ADVERTISING KEY #3: Keep it fresh, Harrisonburg!
One of my clients realized his company needed a fresh message. In the past, 90% of his business had come from his company’s free seminars, advertised in newspapers and through selected mailings. The company had used the same message for years. But attendance was declining due to a failure to reach a new audience with an engaging message. The old message just didn’t work any longer. It was time to examine the target customers and think about how to reach them specifically. This illustrates a typical problem I see over and over again.
We small business owners (and I’m right there with you) are particularly prone to communications problems with the people we want to reach — our target markets. That’s because we tend to be nearsighted about how our businesses are perceived by others, and we fall into the use of jargon that outsiders don’t understand. Avoid the use of industry jargon in your advertising content unless you’re marketing directly to others within your industry who know what you mean.
Many Harrisonburg-area small businesses I’ve worked with at LarsonHess want their websites to start out with the history of the business. We all have so much invested in our businesses and how we got started means a lot to us. But, in truth, web visitors are on your site because they want some fast information about your product or service—not the corporate history. Tell your story, but not on your home page.
In order for your advertising to do its job, take a few steps back and find out how others view your business. Ask your customers for input and talk to people who aren’t customers. Consider investing in a marketing study.
Up next: Key #4, about tracking your results.
-Posted by Barbara Finnegan