Effective advertising is an essential business marketing strategy.
Our team at LifeStyleQ magazine want to help you grow your business through effective advertising in Ipswich’s own local lifestyle magazine.
Our commitment is not only to widely distribute your advertising message but also to provide value for money. These benefits are offered to all our clients:
* We welcome print-ready artwork, or we can produce artwork to your specifications.
* We always provide a proof of your advert for you to approve before it goes to print.
* We can supply photography we publish your advertisement or in supporting editorial.
* We link your advertisement in the digital edition to your website.
* We review your advert artwork so it’s up to date with your marketing objectives.
* We can provide you with extra copies of the magazine if you wish.
We understand that advertising requires a commitment of funds, so we offer these five main principles of effective advertising to help with your decision making:
1. Advertising is the only medium you can control. If you want your message to hit home, this is the only vehicle you can control completely.
2. Advertising allows you to target your ideal customers. When you match a very personal message to a select audience you get far greater response.
3. Advertising creates awareness of your business. Without advertising your prospective customers don’t know what you offer or where you are.
4. Advertising adds credibility. Businesses that advertise attract the comment that business must be going well. The perception is that you can afford to advertise then its the type of business that customers feel comfortable dealing with; that the business is solid.
5. Advertising amplifies everything else you’re doing. When you advertise to create awareness you create awareness for everything you are doing.
Why and what should a business advertise?
Before undertaking an advertising campaign, marketers should be able to answer two key questions:
(1) Why are we advertising?
(2) What are we advertising?
On the face of it these seem like two fairly obvious questions but they are significant. Advertising can be a costly promotional tool so careful consideration about “Why” and “What” can pay dividends.
Why advertise?
The following may be good reasons why it’s a good idea to advertise:
• To create awareness, customer interest or desire
• To boost sales (moving the demand curve to the right)
• To build brand loyalty (or to maintain it at the existing level)
• To launch a new product
• To change customer attitudes – perhaps trying to move a product more “upmarket” or to dispel some widely held perceptions about the product
• To support the activities of the distribution channel (e.g. supporting a “pull” strategy)
• To build the company or brand image
• To reminds and reassure customers
• To offset competitor advertising – businesses may defend market share by responding to competitors’ campaigns with their own advertising
• To boost public standing: companies can boost their public standing with advertisements that link them with generally approved campaigns such as care for the environment
• To support the sales force – advertising can make the job of the sales force easier and more effective by attracting leads from potential customers and perhaps motivate them by boosting the profile of the business
Take a look through any magazine and select a sample of adverts. Which of the above reasons do you think are behind the adverts you choose? Don’t forget that some adverts aim to achieve multiple objectives.
What to advertise?
Factors that help answer the “what are we advertising”? focus on what the advertising message should be. In general, there are really only two kinds of effective advertising message:
Firstly, does the business/product have a Unique Selling Proposition (“USP”)
A unique selling proposition is a customer benefit that no other product can claim
In reality these are rare, although that does not stop marketers from claiming them for their products.
Secondly, does the thing that is being advertised “add value” and if so, how?
For example, advertising for washing powders will focus on the “added value” created by whitening agents or the fact that a particular formulation will last longer than the competition (take a look at the Fairy web site to see if you can spot the other “added value” features claimed for its products)
Whatever is advertised, it is important that the message is:
• Seen
• Read
• Believed
• Remembered
• Action
