The Importance of Advertising In Business

© Adrienne Manson All rights reserved permission must be granted by the author before any part of this article can be reproduced. Links may be used to link back to the article.

In today’s industry advertising is more aggressive than a decade ago. Corporations spend over $200 billion dollars on advertising. According to Spot Runner a service which helps small businesses saves money on advertising cost. Here in the United States major corporations focus on imports and exports of their products to make a sizable profit margin quarterly and hearing and sales.

Today’s industry advertisers market their campaigns specially to cause consumers to feel a need to buy now. Advertisers know using commercials that are quick, and shorts but leave this an impact are the most effective. Managers who know who their customers are, are twice as successful in creating an advertising plan versus a manager who runs a campaign to appeal to a general audience.

For example a company that manufactures children’s clothing wants to build a campaign with the focus on mothers. If they ran an advertising campaign focused on single men how well do you think the results would be?

Another example with a very specific target market is the ads for Big and Tall men’s clothing. They only sale clothing for very tall and large men could you imagine what it would look like if they ran an ad campaign with all average sized men. A campaign such as that would be a shot in the foot.

One point I want to mention is how does a small corporation plan an advertising champaign on a very small budget? It seems advertising has evolved to a place where only the major plays can compete on a national level. Companies such as Geico, Aflac, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway have the advertising muscle to stay in the race advertise-wise. We see a constant non-stop campaign with these major chains.

Learning to compete with major corporations depends on networking, being able to effectively network can mean the difference between success and failure. Or it can mean the difference between getting a leg up quicker, and treading in the deep waters of trying to survive. As a small business owner using social networking sites such as: Myspace, Facebook, Yuwie, Apense, and direct matches can make a huge difference in a company’s rate of success. And now there is the newest website service tweeter. It is very advantageous for a start-up company to become involved in one if not two or more of these online social networking sites.

From my experience 75% of my business has come from being involved in these sites, along with meeting someone who has the ability to save our company advertising dollars due to her connections with the BCC television networks. It does pay off to participate although it is time consuming.

Small Business Owners have other offline advertising resources such as community newspapers, Valpak, and word of mouth is the age old form of advertising and still proves to be one of the most effective. Small Business Owners must be creative and exercise as much free advertising as possible when working on limited budgets.

Another aspect of advertising is the two-tier pricing, which seems unfair but as business individuals say “business is business”. Two-Tier pricing is mark-up pricing in order for the end seller to make a reasonable profit.

Businesses today who are serious about increasing their customer base know having a web presence is a must. Ten – twenty years ago there was no emphasis on the importance of having a website. Today’s market is almost a must for any business small or large to have a website.

A few years ago while working for a home-based business company “Up All Night Embroidery” sales and taking orders was the lifeblood for them as well as any company. Being a sales person at heart the light bulb came on thinking I can get the company on the News for free publicity. Chatting back and forth with one of the News anchors went very well until the evitable question: “Do you have a website we can look at?” The answer no we do not stopped the flow of conversation.

A website is a form of advertising for any business this is where advertisement has evolved to its current state. Being creative is a plus when budgeting is a factor. There are ways to advertise a business without spending big sums of money. Using the Penny Saver Papers is a great form of advertisement for people who work from home.

To re-iterate the social networking websites presence on the web and its strong arm effect on business is very interesting. Sites such as Facebook and Myspace have made the news several times for its high usage by individuals who are socializing, or networking. Advertising on the web takes a business to a brand new level of possibilities that was not there 2 decades ago.

Source: Pricing Two-Tier Advertising, European Journal of Operational Research Joseph C. Szmerekovsky, Jiang Zhang, Feb. 1, 2007, vol. 192, pg. 904 Is. 3