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Advertising: From business cards
to Super Bowl spots
Bankrate.com
Advertising doesn't always mean signing up a
high-priced agency and shelling out $1.5 million for a 30-second
spot during the Super Bowl. For the small entrepreneur, getting
the word out can be as cheap and simple as printing some fliers
and putting them on windshields.
"Advertising is many, many things," says Irwin
Coplin, a former New York advertising executive and a counselor
for the Service Corps of Retired Executives. "It isn't necessarily
plunking down half-a-million dollars for a TV spot."
Beginning small
A company on a shoestring can ask small business development centers
and local chapters of SCORE
for free help in designing letterheads, logos and brochures. A business
owner can spend as little as a couple of hundred dollars to print
these so-called guerrilla marketing materials.
The Internet also is a cheap way to get the
word out, but it's not a sure home run. "The Internet has a low
cost of entry, but it's easy to get lost in the shuffle," says Marvin
Nesbit, head of the Small Business Development Center at Florida
International University in Miami.
Those who do create a Web site should be sure
to promote the address tirelessly on letterheads, brochures and
business cards.
Pay
attention to design
Don't skimp on business cards, says Larry Oskin, president of Marketing
Solutions in Fairfax, Va., which designs ad campaigns for beauty
salons, dry cleaners and other small businesses. Make sure the cards
are bold and memorable.
"They're mini-billboards," Oskin says.
The same goes for the sign outside the business.
Make sure it's visible and always lighted, he advises.
And understand graphic design before creating
a logo, Oskin says. "Too many small businesses don't use distinguishable
logos. A logo needs an icon, such as McDonald's arches and Coca-Cola's
wave."
Yellow Pages ads are important, but it's not
necessary to buy a full-page display ad, Oskin says. Rather, a small
logo ad is enough. "When your ad is one of hundreds of dry cleaners
on that page, it's going to pop out."
Moving
beyond simple
For companies that are ready to move beyond guerrilla marketing,
the costs escalate.
For about $200 a month, a small company can
keep a small quick-print shop on retainer to help design brochures,
Oskin says. It's also possible -- and relatively inexpensive --
to buy an ad from a newspaper and ask the paper's designers to create
an ad. At many newspapers, the services of the art department come
free with the purchase of the ad.
Small business owners also should consider direct
mail, Oskin says. If an advertiser does a cooperative direct mailing
with other companies, he can reach 10,000 homes for four cents a
home, or $400. Clipper magazine, Val Pak and other direct marketing
firms offer such services. Buy an annual agreement so the business's
name is in consumers' mailboxes five or six times a year, Oskin
says.
Those who prefer a solo direct mail will likely
pay 25 cents to 75 cents a home, Oskin says.
Hiring
a pro
The next step up in the advertising food chain is a freelance ad
professional, who likely uses an informal network of copywriters
and artists. A small firm such as Oskin's Marketing Solutions charges
at least $2,000 a month, while big ad agencies charge $5,000 a month
or more.
Agencies typically listen to a company executive's
vision of her business, then try to translate that vision to customers.
Financing isn't available for ad campaigns.
But a persuasive entrepreneur might be able to convince an agency
to accept payment in a form other than cash. "There are times when
an agency will take on an account for a piece of the action," Coplin
says. "That's not a normal kind of a circumstance, but it has been
done."
Bring
in the big guns?
Opinions vary on the need to hire an agency. Some say an ad doesn't
need to be polished to be effective. But others say an agency is
a must.
"If they're going to do mass media, they should
work with an agency," SCORE's Coplin says. "We used to say in the
business that if somebody can write their name and draw a straight
line, they're a copywriter and an artist."
Everyone agrees that piecemeal ad campaigns
don't work. In other words, you have to hammer customers with a
message, and sporadic spots at 2 a.m. on cable TV won't cut it.
"Ad campaigns need to be quite consistent and
ongoing," Oskin says. "You can't expect to only spend $1,000 or
$2,000 a year and expect to get anything out of it."
-- Posted: April 22, 1999
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