Should You Advertise?
Insert from Entrepreneur.com
The below says it best,
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Information
When it comes to producing great advertising, the single most important resource you can work with is information. In fact, you can never have too much of it. All the truly great campaigns of the last 50 years have been based on solid information. One example of this prerequisite virtue is the classic David Ogilvy ad for Rolls Royce with the headline, "At 50 miles an hour, the loudest noise you can hear is the ticking of the dashboard clock." Ogilvy didn't spout pseudo engineering, "Power Glide Auto Gismo smoothes the ride and puts you in charge." Or snob appeal, "When you arrive in your pink Château La Grande, the girls at the country club will die with envy." Instead he featured the unmatched craftsmanship, quality, and design of the car via the least talked about piece of equipment in it--the clock!
Start off with as much information as you can. It doesn't matter if you discard or fail to use 90 percent of it, the remaining 10 percent will contain that one nugget that will separate you from everyone else in the market.
Interestingly enough, some of the best advertising around is produced by those companies small enough for the founder and initial management team to be involved in every aspect of their advertising and marketing. The same people who had the guts and vision to take the risks required when starting their business in the first place are people who still believe passionately in what they are doing.
Should You Advertise?
Sit down. Pour yourself a stiff drink. Then, on one side of one sheet of paper write down all the reasons why you think you should be advertising. After you've done that, refill your glass, turn over that same sheet of paper, and write down all the reasons why you shouldn't be advertising. Only if the reasons on the first side of the sheet outweigh those on the reverse should you consider committing a portion of your hard-earned revenues to an ongoing ad program.
Let's consider what some of those reasons might be. The pros could be:
- You're in a startup mode; you need to let people know you exist.
- You've been around a while, and people still don't know you from a hole in the wall.
- Your competition advertises.
- Your competition is killing you.
- You have a deep-seated desire to kill your competition.
- You think you have a unique product/service.
- You are convinced you have a unique product/service.
- You want to be the next GE/IBM/Nike/P&G.
- Everyone else seems to advertise.
- Your wife/husband/partner/dog thinks it's a good idea.
- You have no idea where to begin.
- You don't think you have enough money to do it properly.
- You know your competition will probably outspend you.
- You're not sure if you have a unique product/service.
- You are absolutely sure you don't have a unique product/service.
- You're not ready to commit to a long-term program.
- You see advertising as an ill-begrudged expense, not an investment.
- Your best friend once got ripped off by an ad agency.
- You're quite sure you've never been influenced by an ad in your life.
- Your wife/husband/partner/dog thinks it's a dumb idea.
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In addition to the above, online advertising should not be overlooked. Your cost to reach is far higher than the conventional advertising methods and can cost a fraction of conventional advertising methods.
