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Marketing is always a tricky business. You need to strike that balance of pleasing and enticing the consumer without going overboard so as to turn them off.
And with so many information out there, it is very easy indeed to go 'overboard' and commit ad mistakes.
Advertising mistakes need not be overly dramatic as forgetting to put in your company contact details but can be a very simple item you can easily have avoided had you known about it...
5 Common Advertising Mistakes to Avoid
Ad Mistake # 1 - Stuffing your advertisement with EVERYTHING you wish to say. Even if you are offering carpets AND carpet cleaners, do not dilute your advertising by trying hard to promote both in one single ad.
To put it simply - if you had to post a newspaper ad requiring only 100 words, then you have given carpets and carpet cleaners what? 50 words each? Wouldn't it be better to put an ad about carpets, direct them to your website and then mention the carpet cleaners there? This way, you make MAXIMUM use of your advertisement.
Ad Mistake # 2 - Ignoring the importance of GOOD COPY. Your ad may have a great design but without the right words to accompany it, it is not enough to MOVE your consumer to give you a call, drop you an email or click that BUY button on your website. Imagine your ad with just a graphic and no words, would it deliver the message? Remember benefits sell, and you need to communicate the benefits.
Ad Mistake # 3 - Making untrue claims. TRUST - this is the relationship you need to build with your consumers so that they feel good about buying from you AND to make them come back to you again and again.
Of course, you can say that your product has the lowest price in the market, but can you really back that claim? If not, you may fool some consumers but when they find out... they won't come back to you anymore and you would have lost more sales in the long run instead.
More important than losing a few sales - your reputation is at stake. Your reputation is something you must protect at all times because going for the money now, at the price of your reputation will haunt you in the future.
Ad Mistake # 4 - Doing what everybody else is doing. Many advertisers put out their ads on Thursday and Friday so that their advertisements are before consumers just before weekend (when people go shopping). Now, even just for once or as an experiment, don't you want to try to put your ad on a Tuesday so that you are competing with LESS advertisers.
Furthermore, who says no one is looking at weekday ads? You are more likely to get their attention and stick in their minds because they saw your ad without all that other 'clutter'. This is just one small example. The lesson here is to experiment with a small portion of your ad budget.
Look for effective ways to market. Record and study your results and retest. Make this a habit and you're advertising campaign will get better and better with a steady increase in results.
Ad Mistake # 5 - Deceiving yourself with the REAL results of your advertising campaigns. Do not confuse response or reactions with results. For instance, you placed an ad and your website doubles its hits. Great, but how many actually bought your product or service?
So are you or are you not committing the five advertising mistakes above? If you are, there is no need to dwell on it further. The important thing is that you are now aware and as such can adjust your advertising campaigns to increase RESULTS.
Action Steps to Better Advertising Practices
- Identify your goals (i.e., this campaign should boost sales by..?)
- Identify your budget.
- Create your marketing plan and test it in a small group.
- Develop a system on how you can quantify results.
- If all this proves overwhelming, shop around for a reputable but inexpensive marketing firm to help you out.
Important Points to Better Advertising Practices
- Make ads clear and concise; don't overstuff it.
- Ensure you have great copy.
- Practice truth in advertising.
- Be unique! Don't be a copycat.
- Always measure the success of your ads (i.e., actual sales gained).
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