How
do I decide what kind of advertising will be the most
effective?
Each
business is different. Here are some things you might
consider in deciding what kind of advertising plan you
want to use.
First,
Ask WHO is your market? Age has a lot to do with it, for
instance: families may be more likely to see a theatre
slide than the elderly. So, if you are advertising to
the local community and your target market is in their
teens, or up through middle age a theatre slide might
be a good way to go. Once your slide is prepared it can
advertise month after month for a much lesser cost than
say, a publication ad.
But
what if your market is the elderly and they don't usually
go to the theatre? You might want to consider the types
of magazine they like, or TV slides on the local TV station
if your market is local. What organizations are they affiliated
with and do those organizations have newsletters with
reasonable ad rates? Brochures can be placed in doctor's
offices, the library and the hospital waiting room.
How
about mailing houses? They keep demographics and addresses
of various markets. Stuffers in magazines or newspapers
might be another way to go. You do the layout and printing,
then deliver the printed flyers to their office where
they stuff them and send them out.
How
do I make a decision that fits in my budget?
Ad
layout costs are usually the lesser portion of your investment
because it is a one-time charge. So you will want to compare
not only ad layout costs, but display costs. You want
to compare your costs in the long-run. Display costs are
monthly costs and can add up fast. So even if you pay
a bit more than you originally wanted for the ad layout
or website, that cost won't come again like the display
costs will. Here are some comparisons.
Magazine
Publication Ads: Depending on the magazine and
its circulation, publication ads can run anywhere from
$700.00 - 35,000.00 for a one-time exposure. Some folks
can't afford to advertise using a large ad with an order
form in a publication magazine, but can afford to place
a small ad leading people to the website.
Ads
for local publications are quite affordable. These may
include include maps, placemat ads in restaurants, high
school posters that include local ads, newspaper and
phone book ads (the latter of which can be quite
expensive for some of us).
Website
advertising:
The
website will display everything you have to offer. Space
is virtually unlimited. It has a potential for worldwide
exposure. You have the ability to take orders or simply
lead folks to contact you. You can take orders through
an order form or a shopping cart. Once your website
is set up, unless your inventory changes often, it is
there forever. Maintenance or updates may need to be
done periodically, but your initial ad investment is
in the setup, unlike a publication ad where you can
pay much more than for a website and it is only shown
for one month, and then gone.
Monthly
display costs will be your website space, (as little
as $14.00 mo.), your website URL (website name) which
can run as little as $10.00 year. If you have a
shopping cart you will have charges from your bank as
well, through using your ordering and payment system.
If
you should want a website but cannot afford the cost
you might want to start out with a one-page flyer website
page, which can be expanded as your advertising budget
grows. Click on the button to find out more.
Theatre
Slides:
If
your market is local this might be good exposure for
you. Display
your slides on all 6 screens at the Payson Sawmill Theatre
for *$69.00 monthly. If
teens or moms and dads are your market this may be good
exposure at a really reasonable price. Big cities are
more expensive but have much greater exposure as well.
Theatre
slides can also be sent to local TV stations who use
them in a slide show.
Brochures,
Posters and Flyers:
Again, consider your market. If it is local,
and there are certain places your market gathers you
may get some good exposure this way. Once your printing
is done there are no more display costs.
If
you are not already, it would be good to become a member
of your local Chamber
of Commerce. They will do a write-up about your business
in their newsletter and you can put your brochures or
flyers in their office. They also have a reasonable
price for stuffing a full-page flyer in the Chamber
newsletter.
You
can also set up a display at shows or get a booth at
the business showcase. You would certainly want some
brochures, flyers or posters available as well as your
business card to hand out at such events. Involvement
with the community helps to get you and your product
known.
You
can save money by mailing flyers along with your product
to customers who order. This can be a great way to avoid
postage costs and reach your target market with other
products you have to offer.
Mailing houses can be expensive mostly because
of postage costs, but they have demographics for specific
markets and addresses that you may not have, and they
do all the labeling and mailing for you. You pay according
to number to be sent and area to be covered.
Business
Cards:
Business cards don't have
to be similar to everyone else's like a cookie-cutter
style, plain and traditional. They can be printed on
both sides, or even doubled or tripled in width or height
and folded. They can have lots of photos and design,
just like any other ad. We can set up something like
that for you here at Computer Creations. No matter what
other method or methods of advertising you choose, the
business card is something you always need to have on
hand, and they are one of the least expensive types
of ads you can do. Once your design is done you only
need to keep them printed up.
How
do I decide what I can afford?
After you have considered display costs compared to exposure
for your market, consider the following;
1.
How many customer orders it will take to pay for your
advertising investment, the rest that comes in after deducting
the amount for filling the order is profit. Your layout
is only a one-time fee, but the display fees can come
every month or with every advertisement exposure. So the
orders that come in over time, the clients who come to
you for your services, perhaps over and over again throughout
the years are the fruit of your investment. How much of
that profit will it take to pay for your initial layout
investment? Will it pay for your distribution or monthly
display costs? Are you sure it will pay for itself? Maybe
you are sure it will at least pay for itself and probably
bring in some profit. Perhaps you are confident it will
not only pay for itself but will bring in a large profit?
If
you are unsure of such a large investment, such
as with a magazine ad, and
you don't have much capital to work with, you might want
to start with another method of advertising that doesn't
cost as much monthly, such as a theatre slide, but you
are confident it will bring in at least enough to pay
for the layout and display and will get your business
some exposure, and may bring in some profit as well.
2.
Along with that, you may want to look at a larger investment
to begin with, but one that doesn't have much in the way
of monthly costs, such as a Website. A website will take
time to grow, but your other advertising costs can be
cut by using smaller ads and leading people to your website.
Your online search engine exposure will grow in time but
your monthly costs will remain small. You will then have
money to work with for other advertising methods.
3.
Remember, the images you have prepared for use in the
first ad layouts will be available to use in future ad
layouts, which will save you on design time for your next
project. So take a good deep breath, and take your advertising
goals a step at a time. With each little step you should
see results that will help you take the next one while
remaining financially stable.
Can
we have this tomorrow?
Quality design may take several layout ideas stemming
from one basic idea and set of photographs. After the
first draft is finished, or several layout ideas, I will
need for you to go over the drafts and choose which layout
or parts of different layouts you would like to blend
to make your final draft. The final draft must then be
approved by you before printing, and then there's the
printing time, so you had better give yourself some time
for this.
What
if I don't have any photos of my product?
We
offer a photography services for an additional charge
of $35.00 per hour, available in Rim Country Only.
There is NO limit on the number of shots that can be taken.
The best photos are combined for the most dramatic affect.
Note:
If
you submit photos they must be "image ready",
that is; they must be of good quality, good color and
ready to view as professional images. They can be either
regular photos or digital images. We
can work with photos that aren't perfect, but based on
the time involved to improve them an additional fee may
be charged.
Can
I communicate everything I need for you to do via e-mail
and post "snail-mail" or do I need to travel
to Payson?
I
would love to meet with you personally, just because I
like working face to face with people, but we can do everything
we need to do over the phone as well, through e-mail and
through the web. I can send you layouts to approve or
change by way of e-mail or can display them on a website
page. I can send final products, CD Rom and print-outs
through the mail. You can set up printing in your area
and I can prepare the files in the formats that your printer
requests.
How
do you bill?
For new clients, most projects are billed 50% down at
the start of the project and the balance upon completion.
Larger projects can be billed in monthly payments.
If
you're a regular, I generally bill hourly. All invoices
detail what I've been up to and how long each task took.
Invoices
for the project are given and the balance is due when
it is finished unless other arrangements have been made.
Some
prices are pre-set, such as the one-page
flyer website pages.
*Note:
prices at the Sawmill are subject to change.
