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Small Biz Adviser: When advertising,
think 'effective,' not 'cheap'
Dear Small Biz Adviser
Hi. I own a small pet store. I have spent a lot on advertising,
and I am about out of money to spend on it. Do you know of any cheap
ways to advertise?
Thanks,
Steve
Dear Steve:
There is an axiom I live by in my business. I don't spend money
unless I am absolutely certain it will result in a return of that
money, plus a profit. Money and time are resources in my business.
I'll invest neither one if the result is a loss -- of time or money.
I am somewhat disturbed that you want to find
"cheap ways" to promote the business. It suggests to me you may
not have conducted adequate market research prior to spending those
valuable dollars on advertising.
You need to seriously evaluate your marketing
strategy. I hope you have been in business long enough to have identified
your typical customer. You need to know their common demographic
characteristics, such as age, marital status, gender, profession,
owners or renters, where they live and other types of products and
services they might want.
I also hope your business is located where these
customers typically are found. You want your store to be somewhere
they pass to purchase other products and services, or along heavily
traveled roads. An excellent, easy-to-read document about store
location is provided by the St. Charles City-County Library District.
You may think it's too late to read such literature, but wouldn't
you want a complete understanding about why some retailers equate
success to location?
Another key element in market research is to
carefully study successful competitors. Supposing your primary problem
is advertising, where, when and how do the successful competitors
advertise? And that should provide you volumes of suggestions about
where your advertising dollars should be going.
While writing this column I conducted some Internet
research. PetAge.com
offers a magazine for retail pet-supply outlets. Apparently, because
you are a pet-store owner, subscription to the magazine is free.
And you can apply for it online. Further investigation of the site
led me to identify certain of your competitors -- discount department
stores, PetsMart, Petco and the online invasion of sites selling
pet supplies. And while the large online store Pets.com went out
of business, plenty of online competition remains, as evidenced
by the Pets-abc123-shopping directory.
Finally, there is the matter of what you sell
in the store. Some retail outlets offer a cross-section of supplies.
Others include pets. While still others specialize in types of animals
and related supplies. Why is this important? Pet-store owners, like
all other entrepreneurs, need to find a way to stand apart from
the competitors. Some use discount or volume pricing. Others specialize
in types of products and services.
The Yellow Pages, Web sites and newspapers appear
to be common places to advertise. But where are the successful competitors
advertising? You are thinking "pfin" advertising. I am thinking
"effective" advertising. You can spend a little money and lose just
as easily as spend a lot of money and lose.
I urge you to think about effective advertising
that reaches the typical store customer. Remember to invest money
where it will result in a return equal to your cost plus a profit.
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