Effective Use of Billboards

An example of an effective billboard:
Bright colors, strong graphic,
minimal copy
(Click to enlarge)

Billboards can be an effective advertising tool when used correctly. There are so many ways to use them incorrectly, however, and that equates to wasted marketing dollars. Billboards, also known as outdoor advertising, should be used to deliver a single, high-impact message in a short time period. That time period is typically only five or six seconds, so nothing in the design or copy can be wasted.

Billboards usually come in standard sizes, ranging from 5' x 11' to 20' x 60' and can be printed in either one large vinyl graphic on a single sheet, or on several panels. Placement of the sign and its design are the critical elements of how successful - or not - a billboard can be.

Where a sign is placed and how much traffic it receives are obvious factors and should be discussed with the outdoor advertising company. A directional sign that indicates the location of the store should, of course, be located within a short distance of the shop, but billboards can also be used to build anticipation along major thoroughfares or highways many miles away from the actual destination.

Anyone familiar with the "See Rock City" or "South of the Border" billboards along interstates in Tennessee and the I-95 corridor will be familiar with this strategy.

As far as billboard design goes, keep elements to three or less. Wording should be limited to three or four clear words, with ten at the very most. Motorists will not be able to remember details - like phone numbers  or long URL's - as they're driving past at highway speeds. Even urban billboards are competing with a lot of other distractions and elements should be kept to a minimum.

Make sure the colors are bold and high in contrast. Subtle images and colors that may work well in, say, a magazine ad will not work at all in billboard design. Keep the design simple!

Basically, billboards should be used for one of two purposes - branding and directional. The directional sign gives the name of the business or logo, maybe a photo or graphic depicting what it sells, company slogan, and some sort of quick direction like, "Turn right at next signal, on left half mile".

A branding sign contains even less information - typically just the name of the company and the logo and a catchy slogan or headline. Branding billboards are usually utilized by large, national companies with equally large marketing budgets. Smaller companies can still use them, but usually couple them with directional designs.

That headline shouldn't be overlooked. This is your chance to tell your prospective customer what your product, service, or store will do for them. Be creative, and sell the benefit of your product, not just the feature. I'll devote a later blog post to features and benefits but, in general, a benefit answers the question, "What's in it for me?".

Whether you're employing a directional or branding billboard, remember to keep it simple. Yes, I'm saying it again, because it's critical. A billboard cannot be treated the same as a newspaper, magazine, or direct mail advertising. With a print ad, you can (within reason) fill up the space with the important information about your product or service. A billboard does not afford you the same luxury.

As with any advertising medium, a good media mix extends your reach into the market, maximizing the number of people receiving your marketing message. Billboards can be an effective complement to practically any ad campaign.

The ROI of Blogging

A couple posts ago I talked about how blogging can play an important role in your marketing plans. A website for your small business is critical, of course, but social media - of which blogging is a part - is just as crucial. Remember, by blogging you position yourself as the expert in your field. Blogs help you disseminate information to the public (and the search engines) which ultimately leads folks back to your website where you hopefully convert them into leads or sales.

That all sounds great in theory, but are there actual numbers to support that? In fact there are! I came across the blog for Kuno Creative out of Ohio and an article by its president, Chris Knipper, titled "How Much Does it Cost a Company to Stop Blogging - ROI Revealed". In it, Knipper points to a medical practice that was blogging consistently for six months and, after a merger, quit for six months, then started blogging again.

The numbers were dramatic. Traffic, leads generated, converted, and overall ROI were all impacted by the blogging hiatus. I won't spend any more time summarizing Knipper's article, but I urge you to follow the above link to it and read it for yourself.

I can't imagine a better argument for incorporating blogging into your marketing plans.

Vertical Versus Horizontal Advertising

Advertising is advertising, right? Well, advertising is decidedly not "one size fits all." When you're planning your advertising buy, you should look at what you want to accomplish with it. Is this a long-term branding campaign to raise awareness of your business in the marketplace? Or are you having a big event like a sale coming up and want to bring as many people as possible into your store in a short amount of time?

If your objective is more long-term in nature, then you'll be utilizing a horizontal ad campaign. The goal of the horizontal campaign is to keep your name at the top of the consumer's mind so when they're ready to buy the particular good or service that you offer, they'll think of you and not your competitor. See my earlier post on the "thin market concept" for more details on this.

A horizontal ad campaign is characterized by small ads in the newspaper run several times a week over a long period of time. There is typically not price points or sale items listed in the ad. Your logo, tagline or slogan, a brief description of your products or services, and contact information is all that is necessary. Think of it as a billboard in the newspaper. The benefit comes from long term frequency.

This can also be accomplished by running short commercials on the radio or TV. By buying the shortest time period available, some as low as 10 seconds, but concentrating on long term frequency, you'll build that awareness over time.

One thing to remember with horizontal ad campaigns, you will not see immediate results. This is all about branding and building awareness in the marketplace for your company. The results you see will build over time.

Sales and other events call
for vertical ad campaigns.
Photo by Kevin Rosseel
Morguefile.com

If, however, you are holding a big sale or grand opening event, then a vertical ad campaign is what you want to utilize. Rather than spreading your advertising over six months or a year as in a horizontal ad campaign, your advertising will be condensed into a one or two week period. Here, you're not focusing on the long term, but reaching as many people as often as possible during the campaign.

Typically newspapers have the largest penetration into the marketplace, so load up on large ads, in color if possible, to garner the most attention from potential consumers. In contrast to the minimal amount of information in the horizontal campaign ads, vertical campaign ads will emphasize price, or the event itself. Include features and benefits of your products (benefits answer the consumer's question, "What's in it for me?).

Vertical campaign commercials on TV or radio take full advantage of the longer time frames, like 30 seconds and 60 seconds, and utilize the same components of similar newspaper ads.

When trying to reach as many people as possible, consider a "media mix" of newspapers, electronic, and other media. More on a healthy media mix in a later post.

Good luck with your next advertising campaign, whether it's horizontal or vertical.

Blogging as a Marketing Tool

You're reading this blog to gain some insight about marketing your small business. Hopefully you're finding it helpful in some way or you've learned something about how to best promote your business. But why am I writing it? I'm actually writing it for three reasons:

1. I enjoy writing. I maintain other blogs, am active on various forums, used to write for a small, specialty publication, and even tried my hand at a novel or two. Marketing is a topic I'm passionate about and they always say to write about what you know.
2. I truly want to help small businesses. I know how difficult it is for entrepreneurs to get their start ups, well, started up, and if I can help a little on the marketing end, I get satisfaction out of that.
3. I'm using this blog to promote small businesses of mine. See the sponsor links to the right, and the ad for the pens? That's my business, promotional products and graphic design. It's my hope that a few of you will click on the links and maybe place an order for custom imprinted pens, coffee mugs, website or blog header.

That third point is what I want to explore in this post. How can you use a blog to promote your business? The best answer is to provide information. People are hungry for information about what you're selling. And simply put, if you provide that information, folks will find you thanks to Google and the other search engines. Google loves blogs. An active blog is indexed frequently by the search engines, and the more fresh, original, and relevant content you provide, the more you will be found by Google and the others.

Let me repeat the key words from that last sentence: to be successful, your blog must be fresh, original, and relevant.

Let's look at these points one by one. If you create a blog, write a few posts and then abandon it, Google will eventually lose interest in it and you'll fall lower in the result rankings. That doesn't mean you have to write every day or even every week. At least once a month though, you should add something to your blog.

Photo courtesy of cohdra/Morguefile.com

Your content must also be original. Simply cutting and pasting from some other source and letting that be your blog post will not get you anywhere in the search engines. In fact, it may hurt you. It's okay, of course, to quote from someone else's blog or website, with attribution, but wholesale copying won't score you any points with the search engines. Since you know your business inside and out, create original content for your blog. What if you're not a writer? More on that later.

Finally, the content must be relevant. If you're a small home builder you should write about home building. Trends, construction techniques, decorating and landscaping choices, financing, etc. are all good topics to explore. Maybe you figure that writing about an upcoming election and politics will be good for traffic to your blog, since a lot of people are interested in those issues, but if you stray too far from the purpose of your blog, Google will not reward you with high search results and, more importantly, readers will feel deceived and quit reading.

If you're the one providing valuable information and answers, you become reliable and trusted. So when the reader actually wants to purchase your goods or service, they think of you.

A quick note: It might be tempting to make each blog post a sales pitch. For example, if you're that home builder you might want to announce that you just dropped your price on a particular model by $5000. Those types of posts are okay - in moderation. Use conventional advertising to announce sales and other similar events. Overt advertising messages in a blog format is a quick way to lose readers. Instead, provide valuable information that the reader may not know. Insider tips, the pluses and minuses of roof types, granite versus marble, etc.

Even though people typically find your blog through Google, don't write "to the search engines." Write to your reader. Yes, you can sprinkle in keywords that might attract your blog to Google, but again, moderation is the key. Write in a natural, easy style, and your readers will appreciate it.

What if writing just isn't your thing? You were never very good at it in school and have trouble composing an e-mail. No problem. You can assign someone in your office the task if they're suitable or hire someone. There are blog writing services out there or you can advertise for someone just like you'd advertise for any other position (newspaper, LinkedIn, Craigslist, etc.). Freelance writers abound and you'll just need to work with them to impart what you want to write about.

Lastly, how do you set up a blog in the first place? There are many blogging platforms available and most are free. You're reading this Blogger, owned by Google. Other popular platforms include WordPress, TypePad, and Tumblr. Comparisons are available on the web for each of the major platforms.

Another choice to make is whether to integrate your blog into your company website or blog independently of it, like I do. There are advantages to each. An integrated blog helps keep your website fresh and Google-friendly, while an independent blog with links back to your business website help build backlinks, also a Google favorite.

However you do it, I strongly recommend creating and maintaining a blog for your small business. It's free and really delivers long-term benefits to your marketing efforts. Good luck!

Now go buy some pens! :-)

The "Thin Market" Concept

A plumber is an example of a business
facing a "thin market".
Photo courtesy of Dave/Morguefile.com

You may have seen or heard the term "thin market" and wondered how it applied to your business, or even what it was. In just a few short paragraphs, you'll have a complete understanding of the term, and what bearing it has on your marketing.

A bare bones definition of a thin market is that there are relatively few buyers and sellers for a particular good or service. The term comes from investing, where it means that there are few bids for a stock or other financial instrument. The opposite is a "liquid market", where there are many buyers and sellers and lots of transactions taking place.

In the world of retail, grocery stores, gas stations, fast food restaurants, etc. typically do not find themselves in a thin market situation. Retailers specializing in furniture, appliances, high end clothing, jewelry, and the like are faced with a thin market, as are service providers such as plumbers, electricians, roofers, flooring companies, etc.

A more detailed explanation of the thin market reveals that the buyers of a particular good or service, say plumbing, are not in need of that service on a regular basis. How often do you need a plumber? Probably no more than every few years, if that. In addition, the buyer is not in the market for long. They typically make their buying decision within a day or so.

Depending on the industry, only a very small percentage of the adult population is in the market for a good or service at any given time. Two or three percent is the norm.

For this reason, if you're a business that is faced with a thin market, you must market yourself a little more aggressively. It doesn't necessarily take more of an investment, you just need to keep your name in the marketplace on a consistent basis.

For example, let's look at the aforementioned plumber who has an advertising budget of, say, $5000 for the year. What would be the best use of his money? Running a full page ad in the paper one day that says "I'll fix your leak for $5" might be tempting, but unwise. Although a full page ad in the newspaper is certainly attention-getting, remember that only a very small percentage of the population is seeking a plumber's service at any moment in time. If the reader of the ad does not have a leak, no matter how good the offer is, it will be ignored and quickly forgotten.

However, if that same plumber ran a small, business card sized or less, ad in the paper three days a week for a year, people would get used to seeing the ad on a regular basis. Then, six months from now when the reader does have a leaky faucet, they'll think of the plumber whose ad is consistently in the paper. His marketing message will remain "top of mind".

The results of such top of mind advertising in a thin market build over time. Therefore, the small business who is facing a thin market should understand the strategies behind how to succeed in such a situation, and commit to a long-term schedule of advertising to raise their brand awareness.

Other strategies to keep your name top of mind with prospective customers include promotional products, such as pens, coffee cups, magnets, etc. that feature your business name, logo, and phone number. Putting useful items like pens directly in the hands of consumers is a strong marketing tactic that can help build your brand over time.

Using Coupons in Your Advertising

Coupons with a dollar amount
get better response than
those with percentages.

Everybody likes a deal! And coupons are a great way to offer that deal, plus allows the small business owner to track the response to his or her advertising. Coupons are an excellent method of attracting new customers too. They should be used judiciously however, otherwise consumers may get conditioned to seeing them and only patronize your business when a coupon appears. Let's look at some of the more effective offers one can include on a coupon to boost sales and gain new business.

The first rule is that the offer has to be strong. It should go without saying that a weak offer will attract very few people. I once had a local restaurant as a client who wanted to run a coupon in his weekly newspaper ad. His offer read "5% Off Your Next Meal!" Five percent? That wouldn't have even covered the tax. It's doubtful that many people would have bothered to take the time to cut out the coupon and I advised him that he would attract no new customers with a coupon like that.

What would have been a far better offer is a "Buy One Dinner, Get One Free" - or at least half price - coupon. The stronger the offer, the better the response. Also, don't make the offer valid for more than a month. A long-term, or open-ended coupon offer will be set aside and forgotten. A coupon with an expiration date one or two weeks out will have a sense of urgency and more likely to be used.

If you're not presenting a "Buy One Get One" offer and are considering instead a percentage off, use an actual dollar amount instead. "$5 Off" is better than "25% Off". Consumers can instantly see how much they will save by cutting out the coupon and bringing it in. If you're offering half off, say it, don't use 50%. Actual dollar amounts and words like "half off" are more powerful than a percentage.

Work with your vendors to see if they can supply merchandise that can be given away free with a purchase. Any time you use the word "Free" in an ad or coupon will spur your customers to action, as long as you're giving away something of true value.

Understand that there is a sizable segment of the population that do not cut out coupons, no matter how good the offer. But for those who do, making sure the offer is simply stated and strong will bring them to your store.

Designing an Effective Logo - Application

In the previous post, I wrote about some of the theory behind designing an effective logo; what a logo is and how it should best represent your brand. So how do we actually apply the theory and come up with a well-crafted logo?

First, and this may seem obvious, identify what kind of business you're operating. If you're an accounting firm, your logo will probably look different than a bakery, and with good reason. An accounting business has to project an image of reliability, trust, precision, etc. A bakery's image is warm, inviting, taste-filled, even fun.

Font choice is critical in a logo. That same accounting firm will probably use serif fonts while the bakery could use sans serif, rounded lettering. Examples of each are shown below.

Are the font choices hard and fast rules? Not at all, but at least be mindful of what kind of image the various typefaces present. Can an accounting company use a sans serif font? Of course, just as a bakery can use a serif font with great effectiveness. As long as the fonts are chosen with deliberate intent and not tossed in with no thought.

It's helpful when developing a logo for your business to sketch out some preliminary ideas - a lot of them. Grab a pencil and a pad of paper and get busy! Don't concern yourself with the tagline or slogan at this time. That's actually not part of your logo. The logo is the name of the company and/or the symbol only.

Your logo can consist of type only or you can incorporate a piece of art or symbol. Resist the urge to use clip art however. The problem when using clip art is two-fold: the mere fact that it's clip art means it's available to practically everyone and may have been used dozens of times already, even in logos. You're not going to have a unique and memorable logo if some other business is using the same piece of art.

Often, the other issue with using clip art as part of your logo is legal in nature. Stock images and clip art licensing typically preclude using them in logos. If you insist on using clip art, make sure you check the licensing.

Not using clip art doesn't mean that you are confined to a type-only logo. Circles, squares, triangles, stars, bars, and other shapes and how they're arranged can lend interest to your logo and help make it unique and memorable.

Contrast is important in the design of your logo, whether it's juxtaposing two typefaces (bold vs. light within the same type family) or size. Alignment is also important - centering everything doesn't always work. Also, if you're going to align two elements on the left side, make sure they're truly aligned. If they're off a little, the eye will instantly notice the discord. The same goes with contrasting two typefaces - don't use two different serif fonts together. If your goal is contrast, use a serif next to a sans-serif. If you want to keep the serif font but want to contrast it with something similar, use the italic or bold form of the font.

Below is the logo I developed for Seneca Promotional Products. Note that the word "Seneca" is a strong, serif font, which connotes trustworthiness and reliability. The "Promotional Products" is in smaller type, and a different, sans-serif font. The contrast between "Seneca" and "Promotional Products" is unmistakable. The circles to the left are simple shapes arranged in an arc.

The colors chosen for the logo are not accidental, they represent the four colors used in printing - cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A little artistic license was used in the colors as they are no true cyan, magenta, and yellow, but the overall image works, however subtle. Although the logo is in color, it would still work easily with shades of gray or black & white.

The example below is one that represents everything bad about logo design. Clip art was used, that has nothing to do with the type of business, and while the fonts between "Seneca" and "Promotional Products" is contrasted, the use of Papyrus and Comic Sans is weak and hackneyed. The warping of the word "Seneca" is done with no purpose, and the drop shadow behind it should be viewed as an afterthought. Finally, centering all the type is static and boring.

Obviously I created the "bad" version of my company's logo with the intent of using it as an example of what not to do but, unfortunately, this isn't too far from actual logos I've seen from small businesses.

With the right tools and a little know-how, a small business can design their own logo or, better yet, be better armed with enough knowledge to offer meaningful input to a hired designer.