Advertising - worth doing?

[dotwhack]

Hi - don't panic or lose confidence!

I think you need to prove to both your employers & yourself that you know what you're doing.

At the moment I've got no budget for advertising either so to drive traffic to our new website, I'm taking a different approach. For example our website was launched to offer hydraulic hose and fittings to the marine & food processing industries - however so far our only order has come from a car enthusiast who was buying some components for his car engine.

I saw potential & asked if we could place some adverts in specialist car mags - the answer was no so I've been working on advertising through the forums on specialist car sites - generated a significant number of visits for my boss to now be interested in that market....

Basically all I've done is followed a potential lead - luckily this time it's paid off and I've managed to prove that this could be an avenue we at least consider before we dismiss as irrelevant.

I must admit, it could just as easily have been a false lead & a waste of my time but at least I was trying....

Hope that helps - bear with it!

[PeterCarruthers]

Dotwhack - if the forum strategy works for the motor industry, why not start lurking in food-processing and marine fora?

I think the reality is that most business owners have been burnt by advertising. I have.

The real problem is that most business owners have no idea that the "campaigns" they have been running are a complete waste of money. The moment Joe Sloap tells me that he is trying to create 'awareness' for XYZ Widgets I know that he does not have the courage to be accountable for results.

Small business should do direct marketing - intelligent direct marketing. The best campaign I ever ran last 5 years in Transvaal in the old South Africa. The region has massive thunderstorms in Winter - and these blow out modems. The morbning after every storm we would fax and phone every one of the prospects in our market (IBM midrange computer users) and offer instant modem replacement. (In most cases this was covered by insurance.) Sales rocketed in Winter.

I think that brand awareness campaigns for businesses consisting of five employees working from a shed in Boscombe are a total waste of time and money - except for the ad agency of course.