Advertising As a Business Tool

This is an element of marketing which focuses on letting the customers know about the products and services available. Advertising uses various media such as print (newspaper, magazine etc) or electronic media such as television, internet websites etc. Organizations that shun advertising will soon be overtaken by new players on the market who make use of this phenomenal aspect of business development. How can your customers know about your existence unless you tell them you exist? The levels to which customers have awareness of your business, products and services separates you from the next competitor whose potential customers do not know about the existence of this business.

General Tips

- Determine the frequency of advertising - As your product breaks into the market, you may consider a more frequent way to tell the customers about it. When the product is established, then the frequency can be reduced dramatically.

- Determine the Budget allocation - How much money is made available for the promotion of the business and its products and services. Just the same way you set aside money to pay salaries is the way you need to treat advertising. No budget, no advertising.

- Use of graphics - Get a graphic designer to create the graphics you need. Basically the graphics must enhance the message being communicated rather than for the picture to hide what is communicated. Plain text on a billboard may not be as eye catching as a picture combined with text.

- Use of color - Consider investing in some degree of color on your advertisement. Color communicates the qualities and value.

Positioning of advert is key - It matters where in the newspaper your advert appears. An advert on the front page and every other odd page gets more impact that anywhere else. Where you place your billboard affects how people get to view it. You need to target roads and places where a huge volumes of traffic.

- For online adverts - Ensure that it is small enough to email around and yet containing all that you ever want in it.

- Communicate the truth - It is better to coat the truth with better words than lie to the customers about something your product is not capable of.

- The size of the advert - The bigger the advert, the more visible it is. The smaller it is the less expensive as well. It is usually a fact of what the company ca afford.

- Assess effectiveness - You need to have mechanisms that test the usefulness of your promotional material. A small questionnaire with such questions as how did you get to know about us; are very important.

- Advert must have order and sense - People want to read and make sense of what is being communicated. Where good ideas are merely jumbled, people will not bother viewing.

- Avoid clutter - Put only what is necessary in the advertisement. What you are selling, where to find it, how to contact the supplier. Avoid lumping all information in a small space. Space out the contents to ease of reading.

Rabison Shumba is a young African entrepreneur who has interests in Information and Communication Technology, Agriculture and Mining. He is also a motivational speaker, trainer and author. His book, The Greatness Manual and various online articles are tools for personal and professional development. Together with 100 other Career Experts, Rabison co-authored the 101 Great Ways to Enhance your Career. Rabison has a personal vision of impacting the lives of children in marginalized communities by creating platforms for career counsel and guidance, information empowerment and capacity building through the Greatness Factory Trust, where he currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Acting Executive Director. He is actively involved in the organization of career enhancement and guidance colloquiums to propel and inspire both young and mature professionals to greatness. His areas of expertise include strategy, leadership, personal and professional development. Rabison is married to Jackie, and they have two daughters. They reside in Harare, Zimbabwe. http://www.greatnessmanual.com or http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rshumba