Advertising – A marketing message that is used to persuade or encourage an audience to take or continue a desirable action

 Whether you like the idea or not, some day, you are going to have to advertise your product / service / message to a wider audience who may know nothing about you. But how do you know when to start advertising?

Below are 10 signs that show you when to consider advertising.

1. No customers.

   • You have no customers therefore no sales but you have a product or service ready to go – ADVERTISE.

2. The wrong kind of customers.

   • The customers you are attracting are not resonating with your product / service – ADVERTISE TO THE CORRECT TARGET AUDIENCE.
3. Need a greater reach for you business.
   • You’re getting customers but they are mainly local when you actually want international – ADVERTISE IN THE REGION WHERE YOU WANT TO BE SEEN.

4. You have a new product that solves a new problem.

   • Sometimes customers don’t know they have a problem and so a new solution to a non problem is just dismissed – ADVERTISE, MAKE SURE YOU HIGHLIGHT THE PAIN POINTS AND THE BENEFITS.

5. Your brand is not recognisable.

   • You maybe doing good work but nobody can pick you out in a crowd – CREATE AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN THAT SHOWS WHO YOU ARE AND HOW THEY CAN BENEFIT FROM KNOWING YOU.

6. You need to spread your message.

   • You have a strong message that you need to share – CREATE A THE MESSAGE ONLINE THEN DRIVE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE TO THE MESSAGE THROUGH ADVERTISING.

7. You need to test website copy.

   • Testing the wording for a website can be a slow process if you don’t have visitors for feedback – CREATE TWO ADVERTS THAT CONTAIN THE WORDING FORMATS YOU WANT TO TEST THEN CHECK YOUR METRICS TO SEE WHICH PERFORMS BETTER.

8. You are known for the wrong thing.

   • Similar to an un-recognisable brand – CREATE AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN THAT SHOWS WHO YOU ARE AND HOW THEY CAN BENEFIT FROM KNOWING YOU ALL BASED AROUND WHAT YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR.

9. You are lost in the noise.

   • You are in a saturated ‘me too‘ industry and so many other companies are fighting for your customers – GRAB YOU CUSTOMER’S ATTENTION THROUGH ADVERTISING BENEFITS AND SHOWING THE PROMISED LAND.

10. You need help.

    • You may be in a situation where you need to partner with a company with a certain skill set – Advertise to you target partner and invite them to discuss how you can both help each other out. (This can also be done through networking).