The importance of an advertising health check

The importance of an advertising health check

Effective advertising makes people remember your business

Advertising has been around for centuries in one form or another, but in today’s tough market it is imperative to market your business effectively to increase sales by making your audience aware of your services or products. Your advertising strategy will help your audience to form their first and lasting impressions of your business – and remember your name!

If you’ve been an avid advertiser for many years or you are just starting out, then we’d like to offer you some invaluable advice which is certain to help you.

If you have long-running adverts you may want to give them a little health check to make sure they are still relevant. Simply running the same ad month after month, year after year and paying it no attention at all, may be doing you a disservice. Here at CM Connection Magazines, we would recommend you run an advert and a complete marketing health check at least every 6 months – 12 months at a push.

Things to include in your health check are:

  • Is your phone, email and website address still valid?
  • Does your ad carry any logos for certifications or regulatory bodies and are these still viable and in date?
  • Do any disclaimers apply?
  • Have you updated your social media platform icons?
  • Is the wording in your copy still correct? Have you now been in business longer than your text says?
  • Have you added any new services that your audience need to know about?
  • Are you specific in your ‘call to action’? Does your audience know what to do next in order to use your services?

By doing all of the above you can reap some pretty important benefits including:

  • Increasing your sales simply by telling potential customers how to contact you.
  • Giving information about new product launches, special offers and business improvements.
  • Reminding existing customers that you are still operating.
  • Generating new awareness and tapping into a potential new customer base.
  • Creating a distinctive brand for your business.

Local advertising can benefit any business, especially the sole traders and SMEs who may not have a huge marketing budget. Advertising in local publications and doing leaflet drops in the areas where you want to increase business is a proven winning formula.

When effective local advertising reaches the people it is intended for, you capture the attention of your prospective customer and entice them to use your services or products. Whichever method of advertising you choose, all your advertising should be clear and consistently reflect the unique positioning and values of your business. Your advertising should be ‘interruptive’ — people should  stop thumbing through the pages and start reading your ad!

Once you have nurtured a happy band of regular customers you won’t be far behind the added benefits of FREE word-of-mouth advertising; a most effective form that has the desired qualities of strong credibility, multiple audience levels who are receptive to what you have to offer; satisfied customers are always your best advertisements.

We hope that you find our advertising health check useful and we will be sharing more useful local advertising tips soon, so keep an eye out and an ear open for more from us. If you need any further information on our CM23 and CM17 magazines, we’d be only too happy to help.

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