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Home · Advertising · The Fundamentals of Advertising

The Fundamentals of Advertising

The Small Business Administration (SBA) can be a valuable source of information and financing for small businesses. Much of that information is now available online, including this on the fundamentals of planning an advertising campaign:

Ask yourself the following four key questions when planning your ad campaign:


What do I want my advertising to accomplish?
Who should my advertising speak to?
What should my advertising say?
What advertising medium should I use?

Each question can have a number of answers, depending upon the specific business situation. Explore the full range of possibilities -- you may need several advertising strategies for your particular business.

You want advertising to increase awareness of your business, develop the loyalty of your current customers or generate sales or sales leads. You may want it to do all of these things. What's important is to prioritize your goals. Advertising works best when it's developed to meet one goal at a time.

Once you determine your goals, you can target the right audience to receive your advertising messages. According to the SBA, "Mass market" advertising rarely is successful. Have a specific customer type or group in mind when developing your ads.

Ads should be written to communicate a message that your target audience considers important. Stress the benefits of your product or service and keep AIDA in mind:


- attract Attention,
- hold Interest,
- arouse Desire and
- motivate Action.

In addition to the "traditional" print and broadcast media, there are dozens of other options for placing your ads -- from kiosks to web pages to billboards. The important thing to remember about placement is to go where your targets will have the greatest likelihood of seeing or hearing your ad.

Your choice of media should fit your advertising goals, effectively reaches your target(s) and is cost-effective. While getting the maximum number of impressions per ad dollar spent is important, what is even more important is that the right people see your ad. You may be better off, for example, running a larger, more expensive ad in a highly targeted trade publication whose readership is made up of your targets, than running a small ad in a larger circulation publication that may or may not have readers which fall into your target category.

It may also be time to consider having a professional -- either an independent contractor or advertising agency -- help you plan and execute your ad campaign. While you will pay for their services, they can help you refine your advertising goals and strategies, plan your media placements and write highly effective ad copy designed to achieve your objectives. There are many trade and industry associations that can point you to highly reputable people who specialize in your business area, such as The American Association of Advertising Agencies.

29.03.2007. 13:48

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