Mistake Proofing .2

If you promise more than you deliver, you are teaching your taregt customers not to trust your communications. If you deliver on your marketing promises and more, you will delight your target customers and win their loyalty. You are expected to put your best foot forward, but don't put your foot in your mouth.

How to Measure Advertisement ?

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted: the trouble is, I don't know which half".
a statement by John Wannamaker.


That statement is still true today for the most marketers, unfortunately.
Fortunately, it doesn't have to be true.


Thanks to gigantic leaps in data generation, collection, and processing, and to improvements in mathematical and research techniques, it is now possible to use research to get an accurate picture of most stages of the marketing process, including contributions to the bottom line.
Thanks to recent developments in massive database crunching, it is also possible to make behavioral projections with greater accuracy.
The capacity to measure the effect of advertising variables on sales has actually been available since the invention of the split-run copy test in direct mail. An ad in a newspaper or in a magazine is printed in two or more slightly different versions, each coded with a different return address (e.g. Box 40, Box 41, Box42) or a different phone number. Doing this at a sufficient scale (reaching a certain number of people) cancels out the effect of other variables, and you know which version of the ad pulled the most results, which variable was most effective. With new mathematical models, it's possible to test recipes (multiple variables) at the same time.
Amazingly, the vast majority of business do very little rigorous market research, They make decisions about price, location, product design, packaging, service brand strategy, message strategy, and advertising based on  history or gut feel, not any objectively measured reality. they could significantly reduce the risk of their marketing investment by testing the waters before they take a plunge. After all, you can't manage what you cant measure.


Be the smart marketer who uses research to stay in touch with reality.

When to Advertise ?

Timing can have a strong effect in the results of your marketing communications. It is tempting to advertise during sales slumps and off-season in order to make your budget numbers. But to get the highest return on your investment, advertise when your customers are considering a purchase or making a purchase.


Great Times to Advertise:

• Just before or during your peak buying season.
• During a recession.
• For a relevant holiday (e.g. candy before Valentine's Day and Easter, barbeque grills before July 4)
• When your customer comes into money (e.g. payday, end of fiscal year)
• At a trade show.
• When your competitors don't have a competitive product.
• When weather triggers sales (e.g. windshield wipers during the rainy season, swimsuits during the first warm summer days)
• When a competitor stumbles, goes out of business, raises its price or fees or changes its name.
• When there is extensive news coverage about a problem your product prevents or reduces (e.g. insecticide during a weevil infestation, safe investments during a Wall Street meltdown)

Bed Times to Advertise:

• When there is a problem with your product or service.
• When demand slumps (off-season).
• When a competitor is significantly outspending you in media (you're morelikely to get drowned out)
• When you are getting a lot of negative publicity that calls into question the honesty of your message or company or makes your promise seem false.

Mistake Proofing .1

Once a guy received an advertising letter that caused him to eliminate that company from his considered list. It began with "We respect your intelligence" and continued with similar flattery. Then, at the bottom of the first page, which ended in the middle of sentence, it read, "Please turn the page". That guy laughed -- and stopped reading. 
What company would praise a prospect's intelligence and then assume that the prospect was not intelligent enough to turn the page for the rest of the sentence and whatever followed?

That line, "Please turn the page," was no doubt standard on all the marketing letters that company mailed. But it made no sense for that particular letter, which did more harm than good. If you want to market effectively, nothing is standard. If customers have choices, little things can carry big consequences.

Why to Advertise then ?

Most business people fall into three categories when it comes to marketing expectations. This is usually based on early personal experience.


One group believes that marketing communications can save the company, like a magic wand. The people in this group have personally witnessed the power of marketing communications to drive sales up. 


One group is largely neutral.. Marketing communications may or may not work well, depending on the competitive circumstances, the target market, and the budget available.


And one group believes that marketing communications is a creative circus and a total waste of money. Those in this group have seen sales go down when advertising expenditures went up.


The reality is that they are all correct. Studies of advertising results show a classic bell curve. A small group of the best advertisers outsell the worst by 600 percent, a small group of the worst advertisers drive sales down 50 percent, and the majority of advertisers don't move the needle much at all. So all the options are possible.


Why advertise at all then? Unfortunately, if you stop communicating with your target market, your sales eventually will go down (unless your communications and product are awful). Your challenge is to find a way to communicate with your market effectively and achieve the highest return on your marketing communications investment.

Introduction to this Blog

How one should start a new business? 
What business should one start?
How to run business effectively and efficiently?
How to handle ups and downs of business?
How to advertise?
When to advertise?
How to fight with other large companies?
How to make your company's management better?
How to motivate employees?
Why one should motivate employees?
Why a business plan is necessary?
How? What? When? and Why????


There are so many questions which comes in peoples mind who wants to start a new business, or may have started it but can not run it, or might facing problems in maintaining an old business or may want to run their business more effectively.


In this blog you will find answers of all these F.A.Q.s as well as you will also get useful tips in different forms which will lead you to take better decisions in your business.