If you’re like many design professionals, you feel compelled to advertise. I mean, everyone else is doing it, right? 

Here is a question my clients pose regularly: 

I’ve been in business for several months and things are moving in the right direction; however, I want more business. I’ve thought about advertising, but it seems so expensive. Do you have any advice on where to advertise and how much to spend?

Many design professionals equate advertising with marketing. They are not, in fact, the same thing. While advertising may be a component of an effective marketing strategy, the terms “advertising” and “marketing” are NOT synonymous. 

In most cases advertising is expensive, and – without repeated ad appearances – fails to provide the new business you hoped for. As a result, I highly recommend focusing your efforts on other marketing strategies that are more effective, such as speaking or writing.

But, to the extent your budget is large enough to support an advertising campaign (as opposed to haphazard occasional placement of “an ad here and another ad there” – otherwise known as “shotgun advertising” which is NOT at all effective), I have a few things you should keep in mind:

•  Advertising budget - The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. For instance, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that your annual advertising budget be $2,500 (or just over $200/month). While you can use this as a “rule of thumb,” don’t fret if your available funds do not support this kind of expenditure. Instead of investing hundreds of dollars per month in traditional advertising, spend your time & efforts seeking to get in front of your target market as much as possible (by, for example, speaking, writing or networking.) 

•  Before placing an ad, do your homework - Contact the publication to ascertain demographics related to their subscribers and readers. Indeed, you need to confirm that your target market reads the publication you seek to advertise in.

•  There is no correlation between the amount of money spent and the resulting new business - This conclusion was reached in a recent study at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. So, if the money spent does not necessarily indicate the success of an ad, what does?

•  The message is the most important aspect of an ad - Often the message is in the headline, which is the first and (usually) only part of the ad readers will see. The headline needs to be simple, compelling, and will ideally appeal to the reader’s emotions. If the headline delivers in this way, the reader will likely be drawn to read the rest of the ad. 

•  Think “out of the box” when creating your ad - If you want your ad to be read, you should strive to make it unique – ensure that it “stands out” from the rest. Let’s take your local Yellow Pages as an example.  If you were to peruse your Yellow Pages, I’m confident you would see that most are of the same format – what is called an “institutional” ad. That is where the logo and/or company name is front and center, along with the contact information. Rather than leaping off the page with an attention-grabbing headline, many ads will look like all the rest which results in a less-than-expected return on their investment. So, instead of creating a “cookie cutter” ad, take the time to focus on your target market. Choose a problem they struggle with (e.g., putting a space together to look cohesive and attractive) and try to come up with a headline that promises a solution to that problem. 

Here’s an example: instead of saying, “Specializing in One - Day Room Makeovers”, try this: “Come home to a beautiful, like-new space . . . completed in just one day!” See the difference?

•  Repetition is key - As mentioned earlier, you cannot expect to get results from placing an ad one time, in just one publication. Likewise, placing an ad in one publication one month, then placing that same ad in another publication the following month will not get the response you seek. The key to success in advertising is multiple appearances in the same publication, so that readers begin to recognize YOU, get to know YOU, and begin to trust YOU. The average reader will NOT contact you after seeing your ad once. In fact, most people will only contact a business only after seeing an ad eight or more times! So before you invest in advertising, realize that your investment will pay for itself only if you engage in a true advertising “campaign”. 

Judy May is the President of Show House Marketing, a business development and marketing firm catering exclusively to design industry professionals.  She can be reached at 610.324.5240 or judy@ShowHouseMarketing.com. For FREE Resources, including the Weekly $uccess Secrets Newsletter and the New! 14-day Jump Start your Design Business E-Course, visit them online at: www.ShowHouseMarketing.com.