Advertising can be found everywhere – in either physical or digital form. From individuals to companies, everyone wants to advertise something, but why do people do it? Well, mainly to get something out of it, such as brand awareness, audience reach, and more exposure.
If you’re a business owner, advertising can help your business grow and even beat your competitors. Especially in this day and age where advertising is getting cheaper and easier to do. More and more businesses, especially smaller ones, are now in an arms race to see which one is going to get more exposure.
In this article, we’re going to help you invest in advertising for your business. These methods are easy to do and a great place to start.
The 5% rule
This 5% rule is great for small to medium businesses with a limited budget. First, you need to create a marketing budget which refers to all costs for marketing, public relations, promotions, advertising, and anything else of the same nature. Basically, anything that falls under the umbrella of marketing.
The ideal budget depends on the current situation of your business, but experts say that you should spend 5% of your sales revenue on marketing. Some recommendations say that businesses should spend 7 to 8% of their sales revenue on marketing and advertising if they’re earning less than $5 million a year. So the smaller your business is, the more money you should spend on marketing.
Choose the right marketing channel
There are now more marketing channels than two decades ago, with many approaches and methods are also available. So you clearly have a lot of options here, but which options are the best for your business?
If you’re aiming to reach younger customers, television and radio won’t work anymore. Radio is obvious, and TV is now getting less and less audience every year. In a few years, it’s possible that TV is going to be a dead market.
Social media, on the other hand, is the best medium for businesses to reach their audiences. Everyone is now on the internet and loves to consume anything that is on the internet. Even older audiences are now also on social media.
Different social media platforms also offer different results. Older audiences may prefer Facebook to Twitter. Also depending on your products and/or services, Instagram may be the best social media platform for your advertisements.
Think outside the box
Many small to medium businesses are advertising their brands. And of course, global brands are doing it too. So how do you hope to get ahead of your competitors? Well, your advertisement has to be interesting and unique.
Try to make your advertisement as interesting as possible, you can try to mention the latest viral news in it or just be honest about your company. Many small businesses have gone viral with their simple and honest advertisements before.
Invest in local consumers
For many small businesses even medium ones, local consumers are everything. So why not focus on them instead of competing with companies from overseas?
Focusing on local consumers is also a great idea for companies with limited marketing budgets. Come up with a campaign that will deliver great results while still being cost-effective. Newspapers or local directories would be a great place to start. You can also join local social media groups and advertise your business there.
Learn more about your local consumers; where do they get their information from and what are they looking for, are two questions that you should be aware of.
Come up with a logo
I have seen many companies that have poorly-made logos or no logo at all. A logo is a great way for your business to stand out. You can also put your company’s logo on all of your advertisements. But be careful before deciding on a logo, you have to think carefully about it and see what logos are now trending.
Conclusion
Advertising your business is a great way to build brand awareness and attract new customers. Companies that don’t advertise at all are bound to stagnate. If you have no idea what to do next, it’s also a great idea to invest in marketing companies to handle everything for you.