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Why should you consider using mass media? Mass media gives your business wide spread appeal and identity, along with wide recognition. This helps you to establish a brand and quickly. Today mass media is far less expensive than it has ever been, and it is now offered to small businesses regularly.

Most businesses think that using mass media in their marketing campaign is out of the question due to its perceived costs and only to be used for larger companies. This just isn’t so. This article has some great cost effective ways to use the reach and power of mass media for your next marketing campaign. Take another look at your Marketing Strategies to find some good areas to incoporate into mass media.

Radio

I like Radio when it’s a Question & Answer type scenario; ask an expert show; something which sets you up as an Expert.  You can negotiate the price as it supplys the public valuable information, which is the mandate of Radio.  It’s an Ad disguised as a Resource!  A Win-Win for you and the radio station.  Make sure to give out a short website address and phone number.  Make both easily memorable.  Track the results!

• Another strategy is to run cheap, short ads on less popular stations, bundled for maximal savings but make sure you test and track them to ensure a good ROI.  Cheap isn’t good unless you get viable, profitable results so be sure to consider this in your Business Plan for a Start Up Business before moving ahead with a Radio campaign.
• Be sure to individualise your Ads and you do the talk.  This is a great opportunity to connect with your prospects.
• Partner up with other strategic businesses to offer complete solution radio talk shows, like a panel of experts to give out advice.  This is important:  Have the moderator give out one website address and one phone number and the prospect can choose the company (or better yet companies) to follow up with.  You can offer discounts for united services and meet the customer as a dual solution.  A marketing fulfillment company can help you set up and maintain a coop partnership.  For instance, a Landscaper can partner with a Landscape Designer, which are two services that can be combined for a total solution for the customer.  You can coop the cost with your Strategic Partners.  You can kill the competition with this strategy!  Make sure you choose your partner(s) deliberately.
• Put your Ads on the website for people to listen to, especially your Q & A Expert Sessions.
• Interviewing the President of the company can be a great way to start, giving you pile of material to draw on to make a variety of Radio and Online Ads.  This is a very effective use of your Ad dollars.
• Consider the good afternoon for peoples drive home for your radio ads, you’ll have their attention.
• Always mention your website and an easy to remember number.  9 times out of 10, if the website is easy to remember, the listener will find it.

TV

You can cost effectively target your audience.  The average U.S. Household watches an average of 8 hours TV per day, with the average viewer watching 4  hours per day.   With Cable, you can cost effectively target an audience and needs to be part of any company’s Business Plan Process.

• TV is a great set up for your Sales Page on your Website.
• Avoid prime time and take advantage of fringe time.  Consider a media buying service to really save on your ad times; they often buy unsold TV time for pennies on the dollar.
• Consider hiring an inbound telemarketing cal centre to take the calls off your ads, no matter the hour of the day.  If you use a different phone number from channel to channel or ad to ad, you can easily track them.
• Direct Response TV can offer your prospects the entire sales performance.  This is a powerful system!  Some direct Response advertising can be bought on a per inquiry or sales basis, taking a lot of risk out of your capital outlay.
• The TV station can provide all the Production services, saving you thousands.  However, with a good marketing adviser, you should publish the script.  I like a Storyboard because it helps you visualize the Ad.  Save money by having a pre-production meeting to ensure things run quickly and smoothly on production day.  The less the editing, the more economical your ads will be – plan ahead!  You normally can create three good ads in one production day – good planning can help you achieve this great use of time and money, which brings your production cost per ad to about $300.  Shoot in digital so you can replay it immediately and quickly make any fixes.
• Concentrate on 30 second spots.  Direct Response sales ads should be about 2 minutes and keep the phone number visible during the entire ad.
• Show your product or service in Action.  This is the real advantage to TV ads.
• Don’t make the Ad more interesting than your product.
• Remember a TV’s volume may be muted so tell your story visually!

Outdoor Ads

A lot of outdoor ads are not effective as they aren’t visual enough and can’t be read at 55 mph. However some good ways to make it more effective: tell the driver to Exit Now; contains a big arrow; is very visual; and your ad is in an excellent location – all of these variables can add up to a successful billboard ad. Being a constant reminder to commuters that you there and ready for them, can be powerful. Outdoor billboards are excellent in establishing an identity and brand for your business. However, on the flip side, they can be very expensive.

• Use no more than Five Words; use one large Graphic; make sure it is well illuminated.
• If it is a Digital Board, make sure your Ad stays up long enough for passer bys to visually take it in and act on it.
• Consider sharing the Billboard with another business in your Office Park or Retail Center and / or have your Office Park or Retail Center mentioned for even greater cost savings!
• Consider other less costly alternatives like bus, taxi or bus stop Advertising if it serves your market well.
• Remember, an Outdoor Ad should be clear from afar as prospects will be viewing typically from a moving vehicle.
• Be careful to design your sign with the character and taste of your community in mind.

Newspapers

While Online Advertising is really giving newspaper advertising a run for its money, you will find that newspaper ads are getting cheaper and cheaper as a answer.  Moreover, a newspaper can add flexibility and can be quite targeted if necessary.  Always test your ads by including codes so you know which ones are most effective.  Narrow your ads to the most effective papers by contrasting ads and gauging the differences.

• Send in good artwork and affirm with the production department that your Ad will print well.
• I like to run smaller ads in different sections with tracking codes to determine your best as placement.
• I like the Classified Section Ads because this is where good buyers go.
• Always point to a specific Sales Page on your website which is designed around the Ad you place.
• Always ask about volume discounts and reduced ad rates when testing the paper’s effectiveness.  Everything in Advertising is negotiable!
• Offer something for FREE (Bold it & Capitalize it).
• Use a Graphic or Logo to increase the effectiveness of your ad by 30%.
• Repeat your subject three times in a small area by using a Logo, Headline and Copy that relate.
• If you advertise on the TV, using one frame from the TV ad can increase the print ad’s effectiveness by 40%.
• A good ad can make good circulars and help brand your name / product.
• Newspaper advertising requires consistency to get any traction or ROI but make sure it is working for you before committing to a long run. 

Magazines

I like Magazine advertising as it is Regional and National in scope and you can target your audience effectively.  I like to test classified ads as part of my Business Plan Companies in different Magazines to see what works then I consider Display ads (and keep the classified ad). 

• Magazines lend believability
• You can use your Ad effectively in a Circular or other company medium.  Always say, “As Seen in Entrepreneur Magazine (insert the magazine the ad appeared in).”  This gives you instant familiarity, credence and credibility with the reader.
• Consider run a low cost classified Ad in a multitude of Magazines which target your prospect verses running a Display as in a couple.  Your ROI for dollars spent will typically be much better.
• A prospect reading a classified as will think you are cheaper than the advertiser with the expensive Display Ad.  If you aren’t selling a luxuriousness product, this can be a great start to convey with a price conscious prospect.  They think money is being saved even before they call you and discuss price.  What a win-win for both the prospect and the business owner!
• Multiple Ads run through a Ad Media Company in several magazines can get some great discounts.  If your credit is decent, you can be blanket(a) payment terms which match with your Ad ROI.  Therefore, no money out of pocket until revenue is generated from the Ads (if timed correctly).  Powerful!
• Take advantage of Split Runs with Magazines to see what Ad works best, in what section of the magazine.  Great way to test a Headline or Copy.
• Magazines are more targeted for the type of reader verses a newspaper.  A newspaper is more geographically targeted.  Using the two in concurrence can be powerful!
• If your product or service is business orientated, consider advertising in a Trade Magazine. MediaFinder is a great way to find the Trade Magazines to advertise in.
• Magazines lend themselves to color.  Use it!
• Magazines life cycle or longer.  People go back to them over and over, as well as, hang on to them.  Your Ad has a chance of being read multiple times.
• orchestrate your Magazine Display Ad with Boldface sub-heads.  These will be read first, should grab attention and get the reader to either read more or act.  No more than 50% of a Display Ad should be text.
• Consider blowing up your Magazine Ads into posters and mount them strategically around and outside your business, with the Headline:  “As Seen in Entrepreneur Magazine….”
• Ask the Ad Space Rep to call you when remnant space is available.  You will save big bucks!

About The Writer

Frank Goley is a Marketing Consultant for ABC Business Consulting. He is a professional in enterprise planning, advertising and marketing, strategic planning, business enterprise turnarounds, on-line promoting and search engine optimisation (SEO). Frank has published more than 170 Business Success Blog Posts and E-Books. He is author of a Business Plan Guide and writes the Business Success Weblog. Frank genuinely likes assisting organizations to start, develop, turnaround and be successful! 

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