Advertising: the basics

Advertising is an important component of your marketing strategy. The aim is to promote your business and communicate the information you want to send to your intended audience, usually with the aim of increasing sales or making your audience aware of your products or services.

Until a customer deals with you directly and actually buys your products or services, your advertising may help to form their first impressions of your business. Advertising can certainly attract new customers – but only if it’s done properly. Otherwise it can deter potential customers.

This guide gives advice on where and how to advertise, and what advertising can achieve. It also shows you how to manage the advertising process and ensure you get value for money.

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How advertising can help your business

Advertising can be anything from your shop sign or a website, to an advertisement in a trade magazine or a 30-second radio slot.

Advertising can:

• provide basic information such as your contact details and website address
• increase sales by telling potential customers about your product or service
• tell customers about changes to your service, new product launches and improvements
• increase your short-term sales with a specific one-off message – informing people of a special offer or a particular benefit of your product
• prompt specific action – perhaps getting customers to visit your premises or website, or use a discount voucher by a specified time
• remind existing customers about your business
• change people’s attitudes and perceptions of your business
• help to create or develop a distinctive brand for your business to help you stand out from your competitors
• make your business first choice for customers, ahead of your competitors
• generate awareness of your business
• develop a particular market niche or position

Advertising doesn’t always need to be about sales and marketing. You can also use it to:

• recruit staff – a recruitment advertisement should also be a chance to promote your business
• source suppliers and contractors – this also helps to position your business as active and expanding

Target your customers

Decide whether your target audience is local or regional, national or international, or a mixture. Remember that a local business might benefit from national advertising, particularly if it is looking to expand into new territories.

You can advertise in a wide range of different media. Using a media mix can help to reinforce the message or information you want to communicate.

Before selecting a particular type of media, you should find out from the media business and other independent sources about their circulation or audience figures and what the audience penetration, or ‘reach’, of their product is. Basically, you need to know how many, where and who to. Figures can normally be broken down into age groups, average income and other useful indicators.

Also remember you have a duty to ensure that your advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful. You can find information about advertising codes on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) website.

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Local advertising

Advertising locally can benefit any business, especially small businesses and sole traders. Examples of local advertising include:

• leaflet drops
• supermarket boards, postcards in shop windows
• advertising space rented at railway stations, bus stops or on buses, roundabout islands, leisure centres or doctors’ surgeries
• local organisations’ newsletters, fete programmes and parish magazines
• a sign outside your business premises, which must conform to planning regulations – find contact details for your local authority through our Contacts Directory  
• local and regional newspapers, magazines and directories

Local and regional newspapers

Weekly, evening and morning local papers, whether paid-for or free, provide a variety of ways to advertise:

• Lineage – usually only in the Classified advertising sections and containing only words. Often the cheapest option.
• Display and semi-display – display advertisements are bigger and more sophisticated. They usually appear on editorial pages or in special supplements, eg motoring, recruitment, property, etc and can use pictures and design devices.
• Advertisement features – laid out like editorial pages but featuring you and your business (perhaps your new premises). You pay for them, and you may also be given advertisement space. Your suppliers might advertise as well and offset the cost. This is sometimes called ‘advertorial’.
• Loose inserts inserts (also known as ‘mailers’ or ‘flyers’) you supply that are placed inside the newspaper, ie using the paper’s circulation to distribute your flyer.

Try to make sure any advert addresses its target audience and stands out – or readers could easily miss it amongst the editorial and other adverts. When deciding on the text (or ‘copy’), remember that readers may only spend a few seconds looking at each advert – unless you can get them interested and keep their attention. You can get details of newspapers in your area and how to advertise in them on The Newspaper Society website- Opens in a new window.

Ask the advertisement department at the newspaper for a media pack with readership breakdown and rates for different types of advertisement. The quoted rate is only a starting point – always negotiate to try to pay less. Ideally, check circulation figures on the Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research (JICREG) website (registration required)- Opens in a new window.

Remember, wherever you advertise, make sure you include vital information about who you are, how to get in touch and how to order.

Local magazines and directories

Many areas have local lifestyle and country magazines – useful for certain types of upmarket consumer advertising. Always check when and where they are circulated.

Phone directories such as the Yellow Pages and Thomson Local offer free listings and paid-for display advertisements. However, as most of your competitors will also be listed in the same place, it may be hard to make your business stand out. Remember also that directories are usually consulted only when there is already a need for a product or service, eg blocked drains, so they are unsuitable for generating general awareness of your business.

Local business directories produced by Chambers of Commerce and other organisations can be useful if you’re selling to other businesses.

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Advertising on the internet and in online directories

Advertising on the internet can be cost-effective and gives national and international coverage that you may otherwise be unable to afford. It will also allow you to compete with larger businesses in your industry on a level playing field. There are three main types of internet advertising – your own website, advertising on other websites, and online directories.

Your own website

• Ensure you design and position your website carefully for maximum effect. Take time over it, it’s important – it can be your electronic shop window, an information provider, a sales person and an order form all in one.
• Consider the internet user – your potential customer – at every stage. Make it easy for them to find their way around your website, and to order from or contact you.
• Keep your website updated and relevant, and check that all pages, images, links, etc open correctly.
• Ensure your website is geared towards increasing sales. Making your site interactive and interesting to browse will help to increase user dwell time and allow you to expand your sales pitch.
• Find out how to exploit search engines, eg Yahoo! or Google. Internet browsing habits mean that appearing near the top of a search list can make a big difference.

For more information, see our guides on best practice in web design and search engine optimisation.

Advertising your business on other websites

Use banner and pop-up advertising to promote your business and link through to your own website. You may be able to agree a cost-free, reciprocal arrangement by allowing other businesses to advertise on your site while you advertise on theirs. Pay per click (PPC) advertising is a form of internet advertising where advertisers only pay when users actually click on an advert to visit their website. Such adverts are called sponsored links or sponsored adverts. PPC lets you target potential customers actively searching the web for the products or services you offer. See our guide on pay per click advertising.

There are other types of payment including ‘cost per action’ (CPA), in which you will only pay for the advert when a desired ‘call to action’ has occurred, eg a product purchased or online form completed.

Getting into an online directory

• You can set up an online entry with directory companies such as Yell.com and ThomsonLocal.com, as well as setting up links from these online directories to your own website.
• There are more specialised directories and search engines available, such as Kellysearch for manufacturing.
• The Data Publishers Association (DPA) provides information on directories and member firms – find information about the DPA on the DPA website.

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Advertising in the trade and technical press

There are many trade, technical and professional magazines read by customers, suppliers and businesses in your sector.

If your business sells to other businesses, advertisements in these publications can be a powerful way of gaining sales, product enquiries, higher profile, trade partnerships and even potential investors.

Editorials are generally perceived by readers to be independent and impartial and are therefore seen as more trustworthy than advertisements. Editorial support or endorsement helps lend your business credibility with the reader. A proactive PR strategy can increase your chances of gaining favourable editorial content. See our guide on PR: the basics.

The trade and technical press can also be used for recruitment and to source suppliers. Trade magazines provide a variety of ways to advertise:

• Classified advertising – particularly for recruitment and gaining suppliers.
• Display and semi-display – display advertisements are bigger and more sophisticated, often appear on editorial pages or in special supplements, and can use pictures and other design devices.
• Advertisement features – they’re laid out like editorial pages but feature you and your business or product. You pay for them, and you may also be given advertisement space. Your suppliers might advertise as well and offset the cost.
• Loose inserts that you supply yourself to the magazine publisher for them to insert into the magazine.

Media guides such as BRAD list details of trade and technical journals, as well as media contacts. You can check your local library or find access to BRAD and other media directories on the BRAD Insight website (subscription required)- Opens in a new window. You can also use the library’s Willings Press Guide.

You can get information on many publishers and magazines on the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) website- Opens in a new window.

Ask the advertisement department at your chosen publication for a media pack with a readership breakdown and rates for different types and sizes of advertisement. The quoted rate is only the starting point – always try to negotiate discounts or better positioning for your advertisement.

Read circulation figures on the Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research (JICREG) website (registration required)- Opens in a new window.

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Radio, cinema, outdoor and national advertising

If advertising on local or national radio, you’ll need to research the market, the type of audience, the extent of the coverage and the cost per listener – ask the local station for details. You should also check a radio station’s audience figures on the Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) website- Opens in a new window.

Remember that most people listen to the radio for music or comment – often while doing other things – and so your advert will rely on repetition to have any effect. Consider sponsoring certain features, such as the weather or travel news, to make your adverts stand out.

Your local station will often produce your commercial for you, although if you have an advertising agency, they should do it.

You can find out how radio advertising might help you on the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) website (registration required)- Opens in a new window.

Local cinema advertising offers a captive audience with a long dwell time for your advertisements. Ask the cinema for audience profiles and case studies of satisfied clients, as well as details of whether you can target certain films. You can often advertise in the foyer as well as on screen. It’s not a good idea to make a business phone number or web address a crucial part of a cinema commercial, as few members of the audience will have a pen handy to note the details.

Outdoor advertising

‘Outdoor advertising’ includes every outdoor medium from static billboards to moving adverts, eg on buses. Static adverts rely on location for effectiveness, so make sure you go and check the proposed sites before booking the space. For moving adverts, request information about the bus routes on which your adverts will travel so you can assess the likely exposure the advert will get.

If you are using the campaign for increased brand awareness, you may select fewer adverts over a longer period, whereas a short-term offer would require more sites over a shorter period.

The location of most outdoor advertising space means that a large but untargeted audience could potentially see it. Therefore, it will be even more important to use the copy and design of your advertisement to ensure you address your target audience.

The general rule is to keep it simple. Make it clear and don’t rely on people noting a phone number or web address, unless it’s easily memorable – drivers can’t stop and note down details.

There are many types of outdoor advertising sites available including:

• roadside – from phone kiosks to large billboards and banners
• transport – railways, airports, inside and outside buses, taxis and lorries
• retail – sites at shopping centres and supermarkets, trolleys, posters
• non-traditional and ambient – shop signs, leisure centres, washrooms, tickets, petrol pumps, takeaway lids

You can find information on outdoor advertising at the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA) website- Opens in a new window.

National papers, magazines and TV

Your local library’s Willings Press Guide gives details of national newspapers and consumer magazines that you may wish to use. You can also find out about the Willings Press Guide on the Cision website- Opens in a new window.

Get a media pack with readership analysis from the publication’s advertisement department so you know the advertising is reaching the right audience. Check circulation figures on the Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research (JICREG) website (registration required)- Opens in a new window.

You can find information on magazine publishers and magazines on the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) website- Opens in a new window.

TV advertising can be costly, but there are a large number of terrestrial and cable or satellite TV channels, and some may be able to offer low-budget advertising packages. Ask them for a breakdown of their viewing figures and audience profiles before you make a decision. Alternatively, check the viewing figures for any TV channel on the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) Limited website- Opens in a new window. Remember that even with national TV broadcasters you have the option to regionalise your advertising.

While most channels will be able to advise you about how it works and even create adverts for you, it is recommended that you seek specialist advice through an advertising or PR agency that is fully aware of current and ongoing legislation in all the markets that you plan to advertise in. Find information on the benefits of TV advertising on the Thinkbox website- Opens in a new window.

TV product placement – paying to have a product or service included or referred to – provides new promotional opportunities. It also offers a new source of potential revenue for TV service providers and programme makers.

However, there are restrictions and conditions affecting how product placement can be used. For more information, see the page on how advertising standards are regulated in our guide: comply with advertising standards.

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Planning an advertising campaign

Certain businesses choose to advertise when their target audience is most likely to buy their product or service. Sometimes this can be seasonal – a toy retailer, for example, will focus much of its advertising efforts around the run-up to Christmas. If you’re selling to other businesses, it’s worth identifying when your customers and potential customers will have the budget to spend.

However, some businesses choose to focus more attention on their quieter times on the basis that the busier times will naturally see an increase in sales. Advertising during quieter times might mean you won’t have to work as hard to stand out from other competitors, as they won’t be advertising, but there may be fewer customers to target.

Gaining a greater market share during these periods could not only help during the busier times – as you will have already developed a bigger customer base – but will improve your cashflow and minimise your reliance on certain trading periods.

The reasons behind a campaign

Many businesses launch advertising campaigns simply to boost sales or increase brand awareness.

The launch of a new product will almost certainly require you to step up your advertising.

New businesses will want to consider some form of advertising just to let people know they exist. You could consider an introductory offer to give people an incentive to visit or call.

Can you plan the campaign yourself?

You need to think carefully about what you want to achieve and the message you want the reader, viewer or listener to take away. Remember – advertising is only effective if you reach your target audience with a message that makes them want to buy or at least find out more.

You may be able to design and produce a straightforward advertisement for printed media yourself – see the page in this guide for how to write an advertisement. However, most print advertising organisations have in-house services if you can’t do it yourself.

If your advertising needs are more demanding than an occasional, low-priced local advertisement, it may be worth outsourcing your advertising to an advertising agency. See our guide on how to choose and manage an advertising agency. This is only suitable if you are prepared to pay the extra cost, but in any event, it is advisable to have your adverts professionally designed to ensure maximum impact.

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Getting value for money from your advertising

Advertising often works most effectively when used in conjunction with other marketing and promotional techniques, such as press releases, special events and direct selling. Combining these factors might take more time, but will create the best circumstances for your advertising to really work.

Work out a maximum budget. Identify which options give the best possible return – it could be one or two adverts in a more expensive medium, or several adverts in cheaper outlets.

If it’s your first campaign, reduce your risks by first seeking advice from other people in your industry and finding out what works for them.

Get information about the media you’re considering – particularly figures for the audience or readership and how close they are to your target market. Don’t be tempted to buy advertising space in a certain type of media just because you read, see or hear it yourself – it should always be focused on your potential customers.

You can produce an estimate of how much it costs to reach each potential customer. For example, if an advertisement costs £2,000 and you expect to reach 20,000 people – 50 per cent of whom are potential customers – it is costing 20 pence to get your message to each potential customer.

Negotiate for a better advertising deal

All advertising media companies produce rate cards – information on the rates they charge for advertising. But it is usual to negotiate on the final price, according to the type of campaign you want. Negotiating could get you a price reduction, a repeat that’s free or discounted, or a better position in the publication. You should:

• Mention your budget, but appear undecided about who to spend it with.
• Mention rival media you’re considering.
• If you don’t need campaigns at specific times, ask media sales teams to alert you when they have one-off deals. This may be when they are seeking to achieve specific monthly or quarterly targets and are willing to consider lower prices.

Remember that most media sales teams will be paid commission so be prepared for them to be persistent. Use their desire to achieve a sale to push their prices down or increase the space you get for your money.

Advertising relies on repetition so be prepared to implement several campaigns throughout the year. You can get a discount for booking multiple advertisements – a series is generally more likely to be effective than a one-off advertisement anyway – but don’t be persuaded to buy more than you need.

Ensure any print advertisement is in the best possible position. Remember that:

• it is widely believed that right-hand pages, especially early right hand pages (those in the early part of the publication), catch the reader’s eye the most
• an advertisement selling greenhouses, for example, should be on a page devoted to gardening
• the most effective place for your newspaper advertisement is either page one or three – preferably in the bottom right-hand corner
• if your advertisement has a coupon – for readers to cut out and send in – make sure it is placed at the edge of the page

Remember that the design and content of your advertisement is critical to attracting your target market, regardless of its position in the newspaper.

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Managing responses and monitoring your campaign

A good advertising campaign can pull in the orders – but make sure you can deal with the response.

You should determine the expected response level and check you have enough resources to meet it.

It may not be a good idea to plan a campaign at popular staff holiday times. If this can’t be avoided, consider temporary cover to deal with responses.

You may need a system to ensure leads aren’t missed. For example, you could design a standard enquiry form to be used by people fielding calls. The main aim is to find out as much as possible about what the caller wants.

If they just want further details to be posted, the enquiry can be dealt with straight away. If the query is passed to a salesperson, give the customer an indication of when they can expect a response. If you get a lot of these types of queries, it’s a good idea to set up a system to track them. See our guide on how to manage your customer care.

Monitoring an advertising campaign

Each time you take an enquiry or make a sale, ask how the customer heard of you. This reveals whether any individual strand of your advertising or other marketing activities is particularly effective. Check to see if there are any patterns in enquiries relating to when and where your advertisements are displayed.

If you include vouchers in print advertisements, use a different code for each publication they appear in. This allows you to pinpoint where incoming vouchers have come from.

You might find some advertisements generate many enquiries but no actual sales. These cost most because they take up staff time without generating revenue. If this occurs, check whether your staff need additional sales training or if your adverts need amending.

It’s also worth looking at the kind of sales each advertisement generates and whether they have a good profit margin.

You should bear in mind that some advertisements may have delayed results. One person may order the next day, another might wait a few weeks or even months. More expensive products may not be purchased very often by consumers, and so your advertising may be targeted at keeping your brand at the front of people’s minds for future reference. Advertising aimed at increasing brand awareness is always harder to measure because it does not transfer directly into sales.

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How to write an advertisement

A good advertisement should have:

• a well-targeted headline
• clear design
• well-written text – known as ‘copy’

The advert must be tailored to the type of print media and the potential reader’s interests and habits. For example, if you sell gardening equipment, you might write a longer advert for a gardening magazine – where you can assume that the reader is already interested in the subject and so is more likely to read all the text. Likewise, you might write a shorter advert for a more general newspaper – where the reader’s interest may be less easily sustained.

Headline

• A good headline should catch the reader’s attention and make them want to read on. It might ask a question or inspire curiosity. It may refer to a specific problem, eg a bed manufacturer could ask: “Had another bad night’s sleep?” Or it may appear to offer the solution to a problem, eg “Ever wanted to know the secret of a good night’s sleep?”
• Don’t overplay the actual message – people will feel let down if they read on and their expectations are not fulfilled.
• A headline will encourage people to read on if it offers a clear benefit – such as “never have a bad night’s sleep again”.
• It could also be used to create a fear of missing out in the reader’s mind, eg “last few remaining”.

Clear design

• The way an advertisement looks plays a big part in attracting and retaining the reader’s interest.
• Avoid small or complicated typefaces that are difficult to read. And don’t mix too many typefaces in one advertisement – use one or two at most.
• Don’t clutter the layout – keep plenty of white space in the advertisement – avoid the temptation to say too much. If your product or service needs more explaining – refer readers to your website or other easily accessible material.
• Ensure your contact details are clearly positioned.

Well-written copy

• The amount of text you include depends on the purpose and size of the advertisement. Businesses that want to advertise a sale might have a very limited amount of text accompanied by a headline and a picture of some of the items on offer.
• Consider the print quality of the newspaper or magazine – a small advert in a poor quality publication will be hard to read.
• If you’re writing a lot of text, it should follow on logically from the headline, build a convincing case and prompt a response from the reader. Back up any claims with facts. Magazine readers generally tend to dwell on the contents for longer than newspaper readers, so tailor the length of your copy accordingly.
• Good copy draws attention to the benefits of the product or service rather than focusing solely on the features.
• All the reader wants to know is “what’s in it for me?”
• You should always write your advertisements with the reader/viewer – your potential customer – in mind.

Remember that businesses have a duty to ensure their advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful. You can find information on advertising standards on the Advertising Standards Authority website.

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CASE STUDY

Here’s how I increased my sales through advertising

Michael Welch started his business, Black Circles, in November 2001. The company, based in Scotland, links more than 700 independent tyre fitters across the UK. When contacted through its call centre or website, it locates the customer’s nearest and cheapest tyre fitter. Here, Michael explains why advertising is so important to his business.

What I did

Find the right media

“We needed to start advertising from day one to attract customers. I started by looking for places to advertise which I thought would reach our target market, such as car magazines like Revs and Max Power. The readers of these types of magazines are a captive market – as fast-car enthusiasts and owners, they need to buy tyres regularly.

“I got the circulation figures and the demographics of the people that were reading these magazines. This included information such as their salary, age and the type of car they drove. I then broke our potential customers down into similar categories and decided which magazines would target them best. With advertising, your approach should always be targeted, never random.”

Make the most of the budget

“At the moment we spend around £25,000 to £30,000 a month on advertising and our turnover is £3 million. We manage to convert about 70 per cent of our advertising spend into sales.

“After a few months of a particular campaign we analyse how it is working and then either pull it or continue to do more. Our sales team always ask each new customer how they heard of us so we can tell which advertisements work.

“When they start out, many businesses don’t think they can compete with larger firms when it comes to advertising, but they can. As long as you’re clear about the message you want to get across and know which media is right to reach your target market, a small business’ advertising can be as successful as anyone else’s.”

Write a good advertisement

“We use an advertising agency but I oversee all of the work they do. In the early days I thought that they were the professionals and they would know best but ultimately you need to have control of the advertising messages and your brand image. In the beginning our unique selling point was that we were cheap but we wouldn’t sell at those prices now. Our unique selling points now are excellent customer service and value and all our marketing is designed to reflect this.

“Our strapline is ‘Think tyres, think Black Circles’ and all of our advertisements are black and white. We try to keep it simple because in general the industry is synonymous with being a bit of a rip-off. We did have some campaigns that weren’t as successful in the beginning because we didn’t have much experience. Now we have the luxury of having the time, money and knowledge to be able to experiment and find out what works. The key is not to bet too much on one campaign but to build up slowly. I would definitely like to do some radio and TV advertising in the future because it will expose us to a much bigger market.”

What I’d do differently

“Perhaps I would have extended the magazine advertising sooner and thought about brand development earlier. However, the cost of advertising means that what you would do in an ideal world isn’t always possible in the beginning.”

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