bharatbhasha.net
Free Articles  >>  Advertising >>  Page 59  >> 

The Single Most Important And Overlooked Advertising Mistake Made Even By Professionals





Spending on advertising has been estimated at about $200 billion in the US alone. Worldwide, this figure is estimated at almost 3 times more. While this spending has been growing dramatically, the ROI (Return On Investment) has actually been falling! Less than 5% advertisers claim to have a successful return for their advertising expense. While most people think that this is largely due to increasing competition, it is actually a very minor responsible factor. There are several mistakes that advertisers make that can actually be avoided, which I’m about to reveal to you. But first, let’s look at the key elements to consider before you even start an advertising campaign:

1. Research: You first need to research what advertising strategies you wish to use (and also check out what is currently being used by your competitors). You need to check where and how they are advertising, how much are they spending and which of the campaigns are they maintaining consistently. You should also check out ads in other markets and evaluate which of their ideas can be used in your market also. Remember, the style changes but principles remain the same.

2. Ad Planning: Once you’ve done your research, you need to plan how you wish to go about it. Don’t just blindly copy someone, but emulate them. How you can do something better. How you can be different. Identify your USP. Work on the content (copy writing). Create several advertising modules. If you’re not competent at some things (like copy writing), outsource it.

3. Budget planning: If you do not plan your budget in advance, you will end up spending more than you should, which can be disastrous. Or you will spend less than what you should and give up before giving a campaign its necessary time.

4. Targeting: Most people blindly advertise their products or services in a medium without giving much thought to the ad recipients. You really need to create an avatar of your ideal customer and then target them. This is the best way to get maximum ROI. Don’t think that your products are required by everyone. Find out where they have their eyeballs on and then get in front of them.

5. Offer creation: Ultimately, your conversion boils down to only one thing – your offer. The idea is to create an offer so irresistible, only a fool would pass it up. A word of warning here – Remember to justify your offer by giving a reason why such an offer has been created. You don’t want people to become suspicious and make it sound like a scam.

Now let’s discuss advertising mistakes. The most common mistakes that an advertiser makes are "not considering the above 5 elements". But the most important and overlooked mistake advertisers make is “not constantly testing, measuring and tracking the return for each advertisement”. This is really huge. You should constantly measure the effectiveness of each campaign. If something is not working, modify just one aspect of the ad and re-measure it. If it still works out unproductive, drop it and jump on the next. You may also want to test successfully converting ads by modifying a little and re-measure the conversions. If you can increase your ROI, then make it as your new starting point and re-modify one aspect. If conversions decrease, you can fall back to your original ad.

It is also vital that you track your ads properly. As an example, let’s say you create a newspaper ad and give it in 3 newspapers. Suppose the response was not so good and you end up breaking even. However, there are good chances that the response was better in one or two papers. If this is the case, it makes sense in continuing the ad in these papers (assuming that the costs of ad in all three are equal). So how do you know which ad to continue? The answer is – track all of them. So when someone responds to an ad by calling you, you should first ask which newspaper ad did he come across? If this is not practical, you can have different telephone numbers for each ad. If this is also not possible, you can simply mention to ask for a particular name in the ad. Have 3 different names for all 3 papers. If you don’t have 3 people to attend calls, give fictitious names (but remember this when someone calls; you don’t want to hang up thinking it’s a wrong number!). The basic idea is to track all responses and monitor conversions.

I hope you found this article useful. For more free advertising tips, please visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/advertising.php. I’m sure you’ll find many more tips, which would otherwise be practically unviable to cram into one single article like the one you just read.


About Author Nirjara Rustom :

Nirjara Rustom moderates the advertising tips section of http://www.bharatbhasha.com at http://www.bharatbhasha.com/advertising.php. This section is updated with new tips at least once a week, so do check it out.


Article Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.net
Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/advertising.php/98144


Article Added on Monday, September 29, 2008
LD
Other Articles by Nirjara Rustom

The Psychology Of Social Proof
Social Proof is one of the most important psychological tactics increasingly used by advertisers, marketers, website owners, politicians, professionals, business owners, and many other folks. These folks understand the human psychology that it is easier and more comfortable to agree with others than analyzing and going our own way. Social proof makes them lazy to perform logical research and also relaxes their defenses. When there is enough social proof for the quality and worthiness of a...

Be Eco Friendly By Breastfeeding
In the past ten years or so, we’ve become increasingly aware of the need to radically change the way we live just so we don’t use up all of the earth’s resources. As a new mother, caring for the planet may be the furthest thing from your mind. Right now, you have to worry about your baby’s well-being and the time you spend with them. The ecological problem that the world is facing is the last thing you need to worry about. But you have to also look around you to realize that this is the world...

How To Survive The Recession And Turn Around Your Business
OK, so you’re in an extreme crisis and you’ve tried everything that you could possibly think of to get your business on the right track, but things just aren’t working out as they should. You’ve probably even spent a good chunk of your money on other books, courses and programs, but they did little to help. Your business is on its last legs and about to crumble. It’s high time that you take some “extreme measures” to set things right, right now! Don’t worry; I’m here to help you. Let’s...

How To Find Your Self Motivation Triggers One Size Does Not Fit All
We get motivation advice all the time. Some like to give it for free, just because they like to show as if they know more than you do. But quite often, they do this to try and give you a sense of inferiority – as if they’re superior to you. There are exceptions where some people do have a genuine interest to help folks, but these are few. Some people like to sell motivational stuff to make money and earn fame. While I do not favor, nor condone anyone or any method in particular, I will always...

How To Win The Job That You Want
As soon as we finish school, we enter into the real world and become part of the so-called working class. A job search can be a stressful process, especially if the choices you’re presented with aren’t the ones you necessarily want. The competition is fierce and you need to formulate the right strategy to get the job that you desire.During the search process, you first need to know where your strengths and interests lie. You need a clear picture of your desire in mind and the kind of work you...

Overcoming Laziness And Winning
When we were young, we had so many plans. We’d always think about the limitless possibilities we’d have when we grow up. Then we go about playing, thinking that we have so much time ahead. We set those dreams aside and enjoy our youth to the fullest. While this may be a healthy attitude, some people take relaxation to another level. They procrastinate and set their planning to another day until that day comes too late.They suddenly find themselves already grown up with no clear direction in...

The Sure Shot Success Formula
There are only 3 things that are required to be successful:1. Knowledge. 2. Motivation. 3. Action.But what does success really mean?In reality, success could have entirely different meanings for different people, sometimes even radically opposite! It all depends on their individual goal.• For some people, success means to make a lot of money, buy cars, a house, maybe a private jet, etc. • For some, it means to be healthy enough to live up to almost a hundred years in prime health. • Some...

If You re Not Targeting The Average Woman In Your Advertisement This Article Tells You How You re Leaving Serious Money On The Table
Most people think that since men are mostly the bread earners and women mostly look after the household, it must be men who take most of the purchase decisions. Or at least that’s what advertisers think, these days. Why then are advertisement targeted towards men in general? Quite often I see ads with scantily or inappropriately dressed pretty females promoting a product, where her attire has nothing to do with it. Have you seen real women using a washing machine in her undergarments? Have you...

Eighteen Surefire Tips To Lose Money Online Even When You Sleep
Things are going out of hand! These days, we see internet marketers giving advice on making money online which is either a rehashed version of some old ebook or course, or some old method presented in a different manner that no longer works. Sometimes the product is made with an intention of making a fast buck, without bothering to provide any real value. There is so much information overload, it’s difficult for a newbie to know if some new methods of making money online are really new and have...

How To Get And Retain More Subscribers To Your Newsletter
The money is in the list. Any internet marketer will swear by that, if he is even moderately successful in internet marketing. In fact, I was reading an ebook where an internet marketing guru was interviewed. The interviewer asked the question:“If you were told that whatever you have will be taken away from you, including all your money, equity, home, office, bank balance, etc, but you were allowed to keep just one thing with you, what would it be?” He answered “My customer list. There is one...

Click here to see More Articles by Nirjara Rustom
Publishers / Webmasters
Tell A Friend
Leave A Comment!
Download this article in PDF
Report Article!
Search through all the articles:


294 Users Online!!
Related Articles:
Latest Articles:
 
Advertising >> Top 50 Articles on Advertising
Category - >
Advertising Advice Affiliate Programs Automobiles
Be Your Own Mentor Careers Communication Consumers
CopyWriting Crime Domain Names DoT com Entrepreneur Corner
Ebooks Ecommerce Education Email
Entertainment Environment Family Finance And Business
Food & Drink Gardening Health & Fitness Hobbies
Home Business Home Improvement Humour House Holds
Internet And Computers Kiddos and Teens Legal Matters Mail Order
Management Marketing Marriage MetaPhysical
Motivational MultiMedia Multi Level Marketing NewsLetters
Pets Psychology Religion Parenting
Politics Sales Science Search Engine Optimization
Site Promotion Sports Technology Travel
Web Development Web Hosting WeightLoss Women's Corner
Writing Miscellaneous Articles Real Estate Arts And Crafts
Aging


Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent the views of bharatbhasha.net and/or its owners.


Copyright © AwareINDIA. All rights reserved || Privacy Policy || Terms Of Use || Author Guidelines || Free Articles
FAQs Link To Us || Submit An Article || Free Downloads|| Contact Us || Site Map  || Advertise with Us ||
Click here for Special webhosting packages for visitors of this website only!
Vastu Shastra

Linux Hosting Provided By AwareIndia