The Fall and Rise of Small Business Advertising

Who let this happen to the small business owner? Who sold them this bill of goods that advertising was the panacea for all of their business woes? Who told them all they had to do was get their name out there and people would beat down a path to their door?

There are three perpetrators of this assault on small business.

The first perpetrator is the media.  Television, radio, magazines and newspapers all promise massive exposure – they even make their sales pitch in large terms like CPM (cost per thousand exposures). But can they really direct your message to your target market?

The second perpetrator is the advertising agency. The industry has attracted a large number of creative artists who believe that as long as the advertisement is attractive, they have done their job. They fail to understand the need for a selling psychology so the ads will produce results.

The third perpetrator is the small business owners themselves. It’s hard to blame the media and the advertising agency when the owner hasn’t spent the time to isolate their target market or differentiate their products and services. Even the best marketing companies struggle to turn water into wine.

One of our mentors, Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, offered these words of wisdom this week – meaningful words are working better than ever.

In an advertising world where we fast forward the DVR, flip the station, turn the page and wrap the trash to avoid advertisements, meaningful messages will break through.

This means the media has to do a better job of targeting for the small business owner. This means the advertising agency has to do a better job of designing your advertisement – and go way beyond pretty pictures.

This means that the small business owner needs to get very clear – and committed – to developing a compelling message, compelling products and services and a compelling company.

Creativity and repetition have fallen as the way to make advertising work. Is your business ready to rise with messages that matter?