What is advertising?

[Kiddleywinks]

What is advertising?
To advertise is to draw the attention of the public to a person or company's product, service, need etc
The idea is to get more customers by way of advertising.

Should I pay to advertise?
If the requirement to attract more customers needs you to part with funds to achieve the aim then it would make business sense that you need to speculate to accumulate.
Getting a load of business cards printed for free is fine so long as you have a contact number on there so potential customers can contact you.
If the printing is free, but you have to pay to have your phone number on them as well, it would make business sense to pay the extra.
Allow yourself a budget for advertising
No point spending £100 per week on advertising if it only generates £20 per week in income
Spending £100 per year on advertising that generates £2000+ per year in income makes better business sense

Evaluate your advertising
Ask where people got your details from and make a note of the source
Identify where you are getting most of your business or enquiries from and decide if it is worth increasing your budget in that area or type of area
Eg If you take out a half page ad in the Thomson local or yellow pages that doesn’t generate any enquiries, there’s little point in renewing it.
If on the other hand you have spent £50 getting some leaflets printed and that has generated a higher amount of business, it may be worth you increasing your budget to have more leaflets done.

Advertising is about targeting your market
Identify who it is you’re trying to attract, then identify where these people go.
With childcare, you are trying to attract parents of children. Where do parents go? EVERYWHERE!
Local shops – hairdressers, butchers, supermarkets etc
Doctors/Dentists/Health Centres
Schools
Playgroups
Libraries
Playschemes
Leisure centres
Cinema
Bowling alleys
Children orientated websites – *****, mumsnet
Workplaces – call centres/distribution centres have a lot of people working there, and all have staff noticeboards
Some shops will happily charge a nominal amount for advertising -10p – 50p a week
Your local FIS holds details of childminders for parents that enquire through the local council – and it’s free!
Some sites charge for advertising, some don’t – evaluate the likelihood of getting business from chargeable sites before parting with money.

How else can you advertise cost effectively?
T shirts/Fleeces worn daily, particularly when out and about – these can last years, for a relatively small outlay in cost
Business cards – hand them out to everyone you know and meet (networking)
Use them to put on noticeboards in the places listed above
Magnetic car signs

What works for one person doesn’t always work for another, so as said earlier, evaluate your advertising regularly.

Advertising doesn’t mean you will automatically get customers – you speculate to accumulate, evaluate, advertise, and so the cycle continues.

Do not expect the work to come to you – you have to be proactive in seeking out opportunities to generate business
No point having 3 boxes of business cards sat in a cupboard and moaning you’ve got no work – get out there, get them delivered, posted on noticeboards, handed out to anyone with a child.
No point advertising with a company online that requires you to pay a fee to contact parents then complaining when you don’t pay the fee

[wee_elf]

thanks for this