Tips on Getting the Word Out About Your Business

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”  Mark Twain

Deciding on the right kind of advertising is sometimes very confusing. Sometimes small businesses confuse advertising with marketing, which are two very different things.

Advertising is only one way to do marketing and is usually the most expensive way to market your business. Before you even start to advertise or market you should make sure that you are delivering the correct message to the correct people at the correct time. One way to do this is to talk to a few of your customers about their experience.  Listen to what they have to say and ask them on ways their experience could have been better.

Once you are sure you have that correct message then advertising can be an important part of your strategy. Print ads can help you get the visibility you may need.

Jay Levinson, the father of “Guerrilla Marketing,” gives these tips on creating print ads that increase sales by visually attracting the attention of a reader’s unconscious mind.  He says that ads should have four components:

1. Visibility. The unconscious eye is attracted to ads by these four factors: ad shape (rectangular ads which are taller than they are wide are best for guerrillas), color, graphics and headlines. 2. Readability. This is because people do not really read ads, but scan them instead. Scanning begins at the top left of an ad, continues to the bottom right, and stops at the bottom left. 3. Theme. You have but three seconds to impart your message, so use subheads, underlining, boldface or something to emphasize the essential words along the scan motion from top left to bottom right. 4. Stats. Now convert attention into a buying decision with your logo, unique selling proposition, business name and any other statistics a reader may need to be transformed into a customer.

Another part of your marketing strategy should always be to be involved with your local chamber of commerce. It is a very low cost way to make sure your business is in front of the people that also own businesses in the same town in which you are doing business.

The best way to see the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce in action is at next week’s Foothills Community Business Expo. It is on Sept. 12 at the Verdugo Hills Hospital. Over 500 local business owners and residents join us for the biggest networking event held in this area. Over 65 vendors set up in the council rooms of the hospital to display their goods and network with the other participants. This event is open to the general public who attend at no charge. Hope to see you there!

Important CV chamber dates: Sept. 12 – Foothills Community Business Expo; Sept. 22 – Running the Foothills-5K; Oct. 10 – Business mixer at Bonners Party Supplies.

Please contact our office for more details on any event. How to reach us: (818) 248-4957/ crescentachamber@aol.com / www.LaCrescenta.org / 3131 Foothill Blvd., Ste. D.

  julia rabago