To advertise or not to advertise? Here a some tips to help you decide

To do or not to do?

Will it work or will it fail?

Will more customers frequent your business?

Is it really worth it?

Making the decision to spend money on advertising can be challenging, especially in a time when many people get their news on social media sites rather than traditional media sites such as newspaper, magazine, radio or television.

So when the advertising representative stops by and asks you to purchase an ad for the holiday section and tells you he needs a decision ASAP, here are a few things to consider before saying yes or no.

1. The first thing to know is you can’t measure the success of an advertising campaign if you only advertise once. The point of advertising is to gain recognition for your business. Think of it this way. You are at a social event and you are introduce to five people at once. One person talks to you several times throughout the evening while the other four only say once. Who are you going to remember? Same idea applies to advertising.
2. When most people start a diet, they expect immediate results. Same is true with advertising. A way to see if your ad is working is to keep a record of your sales before, during and after the advertising campaign.
3. All of us like deals – for example if an advertisement reads “Bring in this ad and receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more. Or “Mention this ad and get a 10 percent discount.” This is a great way to know if the ad is working.
4. Know who your customers are. When a long time or new customer visits your business, ask them what brought them in.
5. On your social media and web sites, ask customers how they heard about your business. Also monitor if you see an increase to the visits to your website and other social media sites after the ad is taken out.
6. It’s important to know what you want your ad to achieve. Is it to increase sales? Better name recognition? Make sure to have an advertising game plan and a clear target. If you try to do too much with an advertising campaign, you may wind up with an insufficient ad campaign.

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