For Prospects, Profits and Prosperity In the world of free enterprise, there are three basic reasons to own and operate a business: Sell your products and/or services to prospects who become customers. Generate profits from those sales. Use those profits to provide you and your family (and your employees) with lives of prosperity.

The Role of Advertising This entire process, and the purpose for being in business, begins with attracting prospective customers to your business.   It’s even more important to use advertising to transform new customers into long-term customers. Finding prospects, communicating with them and motivating them to buy from your business is the job of advertising.

Advertising is the Engine of Business Effective and efficient advertising should produce measurable results: more customers, faster turnover of inventory, increasing revenues, hiring new employees, opening additional locations, etc. Without advertising, or poorly performing advertising, the results are quite the opposite: a stagnant or decreasing customer base, which eventually could cause employees to lose their jobs and a business to close. Advertising is as important a line item on a business’ budget as any other. Businesses that want to succeed, and especially in the 21st century economy, must advertise.

How Advertising Helps a Business As the engine of business, advertising is the mechanism that drives prospective customers to an advertiser’s front door. Advertising helps businesses attract the maximum number of prospective customers (and retain current ones) in 6 basic ways.

#1: Advertising is a Research Tool Advertising helps to identify a business’ target audience: who they are, where they are located and whether they are qualified prospects for the business’ products and services.   This identifying process will often provide clues as to which media your target audience prefers. Once your target audience is thoroughly identified and understood, your advertising dollars can go farther and produce maximum results.

#2: Advertising is a Communication Channel Once you’ve identified your target audience and its media preferences, you’re then ready to communicate with your prospective customers. Because you now know your audience, you’re able to craft messages that speak directly to your prospective customers, and connect with them. Advertising media also require messages to match the way each medium communicates with its audience: a newspaper ad needs a snappy headline; the elements of sound on radio; the addition of movement and color for television.

#3: Advertising Creates an Identity for a Business Advertising creates a strong identity, or brand, for your business, so customers think of you first when they have a need or want to fulfill. Advertising creates and strengthens your identity, or brand, with awareness. When you effectively communicate your message with your prospective customers, they become more aware that you can solve a problem for them or provide them with a product or service that makes their lives better.

#4: Advertising is a Competitive Advantage Effective advertising allows you to obtain and retain more of the prospective customers available to you and your competitors, during a given time period. Advertising’s power is not limited to attracting prospective customers with known needs to your door, but also creating needs that consumers may not have realized they had. When your advertising can create need, you will increase your market share by attracting the prospective customers your competitors have likely overlooked.

#5: Advertising Generates Repeat Business Advertising’s greatest value may be that it gives you the tools to convince more new customers to remain customers. A truism of business is that a two-time buyer is twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer.   Part of a business’ advertising plan must include communications with current customers and special incentives that bring them back again and again.

#6: Advertising is an Investment Advertising that works is not an expenditure; it’s an investment that is recouped with a dividend. That’s ROI, or return on investment. ROI is a relatively easy method to measure the results of your advertising. If you spend $1,000 for a flight of TV commercials and it generates $1,500 in sales, then the initial investment of $1,000 has been returned, plus a $500 “dividend.”   You also know that the TV commercials are effective because they connected with your target audience and motivated its members to spend money with you.

Why Businesses Stumble Over Advertising Most business owners stumble over the “how” of advertising instead of the “why.” The reasons why are irrefutable. Business owners must focus most of their attention on the how, or planning and implementing an effective advertising program.   There are a few basic steps that will start you on the correct path to how to advertise.

People Trust Advertising People trust ads on television and radio and in magazines and newspapers significantly more than various “new technology” sources. Ads in search engine results, online video ads, ads on social networks, banner ads and text ads on mobile phones rank lower on the trust scale. People trust “word-of-mouth” or “recommendations from people I know” the most. Solve a customer’s problem or fulfill a need and he or she is sure to tell others about their satisfying experience.

How do your Competitors Advertise? Your advertising can be more effective and efficient if you constantly study how your primary competitors advertise: their message content and media mix. You’ll have a much better idea of what works instead of learning through trial and error. Plus, you can counter their messages and special offers to compete successfully. You’ll also know which media they aren’t using, providing an opportunity to communicate with the same target audience through “untouched” media.

Benefits are More Important than Features Consumers are more interested in the “why” (or the benefits) of your products than the “what” (or features) of your products. The consumer questions your advertising must answer are “What’s in it for me?” “How do I benefit?” “How do the advertised products or services solve a problem or satisfy a need?” Expressing these benefits in short statements is an early step in the process of developing and initiating an advertising program. Failing to do so will make your advertising messages weak, ineffective and less competitive.

Make Advertising Your Strong Partner Why a business should advertise is simply because no business can compete and succeed without it. Know your audience and communicate with them effectively and you’re sure to produce the desired results. There are many advertising messages and media that will do the job, but television offers a unique combination that will give your advertising more power to penetrate your target audience and motivate them to buy.