The Five Most Important Things I Know About Advertising on a Small Budget

Can’t afford a billboard in Times Square on New Years Eve? Or an ad during the Super Bowl? Most advertisers can’t. Just because you don’t have a multimillion-dollar advertising budget doesn’t mean you can’t have successful advertising. In fact, many small budget campaigns are successful because working with fewer resources often forces you to be more creative.

Here are five of the most important tips I can give about small budget advertising campaigns:

1. Be the customer

The average person is exposed to approximately 5,000 pieces of marketing material a day, making the marketplace cluttered like never before. Radio, TV, direct mail and the web – along with time pressures and short attention spans – add to daily distractions. If your message is simple, focused and pertinent to your target audience, you will reach your consumer. Analyze every piece of customer communication from your customers’ point of view before making a final decision.

2. Measure as much as possible

Most advertisers have no idea if their advertising is working. You may experience increased traffic and increased sales, but is it from your advertising? And if so, from what specifically? To address this, develop ways to measure the effectiveness of your advertising. Use targeted promotion codes, varying website addresses or different phone numbers, and make sure to track it.

3. Know who you’re talking to and how to talk to them

Just because a company in your area – or even a competitor – is running a lot of TV advertising doesn’t mean you should jump on the bandwagon and do the same. Consider these questions: Is your core customer a TV watcher? Does your product need to be seen to be appreciated? What time of day is your customer watching TV or what magazines are they reading? Are they a busy professional or a retiree? Know who you are talking to, and that will tell you how to reach them.

4. Get noticed

Conduct high impact advertising initiatives to get famous fast. Essentially, bigger and less frequent is more effective than lots of smaller campaigns. For example, one full-page ad will get you more than four 1/4-page advertisements. The more you get noticed, the more you get people talking.

5. Create happy customers and they will do your advertising for you

Play to the front row and make your raving fans lunatics. They will spread the word. Go above and beyond in customer service and make sure that it permeates every touch point of the customer experience. Mystery-shop your store to uncover any potential problems and create an environment that customers will want to return to and have their friends experience.