One of the most important thing when it comes to advertising is to make sure to take the time to evaluate the medium you have chosen. Many business owners leave that decision to the salesman soliciting them for business.
There are many forms of advertising out there, and not everything will match your business’s needs. For instance, if you are a psychologist, you are probably better off advertising in a local magazine rather than on the internet. The reason being that many of the people who would click on your Google ad are looking for self-help or free information rather than a provider.
On the other end, if you are a plumbing company, advertising in a local magazine may be good for branding, but will yield very little customers compared to what a Google Search Advertising campaign would. The reason for that is simple: the toilet is leaking, they need an answer now. They don’t have time to remember where they put your print ad. They grab their cell phones and google “company to fix my leaky toilet”.
So how do you evaluate which advertising medium is the right one for you?
The first thing you have to do is step outside of the knowledge you have of your business and start thinking like a consumer. This includes the following:
- What would you do to find your business?
- Where would you go first?
- Which forms of advertising would you remember?
Every business is different in that respect. You don’t look for a restaurant the same way you look for a pressure cleaning company. So identifying how people find you is the first step into selecting an advertising medium.
Then, you have to ask yourself some strategical questions, such as:
- Is your business an “emergency” type business?
- Where are your competitors advertising?
- How much can you spend per closed lead?
- Will the customers acquired be repeat or one-time customers?
- How long will it take to see results from your chosen form of advertising?
- How long can you last without seeing results?
- How hard would it be to recover if the chosen advertising did not work?
You will want to evaluate each medium considered against the above questions. Each medium will provide pros and cons against the list. The exercise should vet out a few mediums easily, but others might be more difficult to decide on.
It is important to always decide on an advertising medium based on your own situation. Don’t copy others. Every situation is different. Your larger competitors who can make economies of scale might be successful with one form of advertising, while the same type of advertising would be a complete waste of money for your size business.
Keep in mind that large companies tend to pay more per closed lead as their primary focus is to keep their many employees busy, while smaller businesses will opt for lower cost per closed leads as the owners do a lot of the work themselves and need to make sure they pay themselves a certain minimum.