Cyrus McCormick, American inventor and businessman, once said, “Trying to do business without advertising is like winking at someone through a pair of green goggles. You might know what you’re doing, but no one else does.”
Advertising can take many forms: digital/online (your website), your premises, posters, search engine marketing, leaflets, mailshots, postcards, company vehicles, vouchers, branded golf umbrellas, and finally TV.
These all have the same aim – to make sure you’re inside people’s heads when they’re ready to buy.
Ads may come in many formats, but they all work in the same way. Ads that really sell things are interesting, simple and bring a desire to life.
By simple, we mean stick to one idea per ad, rather than crowding every thought you’ve ever had into one place. This might feel like a waste of precious marketing money but think of it like this: if you throw one tennis ball to a friend, they’re pretty likely to catch it. But throwing 12 at once doesn’t mean they’ll catch more. They’re way more likely not to catch any
And “bringing a desire to life” might sound tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. You have to identify something you think people will pay for and then put an image of that into their head. Don’t just show or describe your product or service – get them to imagine what it feels like to use it, or to have the problem it solves. Once they’re imagining the experience, you’ve practically made that sale.
A simple, interesting solution to a potentially tricky problem: when Apple first brought out the iPad, it was a ground-breaking product. Nobody had ever seen or thought of a “tablet computer” so they didn’t know what it did or what they’d use it for. For the UK launch, Apple bought out all the posters running along the moving walkway in Waterloo station. Each poster had a similar but different photo of an iPad in somebody’s lap, with different apps open, doing different things. By the end of the travellator, travellers knew what it was, how to use it, what it was for… and could imagine how they’d use it.
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Spread the cost of your advertising
We can finance the critical costs incurred for business growth and brand awareness. For example we could support website development and paid advertising campaigns with a business loan with repayments spread over 12 months, helping to smooth cash flow and free up your capital for investment in other areas of your business.
To learn more about how we can help, take a look at our Products or see how companies like yours have made money work for their business in our Customer Success Stories.
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