Advertising is an essential part of growing and expanding your business. You cannot expect your business to grow without consistent advertising and promotion. This does not mean you need to break the bank to advertise. You do not need to use expensive advertising methods to promote your business. You do, however, need to be smart in how you advertise and you need to be realistic in what to expect from your advertising.

Many businesses fall into what could be called the “now you see me, now you do not” syndrome. This is a common scenario with home-business owners. They run a billboard for a couple of months, place an ad in a newsletter, magazine or newspaper, send out direct mail or run a few radio spots and when they don’t see quick results they pull their ad after a very short run. This is one of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make.

Studies show that often a consumer needs to see your ad (product or service) a number of times before making a purchasing decision. Not only does repeating your ad give your company recognition with the consumer, it also gives your company credibility.

Learn from the very expensive mistake of one internet company. This company put their entire advertising budget into a one-time advertising spot during the Super Bowl. They hired extra people to man the phone center, expecting huge results. After all, this was the Super Bowl with millions upon millions of viewers! But guess what happened? The phone hardly rang at all. They were dumbfound and lost their advertising budget completely. You cannot expect great results with a one-time shot at advertising. Even if you are advertising to millions of people, repetition is the key.

Outdoor advertising reaches nearly every American, yet outdoor does not get a proportionate share of ad revenue.

Sources: Universal McCann, 2010 Total Media Spending; TVB, Nielsen Media Research Survey 2008, % Hours/Week

Filed under: by LVMA