Understanding the Different Methods of Offline Promotion
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy

No business can survive the long run without some form of consistent
advertising. As a result, most business owners will eventually
consider using advertising to promote their business.

The toughest part of the advertising equation is in determining
where and how to spend your advertising dollars. If you do it wrong,
you could plunk down your entire advertising budget and receive
absolutely no return on your investment. But, if you do it right,
your advertising could continue to bring a nice return for years to
come.

HOW DO I MAKE THE RIGHT ADVERTISING DECISIONS

In order to make good decisions concerning how to spend your
advertising budget, you must first have a good understanding of the
different types of advertising and promotion available and what can
be expected to be achieved by each.

· You must understand which markets the different media’s can reach.
· You must understand the demographics of the media’s consumers.
· You must understand the buying habits of the consumers reached
through the media.

WHAT OFFLINE ADVERTISING & PROMOTION MEDIA’S SHOULD BE CONSIDERED

The media’s that people think of most often are television, radio,
newspaper and magazine advertising. Of course, these are the big
boys that big businesses use regularly.

Other methods of promotion include trade shows, press releases,
direct sales, telemarketing, word of mouth, branding and billboard
advertising.

CONSIDERING THE BIG MEDIA OUTLETS

The big boys of advertising media’s generally cost big bucks. Given
certain circumstances, the big media’s can be bought for very little
money.

Take for example, television, radio and newspapers cost big bucks
during their prime times, but can be bought for pennies on the
dollar during non-primetime hours.

Television primetime is between 7pm and 10pm. Radio primetime is
between 7am and 6pm. With newspapers, the primetime is Wednesdays
and Sundays.

If you intend to hit a media during prime time, get ready to drop
some bucks. Primetime means that you will be able to hit more
consumers during these times. So, in most cases, a primetime buy
will enable you to reach more people with your advertising.

Non-primetime hours can still deliver a lot of eyes and ears to your
message, and sometimes, these off-hours can be bought for a bargain
basement price.

GETTING MILEAGE FROM EVENTS

Trade shows and press releases are more event-driven. The trade show
is the event, while the press release generally exploits an event.

Trade shows are an exceptional tool when you deal directly with
potential sellers of your products or services. Other shows are
directed at the consumer, and those can be very valuable avenues for
sales as well.

The press release is aimed towards gaining attention for a business
by distributing newsworthy information about the business.

Sometimes the appearance of a business at a trade show or other show
can provide the necessary angle for a press release. But most often,
a successful press release will actually require more noteworthy
information than the appearance of a business at a show.

Yet, even the most mundane of information could be spiced up to give
the real air of importance necessary to get your press release read
and printed.

The great thing about a press release is that might permit you to
get relatively inexpensive promotion on television, radio,
newspapers and magazines; for far less than what it would cost you
to buy advertising in those same outlets.

UTILIZING A SALES TEAM

Depending on what type of business you run and the consumers you are
trying to reach, you might find direct sales and telemarketing to be
very lucrative ways to drive sales to your business.

Both are very similar in nature. Direct sales can be very expensive,
as it requires a great investment of time to accommodate.
Telemarketing seeks to minimize the time expenditure, but it often
leads to a smaller degree of respect and attention.

Depending on your product or service — and always depending upon
the people you employ to the task — each method will be more
suited to each business on an individual basis.

BRANDING YOUR BUSINESS

I grouped branding and billboard advertising together in my original
list for a reason. I did this because billboard advertising serves
most businesses best by helping to support the process of branding.

Branding is the process of establishing your business as the
supplier of a certain product or service, or in emphasizing a
certain USP (Unique Selling Proposition) as it pertains to your
business.

If branding and USP seems to be a confusing concept, think about
Wal-Mart and their tag line: “Always Low Prices, Always.”

Think about Ford Motors, “Quality is Job One.”

Think about the Visa Card, “It’s Everywhere You Want To Be.”

You see, these top corporations have managed to make their USP part
of their branding.

Even if you are only competing in a local marketplace, your USP can
and should fit snugly into your branding strategy.

NO MATTER THE MEDIA OR METHOD

Whichever method or media you should choose to employ in your
advertising and promotion, you should become knowledgable about your
market, and the consumers reached by each media. It is important to
understand which consumers can be reached by a certain media, and in
what quantities.

However you choose to spend your advertising dollars, you should
always track the results of your promotional efforts. Failing to
track successes and failures will ultimately lead to the failure of
a business.

When you know whom you are trying to reach and how you think you
might be able to reach them, you will begin to learn how to use
advertising and promotion to make your business successful. That is
a good thing — after all, that is why you got into the business in
the first place, isn’t it?

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Understanding the Different Methods of Online Promotion
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy

Did you realize there are only three types of online promotion?…
This statement may seem odd and even untrue in your mind, but I am
speaking in more general terms than you might be thinking.

Let me explain.

The three types of promotion are Junk, Active and Passive
promotions.

JUNK PROMOTIONS ARE MONEY PITS

Junk promotions are those that seem to produce results, but by their
very nature are really only illusionary promotions.

For example, let me begin with FFA (Free For All) pages. You might
find yourself subscribing to a submission program that tricks you
into believing you are submitting your links to tens of thousands
search engines.

According to the Open Directory website, they have only approved
1705 search engines and directories for inclusion in their database
(http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/).

I like using the DMOZ directory as an example because submitted
links are tested by human beings with integrity, for the honesty
used in site description. Search Engine Watch and other search
watchers tend to show fewer than these 1705 engines, primarily
because a lot of the engines provide very little value.

Yes, you can submit your URL to a FFA page, but FFA’s usually only
permit 100 or 1000 links on their page at any one time. So, if ten
thousand people are submitting a link to an FFA page on a daily
basis, then the average life of your link is between seven minutes
and 144 minutes. I suspect the actual number of submitters is much
higher and the results are much worse. Given that few people surf
FFA pages, the chances of your submission being of any real value is
practically nill!

Most of the people telling you that you can submit your site to tens
of thousands of search engines are truly only submitting your site
to FFA pages! Beware of the false promises.

Another junk promotion method is Safe Lists. A safe list is a
mailing group that is signed up to be received by people who want to
submit their own ads. Now, most safe lists have thousands of
subscribers who are able to submit their ads daily or weekly. The
person signed up to receive the list will receive anywhere from
twenty to 140+ messages a day from the list. These messages will be
received by people only interested in promoting their own thing who
do not have the right motivation to open, let alone read Your
Advertising. As a result, thousands of messages go out daily or
weekly that will never be seen by anyone but the sender of the ad.
Where is the value in that? There is none.

ACTIVE PROMOTIONS

Active promotions are the type that require you to go out on a daily
basis or a weekly basis and put out your advertisements. With active
promotions, you will either place your advertising or you will not
sell your products or services. Your choice is simple — work or
starve.

Examples of active promotions include Pay Per Click Search Engines (PPCSE’s),
Direct Email, Ezine Advertising, Solo Ezine Ads, Newsletter
Publishing, Ezine Ad Swaps, Classified Ads, Auctions, Site
Sponsorship and Banner Ads.

Some people are able to utilize these methods very productively,
while others are destined to drop their money into the bottomless
pit of failed Internet promotions.

PASSIVE PROMOTIONS

Passive promotions are those promotions that can continue to provide
results for you long after you have invested the work to make them
available to the Internet community.

Examples of passive promotions include: Link Exchanges, Articles,
Ebooks, Content Exchanges and Writing Testimonials for others.

Let’s look at articles as a solid example of my point.

You are reading an article that I have written to promote my own
business. This article is timeless and therefore could have been
written five years ago and still have been as valuable as it is
today.

Due to the fact that the article is timeless, it can and will be
placed in newsletters/ezines and their accompanying online archives,
on websites and in ebooks for many more years to come.

As a result, this article will continue to serve me well beyond the
time in which I wrote it and submitted it to publishers and
webmasters for public consumption and publication.

This is the best example I can give you of an excellent passive
promotional method.

AVOID THE MONEY PITS

Many try and even fewer succeed to conquer the Internet and to
produce their dreams of online wealth.

My hope is that you will be one of the people who conquer the
challenges before you and to make a nice living while working
online. It will take drive, determination, study plus trial and
error, but you can make it work for you.

Please continue to educate yourself so that you can avoid the money
pits – instead, strive to find the money barrels. It can be done. I
am living proof.

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How to Win
the Advertising and Promotion Game
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy

I am certain that, as a business owner, you have often entertained
the question as to how much to spend and where to spend your
advertising dollars. For most small business owners, these questions
can add to the headaches suffered in the course of normal everyday
operations of their business.

THERE ARE NO SIMPLE ANSWERS

The how much to spend and where to spend it questions have no easy
answers.

Depending on your type of business, many people suggest that the
*how much* should be equal to anywhere from 4% to 10% of your gross
receipts.

The quandary is that a business cannot survive without a fresh flow
of incoming customers. But, a business can seldom generate a fresh
stream of customers without spending money to get the word out about
their business.

THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING

Have you ever paid for advertising and sat back to await the fresh
flow of customers, only to find yourself sitting and sitting and
then sitting some more?

Don’t feel bad about that. It has happened to many of us before.

See, knowing where to spend the advertising money is not enough to
get the job done.

Where to spend the money only begins to highlight the other issues
connected with advertising:

· Marketing Plan
· Advertising Strategy
· Headlines, Ad Copy and Visual Presentation
· Tracking the Success of Your Advertising Campaigns

THE MARKETING PLAN

The Marketing Plan is used primarily to identify your own products
and services, costs, strengths, weaknesses and the strengths and
weaknesses of your competitors.

To learn more about constructing your own marketing plan, visit the
Small Business Administration website for a comprehensive study of
the elements of a Marketing Plan:

http://www.home-business.com/nav/articles/links/sba_plan.html

ADVERTISING STRATEGY

It is important to understand what you expect to gain from your
advertising.

Do you simply wish to get your name known so that when your customer
will need you, they will think of you first? Or, do you wish to get
your customers in your front door on Saturday?

Do you want your customers to come in and take a look around to
discover the next object that they cannot live without? Or, do you
want them to come in and buy a specific widget?

Do you hope that enough people will come in to buy enough products
or services to pay for your single ad? Or, do you expect to gain a
lifelong customer who will help pay for your advertising over the
course of several years?

When you know what you want, then you will better understand just
how to do it.

HEADLINES, AD COPY AND VISUAL PRESENTATION

You might be surprised how many business owners put out advertising
without regard for the quality of the sales pitch or presentation.
The quality of your distribution outlet or the amount of money you
spent to get there will do little for you if the advertising vehicle
is a junker.

Test all of your advertising materials in smaller markets before
blowing your advertising bank roll on it. You must absolutely know
the value of your advertising before putting large sums of money
behind it.

TRACKING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Tell your customers to save another 10% when they tell you they
heard or saw your ad in such-and-such location. Suggest that they
can register to win a free widget if they fill out a form and have
them to tell you how they heard of your business. Advertise a
specific widget in your ad and track the sales of that widget.

It does not matter how you track your advertising — just make sure
you do it!

IN SUMMARY

The ideal way to spend your advertising budget is to buy a rifle
with a high-powered scope and to only shoot your targets in the
light of day.

If you are not tracking your advertising, then you are shooting a
pellet gun without an attached scope, with blinders on, and shooting
in the dead darkness of night.

Even with a bigger gun, the blinders in the dark constitute the
single largest mistake made by advertisers. If you are unable to
track your advertising to learn what is working well, what is
working somewhat, and what is a money pit, then you are condemned to
repeat your mistakes over and again.

By relying only on gut instinct, you may be choosing to spend more
money in the money pit and to lose all of your money in the process.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts of making money from your
advertising, you should plan, prepare, track and study your results.
You must have factual information on which to base your advertising
decisions. When you are making the right advertising decisions, then
making money from your business might just come easy.

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