What is advertising?
Advertising is bringing a product (or service) to the attention of potential and current customers. What is the best way to advertise in a saturated market?
Ask yourself these questions:
- What is your specialty?
- Do you offer any discounts?
- Do you have promotions?
- Do you give free samples?
Are you getting the point yet? You have to distinguish yourself from your competition. It’s the only way you will end up with a client list that you won’t be able to handle because of referrals. If you want to just market your company, get yourself out of the crowd. Make yourself known by some kind of notable feature that you are or have. Once you’ve set yourself apart as a true professional in your field not only will clients refer to you, but colleagues will too.
How to use an advertising budget
The use of your budget and your tactics will depend on your market, your target audience, your competitors, your dealership’s reputation and the cost of the media in your area. TV commercials have always been a top choice for dealerships but the web is slowly becoming the preferred option too since so many potential clients spend time on the internet
Generating word-of-mouth
Here are some tips to help you generate word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth advertising is important for every business as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones your way. It’s one of the most credible forms of advertising because a person puts their reputation on the line every time they make a recommendation and that person has nothing to gain but the appreciation of those who are listening.
What are you doing to make sure your potential ambassadors feel confident enough in your business to recommend it? What are you doing to trigger word-of-mouth?
Here are some tips to help you generate word-of-mouth:
1. Word-of-mouth is triggered when a customer experiences something far beyond what was expected
Slightly exceeding their expectations just won’t do it. You’ve got to go above and beyond the call of duty if you want your customers to talk about you.
2. Don’t depend on your staff to trigger word-of-mouth by delivering “exceptional customer experience”
Good customer service is sporadic, even in the best establishments. The customer who receives exceptional service today can’t be sure their friends will receive the same tomorrow, so even the most well served are unlikely to put their necks on the line and make a recommendation. Deep down, customers know service comes from an individual, not from an establishment. And even the best people have bad days.
3. Physical, non-verbal statements are the most dependable in triggering word-of-mouth
These statements can be architectural, kinetic or generous, but they must go far beyond the boundaries of what’s normal. If you don’t want to be average, why do you insist on being normal? Here are some examples of these statements:
- Architectural. The piano store that looks like a huge piano, with black and white keys forming the long awning over the long front porch. A glass-bottom floor that allows customers to see what’s happening on the floor below them. Do you remember when McDonald’s began building attached playgrounds to all their restaurants? It has worked for more than 20 years.
- Kinetic. The tossing of fresh fish from one employee to another at Pike Place Market in Fishhoek. The magical, twirling knives of the tableside chefs at a renowned restaurant. Kissing the codfish when you get “screeched in” at any pub in Newfoundland. (A screech is a loud and funny ceremony during which non-Newfoundlanders down a shot of cheap rum, repeat some phrases in the local dialect and kiss a codfish. Everyone who visits that wonderful island returns home with a story of being “screeched in.”) While it may at first seem like a kinetic word-of-mouth trigger is a violation of #2 above, “Don’t depend on your staff…”, it’s really not. A kinetic word-of-mouth trigger is constantly observable by management. It isn’t a “customer service” experience delivered privately, one on one.
- Generous. Are you willing to become known as the restaurant that allows its guests to select, at no charge, their choice of desserts from an expensive dessert menu? You can cover the hard cost of it in the prices of your entrees and drinks. Flour, butter and sugar are cheap advertising. Are you the jewellery store that’s willing to become known for replacing watch batteries at no charge, even when the customer hasn’t purchased anything and didn’t buy the watch from your store? Word will spread. And watch batteries cost less than any type of advertising.
4. Budget to deliver the experience that will trigger word-of-mouth
Sometimes your word-of-mouth budget will be incremental, so that its cost is tied to your customer count. Other times it will require a capital investment so that repayment will have to be withheld from your advertising budget over a period of years. The greatest danger isn’t in overspending but in under-spending. Under-spending on a word-of-mouth trigger is like buying a ticket that only takes you halfway to Europe.
5. Don’t promise it in your ads
Although it’s tempting to promise the thing you’re counting on to trigger word-of-mouth, these promises will only eliminate the possibility of your customers becoming your ambassadors. Why would a customer repeat what you say about yourself in your ads? You must allow your customers to deliver the good news. Don’t rob your ambassadors of their moment in the sun.
Advertising channels
There are many ways to advertise a product. One can use Radio, TV, the worldwide web, cinema, outdoor bill boards and the print media. Choosing the right vehicle depends on the product and available budget.