Advertising Specialists Explain Your Options

Advertising is the means by which any product, service, project, idea, or person (such as a political candidate) is promoted to target audiences or to the general public. While it may have once been possible for would-be entrepreneurs, fundraisers, or office seekers to simply take out newspaper advertisements or even put up posters in and around their community, the complexity of the twenty-first century media and the potential offered by the Internet makes consulting with advertising specialists a must before spending your promotional budget.

The range of options for getting your message across is vast and only a professional advertising consultant can gauge which method will work best for you. From traditional billboards in key locations to print ads in newspapers or expensive television spots, advertising specialists can present you with an organized campaign to meet your goals and to stay within your financial reach. Many times clients are surprised to discover that lower-cost, more traditional approaches will actually work better for their target audience.

In general, according to advertising specialists, the television commercial remains the most effective advertising venue to reach large target groups. This kind of mass-marketing approach is expensive, period, but there are ranges to that expense. Obviously a commercial that airs during a high-viewer event like the Super Bowl is going to be much more expensive than a spot that appears at midnight on a Sunday. (During the 2004 Super Bowl some advertisers reputedly paid as much as $2.3 million for their thirty-second commercial time.)

Very few people are going to be able to budget $2.3 million to promote themselves, their product, or their services. Increasingly smaller businessmen, at the advice of advertising specialists, have turned to establishing an online presence. Relatively low cost print ads and such items as business cards and stationery carry the address of their website where the bulk of the information about the business is located.

Working with an advertising consultant, many businesses with websites also engage in mass email campaigns although this has become a more difficult promotional method as more and more software has been developed to stop “spam” or junk mail from flooding user’s inboxes. (Spam is the electronic equivalent of the paper-based promotional mail we receive, and throw away, on a daily basis.)

Whereas marketing seeks to identify which segment of the population will purchase a given product line or finds an idea or candidate appealing, advertising speaks to product availability and often is married to sale prices or “deal” arrangements. Although advertising specialists and marketing specialists often work hand-in-hand, there is a fine distinction between the two fields. Only by seeking help from a professional advertising consultant can a business owner or individual accurately assess what promotional approach will both achieve their goals and meet the constraints of their financial resources.

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