With thousands of ‘me too ‘products, all competing for the same pool of customers and prospects, differentiation is one of the most important ways to gain recognition and build brand awareness. Communicating your firm’s unique characteristics, expertise, strengths and successes to a large number of prospects can be achieved through advertising.
Advertising is not about selling the skill of your firm, but about promoting the qualities that differentiate your firm from so many others. Differentiation is your brand, and advertising is about positioning that brand by promoting and communicating your firm’s differentiators to a targeted mass audience.
Without marketing, public relations and a strong business development strategy, few clients or prospects would know about the product and why it is unique, resulting in fewer opportunities for new customers. Advertising is just one tool in a successful marketing and business development program that can help create new opportunities.
Advertising broadcasts your differentiators to a targeted audience of mass proportions. It delivers your message to a broader audience and at a faster rate than any other marketing tool. Repetition and frequency are key components of a successful advertising initiative. Once you establish your brand message, you must drive that message into the minds of clients, prospects, and even staff members. The most effective and efficient way to do so is through frequent, repeated advertising in the same publications or airwaves reaching the same industry or targeted audience.
A successful advertising campaign brings many other benefits that manufacturers never seem to address. Some are extremely important when building a brand or positioning your product within the marketplace. When weighing the value of an advertising campaign and whether advertising is right for your product, you should consider these other benefits.
- Advertising communicates success. The mere fact that your Co is advertising communicates success to customers, potential customers and competitors.
- Advertising reminds customers of the quality service that your Co has provided and offers assurances that your Co will remain viable and successful well into the future.
- Advertising is publicity, focusing attention on your If you are seeking publicity but an editor has never heard of your firm, that editor is most likely to doubt the importance of the information and not run it. Advertising can eliminate that doubt.
- Advertising is movement and growth. Advertising breathes life into a firm, carrying it to new areas, new markets, and new industries. A firm that keeps moving grows and thrives, while dormant ones tend to stagnate.
- Advertising “spreads the word” about a firm, and the more people who are familiar with a – and with the brand – the greater then its market power. Familiarity wields the power of persuasion creating an avenue for others to pass on your information with confidence.
- Advertising boosts morale. An important, empowering element of advertising is pride. Advertising is a source of pride for clients who have chosen the firm as well as for staff who enjoy the excitement generated by an ad campaign.
- Advertising stimulates conversation about brands, among customers, potential customers and competing brands. When a prospective or existing customer tells a member of your Company, “I saw your ad today,” you have just been handed an opportunity to build a relationship. Relationship building is vital, as success in the service industry is based on strong relationships.
- Advertising can eliminate branding confusion, which causes an identity crisis both within and without your firm. Properly positioning the brand through advertising will communicate to everyone what your firm is about, removing all assumptions.
Advertising is an investment in growth, generating opportunities, positioning a brand and reaching thousands of potential clients. If the industry is based on successful relationships, then your next goal should be to learn to recognize and capitalize on the new opportunities brought to you through advertising.
