OK, so you are ready to produce your first advertising and marketing campaign. Let me give you a typical scenario that I hear from many of my clients.
You have some extra capital, either through your hard work or finally the bank has favored you and offered some working capital. You want to take advantage of this situation, but you need be careful with it too. It's not much capital and you need it to work for you. You've never really needed advertising or marketing because you have grown your business by its own reputation and through word-of-mouth (by the way, that's called viral marketing).
Now it's go time, the fourth quarter is almost upon us and this is your time to take advantage of your marketing budget. It's time to make a real profit. Your small business is poised to grow. But how do you build a marketing war chest you know will work? What if you miss something? Fear not, there is a proven process that will help you. It's called a creative brief.
First, know your market. Make sure to identify your best target audience, as well as your secondary target audience. You do not want to exclude any potential business if possible. Next, write a short mission statement for the campaign. What do you want it to achieve for you? This might sound silly at first, but if you think of it as a blue print with end goals than it will help you to stay focused as you go through the process. Now, what is your competitive advantage? This is very important to consider and will be exploited in the advertising or marketing message. Ask yourself why you have this advantage. What features of your product or service provide the benefits that give you an advantage? Take the essential benefit and write down the reason you believe in it. This is your central message.
Finally, you have your message and are ready to create your first advertising campaign. It is time to decide how it should look and feel. Colors and shapes are important parts of creating the right image for your campaign. Consider using elements from your logo, a picture or illustration of the product itself or someone using the product. If you are selling an “image” or the result of your product or service, you may need to hire a photographer or use a stock photo (many of which can be found online). Visualize your campaign and write down how you want it to look, feel and sound.
You may need to bring in a local graphic artist or production company to actually complete the physical work of putting your campaign together. There are many listed with your local chamber of commerce. However, now that you have used a proven methodical process and developed a clear vision of what you want your target audience to experience, when they see or hear your new campaign you can rest at ease that your marketing dollars will be working for you.
You have some extra capital, either through your hard work or finally the bank has favored you and offered some working capital. You want to take advantage of this situation, but you need be careful with it too. It's not much capital and you need it to work for you. You've never really needed advertising or marketing because you have grown your business by its own reputation and through word-of-mouth (by the way, that's called viral marketing).
Now it's go time, the fourth quarter is almost upon us and this is your time to take advantage of your marketing budget. It's time to make a real profit. Your small business is poised to grow. But how do you build a marketing war chest you know will work? What if you miss something? Fear not, there is a proven process that will help you. It's called a creative brief.
First, know your market. Make sure to identify your best target audience, as well as your secondary target audience. You do not want to exclude any potential business if possible. Next, write a short mission statement for the campaign. What do you want it to achieve for you? This might sound silly at first, but if you think of it as a blue print with end goals than it will help you to stay focused as you go through the process. Now, what is your competitive advantage? This is very important to consider and will be exploited in the advertising or marketing message. Ask yourself why you have this advantage. What features of your product or service provide the benefits that give you an advantage? Take the essential benefit and write down the reason you believe in it. This is your central message.
Finally, you have your message and are ready to create your first advertising campaign. It is time to decide how it should look and feel. Colors and shapes are important parts of creating the right image for your campaign. Consider using elements from your logo, a picture or illustration of the product itself or someone using the product. If you are selling an “image” or the result of your product or service, you may need to hire a photographer or use a stock photo (many of which can be found online). Visualize your campaign and write down how you want it to look, feel and sound.
You may need to bring in a local graphic artist or production company to actually complete the physical work of putting your campaign together. There are many listed with your local chamber of commerce. However, now that you have used a proven methodical process and developed a clear vision of what you want your target audience to experience, when they see or hear your new campaign you can rest at ease that your marketing dollars will be working for you.