Gas Station Advertising

If you’ve ever turned on the television late at night, you’ve probably noticed an abundance of infomercials. While you might find these extended advertisements annoying, the underlying fact is that they work. If they didn’t companies wouldn’t continue to purchase the air time. But what makes this type of advertising so profitable, especially when the goods being marketed are nothing special.

The answer lies in a technique known as direct response marketing, which encourages people to make buying decisions by creating a sense of urgency. A clock counting down the seconds until the offer expires is just one example. Advertisement techniques like this have proven effective across all mediums—from radio and TV ads, to print and even online.

It’s no secret that print publications across the country are struggling to stay afloat, and it isn’t just independent papers. Household names like The Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek have been forced to restructure and rethink their business models in order to find funding. As you probably know, the main source of revenue for virtually every print publication is advertising. Unfortunately for papers, many people are looking to advertise on the internet, where space is unlimited and ads are cheap.

Of course, by exclusively advertising online you risk being drowned out by the myriad other companies trying to carve out their niche, especially if you are a small business. While some may consider print advertisements antiquated, they can be quite effective for the right business. Since papers are desperate for advertising, ad space is cheap. And if you are focusing on a local demographic, you can certainly find print publications that cater to your precise target market.

You can further your not-so-big entrepreneurial venture in myriad ways - from changing the way you look, to dealing with customers, to handling paperwork, and to reducing expenses. Here are a few small business tips to heed if you want to increase your efficiency and stay successful:
 
1. Be professional.  This refers not only to one’s physical appearance but encompasses all transactions and forms of communication.
2. Know exactly who your intended clients are.  This way marketing efforts and expenses are not wasted.
3. Learn to prioritize.  Deal with your customers first or with more pressing work-related concerns before answering personal calls or emails that could use up precious time.
4. Set goals and implement small business advertising strategies to achieve them.
5. Be accessible.  Make sure clients and potential customers can reach you by phone, fax, and email or via any other means provided.
6. Implement a good filing system.  Doing so lessens the paperwork and prevents unnecessary and time-consuming pile-ups.
7. Outsource to save money.  Instead of a full-time secretary for instance, you can opt for the services of a VA or virtual assistant.  A VA can handle multiple tasks like writing letters, sending fax, and recording data as competently as any trained secretary but at a much lower cost.
8. Get a knowledgeable accountant - one who understands a lot more than just taxes and can offer you sound financial advice. A good start would be to ask for referrals from family, friends and colleagues.

Identifying the next media craze is a combination of luck and exceptional foresight. Correctly positioning your company to take advantage of the current trends is essential to staying ahead of the competition. While social media is the current craze and your business should probably utilize it in someway, you should also be trying to identify emerging developments.

However, there are always going to be some proven advertising principles that will never go out of style. Of course, you want to be able to reach a wide customer base that will pay attention to your advertising. The best way to accomplish this is by tactically positioning your advertising in highly frequented areas where your customers are likely to take heed.

Visibility is the most important part of a successful small business. While consumers don’t know that a business exists, it’s impossible for them to want the products or services that business offers. There are numerous ways to become more visible in the business world. There’s advertising, marketing, word of mouth, promotions, and of course promotional products. If it’s within your budget consider Brite Media or another established group. Depending on the size of the business, significant advertising and marketing might be out of the question due to expense restrictions. The best way to promote a small business is through word of mouth and through promotional products. Whether it’s pens, totes, or towels, promotional products can go a long way towards promoting a business; provided the products are distributed to the right people.  Passing out promotional products at conferences, events, and fairs is an excellent method to increase visibility of a business.

You can purchase promotional products featuring a business logo or even phrase from numerous manufacturers online. Be sure to choose promotional products the target audience will enjoy for the best results.

One of the biggest reasons that small business owners have to call it quits is because they enter into a new business believing they will start pulling in revenue right away. Unfortunately, this isn’t usually the case. Depending on the market that you’re looking to enter, you might be spending money or simply breaking even for the first few months (or even years) of business. That’s why it’s a good idea to have another dependable source of income at the same time, or at the very least, some expendable income that you’re willing to spend in order to get the business off the ground.

There’s nothing easy about starting a business, but if done correctly, it can allow people the freedom of being self-employed while making enough money to support themselves. It just requires some realistic expectations and a sound business plan before jumping into the deep end. Every one has heard the old adage “you have to spend money to make money,” but there are several reasonably-priced small business advertising solutions available. It also requires a great deal of patience while you’re first learning the ropes and building your network of clients or customers.

For years the staples of advertising remained stagnate in the media. Commercials and print ads were an effective and cost-efficient way to get your message across. With the advent of the internet, DVR, satellite radio and iPods, these time-tested types of advertising strategies can now be easily circumvented by consumers.

Today it takes creativity and innovation to get your message heard. As is evident by the constant closing of print media publications, print ads have in large part been killed by sites such as eBay and Craig’s List. In order to keep your business visible, you need to pursue non-traditional strategies that can’t be avoided by the public.

In the last blog, we discussed how you can reach your target market by advertising inside nightlife hotspots. You can easily target a certain demographic by carefully choosing which bars and clubs to advertise in, and a captive audience is more likely to view your ad several times throughout the night. Dartboard advertisements are unique forms of nightlife advertising. Whether they’re print advertisements or full motion ads on color LCD screens, dartboard advertisements easily catch the attention of dart players in bars and taverns.

Not only are they eye-catching, but they ensure that a consumer is exposed to the advertisement for however long they play darts – up to 30 minutes, on average. Dartboard advertisements can also increase word-of-mouth advertising, since people waiting for their turn to throw darts may discuss the ad and tell their friends about it later. It can also help you reach another niche market within the nightlife market: people between the ages of 21-50 who have disposable income and like to play competitive games. For example, if you’re a company that sells energy drinks or video games, this is an especially great form of advertising for you!

The most powerful tool in a business’s advertisement repertoire is word of mouth. When information about a business, large or small, passes from consumer to consumer, the consumer is far more likely to inquire about the business at a later date. After all, who would we trust more, our friend talking to us, or a billboard downtown? Word of mouth is one of the more powerful small business promoting techniques. There are a lot of ways to get consumers to start talking about a business, however, just ‘existing’ often doesn’t cut it. One of the best promotion tools is to offer a discount on products, have a sale, or even offer free products or services for a limited time. It’s also important that consumers have good vibes about the business, after all, no one is going to recommend the business to the friend if it’s no good.

Be sure to target the right consumers for word of mouth advertisement, always play to the target audience for a product or service, and don’t bother going after those who might just have a fleeting interest.

Within the first year of operation, it’s essential for small businesses to get the word out. The truth is, most small businesses fail because consumers aren’t aware that the business exists. Thus, exposure is the most essential aspect of small business success; at least within the first couple years. Exposure isn’t as complicated as it might seem, though it is important to be smart about small business advertisement. For example, for a small business that sells homemade soap, it would be unwise to try to compete with Oil of Olay and Dove, thus the small business needs to advertise in ways that these industry titans do not. Innovative small business advertisement might include posters at night clubs, signs at gas pumps, or even decals on sidewalks. It doesn’t matter how word gets out about the business, just that word gets out.

Not all public exposure is good so to speak, it’s important that small businesses don’t generate controversy or cast themselves in what could be perceived as a negative light. However, thinking of creative means to reach consumers is always a good business practice.