KDB Business Services- Business Reviews and Tips

I am so sorry about yesterday.It was Tuesday and I thought all day that it was Monday until my husband came home from work and asked why I hadn't paid a certain bill that was due. The one thing about working from home is if you work 7 days out of the week like I do occaissionally you forget one of those days or mistake it for another day. No harm no foul I guess, as long as it doesn't infringe on missed deadlines. For those I have a calendar up with big red circles on it.
Here is a good article I came across to help with your marketing strategy. Enjoy.
Advertising vs. PR in Your Small Business Marketing Strategy
Copyright 2005 J D Moore

A great small business marketing strategy includes a mix of
tactics. Advertising and PR are two very important tools
that all small business owners need to be using regularly.
Many small businesses I talk to do one of the other, but
don't commit to doing both. Each has its strengths and
weaknesses and are complimentary to each other.

Small Business Advertising Strengths:
-The biggest advantage with small business advertising is
your complete control over the message. You get to focus on
whatever you want, write the text, and choose the visuals.
You ensure that your marketing message is delivered.

-You control placement. You choose the exact timing and
media in which your advertising is placed. This is a huge
advantage because naturally you are going to choose to
place your ads where your target market is most likely to
see them.

-You can repeat your messages over and over again.
Effective small business marketing incorporates a high
degree of repetition and consistency. Advertising can and
should be run on regular schedules.

-With advertising, you (and your budget) control your
marketing saturation. You can run the same ad across
different publications serving the same market, run
matching Internet advertising, put an ad on the radio, do
cable TV, do outdoor advertising, etc. Ideally you need to
be reaching your target market at least 4 different ways
for them to respond.

Advertising Weaknesses
-Advertising generally costs money. Most small businesses
don't have a huge budget for marketing. Sometimes being
creative can help defray costs. Sometimes you can trade for
advertising space. You may be able to do co-op advertising.

-Small business advertising needs to be very targeted to be
effective. Sometimes the only choices you have in your
community are mass-market like newspapers. You still need
to advertise, but some of your marketing dollars will be
spent to advertise to people who don't want or need what
you're selling.

-Most small business advertising stinks. I hate to say it,
but it's true. Many do-it-yourself advertisers don't
understand that there are advertising fundamentals that
work. A good ad will always out-pull a bad one. Here's my
plug: If you can't invest the time and money to learn how
advertising REALLY works, get yourself a small business
marketing coach to help you build more effective campaigns.
It will be money well invested.

PR Strengths:
-It's FREE! OK, you might incur a very small charge if you
hire someone to write and distribute a press release for
you, but this is minimal. I think the reason why most small
businesses don't do PR is that they don't know how it's
done. Again, get some coaching, or pay someone to do it for
you.

-Press is trusted more than advertising. If you read a
review that says that a new restaurant is the best thing in
town, there's some credibility there. We tend to assume
that a person who is writing an article is an expert, and
that they are an uninterested third party.

-You can distribute PR globally. As long as what you are
doing is actually interesting globally, you can distribute
your press releases globally. This isn't necessarily as
targeted as your advertising needs to be, but you're not
paying for editorial. By the way, never pay for editorial,
and don't advertise with media that promises to give you
editorial as long as you advertise. This is unethical and
transparent - and the credibility of the media will always
be in question.

PR Weaknesses:
-You have no control over what the press is actually going
to write or say about you. They may spell your name wrong,
they may get some details wrong, they may choose to focus
on something you don't want to highlight. In general this
isn't a big issue, as long as they are saying good things
about you.

-PR tends to be single exposure. Unless circumstances are
really unusual, the press is not going to run the same
story over and over again. I have been involved with an
exception to that. I was doing something that corresponded
with a current event and the press came to me again and
again over 4 weeks for TV interviews. This was pure timing.
It's difficult to engineer press like that without seeming
mercenary.

-There is no guarantee that you're even going to get
coverage. I was called to do a TV interview once and rushed
into the city to meet the reporter and photographer. On my
way in ,the reporter called me on my cell phone to tell me
they were pulling the story because there was breaking news
that they had to go cover. Depending on what's going on you
may get tons of press or none at all.

You see that small business advertising and PR are
different things. You need them both, and you need to work
at both of them consistently. They are two important tools
in your small business marketing toolbox.

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J D Moore - Marketing Comet
Does your small business marketing stink? Let's fix it!
http://marketingcomet.typepad.com

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