The ancient Egyptians created wall posters and sales messages on papyrus, and commercial messages were found in the ruins of Pompeii. Town criers in the Middle Ages would announce the availability of goods and the locations of merchants – for a fee.

In the 19th century, paid advertising allowed newspapers to reduce their prices, expand their readership and improve their profitability.

The advancements in technology allowed the evolvement of new advertising media – radio, cinema and television advertising in the early 20th century to Internet and mobile phone advertising in the present.

Marketers are now faced with a bewildering array of advertising media. Billboards, signage and other forms of outdoor media; Mass media like television, radio and newspapers; Print media like magazines, flyers and posters; Online social marketing strategies; email marketing and Internet advertising – all these now vie for the attention of marketers and consumers alike.

Choosing the right medium for your message is more difficult than ever. Balancing costs and your projected return on investment is vital, as is the tracking and measuring of your advertising to ensure that the results meet your expectations.

Internet and mobile phone advertising are growing in popularity as the number of visitors and click-throughs can be fairly accurately measured and compared directly to the number of resulting sales.

We may not be far from the technology shown in the science fiction movie, “Minority Report”, where pedestrians are identified as they walk past video displays and advertising messages are tailored and personalised just for them.

Right now, marketers need to be seriously focused and professionally advised. With the plethora of advertising media now available, it really is a question of where to start advertising, and where to stop advertising! A good ad agency is positioned to advise you.

Companies need a strong corporate image to achieve brand equity, and to establish trust with your customers.

Corporate identity programs are time-consuming to create, and should be carried out by experts in perception management.

Since the objective of having a corporate identity is to attract customers, it shoud appeal to their senses. The name of your business, your positioning and your pay-off line should ultimately reflect your values and your product or service offering. Your logo should be designed accordingly. You should carefully choose colours, typefaces and other visual elements to create a consistent and holistic impression.

Once your corporate identity has been created, it should be reflected across all your brands and products. Avoid using old and outdated branding, and stay true to your new corporate image – clarity and focus is key. Project one image, and project it everywhere. Discard your old business cards, brochures, folder covers and any other marketing material. Do not confuse your target market. Send out one message only – this is who we are, this is what we stand for, this is what we can do for you.

Having a professionally-designed corporate identity is essential for all businesses, large and small. A well-defined and well-designed corporate identity makes you stand out from your competitors and gives memorability to your company and your product-offering. The designing of a logo and the application of that logo to your letterheads, business cards, brochures, print advertisements, website etc is not something that you should assign to a family member or friend; a good design or advertising agency should be called in and comprehensively briefed.

When it comes to promoting your business, there’s a lot of truth in
the saying “It takes money to make money”.

How do you avoid spending a fortune on advertising while making sure
you get the results you want?

The Internet offers plenty of ways to advertise effectively, but there
are cost-effective ways to advertise offline as well.

Focus your advertising spend on your target market. Rather than trying
to sell to everyone, work out who your ideal customer is and create
your advertising just for them. Look for media that targets exactly
that market. You might look at neighbourhood newspapers or sponsor
advertising for schools or community projects.

If your customers can’t be defined by their geographic area, try
publications which specifically target their demographic.

Some monthly magazines offer discounted rates for repeated ads placed
over a 3 or 6 month time period. Some publications have different
rates for different types of advertisers. And sometimes, just asking
for a discount will be enough to get you one.

Try using classified ads. Look at some back issues of magazines or
newspapers you’re considering. Look out for ads which are repeated
month after month. These ads are repeated because they’re making the
advertiser money. When you’re writing your own ads, you can model them
on these effective ads.

It’s a good idea to test your ads. Start by placing them in cheaper
publications, until you find out what works and what doesn’t.  Once
you’ve found an ad that works, keep using it. You can run it in more
than one publication at the same time, or repeat it in the same
publication. If you notice that sales decrease, it’s time to change
it.

You can re-use your ads in other advertising media. If an ad is
particularly effective, use the copy in a direct mail piece or on a
flyer.

Using a healthy mix between offline and online advertising and
actively searching for ways to extend your reach and minimize your
costs will help you to make sure that your advertising is working hard
on your behalf.

The only thing they care about is the outcome provided by your offer.
They want the benefit of your product or service – the improvement,
the security, the comfort it will provide. If you don’t directly
address these customer needs, it will have an impact on the success of your business.

Most small business marketing focuses on how great the product or
service is, and concentrates on “selling” the product rather than
finding out why the customer “buys”.

There is an important distinction between marketing that pushes the
product and marketing that pulls the buyer through the process.

Pushing your products means giving the customer your reasons why they should buy from you. This often leads to delays and objections.
Pushing a product puts pressure on the customer and on their decision
making process. A barrage of traditional closing techniques, with a
rebuttal for every objection, prevents them from making a purchasing
decision on their own terms.

It’s much more effective to pull a customer through the marketing
process. It’s like leading a horse to water. You let them come to
their own decision, by gently guiding them through your features and
benefits. If you encounter resistance, it’s because you haven’t
provided enough information to educate them and help them make an
informed decision.

Once the buyer is satisfied that your offer will meet their criteria, they will be ready to make a decision. By staying within the limits of their comfort zone, and allowing them to have control over the process, you can establish trust and build a long-term relationship.

Remember that your task as a marketer is to develop the communication and provide your target market with the information they need to lead them to the desired outcome, i.e. purchasing your product or service.

Remember that you should choose an ad agency for the long term – switching agencies can be a time-consuming and expensive process.

When selecting an agency, there are certain things to consider:

Agency size
The best way to ensure that your business gets the benefit of your agency’s input is to match the size of the agency to the size of your business. Big agencies tend to put their most creative talent to work on those accounts generating the most revenue. You want an agency which is small enough to give your requirements the attention they deserve.

Portfolio
An ad agency’s work for previous clients should tell you a lot about its abilities. Make sure that your agency’s type of creativity will work for your company. Look for familiarity with your industry. You’re not interested in the awards they’ve won, but how their work has helped their clients business. Awards don’t pay the bills.

Measureable results
It’s often difficult measuring the effectiveness of mass media advertising. Sometimes it comes in the form of increased brand awareness, rather than an immediate increase in sales. Your agency should be able to give you an indication of what it will achieve.

Capabilities
Make sure that your selected agency has the necessary expertise and experience to see to your requirements, both now and in the future. You may not be ready to go onto radio or TV right now, but in two years time when you may be ready, you don’t want to have to change agencies because the agency you’ve selected can’t see to your needs.

Chemistry
Marketing is a people-driven activity. Make sure you know who will be working on your account, and that they have the necessary experience and the desired passion and attitude. You need to feel comfortable with your agency personnel. Your brand needs to be in good hands.

Confidentiality
Your agency will need access to confidential information about your company and your objectives. Make sure that the personnel working on your account can keep that information to themselves.. Make sure that they’re not doing work for your competitors.

Fees
Find out what your agency charges, and for what. Make sure that you’re not being overcharged. Bear in mind however that a good agency will do a lot of work on your brand behind the scenes – work that you may not be aware of. If it does a consistently good job, giving you strategic guidance, producing good creative work and meeting your deadlines, it should be fairly compensated. There is nothing more damaging than a client or agency feeling aggrieved. Come to an understanding before you brief your agency on its first task.

On selecting an agency, you must feel comfortable that there is a “fit”. You must be confident that it can see to your requirements – and that you’ll be happy with its servicing, its creativity, its enthusiasm and its reliability. Once you’ve chosen the right agency, your task will be to help it achieve your objectives by providing as much of a brief as possible. (The more information the better). An agency cannot work in a vacuum. Avoid setting up an adversarial relationship where you pick holes in every idea they come up with. An agency can only be as good as your relationship with it. At the end of the day, an agency must be a partner – respected and valued.

An experiment performed in the 1960s discovered that teachers were more likely to give an essay high marks if it was written by a child with a popular name, like David or Michael, than if it was by an Elmer or a Hubert.

Actors have been changing their names since the beginning of the movie industry. Would you rather see a movie starring Archibald Leach, or Cary Grant?

As someone who runs his own ad agency – South Africa’s smallest ad agency – I know the importance of positioning. If you have a product you need to brand, get in touch.

I run the smallest ad agency in South Africa. People ask me what’s it like being a mouse when all the other agencies are like elephants?

My answer is short and sweet; elephants are afraid of mice.

Being small means I have to get my hands dirty. It means I pretty much have to do it all – from strategising and conceptualising to producing and placing. I’m a creative guy with a great love for advertising. Conceptualising, copywriting, art directing, strategising….I love it all.

So if you’re in the market for some marketing – be it anything from a full blown campaign to a once-off ad hoc project, give me a shout!

You can find me at www.kavonichone.co.za or just fill in this form: