Today the market and services are full of numerous participants. Among the fierce competition, good advertising is the only way to survive. There are different ways to promote. However, advertising statistics prove that the Internet plays a key role in the development of .
What types exist
There are the following promotion methods:
- According to the place and method of placement.
- Depending on the purpose.
To understand exactly where and how to announce your products or services, you need to study all the methods of promotion.
Internet
Instagram and Facebook
It has become an active platform for the promotion of many famous brands. Instagram advertising statistics predict $2.8 billion in revenue by the end of 2017. The network is one of the first in the world in terms of traffic. It is inferior to such networks as. 34.9% of users are in the age category from 25 to 34 years.
In 2017, advertising statistics in Russia reached record levels. The share of the Internet last year was 38%. If we compare advertising statistics for 2016, the market has grown by 11% and amounts to 360 billion rubles. Within 5 years, revenues of $20.9 billion are expected from the entertainment and media industry.
Advertising statistics shows a 10% drop in the market in Kazakhstan due to devaluation. In national currency this is 33.1 billion tenge. It is difficult to say whether it is worth reducing the volume of campaigning in the country. However, in dollar terms it shrank by more than 1/3.
Outdoor advertising
This type of promotion is used on buildings and other prominent places where there are a lot of people. Which advertising is more effective according to statistics? Each promotion method has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Video promotion
Video advertising is a form aimed at creating an image and promoting goods and services. Statistics on video advertising formats show that short videos are usually watched to the end. Non-profit promotion methods are used to solve social problems and attract people's attention to important social issues.
In the modern world, with increasing cruelty, social advertising is becoming increasingly important. Non-profit promotion methods are used to solve social problems and attract people's attention to important social issues. According to statistics, 40% of Russians believe in the effectiveness of this method.
The main feature of advertising for small businesses is that it pays minimal attention to the brand, that is, the company itself. Unlike large multinational corporations such as, say, Coca-Cola, you can hardly afford to work on brand recognition, so you need an approach that .
Focus on specific offers and avoid using “general” words such as “a lot”, “cheap”, “profitable” and others. A quarter of a century ago, this approach was effective, but today's society gives preference to numbers. No one will go to a store that offers “the cheapest sofas in the city,” while in a store that sells “sofas for 10 thousand rubles,” there will be no end to buyers.
Carry out “promotions”
If your offer is not only specific, but also limited, the effectiveness of your advertising will increase: the less time you leave for a potential buyer to think, the higher the chance of making a sale. In addition, this will reduce the likelihood of a potential client leaving for a competitor.
When a person sees an advertisement for teapots for 500 rubles, he thinks about buying hypothetically, that is, he simply takes note that such and such a company has such and such a price for teapots. If he doesn’t need a kettle yet, he won’t buy it.
But if he sees that the supply is limited, and it is possible to purchase the product at the proposed price, for example, only until the end of the month, he begins to think about the purchase from a practical point of view: if he does not need the kettle today, but may need it tomorrow, then it is better to buy it now at a low price than paying twice as much later.
Special price
This method has been used everywhere for decades, but does not lose its effectiveness: indicate the “old price” next to the price. At the same time, the “regular” price should be noticeably higher than the “special” price - this will enhance the effect of “limited supply”. The principle here is the same as in the case of “general” words and specific numbers: seeing how much more expensive the product will become at the end of the “promotion”, it will be much easier for the buyer to part with the money.
The most effective types of advertising
The advertising format must be chosen taking into account the specifics of the business and the target audience - something that demonstrates high performance among men under 35 years of age may cause only a minimal response among women over 45.
And even if all your childhood you dreamed that when you had your own business, you would advertise it on TV, it is better to refuse this option: high-quality advertising on TV is expensive and for small businesses it is ineffective.
Instead, it is better to pay attention to other formats:
- leaflets: they can be delivered to mailboxes or handed out on the street. It is better to distribute, as this allows you to distribute advertising exclusively among the target audience;
- announcements in elevators and entrances: a very popular (and very effective) approach - the longer a person drives (or waits for an elevator), the higher the likelihood that he will read your ad, accordingly, placing such ads in the tallest buildings gives the best result;
- : advertising on the Internet is the cheapest, and for working with a young audience it is simply irreplaceable - be sure to create a community on a social network and place ads on several popular thematic platforms;
- in newspapers: It’s better to advertise business through newspapers - construction, education, cleaning, etc.;
- signs: It is best to place signs, banners and billboards in close proximity to your office or store.
How to evaluate advertising effectiveness
It's not about how much you spend, but how much you end up earning from it, so the most important indicator for you should be ROI, that is, “return on investment.” If you spend 50 thousand rubles, and the profit as a result of the actions taken increases only by 20 thousand, refuse such advertising. Remember that it is not you who should work for her, but she who should work for you.
As you can see, the most is the one that demonstrates good results for a specific business and a specific target audience, and costs less than it brings. True, to find a suitable format you will have to experiment a little. But it's worth it, no doubt about it.
For small businesses, advertising is of great importance at the initial stage. A well-constructed campaign in this area will help you get your first clients and start making money. At later stages it is also of great importance. At a minimum, the audience needs to be informed about new promotions and offers. At the same time, the business will not refuse to expand its customer base at any stage of its development. What advertising is the most effective? This question is difficult to answer without considering a specific situation, but we can still give some assessment.
Offline advertising methods for small businesses
At first, a novice businessman is forced to deal with a lot of difficulties. As long as a small number of people are aware of its products or services, and suppliers and potential clients do not even know about your existence, it is impossible to talk about any kind of business.
Proper organization of an advertising strategy helps a lot at the initial stage. You should not choose expensive advertising methods if your budget is tight. It’s better to offer a better service (product) so that people start talking about your business and spread the word by word of mouth. The advertising campaign itself must be selected taking into account the characteristics of a particular business, because otherwise it will be necessary to carry out an unplanned one.
Telephone marketing
The very concept of telephone marketing implies making calls to contact the widest possible audience of potential clients of an enterprise. Whether they are private individuals or legal entities depends on the specifics of the business. The key goal is to inform you that certain goods or services can be obtained from you.
For skilled "telephone salespeople" it is not so difficult to even pre-close the deal on the first call. Positive results can be achieved with some communication skills. For entrepreneurs who are unsure of their abilities, a good solution would be to hire a special employee who will make calls through a database of numbers. The negative point is that the interlocutor may not have free time for communication or may not be interested in your proposal at all.
Distributing leaflets
This method is quite well known and is actively used to this day. Distribution of leaflets can be done effectively by agreeing with the management of the supermarket. In such cases, at the checkout, the buyer is offered a leaflet on which your offer is presented. Printing leaflets is a relatively cheap method of advertising, but conversion rates are usually not very high. To inform the audience at the initial stage, distributing leaflets is an excellent method.
You can hire street consultants who will not only hand out brochures to potential clients, but also answer a few simple questions. When using leaflets, it is important that they are made with high quality, since for an uninformed person they will become the “face of the enterprise.” The content should be concise, but succinct - it is necessary to clearly convey the essence of your activity.
Advertising signs on asphalt
This type of information dissemination is relatively new for Russia. Inscriptions on asphalt are a creative move, but not for everyone. At the preliminary stage, it is extremely important to understand where exactly your potential customers are concentrated. Sometimes placed inscriptions do not bring effect simply because:
- they are not visible due to the large number of people;
- potential clients do not use the route on which the inscription is placed;
- it was worn away due to precipitation and people walking;
- It is prohibited to place in specific places.
At the same time, high-quality, bright advertising on asphalt for a number of business areas can be an excellent tool for arousing consumer interest. For example, advertising will look great on the roads to preschool educational institutions.
Outdoor advertising on the streets
This includes all kinds of signs, banners, billboards, signs on the walls of buildings, plaques, advertising structures, car stickers and much more. They can be designed with or without LED illumination, in volume or flat form, etc. Almost every business that has its own retail space uses this type of advertising in one form or another. It is important to understand that while you can make a sign above the entrance to a store without spending a lot of money, placing your advertising banner on city billboards will often be expensive. The advantages of outdoor advertising include large coverage and a rapid increase in awareness.
Among the disadvantages is the high cost, which is quite a big disadvantage for starting a business. Difficulty of competition - many people use such approaches, which requires a lot of creativity to attract the attention of a potential client. Contact is usually quite quick, so your offer may simply not be remembered.
The most effective advertising on the Internet
Advertising your business on the Internet is almost a mandatory expense item for most entrepreneurs today. Its simplest direction is to create your own website to which visitors will be attracted. The web platform itself can serve both for information purposes and directly become an additional (or even the main) “sales floor” of your enterprise. It all depends on the specifics of your proposal. On your Internet resource you can post all the necessary information about your own business. Today it is a fairly cheap product, especially when it comes to online business cards.
You can attract visitors to your website using different methods, which differ in both cost and effectiveness, but we’ll talk about this below. Social networks have become an important aspect today. Will it be a public page, the use of advertising in other people’s communities or personal accounts to attract people to an online platform or directly to a store (office)? In each case you need to come up with your own decision. Statistics show that the cost of attracting one client on the Internet is one or several orders of magnitude lower than when using offline methods.
Internet advertising tools often need to be combined to obtain maximum results. Sometimes it happens that one of the methods shows low conversion, but if it is abandoned, the efficiency level of the other method also drops. Such things are difficult to predict, and can only be noticed in practice. The main positive side of advertising on the Internet is its speed of distribution. There may not be much time between launching an advertising campaign and receiving your first client.
contextual advertising
The fastest and most effective method of advertising on the Internet. Its main problem is the difficulty in setting it up for unskilled specialists. For this reason, you will need to contact a special agency that will conduct an advertising campaign. Fortunately, today such services are widely available, so they are cheaper than hiring a separate staff of “advertisers”.
The advantage of contextual advertising is its clear customization to specific user requests in search engines, which allows you to select the target audience as accurately as possible. Online stores use this when attracting customers for individual popular units of goods or product groups. This is a fairly universal tool that, if configured correctly, will quickly begin to bear fruit.
SEO promotion
This is a “long-lasting” method. Search Engine Optimization allows you to get customers for free when they search for something online. It is worth understanding that getting on the first page will require quite a lot of effort, since almost every niche already has a whole host of competitors. At the same time, not using SEO is definitely a bad option, since this method includes a number of engineering works on the site and its comprehensive improvement. The best time to start working on search engine optimization is during the development of your website. This will avoid a number of mistakes in advance. The main advantage of SEO remains the free transition of the target user to the resource, whereas in contextual advertising you will have to pay for each click.
Free notice boards
This is a rather controversial instrument in many respects. The main problems when using it are the high level of competition and low user confidence in the offers initially. Another aspect remains that, against the backdrop of an increase in the number of offers in recent years, the number of those who come in search of purchases is increasing more slowly. The good news is the versatility of such platforms - you can offer both goods and services on them. It’s worth focusing on the most visited message boards - using them definitely won’t hurt.
Public pages on social networks
The largest social network on the Runet in the Russian Federation today remains VKontakte. This platform offers the opportunity to create targeted advertising and conduct retargeting (appealing to people who were previously interested in your advertising). This is an effective and fairly cheap tool that is actively used by many advertising agencies today. Similar tools are available in other social networks, but starting to work with this platform is much more promising, since it has the widest audience and traffic.
Advertising can be purchased both in groups, whose members could potentially become clients of your business, and you can order its placement in the user’s news feed. Not every business will find this type of advertising useful, but those who offer products can find buyers here, and the created group can be used as a feedback board for your services. The most common problem when using this advertising tool is choosing the right groups. If you choose the wrong advertising location, you can simply waste money. – is a separate question, so we will not dwell on it in detail here.
For each business, the “best advertising” will be different, and it is impossible to provide uniform statistical indicators in this case. In conditions of a tight budget, you will have to choose “what is cheaper” and work out the strategy for attracting customers as clearly as possible. It is advisable to try as wide a range of tools as possible to evaluate what is most effective for your case.
The most effective advertising of services
To the question of which advertising of services is the most effective, the answer is clear - high-quality execution. Of course, you shouldn’t rely solely on word of mouth, but it’s important to understand that reviews are extremely important in this case. There are specialized platforms where people share their impressions about certain enterprises in a particular field. Statistics show that more than half of consumers, when faced with information about a new seller (service provider), look for more detailed information and reviews. If friends cannot give any advice, they ask questions on the Internet.
It is important to monitor such online resources and promptly respond to complaints raised. This will not only explain that you have already solved any existing problems, but also reveal custom publications left by ill-wishers. You need to collect reviews in text and video format from customers on your website. In return, it is better to offer a discount - the client will come back again to take advantage of it. This solution needs to be implemented to increase customer trust, but it alone will not be enough.
At the initial stage of work, while there are not many clients or no clients at all, it is necessary to use active advertising methods. If your business involves providing services in one city, leaflets and outdoor advertising will be the most effective methods. For those who provide consulting, accounting and other services that can be provided remotely, it is better to resort to contextual advertising and searching for clients on social networks.
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Small business and advertising: what, how and why
Advertising is the engine of trade and a very important component of any business. In our time, when competition is growing every day, when more and more new ways to attract customers and develop your enterprise appear, advertising plays a very important role, sometimes even a key one.
It often happens that small businesses have no other chance to make themselves known than by providing good and high-quality advertising. But ignorance of the basic laws of advertising for small businesses entails serious problems. Many entrepreneurs think that by hanging a big board, buying advertising on the Internet, or creating a group on social networks, they will begin to receive orders in dozens, or even hundreds. But over time, the understanding comes that advertising does not work, and if it does work, it is completely different from what is expected of it. What to do in such cases? To be honest, it’s better not to allow such cases to happen, and before planning your advertising budget, understand the basics a little, understand what a small business needs to do and what should be abandoned.
Today we will talk to you about the 5 main advertising mistakes that small business owners make, we will give advice and recommendations on what you need to pay attention to and where to start.
Of course, this is a basic course, and a lot will depend on your specific case. But it doesn’t hurt to know the basics on which everything needs to be based in the future.
1. Avoid branded advertising
You have a small business that does not have huge advertising budgets, therefore, you should not advertise a brand, slogan or trademark. You are not Coca-Cola, not McDonald's, not Mercedes, so why copy the advertising methods of these global market giants?
Believe me, your target customers are not interested in half-page slogans and brands. They don’t sell, and you shouldn’t spend money on making your logo recognizable. The name of the company, which is emblazoned on the floor of the screen, will also not do many advantages - remove it.
Managers of small and medium-sized businesses who want to “hit the ground” and advertise their logos can lose a lot and send their advertising budget down the drain. You don’t have huge sums of money allocated annually for advertising, you don’t have the margin of safety that world-famous companies have, and most importantly, you don’t have the right to make a mistake. Each mistake can be very costly, and if you fall once, it will be very difficult to get up.
The question arises: if you don’t copy the market leaders, then what advertising should you use, what should you rely on, what should you strive for?
2. Advertising should be based on direct response principles.
The response from each of your advertising messages, from each delivery, from each transaction and other operation should be measurable. The basis of successful advertising is statistics and control. You must clearly understand how effective this or that method is, how many clients per month, week, day saw your advertisement, how many came, and how many made purchases. You need to be able to calculate the conversion rate, and clearly understand the pros and cons of various types of advertising.
Advertising must be profitable. If you invested a dollar and received five, then this advertising works, it is effective, you can budget even more for its maintenance. But if you invested ten dollars, and come out with two, then immediately stop such advertising. Advertising should work and bring in money, and not “advertise the brand” and the name of the company.
The biggest mistake many entrepreneurs make is that they have no idea which advertising really works and which doesn’t. Having hung a big board and advertised on the Internet, they cannot track what is more effective and what should be developed more and what should be suspended.
3. One message - one idea.
Very often, entrepreneurs try to save on advertising by placing several different ideas in one message, which are not always homogeneous and understandable to a potential client. Quite recently I saw a billboard that was divided into 4 parts, each of which read: “Delivery of cement and sand”, “Removal of construction waste”, “Search for workers”, and some other third message to people. I wouldn’t have paid attention to this vinaigrette if it weren’t for my thoughts about this article and the search for suitable material for it.
The advice is simple - don’t try to cram more than one idea into advertising. This will not save your budget, but, on the contrary, will reduce the effectiveness of advertising to a minimum. You need to be able to formulate one juicy, bright, high-quality message to your target audience, and try to convey it as effectively as possible. It’s better to have one idea implemented well than to have several mediocrely buried.
4. If your market is everything, then it is nothing.
Such a paradoxical title, but it has a completely logical explanation. There is a very serious misconception that you need to reach as many audiences as possible, occupy a large part of the market, and move in all directions.
Don't try to sell everything to everyone. Create a clear target audience. Even if it is a very narrow and specific niche, you will work precisely, with a greater likelihood of returns and orders. The narrower the niche, the easier it is for a potential client to understand that you are addressing him specifically. After seeing or reading your advertisement, a person should say: “Oh! Yes, this is about me.” Then it will be much easier to sell the goods to such a person. Wait, did I say sell? No not like this. It will be easier for a potential consumer to buy a product from you. People don’t like it when something is forced on them and sold to them, but they really like to make their own choices and buy consciously.
5. All concentration is on the market, not on the media.
A very big mistake of many entrepreneurs is the desire to show up everywhere. At some certain point, the understanding comes that you need to advertise somewhere else so that the company is noticed, recognized, recognized, and talked about. But what is the effect of this? As I said before, advertising should sell, not advertise a logo and name.
If you have free money and you want to spend it on advertising, then think about whether you know your market and your potential clients well enough? Would it be better to make certain calculations, study the needs and behavior of consumers, understand the target audience and methods of influencing them? Use your free money to study, and only after that can you talk about media advertising.
Small companies need an effective advertising strategy no less than giant corporations. Properly structured promotion will help you achieve excellent results with minimal costs.
Advertising– this is not a luxury, but an urgent necessity for a budding entrepreneur. It allows you to increase recognition in the market, build a good reputation, and attract paying customers. Neglecting this component of the work leads to a sad outcome. For small business marketing campaigns to be successful, you need to build them taking into account the existing specifics and listen to the advice of experts.
The role of a competent advertising strategy
At the first stages of development, a novice entrepreneur faces serious difficulties. While the target audience and suppliers know nothing about the goods and services, the company is perceived with caution and distrust.
An important impetus for the further development of small businesses is the creation of a good business reputation, which will help to declare the following qualities of the company:
- reliability;
- solvency;
- responsibility.
An indispensable assistant in building a reputation is. It will help create a positive image of the company, emphasize its advantages, form a loyal attitude towards goods and services, and outline advantages over competitors’ products.
Advertising helps small businesses attract the attention of potential customers to the products they sell and announce the appearance of new products on the market. It performs two important functions: it informs about the advantages and features of the product, it allows, and along with them, revenue.
A small business should not refuse advertising due to a lack of available funds. Modern marketing offers tools and methods that produce a significant effect at minimal cost.
Effective promotion is not a spontaneous action aimed at nowhere. He has a clear goal, audience, . To make advertising work for you and not become a waste of money, use five key points:
- Problem
This is what attracts attention to the message and allows you to “find” the target audience. Often the public is more likely to be attracted to negative-sounding issues. So, the inscription “Tired of constant stress?” will allow you to “select” people who are interested in the product.
- Ways to solve the problem
When you have captured the attention of potential consumers, offer them a way out of the current situation. For example, spa treatments will help you cope with stress and completely relax.
- Uniqueness of the offer
Tell the target audience what the “zest” of the product or service is, why it is worth choosing the promoted product. At this point it is recommended to give free rein to your imagination.
- Restrictions
People tend to put off making important decisions. To overcome procrastination, let the consumer know that there is no time to think. Indicate that the offer is valid for a limited time.
- Call to action
Clearly indicate to potential consumers how to take advantage of the offer: call the phone number indicated in the ad, book a spa treatment time on the website.
Features of small business advertising campaigns
A key feature of promotion for small businesses is a shift in emphasis from the company itself to the uniqueness of the product offered. An entrepreneur who owns a small grocery store is unable to compete with international giants - Coca-Cola, Adidas and others. Its task is not to increase brand awareness, but to increase sales.
Juicy slogans and memorable logos are bad helpers in increasing the profitability of a small company. The purpose of advertising is to tell consumers about specific offers of goods and services, attract new customers, and retain old ones.
The answer to the question of how to make effective advertising for a small company lies in the rejection of general words and lengthy formulations: “cheap”, “a lot”, “the most”, etc. The "abstract" approach worked 15-20 years ago, but today it is useless. No one will go to a store offering “the cheapest sofas in the city,” but a retail outlet selling a sofa for 10,000 rubles will certainly attract visitors.
Expert opinion - Advertising in the banking sector
Marina Arishchenko, Head of Transaction Business Development Department, Moscow Credit Bank
Under the influence of the development of digital technologies, the advertising market has undergone fundamental changes. Today, most companies receive a tangible effect not from traditional channels in the classical model, such as television, advertising, radio, outdoor advertising, but from the use of incentives and cross-promotions based on issuing coupons for payment. This direction is the most progressive.
The direction of creating ecosystems and marketplaces that revolutionize the understanding of the banking services market has also become widespread. Development towards affiliate programs built on the placement of affiliate offers on the bank’s terminal network is the most effective and not only ensures incoming traffic to the partner’s website, increased sales, increased presence in the media field, but also dynamic development in various areas.”
Specific methods to increase sales
There are three effective tools that can increase sales for a small company:
- "Stock"
These are special offers that last for a limited time. This way, the company does not leave the potential buyer time to think and minimizes the risk of him leaving for competitors.
If you indicate in the ad that the promotion is valid for one day (week, month), the target audience will look at the offer differently. She will think: trousers are not needed today, but then they will tear and wear out. There is no point in overpaying tomorrow if the price tag is so attractive today.
- "Special price"
This method has been used for a long time, but remains effective and relevant. Indicate on the label the new “favorable” price and the “old” price, which is 30-50% higher. The greater the difference between the two values, the stronger the “limited supply” effect. Seeing the benefits that the purchase promises, the client will part with his money faster.
- "Announcement of the enterprise"
If you are opening a small business (dry cleaning, laundry, bakery, pharmacy, etc.), announce the opening before starting work. Hang up a sign, a sign, and distribute leaflets to nearby residents. This way you will arouse interest in the new product in potential buyers, allowing them to get used to the idea that company “N” will be located here.