Prior to answering your question, I am going to make a couple of statements about advertising. I am operating under the assumption that you are involved in the ad service business and are trying to focus your efforts. Hopefully my thoughts will help.

I pay for advertising ONLY when I believe that there will be results or payback to the advertising.

Advertising isn't something that you can just simply shoot in the dark and have it work. For a print ad to have value, it requires visibility no less than 6 times before it will begin to see results. Of course, that's not true of all ads, but it is a good rule of thumb when one is considering publishing an ad in a newspaper or magazine. Companies that are already well known may find a shorter lead time to results, but if you expect the ad to get you known... 6 is a good starting point.

And that's not cheap; not for any of the small business owners I know.

When I do post an ad, it's is because I know that people will respond to it; they have been waiting for it, and expect it... For example, every year when we hold our open house, we put an ad in the paper. It gets results; customers bring in the coupon.

The coupon, I might add is key. Without the coupon, you have no way of knowing whether or not people responded to your ad.

Would I pay for a service, then, is the next question? And my first question to that service is... What sort of results can I expect from this service?

Other questions I would ask:

Where are you advertising?

How targeted to my demographic will the service be?

Are you working for any of my competitors?

If I don't see results, can we alter paths midstream?

How are you tracking the results of your service?

What if there are no results?

Then and only then do I actually begin to care about my cost.

I hope these thoughts help.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!