Advertising Costs – A Vital Investment

In 2008 in Australia, the 45 biggest spending businesses collectively spent roughly $2.4 to $2.6 billion in advertising costs. Every year around the world, businesses are prepared to spend billions of dollars on advertising. Big business are committed to spending such enormous amounts on advertising because they know a simple truth: advertising is an investment. Big business know that for every million dollars they invest, they’ll see returns that make their initial investment worthwhile. But if you’re a small business owner, you need not be scared away by these figures, because it’s all relative. Even a small amount now can pay substantial dividends later. In this article, I’ll discuss why advertising is one of the most vital investments a business can make, and I’ll discuss what it is exactly that you’re investing in, and why it is so critical.Investments can take many shapes and sizes but they usually involve spending money on something now that can make you more money in the future. The more money you put in, the more money you can get back. Advertising is exactly the same. But all too often advertising is treated as an expense rather than an investment. Let’s take a look at this concept in more detail, and consider what exactly it is that you’re investing in.As with all investments, there’s a certain level of risk involved, and the returns can vary. Some investments perform better than others, and some leave you wondering where your money went. Advertising is no exception. Some advertising campaigns can produce exceptional results and drive business growth, while other campaigns may have little impact or in some cases, even a negative impact on business. If you think of advertising as an investment, then you should approach it the same way you would approach any other investment, such as a house, or stock market shares. The first step is research.Research as much as you can about that investment, and all the factors that affect its value, in order to evaluate the risk and potential profits. The ideal combination that most people look for is an investment that minimizes risk and maximizes profits, but some people are prepared to accept higher levels of risk for potentially higher profits. Similarly, before you spend money on advertising, it’s important to do the necessary research in order to minimize the risk and maximize the profits, to get the most out of your investment.If you’re looking to buy a house, for example, what you’re investing in is clear – a tangible object, but with advertising it isn’t so clear. If advertising is an investment, what is it that we’re actually investing in? To answer that question, first let’s look at what advertising is, in essence. Advertising can be defined as a form of communication, where the aim is to persuade someone to do business with you. That someone could be a potential new customer, a previous customer, an existing customer, or someone who isn’t a potential customer but knows someone else who is. Advertising is a way of communicating with customers, either indirectly or directly, impersonally or personally. So this means that an investment in advertising, is really an investment in communication with customers. Why is it so important to invest in communication?Communication is the backbone of all our relationships. You can’t build a new relationship with someone if you don’t communicate with them, in some way. In our personal lives, communication allows us to form new relationships with other people, whether it’s a friend, an acquaintance or a doctor. Communication is also what maintains our relationships. Just think if you stopped talking to a friend altogether, how would that affect your relationship with them? So if advertising is a form of communication, and communication is how we build and maintain relationships, then you could say that advertising is ultimately an investment in the relationships with your customers. Advertising is a way of fostering new customer relationships, and strengthening existing ones. Stop and think for a second about how important customers are to your business.I suspect you’d agree that your business could not exist without your customers/clients/consumers (whatever you prefer to call them). Whatever your business is, whatever shape your customers take – your business needs them. Customers are the life-blood of any business. It therefore makes a great deal of sense to invest (both money and time) in the relationships that customers have with your business, by communicating with them regularly through advertising. Whether it’s communicating for the first time about your business, or reminding a past customer about your services, advertising forms a key part of growing vital client relationships. And that’s where any advertising strategy needs to start – by focusing on your customers. How well do you know your customers?In conclusion, advertising plays a vital role in maintaining relationships with your customers, through regular communication. Advertising is a way to tell customers about your business and services, and leave them with a positive impression. Advertising is also a way of ‘keeping in touch’ with past customers. In the world of business, you could say that customers make the world go round. Without them, where would your business be? So don’t be deterred by advertising costs now – think of it as an investment today in your customer relationships, that will ensure your business’ success well into the future.

Web Design and Internet Marketing

Designing a website uses all of the same elements that print-design does in traditional advertising. Choosing font, color, layout, and message that you want to convey, is exactly the same for both mediums of advertising.Marketing and business principals apply to all cultures and societies from the past, present, and future. It does not matter if you are designing a website, a business card, brochure, storefront sign, or t-shirt. Once you understand the fundamental principals of marketing you can be successful in any faucet of marketing, anywhere on the planet.In the old days you were limited to the kinds of fonts that you could use, but today, with access to every font imaginable, you can custom tailor your design like dialing in a tuned machine.Carefully choosing the right color for your business and marketing strategy can make or break a marketing campaign. Colors evoke emotion; they can get people excited or make them feel stressed. Colors can even get them to spend money!Here are some examples of the emotions that colors can evoke in the viewer:Color Red: Red is the color of excitement, the color love, and the color of blood. It’s a very intense color. Red can raise the heart rate and enhance human metabolism.Color Orange: Orange is the color of success and the color of the fall harvest. It’s a very bright color. Orange has been known to increase levels of oxygen in the brain and stimulate appetite.Color Gold: Gold is the color of wealth. Gold symbolizes quality and wisdom.Color Yellow: Yellow is the color of happiness and joy, the color of sunshine. Yellow evokes cheerful and pleasant feelings.Color Green: Green symbolizes freshness, fertility and money. Green is the easiest color on the eye. Green evokes feelings of hope and growth.Color Blue: Blue symbolizes wisdom, confidence, and heaven. Blue evokes feelings of calmness and tranquility. It’s the preferred color for corporate America.Color Purple: Purple symbolizes royalty, wisdom, magic and independence. Purple evokes romantic and soothing feelings.Color White: White symbolizes perfection, purity, and cleanliness. White evokes feelings of goodness and innocence.Color Black: Black symbolizes power, mystery, death, and evil. Black evokes feelings of fear, authority, and even elegance.Designing the graphics to any website or advertisement is the funnest part! As they say “A picture is worth a thousand words!” Try to let the images speak for you, a lot of emotion can be conveyed, and your message can get across with a minimal amount of text.One of the most important factors to web design is layout. Once you learn the basic design principles, you can learn how to place those elements onto a webpage. Allowing for easy navigation makes it much easier for your customers to move around. Put the best links closer to the top of the list of links; make them easy to find.Choosing an editor: Many designers prefer using WYSIWYG editors (What you see is what you get). These are editors that provide very friendly user interface and make coding the site a lot easier.The Internet is designed by regular people like you and I! Do your research and don’t be afraid to ask the stupid questions! Everyone starts somewhere. Don’t get discouraged! Commit yourself to chipping away a little more everyday and soon enough, you too will be an expert at web design.-Charles Warner