Six Ways Advertising Campaigns Can Increase Sales of Products and Services in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Queen Creek, Chandler and Gilbert, Arizona

Click on the next button for more advertising information:

Six Ways Advertising Can Increase Your Sales

1. Selling Direct - Some products can be sold directly from an ad or direct mail solicitation. This is especially true now that the Internet has made it possible to buy products on line with a credit card. Selling direct works best for products that have clearly defined benefits and are not available through retail outlets. They need to have some degree of inherent excitement and must be priced under $1,000. It also works well for supplies and other commodity items that can be grouped by category and offered in a catalog format. There are literally millions of websites using this approach.

2. Generate Sales Leads - For smaller firms with limited budgets the best use of marketing communications is to generate immediate business leads that can be converted to sales. This type of ad encourages response by making a free offer of some type - usually a free white paper, a free initial consultation, free estimate, free evaluation of a problem, or other free information. Sometimes leads are overlooked by busy advertising managers, but when handled and funneled properly to the sales team, they can add tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars to a company's gross sales each year.

3. Educate Your Prospects - Advertising can communicate information about your product, your service, your business philosophy, your way of doing business, or your unique approach to solving the customer's problems. A typical example is a wireless equipment manufacturer whose product is differentiated from the competition such as DSL or cable modems because their product makes it possible to connect to the Internet and roam anywhere, not just a fixed location where old fashioned wired computer ports are located. Advertising would highlight this key difference, explain why it was chosen and how it works, and stress the benefits of this type of network (better performance, higher reliability, greater effectiveness, lower operating costs, etc.) to the reader.

Service businesses are often successful with an even purer educational approach, in which advertising tells the reader about a subject in general, only briefly referring to the firm's particular services. One successful ad, for a mortgage finance company, had the headline, "Nine questions to ask before you chose a mortgage or refinance firm - with a good answer to each question." The copy was filled with facts about the methods and techniques used to find the best lenders to finance a home purchase. Readership was high because the ad presented valuable information of immediate use to the reader. Response was high because, by giving this information instead of a blatant sales pitch, the copy convinced readers that the advertiser was someone who could help them.

4. Create Awareness - There are so many products, services and ideas on the market today that a big part of an advertiser's job is to simply make people aware that you offer a particular solution to their problems. A good example would be the Broadband Wireless Exchange (BWE) web portal, which in 2001 was the only website available that taught people how to build broadband wireless networks.

BWE did not need to convince prospects that their site was better than the competition, because they had no direct competitors. BWE's only challenge was to make potential customers aware that (a) building broadband wireless networks was much more cost effective than building wired networks, (b) BWE is a recognized authority and expert in building these types of networks and (c) they had consulting teams available for hire. With only a small amount of Internet advertising and several good press releases, the BWE website became the Internet's #1 source for wireless networking information.

5. Establish Credibility - Establish credibility with information sources just like this one. By providing some web editorial on how to do effective advertising, we build credibility with our clients that need these types of services. Providing helpful information to potential clients that helps them make better buying decisions is a good way to begin building a relationship with a future customer.

6. Keep Your Name in Front of the Public - Repeat advertising in select media can help build familiarity with your company's name and establish your identity. In order to convince a customer to do business with you, you must first cross their "threshold of consciousness." The first time a prospect sees you, they may not recognize you. The second time, they might think they have seen your name before. But on the third time, most prospects will begin to remember your name and what your company stands for.

Advertising costs money. And building awareness through the use of paid advertising can get expensive quickly. The most cost effective way to keep your name in front of customers is through the combination of advertising and free publicity.