Today we begin a series of posts that are aimed at helping business owners learn more about the right and wrong ways to advertise.
Our iTitans staff has more than 25 years of experience in the media business: selling advertising for radio and TV stations, Outdoor (billboards) and web properties. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. The first tip we can give you is that nearly every advertising media can be effective for you, though obviously your expectations from running a TV ad in the Super Bowl differ from having a 1″ x 2″ ad on a placemat at a local diner. The key is to have a Game Plan:
- determine what advertising funds you have available for the coming year.
- determine what at least 5 or 6 of your local media cost.
- determine what Reach and Frequency you will achieve using each of the media, based on a certain budget amount.
- drive your best bargain with the 2 or 3 media outlets that fit your budget best.
- develop a good relationship with the sales rep and the sales manager at your preferred media outlet.
- run your campaign and don’t cancel it too soon.
- repeat the process.
So your first step is to gather your available funds together for an advertising budget. We’ll explain more about that in our next post in the series.