Running a Small Business Ad Campaign

The key to success in an ad campaign is repetition. You must place your advertisements before your target audience at least seven times to make an impact. As a small business owner, you probably do not have money to do extensive advertising on TV and radio. Fortunately, there are many advertising methods that work well and cost little.

Plan
Before beginning your advertising campaign, you must plan it out. Identify your target audience, the people who buy from you the most. Develop a profile of their characteristics. Then plan where and how to advertise so that your audience will notice and be motivated by your advertisements.

Partner Up
Share advertising costs with a business that logically fits with yours without being a competitor. Decorators can partner up with furniture stores, tailors with fabric outlets, video rentals with pizza parlors. Design a campaign together; you might even be able to afford a TV commercial if you only have to pay half.

Put each other’s fliers, business cards, poster printing, and coupons in one another’s store. Refer one another to customers. It pays to make friends in the business community.

Mail Postcards
Postcards are cheap to print and mail. Announce your sale or promotion in large print with bright colors. Give details on the back. Make the postcard a coupon if you like.

Place Ads
Put ads in inexpensive local publications such as shoppers, TV guides, and Chamber of Commerce publications. Place as large an ad as you can afford so people will notice it. And make sure you can afford to reprint the ad four or five times.

Write Articles
Write an article related to your advertising campaign for your local newspaper. If you are selling vacuums, write an article about the growing allergy problem. If you want to get people to try your new hair stylist, write about current trends in hair in Hollywood for the entertainment section. Writing articles will get people interested in your store, and they will start to see you as an expert.

Hang Posters
Do a poster printing campaign to generate excitement. Put posters around town, the mall, or college campuses depending on your target audience. With poster printing, keep the message simple enough that people can read them within a few seconds. Use bright colors when poster printing to attract attention.

Running your own ad campaign can seem overwhelming without a plan and some know-how. But research and plan thoroughly before you begin, and you’ll be fine. Just be sure to keep track of results by asking new customers where they heard of you. This way you will know what worked and what didn’t for a much tighter campaign next time.

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