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How to Keep Your Ads Legal

May 2, 2012 10:06 AM
While most small businesses don't set out to be deceptive or break the law with their advertising, it can happen. Here are a few common pitfalls to watch out for.

  • Bait and switch--It is illegal to advertise a product to get people in the door with the plan to sell them a different (often higher-priced) item. Most ethical business owners don't do this, but if you know going into the ad that you have limited stock, it's best to make that clear upfront. If you do run out of the advertised special, offer rain checks or at least a comparable item and pricing instead.
  • Misleading claims--Any claims made in your advertising must be factual and something you can prove if questioned about it. An example of a challenged claim is Papa John's "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." tagline. Ultimately Papa John's was able to keep the tagline, but it's a great example of what to watch out for.
  • Deceptive pricing--It's unlawful to state an item is on sale if it's actually the regular price. Nor can you advertise something is free when in fact there are hidden or additional fees. Another false "deal" is when the stated regular price isn't ever used or adhered to. You shouldn't mark up a price with the sole intention of making it appear to be a good "sale."
  • Unfair comparisons--If you are comparing products or services you offer against your competition's, make sure you're truly comparing apples to apples.
  • Sweepstakes and contests--These can be very appealing but also are highly restricted by law to make sure they aren't actually a lottery. Be sure to review the contest rules in depth before using it in your advertising. Then make sure you don't forget to use the very important statement "NO PURCHASE NECESSARY." 
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Too Busy to Advertise?

April 25, 2012 9:39 AM
If sales were evenly distributed throughout the year, each month would account for 8.3% of annual revenue. That's not what most businesses experience, however. Instead there are usually cycles of busier and slower times. For example, restaurants often see an influx on certain holidays like Mother's Day, sports stores sell more at the start of each sport's season and accountants are swamped leading up to tax day. If you don't plan ahead, you may feel like you are too busy running the business and helping customers to worry about marketing and advertising. If you think you don't need to waste money on marketing because the customers are already streaming in, think again.

Just because customers are in the mood to buy what you're selling doesn't mean they are choosing your business. With a solid marketing plan, hopefully you are "top of mind" with your prospects, but that's not a guarantee. Something as simple as your competition's ad may have caught their attention instead. Of course, there are a thousand and one other things that can impact consumers' purchase decisions. The most successful businesses know the importance of ramping up their marketing and advertising efforts just before and during their busiest time. It helps remind shoppers of all the benefits, offerings and reasons to choose their business.

Let's face it. Unless you have zero appointment times left or completely empty shelves in your store, you can benefit from more customers. There's always market share to be captured. What better time to pursue it than when customers already want what you've got without advertising? Now, you're sealing the deal more than selling them on the purchase.  That's a smart business strategy.
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Does Color Impact Your Marketing Success?

April 18, 2012 9:51 AM
Color theory is followed by many of the most successful companies because they realize that color use can have powerful effects on the body and mind. Sometimes personal and cultural associations influence reactions. Other times, it is pure science, as evidenced by the findings recently released by the Surrey Sleep Research Center that confirmed that the actual color of light can affect sleep. For your business, the importance is the effect color can have on your bottom line.

To help alleviate any skepticism, an article on ColorMatters.com, citing multiple sources, outlines a number of marketing and advertising related benefits:
  • Visual appearance and color far outweigh other factors in consumer influence, with 85% saying color is a primary reason why they buy a particular product and 93% citing visual appearance as an important factor.
  • Color increases brand recognition by 80%.
  • Color improves memory compared to black and white images.
  • Ads with color are read 42% more than the same ads in black and white.
  • Color improves learning and comprehension.
  • Color images hold attention for two or more seconds on average, compared to black and white images that only capture attention for less than two-thirds of a second.
  • Color use on an insurance company's invoices resulted in payments coming in on average 14 days earlier.
Color often plays such an important role in daily life that most don't even notice its impact directly. For example, one of the first things people do each day is decide what to wear, which is basically selecting, matching and accessorizing colors.  

Watch for upcoming articles in this series focusing on the meaning and effects of specific colors to help you market and advertise more effectively. But, keep in mind it's important to research cultural associations if you're planning to advertise in an area you're not familiar with. For example, black is associated with mourning and death in the United States, but in Asia, white is related to death. People living in tropical locations seem to prefer warm colors, while people near the poles prefer cool colors.
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Marketing Ad Budgets: 6 Month Outlook

April 11, 2012 9:56 AM
The Association of National Advertisers just released a report detailing anticipated changes to client-side marketers' ad budgets. Findings include:
  • Overall 34% surveyed expected a budget decrease (was 29% last year), while 17% expect an increase (was 22% last year).
  • 84% feel pressure to find ways to save or reduce costs (was 77% last year).
  • B2B companies are more likely than average to expect a budget decrease at 40%.
  • 42% of B2B companies expect their budget to remain unchanged.
  • B2C companies are less likely than average to expect a decrease at 32%.
  • On par with the average, 17% of B2C companies expect a budget increase.
  • Reductions are expected to be 10% or less for most (84%) of the respondents facing a decrease.
  • Most common reductions include: travel and expense restrictions (68%), challenging their agency to reduce costs (52%), ad campaign media budget (49%) and switching to lower cost channels (40%).
  • Using freelancers to fill open positions (21%) and reducing professional development (28%) are two other ways of reducing budgets that are more popular this year than last.
Thoughts and Takeaway Notes:
  • While at first glance, the report can seem gloomy with an increasing number of companies expecting a budget decrease, it's only the minority, with about half expecting no budget change.
  • Companies should remember that these statistics are meant for benchmarking purposes only and each business should evaluate many facets of what is happening inside and outside their business in determining their ad budget. 
  • It's been proven time and time again that the companies that continue to fund effective advertising and marketing campaigns, especially when others are cutting back, end up with a strategic advantage and a more successful company than their competition.
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Email Marketing: When to Send

March 28, 2012 10:51 AM
One of the most common questions small businesses (and really most businesses) have is "When should I send my marketing emails?" The most common answer is always, "It depends," which sounds like a cop-out, but honestly it really does. There's no one perfect time to send marketing email. If there was and everyone sent emails then, the results would probably be ruined due to overload and a new time would become better. All that said, this new report by Informz does address this important question. Just keep in mind that it's always best to do your own testing using these insights. Findings include:
  • Emails sent in the morning have a slightly higher average open rate of 39.2% than other time slots including midday at 33.9%, late afternoon at 32.1% and night at 32%.
  • Morning emails, on the other hand, don't generate many clicks; in fact, they have the lowest average click rate of 16.5%. 
  • Late afternoon emails have the highest average click rate at 21%, followed by midday emails at 19.7% and night time emails at 18.6%.
  • As for day of the week, the range is minimal with Tuesdays having the lowest average open rate of 32.77% and Fridays having the highest average of 35.19%.
  • Click rates by day of the week range from an average of 18.5% on Mondays, the lowest, to 19.85% on Wednesdays, the highest.
  • Overall average metrics include a 34.33% open rate and a click rate of 19.49%.
  • Survey-related emails had the highest click rate at 33.39%, and appeal-focused emails had the lowest open rate at 14.63%.
  • Open and click rates are also influenced by how the recipients read the emails, with those using desktop computers having higher open rates (51% vs. 46%) and click rates (15% vs. 5%) compared to those reading email on a mobile device.
These findings are based on the entire Informz client base and may include a mix of B2B and B2C. If you are new to email metrics, it's worth noting that open rates require the reader to view images in their email or have clicked on a link to trigger the tracking information. It is possible for emails to be read without being counted in your statistics. It is also possible that the same emails may be counted as being read because the images were shown, when, in reality consumers didn't actually read them. The metric isn't perfect but usually balances out. 
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Do Stock Photos Work on Facebook?

March 21, 2012 9:49 AM
All Facebook pages (not personal profiles) will be upgraded to the new timeline format on March 30, 2012, if they don't opt to upgrade themselves sooner. This new format makes one image the most prominent thing visitors see. Scrolling down the page, the photos used for each post also stand out way more than the text only posts using the new format. Facebook also reportedly favors pictures in the newsfeed, but regardless, most people are drawn to the posts with photos attached and more likely to interact with them. One of the latest trends is to even make phrases and sayings in a graphic format because images do so well on Facebook. Given these and the reasons graphics in general are more attention grabbing than plain text, it's obvious you need to incorporate images into your Facebook marketing strategy. 

This is easy for some businesses to do if they have lots of products to photograph. For most and especially service oriented businesses, it's not as easy. Say, for example, you run a pet grooming business. No one is going to know that the pets featured with your posts were purchased stock images instead of actual clients. Same thing applies for a carpet cleaning business featuring carpet stock images. In fact, since most small businesses aren't professional photographers, nor do they have them on staff, it is much more affordable to use stock images instead of hiring a photographer. The quality with stock photos is also much better than doing it yourself--after all, they were taken by professional photographers, just available in a more affordable venue. 

Of course, you want to find the most relevant images as possible and make sure it feels like a natural fit (and not forced).  Another concern with stock images is picking something that helps reinforce your message. It's important to pay attention to the details and spend a few extra minutes searching for the best match. It is possible to pick an image that does more harm than good, too, but as long as you choose wisely, using a stock image will be more effective on Facebook than going without.
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Are You Advertising Brand Name Products?

March 21, 2012 9:42 AM
Does your business sell any brand name products?  Are you featuring them in your ads? If not, you are likely missing out on a great opportunity. For starters, you can often get advertising help from the manufacturer. Many have co-op advertising programs where the manufacturer will pay for part or even all of your ad cost if your ad and business meet certain criteria. Even if you can't get financial help, you can often get professional quality product images to use such as those in the Kwikee library. 

There are quite a few benefits to featuring the brands you sell in your ads.You can:
  • Help consumers associate your business with the reputation and familiarity of the brand name product. 
  • Use the consumer interest in that brand to get people into your store where they can buy other items, too.
  • Capitalize on the ad campaigns the brands are running via national media outlets.
  • Give your ads a specific focus--narrowing the messaging to one product or category. 
  • Tap into the professional and strategically crafted messaging and graphics without incurring production costs of the same caliber. Stretch your ad budget further using co-op advertising funds (and buying more ads often means you get a lower ad rate, thus getting you even more exposure with the same budget).
  • Sell more product, and in turn, that typically helps you earn more co-op dollars for additional advertising. 
Examples of brands known for offering co-op advertising include: Benjamin Moore paints, Yamaha Motor Sports, Columbia Sportswear, Toro, Kohler, Kubota, Rolex, Scotts and Anderson Windows.

Examples of brands offering product images through Kwikee include: Coco-Cola, Hormel, Kraft, Old Orchard, Bigelow Tea, Clif Bar and Sun Chips. Other manufacturers may offer product images through their own website for distributors, too.
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Tired of Your Current Ad Campaign?

March 14, 2012 9:36 AM

Have you been running the same ad or ad campaign so long you're not sure you can handle seeing it one more time? If so, good! That means your audience is just starting to recognize and remember it. This may come as a shock to you or maybe just a good reminder but one of the most important ingredients in effective advertising is repetition. Scratch that, it's "repetition, repetition, repetition."


Skeptical? Think that saying is just a ploy by some media sales reps to increase advertising? Think again. Think back to grade school and how you were taught vocabulary, spelling or even multiplication tables. Lots of repetition (repetition, repetition), right? 


There are a lot of scientific articles out there that explain how long-term and short-term (aka working) memory works, but the simple explanation is that repetition helps transfer information to long-term memory that can be recalled more easily. Another reason repetition works is because it creates familiarity that tends to ensure a level of safety and trust in our brains.  


If you're still thinking that surely your customers have seen your ads as much as you and must be sick of seeing them too, think again. Many variables affect how much attention is given to any single exposure, so you can't expect someone who reads the paper your ad is in daily to cognitively notice your ad each time it appears. 


We're not saying you can never change your ad copy or design, just make sure it's a warranted change and try to keep as much consistency between ads as possible to build on the repeat exposures. One of the worst reasons for changing up your ad campaign is because you are tired of it. Once you're sick of seeing it, you can bet it's starting to truly be recognized by consumers.

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April Fools! Pranking Your Customers?

February 29, 2012 9:54 AM
Many people enjoy a good prank, especially on April 1, but as an advertiser, can you get in on the fun? Turns out lots of big brands do.  The best pranks are well-crafted for a specific audience, such as Google changing the text on the site to the font Comic Sans when users type in the word Helvetica. In case you don't understand the irony, let's just say many designers and font enthusiasts think Helvetica is a perfect font and Comic Sans is something they cringe at.

Another well-targeted ad is from Guinness, famous for the way the dark beer has white foam at the top. Their ad shows a glass of their beer with the colors reversed with the copy "FOR ONE DAY ONLY."   See it here: http://blog.psprint.com/featured-post/best-april-fools-advertisements/

Looking for more examples of famous pranks you can use for your own inspiration?
Be careful though, as some historical pranks have caused countless inquiries from gullible or hopeful consumers. You'd hate to truly excite and then disappoint customers, or even worse, confuse and anger them. A few examples are featured in this Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/pranks.asp.  Believe it or not, more than 250 people called the BBC switchboard after a fake news article asking of all things, where they could watch spaghetti plants being harvested. Granted this was in 1957, but even in the digital age, people might still believe crazy claims.
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Ad Design Defined: CPM

February 29, 2012 9:39 AM
CPM stands for cost per thousand, referring to the number of people who see an ad. Media buyers use this standard to compare advertising options since reader, viewer and listener numbers and rates vary so much. With print publications using circulation numbers and broadcast mediums typically using audience numbers, CPM helps create an "apples to apples" analysis. In case you don't want to do the math yourself, there are a number of websites with automated calculators to do it for you, like this one from SRDS. SRDS even breaks out the formula by media type with multiple variables (it's basically the same formula but just more specific in type and source), such as:

For print media (when audience data is not available):

CPM = Cost of 1 ad x 1000
Circulation 

For broadcast media (based on homes reached by a given program or time period):

CPM = Cost of 1 unit of time (commercial) x 1000 
           Number of homes reached by 
           a given program or time period 

Media costs, as in what you pay to actually have your ad appear in the newspaper or on TV, get the largest allocation in most ad budgets, so it's definitely worth your time to calculate the CPM and let it play a role in your strategy. Of course, like all aspects of advertising, you shouldn't use it in isolation either. Many other variables play into the quality of that number. For example, a 2x2 ad will have a much lower CPM than a half page ad, but that doesn't mean the 2x2 is a more effective use of your money. Likewise, if your TV commercial reaches people who are too far away to actually drive to your business, it won't be an "apples to apples" comparison with a newsletter for a neighborhood association down the block from you.
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