Advertising

New Media? Traditional Media? — What's BEST?

Although "hard sell" advertising is a thing of the past, any vital business needs to communicate with potential consumers on a regular basis to create sales. Advertising does this. It creates brand recognition, educates your customers about how they benefit by using your products and services, provides incentives for them to give you business, and promotes customer retention and loyalty when your business transactions meet or exceed their expectations.

A comprehensive marketing program should include advertising via both new media tools (social media, the internet, mobile devices) and traditional media (television, print ads, and radio).

New Media Advertising

There is no doubt that new media including social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), the internet (email, websites, search engine listings, Google Places), and mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) currently dominate the advertising scene. Knowing how best to utilize these tools — how to brand them and making them work for you — is critical.

Act One Creative has the staff and the knowledge to help you target your consumers using the new media advertising methods that are preferred by them. Here are just a few of the ways you can utilize these tools:

  • Using smartphone apps to help customers locate your tradeshow booth for a product demonstration using gps coordinates on the show floor.
  • Tweeting the location of your sandwich wagon so that shoppers will know when you are near their office for the lunch break.
  • Creating a website banner ad with a click-through link to enable online registration for an upcoming fundraiser.
  • Using Facebook, Twitter, and/or your website to post dynamic content including breaking product or industry news, upcoming events, special promos, etc.
  • Creating an online ad to appear in a targeted search engine results list, related website sidebars or on social media pages.
  • Creating a Facebook or website landing page to announce a new product or service and providing a special discount or promotion for those who decide to "join the mailing list" or "follow" you for future posts.
  • Using apps to offer a special discount or convenient payment option to loyal shoppers within a three mile radius of your business.

If you would like to step into new media with your advertising, or if you have been using new media but want to be more effective, Act One Creative can help you build an ongoing new media advertising campaign that is specifically branded to your business and targeted to your consumers. And, our new media ads will be consistent in style and tone to other pieces of your marketing campaign.

Nothing Beats Television Advertising

The internet may grab much of the attention these days, but TV is still the media king. According to one recent study, the average American spends more than 4 hours a day watching TV — and  99 percent of all US households have at least one TV.

Those numbers make one thing clear: television advertising is still the most pervasive and powerful tool for reaching U.S. consumers.

For small businesses, however, it's an expensive proposition. Airtime can be very expensive, and good commercials are difficult and costly to create.

Given both the costs and benefits, is TV advertising the right approach for you? We can help you look at the pros and cons, and help you to decide whether television advertising is a good choice.

Print Advertising

Printed newspapers and magazines do not have the readership they once had, so any print ads should be well thought out and placed in publications that will get you the greatest return on your investment.

If your business is located in a small town, advertising in the local community paper makes sense. That way you can attract the locals who would most likely frequent your store. If your business or service is specific to a particular section of the newspaper, run your ad in that area of the paper. For example, if you run a sporting goods store, make sure your ad appears in the paper's sports section.

If you have more to spend on print advertising, consider placing ads in magazines. Whereas the goal of newspaper advertising is to communicate a specific offer, the goal of magazine ads is usually more about enhancing and sustaining a brand. Magazine ads require you to consider your brand image and how you want to portray that image to your target audience.

As mentioned above, another alternative for print advertising, is to place online ads, with targeted placement in a number of locations, including on websites and search engine listings, in online news sources, on social media sites, and through mobile devices.

Act One Creative specializes in creating such ads. Contact us for more information.

Radio Advertising

In these days of social media and Facebook fan pages, radio might seem old-school. But radio can still be an important part of your overall media strategy.

One of the big benefits to radio, as in online advertising, is the ability to target your advertising to a specific audience. Different radio stations have different formats and target audiences ranging from political or news/talk radio, to music styles like oldies, hip-hop, or rock. Decide who you are trying to reach (teenagers, families, urban men, suburban moms), and then choose the radio format that reaches your audience.

Another benefit is that a 30-second ad on radio is often less expensive than a 30-second TV ad and it is substantially easier and quicker to produce. And, unlike print ads, you do not have to wait for the next issue to see the end result.

And don't forget, a key consideration when running radio ads is timing. Radio can often be background noise. You will need to run your ad frequently in order for it to make an impact. Morning and evening commutes are key times when many businesses want their ads to run, and there are only so many spots to go around. This can drive up the cost for choice time slots and a well negotiated media buy can get you the best prices and placement.