Has Conventional Promotion Just Changed Or Is It Completely Deceased?

By Author: Ed Brancheau
Total Articles: 9
Comment this article

Talk to almost any advertising agency or Fortune 500 company exec about advertising and promotion and you will almost certainly hear the buzz words "fragmented advertising" and "consumer-centric campaigns" and long conversations about the many risks and complications of creating convincing advertising campaigns today.

Simply put, fragmentation is the increase in the quantity of available methods that you can get your point across to your customers.

Have you ever used your TiVo remote to skip through commercials? This is the type of advertising difficulty being faced by entreprenuers everywhere... things have changed remarkably over the last few years.Not limited to one area of advertising, these problems overflow into the electronic media as well and audio and visual media.

In fact, if you do a Google search for advertising, you may feel astonished by all the ways available to you now -- if you just look at the ways for your Website you'll find popups, popovers, audio messages, flash video, RSS, even animated "sales people" that can be programmed to appear right on your Website and interact with your customers. ...
... And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

So, are billboards, television, radio and magazine -- traditional advertising -- dead?

Not by a long shot. Traditional advertising methods are still around because they still work according to one top advertising mogul.

The key to advertising is still the same as it has ever been... discover your target market, determine what they want and how they look for the information that they need.

"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising," Mark Twain once said.

By fully understanding your customers, you can avoid wasting your money on useless advertising mediums and focus your money on those mediums that your customers actually use.

If your customers are senior citizens over the age of 65 then it doesn't make sense to advertise to them online. It would be better to spend your advertising dollars on radio, television, newpaper and magazine ads that they are reading, listening or watching.

If your target market is working parents, you need to know how, when and where they get their information. Is it on the Internet? What radio stations do they listen to? What magazines are they reading? Do they watch television? When? Why? How?

So what are your best ways for creating an convincing advertising campaign?

Here are four ways powerful methods:

1. Know your audience. What do they need? Where do they vacation? What do they play? What is their culture? Where do they like to go for fun? Do they want your service or product? Can they afford your product or service?

2. Know the competition. Be primed to perform a a touch of investigation. What are your three top competitors doing to advertise their business? What methods of promotion are they using? How often are they promoting their business? Are they trying to reach the same customers as you are? How long have they been promoting their business? What point are they sending to promote their business?

Uncover what your competition is doing right and discover original ways to make their advertising slightly more convincing so that you set yourself apart from the crowd.

3. Next take a look at what the "big dogs" in your field are doing and see if you can adapt some of their methods to your target customers and your budget.

4. Know your message. What exactly are you trying to say? What do your customers want to hear? Why should people buy from you rather than another company? You need to make every single word pay off.

Dollars to donuts, your customers are probably more technologically savy than they were even just one year ago let alone five years ago. The World Wide Web has made what seems like infinite amounts of data and information accessible to your customers. However, the #1 problem that your customers now suffer from is an overwhelming overload of information.

Another side effect of the Internet is that your customers have probably become used to getting "instant gratification" when they are looking for information, products or services. They want the product and they want it now. Are you able to meet your customers' demands and give them what they want, when they want it?

A highly convincing advertising does not try to be everything to everyone. Keep it simple. Your advertising should address one person... your ideal customer. You don't want your ads to be a nuisance so, to avoid that, give your customers what they want and they will see the value of your product or service.

Traditional advertising is not dead and you can use it to your advantage if you pay attention to who your customers are and what they want.