Advertising Ideas and Advertising Tips

Advertising ideas are the province of whoever is in charge of marketing for a company, whether it is the owner of a small company, or the actual head of the marketing department for a larger business. Of course, there are those companies large enough to hire an advertising firm to take care of that detail for them. Central to any advertising campaign is the image that a business wishes to present to the buying public. Some advertising tips include understanding what the company is about and how it is currently being perceived as a start, then understanding the images presented by the competition is next. The method for determining that information is the survey. Surveys of current customers, surveys of employees, and surveys of the general public that test certain attributes of the firm, such as "courtesy," "low prices," "high tech," and so forth. The extent of this kind of survey will depend on the size of the business, and the budget, but even an in-store survey over a set period of time will produce useful information.

Once it is clear how customers and others perceive the business, it will be necessary for the marketing manager to see how that compares with the competition, and how that compares with how the business views itself. If competing businesses are stressing one attribute, low prices, for instance, then going a different direction will help establish a firm's individuality. A company's mission statement should be a factor in deciding what image to portray. That should state what is at the heart of the company's purpose, so combining that with the survey results gives the next advertising campaign its theme. Advertising ideas will spring from that theme.

Depending on the advertising budget, the places where a business can advertise are abundant, and the advertiser could gain valuable advertising tips by paying attention to them. Internet posting is at the top of the list for most businesses, followed by newspapers and magazines. Radio and television are next. One expert says that when placing an ad in a magazine, the advertiser should insist on the ad appearing on a right-hand page. Most people leafing through a magazine do not read left hand pages. Other advertising tips say it is very important to test and measure the publicity so if the campaign is not working, the strategy can be changed.

For those companies with websites, collaboration with the web host can often produce good advertising ideas and phrasing that expresses those ideas most effectively. When placing an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, the headline (or in the absence of a headline, the first line of text) is the most important. Advertising tips also stress the notion that the message should make the reader feel the piece was written as a personal message, and also should include a call to action. "Take advantage of our low prices...," for instance. For the novice advertiser, it should also be noted that paying the full rates to publications isn't necessary. Most publishers leave haggling room in their prices, so negotiating for a lower rate is acceptable. Also, the marketing manager should not be influenced to choose a particular publication just because that's where the competing companies are placing their ads there. If there is another with wider circulation, or a more targeted audience, the results will likely be better. Getting the word out to people was much harder in Jesus' time. They actually had to travel to their audiences. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

In the matter of tracking and testing the effectiveness of advertising ideas, there are a couple of ways that can be done. When ads have been placed in a mix of different media types, a separate telephone line can be used for responses to each one, if the business is large enough to have several extensions. In the ads themselves, a specific extension number can be listed for a newspaper advertisement, magazine ad, TV, etc., then tabulate the number of calls responding to each ad. Advertising tips for tracking include the use coupons attached to the newspaper or magazine ad, and at the same time have the customer mention a special offer they heard about on radio or television. Either of these methods will provide solid data to help separate the good advertising ideas from the bad ones.

Effective salesmanship reflects diversity of thought. A company slogan may not change, but the content of the company's web page and other forms of publicizing its products or services should not remain static. Customers and potential customers cease paying attention if the wording remains the same for too long. People want to hear/see something different, even when the advertiser is familiar. "Variety is the spice of life" is no idle cliche when it comes to presenting a company to potential clients or customers. New angles are always appropriate.

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