focus is to connect with everyone to show that you are there for them and that you are bringing all the support you can.

Harness the Power of Paid Ads

Why would you do that? A lot of businesses were closed, so the ad costs are cheaper than before. It definitely makes a lot of sense to promote your business now. Even if people don’t buy right away, they will take notice of your company and buy once the pandemic is over. So yes, this is money well spent if you know how to do it wisely. Use that to your own advantage, and you will find the outcome to be rather interesting and unique at the same time. Just remember that the most important thing is quality and bringing in the best approach to grow your business.

Conclusion

It’s very important to show your support and boost your engagement rates with clients and leads. These are trying times, so offering as much help as possible can really make a huge difference. At the end of the day, what really matters is to understand what challenges are now on the market and how you can deal with them in a proper manner. Try to use these tips and tricks, adapt them to your local audience, and you will start seeing results early on!

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A Brief History of Guerilla Marketing

March 18, 2020 admin

With the outbreak of the coronavirus, what better time is there to talk about viral marketing methods to help your business get through the tough times ahead?

So, just what is guerrilla marketing? We’ll explain how it can be some of the most effective small business advertising.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Consider the fact that everyone enjoys the tale of how the smaller guy can overcome the bigger guy using smarts and ingenuity to surprise his opponent. That’s what we call guerrilla warfare. So when a new startup utilizes an underground marketing method to reach success and shock the business world, that’s called guerrilla marketing.

The term “guerrilla marketing” is becoming ubiquitous these days. It’s being used to describe all manner of different types of marketing campaigns. But just what exactly defines guerrilla marketing? What makes it different from more traditional types of advertising? Let’s dive into these questions now.

History of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is iconic and frequently controversial, but it didn’t appear in the mainstream until late in the 1970s. Before this period, advertising was all about how big your budget was, how much exposure you got, and whether or not you had a catchy jingle for your business. It was easier to make huge profits while bringing in tons of new customers at the same time.

However, we can contrast this to the beginning of the 20th century up until around the 40s or 50s. At this time, the main goal of advertisers was to educate their target audience rather than entertain or engage them. The primary purpose of an ad was to teach people something that they weren’t aware of before. It didn’t matter what form of media it was, television ads, newspaper ads, radio, posters, etc.; the ad was always trying to educate the consumer about something new.

Of course, advertisers eventually realized that this technique of educating the masses was becoming more and more ineffective. People became increasingly aware of how this seemingly helpful advice was just a disguised sales pitch. So by the 1970s, that’s when everything changed in the advertising world.

In 1984, the paradigm really started to shift when Jay Conrad released his book in bookstores. His ideas were about how to get big advertising results with only a small investment put into it. His book Guerrilla Marketing brought the knowledge of more subtle marketing into public awareness. After the book came out, not even the author could’ve predicted how much his ideas would influence the small businesses at that time to follow these teachings.

The Secret to Guerrilla Marketing

The secret is to not come across as preachy or educational; it’s all about making the prospect feel like they’re being let in on a secret…

The best kind of guerrilla marketing event makes the audience feel lucky to have attended it.

Basically, it all comes down to using unconventional techniques to advertise with the least amount of money possible. That usually eliminates radio and television ads, which means you’ll have to think outside of the box. In fact, forget about the box altogether and turn it into a trapezoid. See what we’re getting at? Think of the “box” as your campaign – make it ridiculous, funny, outrageous, shocking, clever, unique, and so creative that people can’t stop paying attention to it. You’ll, of course, need to back up your claims and have a product worthy of all that discussion.

Levinson’s methods are still used today by underdog businesses to overcome their bigger competitors.

Now for the first time in history, small businesses were able to get more attention than the big dogs. The shock factor was the new “x-factor” of success for small businesses. By being personal, quirky, and full of surprises, these advertisers were able to leapfrog the competition.

Guerilla Marketing in Action

Fast forward to 1987, and we can see one of the most prominent (and still used to this day) examples of guerrilla marketing. It’s called the “buy me a drink” technique. When a pretty lady at the bar asks you to buy her a drink, but not just any drink – only Brand X drink will do. And then she goes on and on about why that drink is her favorite brand of vodka. In that situation, you might just be a happy victim of guerrilla marketing in action. Yes, this technique was so successful that it’s still used by companies to this day when a new drink or liquor hits the market.

Another Guerrilla Marketing Example

Meanwhile, the company Adidas was struggling to stay above water. Yes, even Adidas faced huge setbacks at certain points. Due to unwise changes in management, Adidas needed a miracle. The praise from Olympic athletes was no longer enough.

After French businessman Bernard Tapie took over management of the company, he implemented a brilliant strategy to save the company. His solution? Give away a pair of Adidas to each up and coming rapper in New York.

This was certainly an unexpected move. Who would give away shoes to rappers anyway?

But as it turned out, Tapie happened to strike gold. One rap group called DMC released a single known as “My Adidas.” And just like that, overnight Adidas shoes were being worn by every hip youngster from coast to coast.

This is just one example to show you how an unexpected marketing method can work wonders. However, copying this method today likely will not bear much fruit, since the shoes would probably get lost among all of the other things stealing attention away from celebrities.

Another reason it probably wouldn’t work as well as it did before is that once a guerrilla marketing method becomes known, it loses effectiveness soon after. That’s why to be an effective guerrilla marketer, you must be stealthy and utilize the element of surprise.

Conclusion

In conclusion, guerrilla marketing is personal marketing. A cute girl at the bar selling the merits of that brand of alcohol to you is an example of guerrilla marketing. The rappers wearing those Adidas shoes are guerrilla marketing. And there are many more guerrilla marketing examples out there.

However, you should learn from these examples, but not copy them, because guerrilla marketing requires ingenuity and originality.

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How To Advertise a Startup

February 17, 2020 admin

It’s hard for new startups to stand out when there are 50 million new startups popping up each year. The competition is fierce, to put it mildly.

And even if your product is amazing, top-notch, must-have, etc., you’ll still have to put some funds into promoting it.

Here are a few small-budget ideas that you can use to start advertising your small business today.

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Content Marketing

Content marketing is the best way for a startup company to get new customers and begin advertising your small business. It’s less expensive than paid advertising, and it’s more effective than cold calling.

There are studies that prove this is the case. For instance, Hubspot did a study that found that companies who implemented inbound marketing initiatives saw large increases in their web traffic within 2-4 months. (For those who don’t know, inbound marketing utilizes content marketing as its main strategy.)

Blogging, in particular, proved to be the most effective content marketing strategy for the majority of the participants in the study.

So, if you want to see more sales for your startup company, then follow the lead of the companies in that study, and start blogging! It can and probably will take months to start seeing results. However, if you add in a little bit of paid advertising, you can start to see results even sooner.

So what about the “content” in content marketing? What does that really mean? Essentially it can mean any kind of media asset. GIFS, podcasts, infographics, text, PDFs, videos, and images all fall under the category of “content.” That’s why a content marketing strategy should include a mixture of different content types.

The next question you likely have is, “what kind of content should I create? Also, hasn’t most content already been done before? What new content can I bring to the table?”

To do effective content marketing these days, you have to think outside the box. Even if there is already excellent content out there somewhere on the web, it’s surely not available in every kind of format.

For example, you could turn that awesome blog post you stumbled across into your own video where you can give your perspective on the subject. This is known as repurposing content, and it’s a critical part of content marketing.

You can (and should) also repurpose your own content in order to reach the different audiences who would be interested in your products or services.

An example of repurposing your own content would be taking some of your multiple blog posts and turning them into a free course. That way, your information, and advice can reach more people, the ones who don’t have the time or inclination to get all of the information they need from multiple different posts.

So here’s how repurposing content works in practical terms:

Create your content
Promote your content so that it will reach your target audience
Repurpose the content for another audience on a different platform
Promote the repurposed content
Evaluate the results from both channels and then double down your efforts on the most effective one.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is everywhere these days. In fact, if you don’t have at least one social media account, then you might as well be considered a dinosaur. However, that doesn’t mean you should now start indiscriminately creating social media accounts everywhere. One business’s success on Instagram won’t necessarily translate to your business. As we mentioned earlier, different audiences tend to congregate on each of the different social media websites and apps out there.

So the approach you should take with social media is to harness a specific channel to help amplify your content marketing.

For example, the best places for a visually-oriented business to amplify their content might be on Pinterest or Instagram. On the other hand, Reddit or Twitter doesn’t have as much image sharing going on, so focusing efforts on those two might not work out very well.

So to put your social media marketing plan into action, start with focusing on one or two social media websites/apps. Create relevant and highly sharable content and post it on those two sites.

Also, remember that even though it’s social media, you should still act professionally. Respond to messages and replies in a timely fashion. Don’t act disrespectfully towards your followers. Try to stay involved and active in your new online communities and that will also make other people want to get involved as well. The worst thing that can happen is for your social media pages to look like ghost towns.

Webinars

One way that you can really start advertising your small business and “sell” the solution that your company offers is through webinars. A webinar is typically a one-hour multimedia presentation, which gives you plenty of time to hold people’s attention and promote your product using multiple different kinds of media.

During a webinar, you can generate new leads, show how your product works in action, pre-sell it, and also generate new content that you can, later on, repurpose into blog posts or social media posts.

Webinars may also be one of, if not the most, effective lead magnets available. According to the Demand Gen Report’s Content Preferences Survey from 2018, B2B buyers are more willing to spend time watching a webinar than any other kind of content. Additionally, about three-fourths of them were willing to share their contact information to access webinars.

The actual act of conducting a webinar isn’t that hard. The real challenging parts are going to be coming up with an audience-centric topic and making the right people aware of your webinar. You’ll have to promote your webinar across several different channels if you want to get the most bang for your buck.

You might be tempted to create gated access to your webinar, but in the beginning of advertising your small business, when you’re just starting to build a following, this isn’t likely to work. Streaming it live on YouTube and Facebook can work better, and since video discovery is integrated into these two platforms, you’ll likely attract more people to your webinar that way.

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Top Reasons To Advertise Early In The New Year

January 17, 2020 admin Leave a comment

The brand new year is already here. Therefore, as you really think about your individual resolutions to begin the season properly, look into some resolutions for that business of yours and ways to up the game of advertising in Kansas City, MO. It’s time to think about how you intend on expanding your business venture in 2020. This is the time to begin producing your marketing game plan. Here are the reasons why you must begin advertising and marketing in the new year:

Budget

For starters, the new year brings a brand new spending budget. You will realize the amount of money you will have to shell out during the year to achieve the small business objectives of yours. In reality, advertising really needs to become a crucial component of a company’s activities. It will help you accomplish top-of-mind awareness that is targeted to your perfect customer. In addition, it is excellent for client retention. Nevertheless, before you start any brand new marketing campaigns, you have to go over the sales numbers. For example, you must study the product sales for the previous three to five years. Do you see some patterns? Are there specific buying periods when you receive a higher revenue? Remember, this critical info has to be factored into your yearly advertising and marketing plan.

Calendar

Second, develop a calendar of key events that form the foundation of your marketing campaigns. This will need to be based mostly on earlier successes, as well as address means to boost sales in slower periods. For instance, in case you see that business slows down in Q1, try a promotion. Granted, in case you are a business-to-consumer business, the customers of yours might not have a great deal of extra cash to invest after the holidays. Nevertheless, you are able to drive a number of discount items to help boost revenue. Furthermore, by creating the calendar before the season starts, you understand exactly how much cash to allot to each and every event’s campaign. For example, in case your business earns plenty of sales before Halloween, you have to hold cash that is adequately budgeted to push some promotions you do later.

Market Analysis

An additional component of exactly why you must begin advertising in Kansas City, MO and marketing in the new year is actually redefining how you fit into the marketplace. Clearly, before you are able to accomplish this, you have to learn exactly where you fit into the industry. Thus, you need to do a market analysis. Even though the new year has already started, you still have some time to do this.

Reach New Heights

Finally, advertising allows for a small business to reach new heights. It can help a sinking business find a faithful customer base. Similar to redefining your spot in the market, beginning to promote sends a message to your employees. A brand new advertisement campaign signals that your business is ready to expand on the internet. In short, you get what you put into your business!

Open The New Year With An Email

A lot of companies send emails throughout the Hanukkah or Christmas season by using email advertising. Make your small business stand out from everyone else by delivering one thing before New Year’s. It is very likely to get noticed then, particularly in case you are thoughtful about the messaging of your email and make it worthwhile for buyers to open up.

Deliver special deals to specific groups in your email list, plus email only deals that you are not listing anywhere else.

Social Media Hype

Advertising in Kansas City, MO is not limited to print material. Social networking is the best way to get clients fired up for 2020. A brand new, festive avatar or maybe header picture is able to appeal to eyeballs within your followers’ timelines, placing your business front and center.

That’s a great spot to market New Year’s specific services or products. When Pinterest is actually an element of your social approach, then simply create boards of New Year’s party decor, outfits, or drink as well as food suggestions.

Make Your Marketing Festive

Think of New Year ‘s centric promotions which work best for the business of yours. In case you are a clothing boutique, put up a discount on beauty products, accessories, and apparel which sparkle. If perhaps you’ve a candy store, include Champagne gummies as well as nontoxic confetti into cheery bundles perfect to take as hostess presents to New Year’s Eve gatherings.

You are able to additionally hand out 2020 coupons to help you increase January product sales.

Add Something With Curb Appeal

In case you are a brick-and-mortar business, consider decking out the display window of yours with a new 2020 design featuring a festive get-together scene making use of items you market in the shop to get the eye of every person passing by.

Have A Party

People seek out all sorts of ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Restaurants charge a lot for exclusive menus. Clubs also pull in popular DJs, however, not every person really wants to shed a great deal of hard cash to celebrate.

In case you are an artisanal spirits distiller, you can invite clients in for a no cost party which contains an unique tasting. or maybe, in case you work on gaming or tech, you can throw a party that could let guests test out the newest gear. You could join forces along with other business people in the region to support a rocking block bash.

Simply do not forget to market. Events are a huge draw, whether you are a brick-and-mortar shop or enjoy a great, party friendly office area, make sure you share news of the event with posters as well as invites on social networking.

Provide What People Need

Set your business up for good results by looking forward to an influx of post holiday returns. In case you are a brick-and-mortar shop, consider anything clients could possibly need during an extended working day of returns: treat products, lip balm, mittens in case it is cold out. Next, stage all of the products (plus every other holiday special you are hoping to unload) at the register. For each return, encourage buyers to buy something else. It is a win win.

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2020: A Forward Look On Print Media Local Newspaper Advertising

December 23, 2019 admin Leave a comment

We’ve heard it again and again.“This is 2019— who still uses local newspaper advertising? Or print advertising at all, for that matter?”

It can be argued that the most successful companies do.

Most small business owners agree that print advertising isn’t dead. Online advertising shouldn’t be a replacement for print advertising, but rather it should complement it.

So how have the rules changed, and why is print advertising still worth your money?

When done correctly, print advertising works with online methods to give you the most reach possible. It can even be more effective than digital marketing.

There’s no reason to put all of your eggs into the online marketing basket. Give these seven tried and tested techniques of print advertising a whirl.

1. Local Newspaper Advertising

Advertising in the local paper is a fantastic idea for a number of reasons. Many people only look at local papers for the coupons and sales going on in the area. What this means for you is that there’s already a place where thousands of people in your community are looking for your business. For a small business owner, this is a really big deal.

To make a name for yourself in your community you should always try to have at least one coupon in your local paper every time it releases. Locals will soon learn that they can always find your ad/coupon in the paper.

Even if they don’t use the coupon they’ll begin to see you as a reliable business. You’ll also raise awareness of your brand, so there’s a lot to gain with local newspaper advertising.

2. Direct Mail Advertising

This method lives on as the most popular form of print advertising to this day. There are several advantages that digital ads will never have.

Direct mail advertising gives you the utmost certainty that you’re targeting local people since you already know they live within a specific proximity to your business.

Most importantly, direct mail is tangible. Your customers will be able to hold content in their hands. If you put enough effort into your ad, they can even smell or hear it and hear it. This level of effort can be unique, effective, and extremely memorable.

Direct mail ads are also harder to dispose of. You have to read it, handle it, and eventually toss it. With digital ads, there’s a good chance that customers will never view them if using an adblocker. If you force customers to view your ads upon accessing your website, then there’s also a good chance a large portion of them will become annoyed. Digital ads can be much easier to ignore.

3. Brochures

Brochures are similar to business cards, but they are often more detailed. They are extremely effective in targeting a specific audience with a certain offer. Many businesses will also gladly distribute your company’s brochures on your behalf; the same can’t be said for flyers. Places like airports and hotels are prime candidates for this. They are also more effective as they are more informational than promotional in nature.

4. Business Cards

As one of the oldest forms of print advertising, business cards will always have a place. How many other forms of print advertising can say that they essentially fit 100 ads in their pocket?

With your higher up employees, you have the beginning of an army to advertise on your behalf. They are your new brand ambassadors. And best of all, business cards cost practically nothing compared to other forms of advertising.

5. Banners And Signs

All too often, businesses “go stale” in the eyes of their customers. How does a business go stale? It happens when they do nothing new, exciting, or interesting. They begin to fade away and get attracted to newer, more exciting offers from other businesses. This doesn’t have to happen to you as long as you remember to always keep things new and fresh.

And just because you have new offers and things going on doesn’t mean that your customers know it! After all, this is what your signs are for. If you don’t use signs, your customers might miss them. Remember, if something is a big deal to you, then make it a big deal for your customers.

6. Local Sponsorships

This means helping an organization in your community (for instance, a school) financially and then advertising your company to that community. This can work well in places like schools where you could, for example, pay for the local football team’s uniforms and in return, get your banner displayed at a football game. This can also go viral on social media, showing how print advertising can work together with free online media exposure.

Just find any noble cause and sponsor them. They’ll be glad to give you a shout out. Everyone wins!

7. Magazines

Magazine ads are similar to brochures except that they’re one page only. They’re also a great way to make your ads tangible. If you’re advertising a fragrance, you can even include the scent (and a coupon to go along with it).

Also, magazine ads are harder to get rid of since they’ll likely be a part of your recipients’ favorite magazine subscription. Your ad can even cover up the back page of an article, which makes it very unlikely that they’ll be able to ignore your ad.

Finally, magazines are likely to be in their home for much longer than other kinds of print ads.

So, are you ready to start using print advertising in 2020? Let us know in the comments!

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Benefits of local newspaper advertising

November 21, 2019 admin Leave a comment

With the rise of digital media, many of us are now asking the question, “why start using print media to advertise your business in 2019?”

Advertising has been around forever. Whether it’s to increase product recognition, sales, or to maintain repeat customers, small businesses need to advertise to survive.

The most common advertising methods include radio, the internet, TV, magazines and of course newspapers.

Let’s face it…

People nowadays are obsessed with technology. In fact, many people aren’t even comfortable without some sort of digital device at their fingertips. And since most of the world has moved online, many in the advertising industry would have you believe that the idea of using print media to advertise your business is old and outdated.

“Print no longer works” they say.

However, this simply isn’t the case.

Print is here to stay, and we’re going to explain why. As a matter of fact, if you incorporate print advertising into your marketing, you’ll likely see an increase in your response rate! To illustrate this, here are 6 key benefits of using print media to advertise your business.

The Halo Effect

Publishers who reliably provide quality print content to readers will be seen as more credible. Furthermore, according to an MRI survey of American consumers, 51% of influencers or “influentials” were influenced by print ads in magazines. The number increased to 53% for newspaper ads.

This is what’s known as the halo effect. It has been shown that brands that place ads in popular magazines enjoy the benefits of its readers viewing their ad in a similarly positive light.

This is another way of building trust with readers, which is essential to maximizing sales and leads.

alt="Using print media"

Local Newspaper Advertising is More Relevant to Consumers

Another kind of halo effect is that of the newspaper medium itself. When people read newspapers, they only have positive expectations, whereas, with online media, people expect to see annoying pop-ups and advertisements that are often jarring and irrelevant to the content on the page.

This is in stark contrast to newspaper ads, which are often placed in relevant sections. An example would be a shoe ad in the fashion section of the newspaper. Since this type of ad isn’t as intrusive, it’s less likely to elicit a negative consumer reaction.

Digital advertising has overstayed its welcome

This ties back to what we said earlier about people not being to live without digital stuff. These days people are multitasking to the tune of texting, instant messaging, surfing the web, and watching television all at the same time. In short, we’re no longer as receptive to digital advertising as we were at the inception of the internet.

When it comes to print readers, on the other hand, they don’t typically multitask as much when reading a magazine or newspaper, which makes them more receptive to print ads.

The Need to Unplug

alt="Unplug from digital media"

With the rise of digitalization, an equal and opposite reaction has also occurred. This is called “unplugging,” and it’s when we realize that we’ve had enough internet or social media for the day.

While not everyone has embraced unplugging, those who don’t are considered by most to be engaging in unhealthy behavior.

Many people have realized the value of unplugging. When unplugging occurs it often means turning to print media for entertainment or education…

Laser-Focused Targeting Options

We hear a lot about the vast options for targeting in online media, but print also has incredible targeting options.

With print you can:

Select the section of the newspaper your target audience is most likely to read
Run ads in specific papers or only in certain geographical areas
Choose to run ads only on certain days of the week (i.e. Wednesday or Sunday’s paper)

Speaking of choices, you can also implement last-minute changes to your ads rather painlessly. A local newspaper advertising department should be able to accomplish this pretty quickly.

There are Plenty of Options

Beyond that, using print media to advertise your business will also give you more options for budgeting. You can choose from

a quarter page, half page or full-page ads.
small 1-inch square classifieds
column ads in different sizes

For the cherry on top, you’ll be able to work with an actual human in getting your ad placed instead of a nameless algorithm.

And since you’re dealing with another human, there’s also extra room for negotiation.

If you want additional services at no extra cost, then that’s an option. Color printing, a human touch on your design, and possibly even a slightly larger ad are all on the negotiating table. You might also even be able to get your ad featured in the publisher’s other products as well!

Newspaper readers are more likely to take action

According to the Nielson Global Trust report, 65% of print readers take some form of action after reading a newspaper print ad.

Unlike on the internet, newspaper readers are more likely to seek out advertisements instead of blocking them. Newspaper readers like to search for coupons and deals. Of course it’s no guarantee that readers will notice your ad in the newspaper.

However, if people are actively searching for deals, then it helps improve your chances. They will also be more likely to take the time to read your ad and act on your offer.

And finally, when you learn how to synergize print and digital media, the results can be amazing. Here’s just one example: QR codes. These printed codes have helped to bridge the gap between the print and digital divide in a way that’s unique and engaging.

Another example is social media and download links in print media – these help readers to engage with brands online, which eventually helps to drive back traffic to the business and generate awareness.

Conclusion

Print ads, especially in newspapers, are a trifecta of potency. When you start using print media to advertise your business, you’ll reap the benefits of reaching a wider swathe of your target audience while also driving higher engagement and communicating your brand’s message effectively.

By using print media to advertise your business, you’ll have a good chance of cutting through all of the noise that exists in today’s digital world.

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