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