Why Buy a Specials Ad

There are many ways to promote a business and generate sales  …  though your product or service, the size of your business, budget, the message you want to get across etc  …  will influence the method you use.

In this particular exercise  …  we’ll limit the discussion to local business in and around Murray Bridge.

There are probably not too many businesses in Murray Bridge that could justify using television advertising but radio ads are widely used  …  and with a couple of local radio stations and their corresponding local audiences, seem to work well.

On the more expensive end of the scale  …  but still very effective.

Most businesses have some sort of footprint in the Yellow Pages, though that seems to be becoming less and less relevant. The 12 months between updates and the cost of display ads doesn’t help here  …  and (speaking from experience) aging eyes really struggle with the minute print.

Yellow Pages are attempting to re-invent themselves with a tie-in to the online world but it’s a fairly clunky experience so far.

Probably the most widely used method is advertising in the local paper, with a regular local readership. As with all forms, you still have to engage the reader and grab their attention otherwise your advertising dollar is wasted  …  and you do need a lot of those dollars to present a decent sized ad.

We are always reminded that each newspaper is read by at least 2.6 people etc etc  …  but it is still only current for a couple of days  …  or until the next edition comes out  …  and then ends up in the recycling.

Direct marketing via mail or letterbox drops can reach very targeted groups also  ..  though the cost of producing a flyer plus cost of delivery can add up pretty quickly  …  and the process has to be repeated regularly to have any lasting effect.

A large percentage of businesses have websites, which can be great selling tools, but most are difficult or expensive to upgrade or modify unless you have a resident webmaster  …  and even if you do  …  you are still faced with the problem of attracting people back to your site regularly to see those changes.

Having said that, websites can contain an almost unlimited amount of information, data and sales copy  …  and well presented sites are excellent selling tools.

A more recent issue is that many sites are not mobile friendly  ...  so with a high percentage of web traffic coming from mobile users  ...  many websites are virtually inaccessible.

Love it or hate it, social media can help  …  and with a good social media manager can work very well  …  but still requires a fair commitment of time to do it yourself  ...  or money if you decide to outsorce the work.

Another form of online marketing  …  where you can purchase adverts on directory sites like this  ...  can also be very effective. Obviously the sites need to have a steady stream of visitors, otherwise they are also a waste of time and money.

Provided that is taken care of  ...  a major advantage is that they are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week  …  and can display lots of content, or at least  … link to  …  lots of content. These links can go straight back to your own website where your sales copy can continue the task.

Or  ...  if you don’t have your own website  …  you can still link to a substantial advert or sales letter on the directory site. This can include quality photos and images  …  whatever you can create and upload  …  and if that process sounds daunting  …  it needn’t be  …  uploading is a simple point and click process.

Another advantage is that your ads can be changed or updated regularly  …  no more waiting 12 months to fine tune your Yellow Pages ad to see if it gets better results.

Probably the biggest advantage of having one of these types of ads …  is the value for money  …  with a price of just $99 incl gst / month  …  and with discounts available for multiple months.

I’m not sure how far $99 would go on the radio or in the local paper, but I’m pretty certain what ever it is, it would not get much attention.

Now obviously, I’m trying to sell you on the idea of purchasing advertising on this site  …  but I genuinely believe that if we can encourage a large enough percentage of locals to visit this site  …  and on a regular basis  …  diverting some of your advertising dollars to this directory will be well worth the effort and bring your business much higher returns.