You may not know that there are multiple levels of advertising and promotion that correspond to your intent and stage of business. Understanding these levels helps small businesses tailor their promotions and ads to the proper purpose thus making more money.
The Importance of Awareness
The fact that small businesses have thousands of people out there who need what they offer but doesn’t know they exist is one of their biggest threats.
This stage works on the “if you build it they will come” principle. If you don’t have much competition or if you are an established brand opening a new location, then that’s good news.
This is the most basic form of advertising and it has its uses. But never moving past this level are most small businesses.
Gain Market Share
This is a very important stage of promotion an advertising. In order for people to choose you over a competitor, this is where you put your unique selling proposition out there. It’s essential that you be compelling in a way that your competitors are not.
Even from the big companies, most advertising doesn’t go this far. Your job includes compelling action from a customer.
Increase Consumption
Gaining new customers is very important, but what are you doing to bring your old customers back? What kind of advertising or promotional tactics will increase the frequency and the size of your average purchase.
When you advertise to your current customers, it’s not considered to be a waste of money. Unlike advertising to get new customers, your ROI is likely to be higher.
What are the ways you can get customers to frequently come back and spend more with you? An exponential growth in sales is what you will realize if you get these two components working.
Why You Need to Capitalize an Opportunity
During this stage, you use opportunities to increase sales. Any ideas what these opportunities are? These would include long weekends, holiday sales, and current events.
But when it comes to promotion, careful about using bad news. Being seen as too mercenary can come back to haunt you. But a great way to promote all kinds of things is offering deals to offset rising gas prices or beat the heat summer deals.
Into finer points of distinction, you can boil these stages down but you’ll be given a head start for a more profitable future by mastering just these basics.
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