Promoting Your Business

“When business is good, it pays to advertise. When business is bad, you’ve got to advertise!” I have read this proverb in a newspaper article several years ago and it has stuck into my mind up to now. I remember my father used to dislike advertisements when he was watching television. He would comment on the style especially when the concept does not seem to be relevant to the product. For example, in one toothpaste commercial, he could not connect “floating in the air act” with the toothpaste. He insists that a realistic approach is still the most artistic. “Just bite the burger and say it tastes good! Why do they have to run and jump high over people falling in line?” He would say. I would explain to him that regardless of whether we agree with the approach of those commercials, we have to admit that advertisements are crucial to the sales and marketing of products and services. This is especially true when you have to contend with many good competitors. You have to be noticed. You need to get the attention of the consumers in order for you to get a chance to inform and convince them that they should choose your brand instead of a leading competitor.

Imagine this: you have worked very hard to develop your brand and you have made sure that it suits the taste and need of your market better than any other does but you cannot sell much because you have not informed your target customers well about your product or service. It could be very frustrating! Even if you have accurately planned your business but if you have not effectively promoted your product or service, the return on your investment will drag.

Whether you are a designer trying to sell a clothing line and accessories; a manufacturer trying to sell electronic gadgets or cars; a chef trying to promote a restaurant; an expert in service-oriented out-sourcing company; a web designer or even just a simple blogger, you need to promote your business.

Why should I promote my product?

The primary intention of promotion is to persuade people to increase their consumption of a particular brand, product or service. Another purpose is to convince them to switch to another brand, product or service especially if it is a new one.

In the present global economy, where huge corporations battle for supremacy, advertisement takes a deeper and subtle function which is to create a sort of market control especially for goods of mass consumption. Huge corporations protect multi-million and even billions worth of investments so as much as possible, they will try to establish a sort of monopoly in their intended market.

In view of this, if you are starting a small business enterprise, or a small proprietorship, these huge companies will only eat you up if your target consumers will not notice your product.

How do I promote my product?

Multi-Media Promotions

The most common means of promotion or advertisement are billboards, bus stop benches, sides of buses or the ad spaces on top or doors of taxi cabs, tarpaulins, banners, printed flyers, magazines and newspapers. Ads can be placed also on radio broadcasts, cinema and television advertisements. In recent years, since the internet has become widely used, it has become a popular advertisement medium as well like web banners, web popups, or shopping carts. Even mobile telephone has become targets of ads like MMS wallpapers, 3-G video streams, texting promos and electronic raffles.

Different styles of Advertising or Promoting a Product or Brand (Condensed from Wikipedia)

Covert advertising

Covert advertising embeds a particular product or brand in a particular scene on a film, video or television program. For example, if you are watching GMA-7’s primetime telenovela, “All About Eve”, Iza Calsado portraying the character of “Nicole” in one particular scene drinks Nescafe. In the telenovela “Totoy Bato”, also in GMA-7, the camera pans over the side of a closed van with a big Liver-Aide ad.

Television commercials

Generally, TV commercial is the most effective mass-market advertising format since almost every household has a television set. However, it requires a big budget. Do you know that for the annual Super Bowl football game in the United States, the average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during the game has reached $3 million (as of 2009)?

Infomercials

There are generally two kinds of infomercial, the short one, which has a duration of about 30 seconds and the long one, which runs for at least 30 minutes. This is usually done on TV. The primary intention is to create impulse buying among the viewers. An infomercial contains the complete information about a product, a demonstration about how it is used and its benefits to the consumer. The attracted consumer can buy the product through the toll-free hotline that appears on the TV screen. This is known as direct response television (DRTV) commercials or direct response marketing. In clearer term, Home TV shopping.

Celebrities

This form of advertising uses the fame of particular celebrities, actors or TV personalities to create an impact for a particular product or brand. Advertisers use the persuasive power or influence of these celebrities to convince people to use a product or brand.

The Practical Advertising or Promotional Approach

Small entrepreneurs who are merely starting their small business might not afford a full-scale advertising campaign like in the examples above and they do not need to do so, at least not in the meantime. However, sales and marketing strategy must be given top priority right from the start even in small scale businesses. One needs to allocate a reasonable amount for promotional activity. It should be a part of his capital outlay.

For small businesses, try to consider the following:

Printed flyers, leaflets or brochures. This could be the most practical form of promotion. A print ad could contain a catalogue information about a product or brand; its price, how to order, where to order, if you will deliver the orders or the customers will have pick them up. You do not need a printing house to print these materials for you at the start. With little creativity, you only need a desktop computer and an inkjet printer and you can accomplish this task easily. Photocopy the leaflet or flyer for multiple copies and they are ready for distribution. Just make sure that you can hand them out to as many people as possible.

Posters or Tarpaulins. With a small budget, you can promote your product or brand with eye-catchy posters and tarpaulins. (A small tarpaulin print out costs around P300.00.) Put them up at strategic locations where many people can see like markets, stores or public posting areas. Just avoid posting on street walls where there are local ordinances that prohibit such activity.

Websites. In today’s electronic age, internet can provide a variety of marketing possibilities. At the start, you can avail of web hosting sites that offer free web hosting facility like Yahoo Geocities or blog sites like Multiply.Com or Friendster. You can upload photos of your products with price quotations or a clear description of what you do if you are offering a service then come up with a good sales persuasion and you can never go wrong. It may be better if you can come up with a payment facility as well.

Emails. You can inform friends and relatives about your new business through emails. It is important that you inform as many people as possible. Just avoid spamming because people are annoyed by spam emails. Send email only to people you know and who know you unless friends refer you to them. Just make sure that you do not over-rate yourself or make unnecessary misrepresentations.

Telemarketing. The simplest form of communication is through telephone and cellular phone. Almost everyone today has a cell phone so it is easy to promote business through texting. Come up with a good and persuasive sales talk and you can convince people to buy your product even through the telephone. For example, offer freebies that would attract their interest and/or free delivery etc. Never ever make false claims. Do not trick your customers.

Word of Mouth. This is one of the most persuasive way of promoting a product or service especially from people who have used and have been satisfied by the product you have introduced to them. Give out samples as gifts to neighbors and if they are convinced by the product, aside from their personal orders, they can refer you to their friends and relatives. In that way, you can increase your market.

It is a difficult job to put up and maintain a business and develop a product or service in the market amidst tough competition with skeptic and cynic consumers. It involves a lot of hard work, sleepless nights and sacrifice of personal enjoyment to convince people to choose your brand over another but if you are determined to succeed, tough times will not stop you. Just work hard and say hello to success!

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