Advertising
is by far the most difficult and most costly part of any
business operation. So before I discuss how to choose the
right media for you, I have to tell you my two iron clad rules
for any advertising effort.
1.) Advertising can
never be an expense, it must always
be an investment. There must be at least a 75% expectation
that the advertising will reach and produce more in sales than
it will cost to place. If you don't have that 75% expectation
then you should not place the advertising.
2.) When emotion and logic
come into conflict, emotion will always win. If
you don't believe that -- you can take me down to your local
grocery store and show me the mouse or sparrow flavored cat
food. That would be logical. Instead what I'll see is turkey
giblets with gravy sauce. We have a lot of wild turkeys here
in Montana but I've never seen my cats lick their lips in
anticipation when one walks by. Small birds yes. Mice yes. The
marketing effort isn't to the cats it's to the humans.
What forms
of advertising are available?
There are many differences
between advertising options in small towns as opposed to large
cities. Your small town may not have a newspaper, TV station
or even radio. So your options to choose the media of
advertising that will reach your target market may be limited
in many respects because it has to come from outside sources.
In spite of these restrictions here are some amazing facts. In
America today there are:
-
Six major television
networks
-
Over 12,000 magazines
-
15,000 newsletters
-
2,000 newspapers
-
6,000 radio stations
-
Over 7,000 cable
systems
-
Your fax machine
receives 10 ads a week
-
5,000 prime web sites
(Fortune 500 & others) and millions more being added
each day.
-
If you aren't already,
you will be receiving about 100-120 advertising emails
each week.
-
Your dinner will be
interrupted at least twice a week by a telemarketer.
-
And, the average
American will receive about 3 pieces of "junk
mail" every day of the year.
With all of the above
sources the average person receives about 3-5,000 advertising
messages per day. That translates into about $3,500 for every
man, woman and child.
As you can see, even though
the various medias may not be available to you locally your
customers are still receiving these messages from all sorts of
competing products and services. All you have to do is make
yours stand out from all the rest.
What to
know before you buy?
In order to determine the
right media to purchase there are a few questions you need to
ask yourself:
-
What
is your true message? - What
exactly do you want customers to know and how is your
advertising going to make them react? Is your advertising
designed to promote your business name or is it designed
to bring customers to your place of business? Remember
point two in the first section above. Is your message
emotional or logical? Are you selling a car with four
doors? (A logical feature) Or are you selling the
convenience of getting the kids and dogs in and out of the
car easier? (An emotional benefit.)
-
Who
and where is your target market?
- If you are selling farm equipment are your customers in
town or on the farm? Right. On the farm. So why waste
advertising dollars that reach towns people who are not
your target market even though that media may also reach
your target market? See the next point for more on this.
-
Cost
per thousand? - Remember point
one from above? Advertising must always be an investment
never an expense. Media sales people are going to talk to
you in terms of cost per thousand. This is the per person
cost it takes to reach their audience. Notice I said
"their audience" not your target
market. So how does my farm analogy from above fit in
here? What you should be concerned with is cost per
customer. How much does advertising cost to bring
a target market customer into your place of business? Cost
per thousand is immaterial if most of the audience is not
your target market. The cost per customer would probably
make this advertising too costly for a satisfactory return
on your advertising investment.
Are you beginning to see
why it's easy to waste money by advertising in the wrong
place? It's easy to place a newspaper ad, TV commercial or
radio ad and hope it reaches the right people. In most cases
if you haven't done your homework it won't.
This isn't rocket science
but it does require some thought and study to work
effectively. For more on this, See: How
To Plan Your Advertising Strategy and How
To Create A Small Town Advertising Plan
Which
forms of media are best in small towns?
These will of course vary
depending on the size of the town and media that are available
to you. It will also vary depending on the size of your target
market within your sales area. In many cases the size of your
town will have a lot to do with the forms of media you choose.
For example, if we use the
farm equipment analogy from above, you don't want to advertise
to the people of the town who are not your customers. You want
to reach rural customers who farm for a living. So in this
case I would recommend direct mail. I can target rural routes
with fliers or postcard mailers just for that market for much
less than a newspaper ad or radio spots.
If I had a restaurant or
retail store where both the rural and local community are my
customer base then I'm going to have to go with media that
reaches the most people at the lowest cost per customer. With
newspaper or radio there is still going to be a percentage of
their audience who are not my customers. But, the number is
usually small enough that it still makes economic sense to use
them.
The most important part of
media selections comes down to the percentage of your target
market in the total population of your town. Any funds you
spend to reach non-customers is money wasted. First, identify
your target market and then use the most effective media(s)
that reaches the majority of that target market. For more on
this: See: How
To Do Market Research In A Small Town and How
To Use Niche Marketing In A Small Town.
The last
word on choosing the right advertising media.
Remember that no media
sales person knows your business as well as you do. In order
for your advertising to be successful the most important part
will be the message. Don't blame your media sales person for
poor response to your advertising if your message is off
target.
Used With Permission
©2000 Eagle Marketing PO Box 271 Bozeman, MT 59771-0271
http://www.smalltownmarketing.com - (406) 585-0219
email: tommail@smalltownmarketing.com
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