If you wonder how effective your business advertising is, you are not alone. One problem many businesses face is deciding what media to use, such as the Internet, trade shows, newspapers, magazines, radio or television. Another issue is deciding on the most-effective advertising message and advertising practices. Understand what works for other business-to-business marketers, and your advertising can deliver better results.
Define Your Target Market
Decide on the ideal target market for your products and services. Determine which markets have the most urgent need for what you are selling.
Online Media
Internet advertising use has increased because print circulation is declining. Online advertising has many benefits over offline advertising such as the ability to get immediate feedback on the effectiveness of online advertising and the ability to immediately change advertising that is not working. Design your website's home page to give an Internet visitor an immediate incentive to spend time on your site. Start with a compelling headline. Write copy for your site that stresses the benefits of your products and services instead of only features.
Trade Shows
Trade shows level the playing field. Your company can get the same exposure to qualified buyers as larger companies attending. Trade shows can generate immediate leads. They provide an opportunity to personally meet prospects and customers. They also provide immediate exposure to a highly targeted market.
Promote your booth in advance of the show through direct mail and email marketing. Give attendees a reason to stop by your booth. Capture the names of visitors to your booth and note those who are interested in followup information. Call those immediately interested and direct mail and email booth visitors throughout the year so that if they have increased interest in your product or services, they will have top-of-mind awareness of your offering.
Industry Magazines
Seek opportunities to get articles published in magazines where you advertise. Many industry magazines need content and give preferential treatment to those advertising with them.
Testing
One way to make business advertising more effective is to continually test advertising effectiveness. Test two different website headlines and determine which delivers more sales. Test the winning headline against a new headline, and continually test in this manner.
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