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The Importance of Advertising in Business

Advertising is a big part of many business-marketing strategies. While it can be costly, it is a great way for companies to get exposure for their products and services. A successful advertising campaign can be used to launch a new product or service or to revive old ones. Here are a few advertising techniques that companies use to grab your attention:

Celebrity endorsements
We are all familiar with celebrity infomercials where popular movie, TV and sports stars lend their names and faces, or even voices to popular products. The rationale is that if the product or service is good enough for them, it must be good enough for us.

Emotional pleas
Other businesses prefer a more emotional approach to attract our attention. Think of commercials you’ve seen of a baby’s first steps, a father’s oldest daughter getting married, or Junior going off to college. Coupled with the right music, voice-over or image, these advertisements draw us in quickly and hold onto us as we relate to the characters portrayed.

Exaggerated enthusiasm
Whether it is a group of guys seeking the perfect beer on a hot summer beach or a couple enjoying its first romantic meal together, advertisements lean toward exaggerated enthusiasm to show us how great life can be…if we’ll just try their product or service.

While these strategies and a multitude of others are often successful, advertising is not without its flaws. Common mistakes include:

• Choosing only one venue for your ads. Generally, well placed ads in a multimedia strategy works better than one ad in one media.
  
  
• Overstating the qualifications and value of your product, service or company. Customers aren’t stupid. If you tell them you are the world’s greatest hot dog maker, they may disagree. In fact, you may even offend some potential customers. Instead, tell them “we sell more hot dog varieties than any other vendor in Seattle, or “named best hog dog in Grand Rapids in 2005.”
  
  
• Fail to tell customers what you want. The number #1 sales and advertising mistake is to fail to give your customers direction. Every advertisement needs to include a call to action, typically at the end of an ad. What do you want them to do? Shop at your store today, visit your website, call for more information? Decide what it is you need from them and then ask for it. If you don’t ask for action, you won’t get any.

Expert Help
Regardless of your business, advertising can be a scary road to embark upon alone. If you are uncertain what advertising strategies you should choose, consider hiring an advertising agency. These marketing gurus are well trained and experienced enough to hold even the most inexperienced of hands.