Advertising Tips For a Small Cleaning Business

A cleaning business is a service business and can therefore acquire some new clients for free through referrals. But to build up and maintain a solid customer base advertising is an essential part of the overall marketing effort. This article sets out six tips for advertising a small cleaning company.

1) Realize that getting a website up is only the first step. The hard part is attracting prospects to your site. Look into online methods of advertising and promotion or hire an SEO expert who will make sure that people in your area who are search for a cleaning service will find your company on the first page of their search results.

Advertising

2) Try out a variety of offline advertising methods from newspaper advertising, radio, direct marketing (flyers) and business directories. Realise that most customers still go to the 'Yellow Pages' when they are looking for a cleaner. Make sure that your advertisement is the one that they call first.

3) Always push for discounts or free trial advertising, particularly with newspapers.

4) Make the most of free advertising methods. Post flyers on community notice boards and have a vehicle wrap installed with your cleaning business branding on your vehicle.

5) Always test your advertising methods. Ask your customers how they found out about your services. You can then focus on the winning methods and dump the methods that aren't cost effective. Don't forget to test over a reasonably long time period to get accurate results (sometimes customers need to see an ad many times before they will respond).

6) Take note of what your competitors are doing. If they have been around for a long time they will undoubtedly have tested many methods and will only be going with the ones that work. Also look out for other unique advertising ideas that you can borrow from other industries.

If you take an active approach to developing, testing and refining your advertising campaigns then you will be setting yourself up for the best chance of success with your small cleaning business.

Advertising Tips For a Small Cleaning Business

For more cleaning business information, reviews and articles visit -

http://www.cleaningforprofit.com

Business Advertising

Advertising is an investment in your business and is similar to other investments that are designed to improve and expand your business. The return you receive depends on the planning and thought that precede the actual commitment and expenditure of advertising dollars. By first developing an effective advertising plan, you increase the likelihood of a positive return on your advertising investment, regardless of the amount of money you spend.

Four Basic Questions

Advertising

The basic premise of an advertising plan requires you to thoroughly analyze the answers to key questions before you can make effective advertising decisions. There are four key questions to ask yourself:

1. What do I want my advertising to accomplish?

2. Who should my advertising speak to?

3. What should my advertising say?

4. What advertising medium should I use?

In a specific business situation, each question has any number of potential answers. As you think about each question, do not accept any answer until you have considered and explored the full range of possibilities.

What Do I Want My Advertising To Accomplish?

The first step in developing your advertising plan is to specify your advertising goals. Be as precise as you can as to why you are advertising and what you want to achieve. Everyone wants advertising to increase business, but for your advertising plan to work, it requires you to be more precise. Some possible goals for your advertising are:

It is possible that you may want your advertising to achieve all of these goals plus some others. What is important is that you prioritize your goals. Advertising works best when it is developed to meet one specific goal at a time.

Who Should My Advertising Speak To?

Once you determine your advertising goals, you can then select the target audience for your message. Keep in mind that advertising that tries to reach "everyone" rarely succeeds. Successful advertising is written with a specific customer in mind. Try to picture the person you must reach in order to achieve your advertising goals. Try to describe your target consumers in each of the following:

What Should My Advertising Say?

Once you know who your target audience is and what they are looking for in terms of the product or service you offer, you can decide what your advertising will say. Advertising should always be written to communicate a message that will be seen as important by your target customer. Your advertising should clearly and convincingly "speak" to your target audience, explaining the important benefits your product or service offers. In deciding how to discuss the major benefits of your product or service in your advertising, keep "AIDA" in mind: attract Attention, hold Interest, arouse Desire and motivate Action.

Where Should I Place My Advertising?

Every month, new advertising options become available. Beyond "traditional" media you can place ads in airports, on ski lifts and on television monitors in the front of grocery carts. Where you place your advertising should be guided by a simple principle: Go where your target audience will have the highest likelihood of seeing or hearing it. Many advertising media work well to reach a diverse range of target consumers. There is no single medium that is inherently good or bad. In fact, a good medium for one product or service may be a poor medium for another. As you consider media choices, look for one that fits your advertising goals, reaches your target efficiently and cost effectively and is within your advertising budget.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you've seen some success, but think of the times you couldn't get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Business Advertising

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life.


If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report "10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands." After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

Popular Business Cards

Business cards are continually in use and never seem to lose their popularity. They are conveniently small and contain no unnecessary information. The essential details of a business are all printed on the card. At one glance the receiver of the card will know what type of business if is and where it is situated.

The new business owner can start an advertising campaign with these little cards. The distribution of these cards is of utmost importance if the advertising campaign is to be successful. The area around the premises should be divided up into sections, and then start distributing the cards from area to area. You will know that you have basically distributed your cards in most busy areas. Stand around shopping malls and on busy street corners and hand out your cards to passers by. Always acknowledge the person you are handing the card to, as this makes people feel important and not just like someone you are trying to make money out of. The bus stops and train stations are also very good spots to distribute your cards.

Advertising

Your cards can be designed and printed by you to save money in the beginning stages of the business when cash flow is still a problem. It could be great fun to design your logo and decide on the colors you will be using on your card. The font is important as well as it is important that the card be easy to read. Older people who require reading spectacles to read will not want to first take them out to read the card. Print the name large enough so that most people will be able to read the card.

Bright colors are also important as these catch the eye and generate interest. Black and white can be very boring and these cards could just as well be discarded rather than kept.

Add extra interest to these powerful little cards by printing your special discounts and offers on the back of them. Your intention is to get people to read your card and become aware of the fact that you are in business in their area.

Popular Business Cards

Lee Van writes informative articles on various subjects including Business cards [http://www.businesscardswebsite.com]

Advertising - Precious Information Or Vicious Manipulation?

Is advertising the ultimate means to inform and help us in our everyday decision-making or is it just an excessively powerful form of mass deception used by companies to persuade their prospects and customers to buy products and services they do not need? Consumers in the global village are exposed to increasing number of advertisement messages and spending for advertisements is increasing accordingly.

It will not be exaggerated if we conclude that we are 'soaked in this cultural rain of marketing communications' through TV, press, cinema, Internet, etc. (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). But if thirty years ago the marketing communication tools were used mainly as a product-centered tactical means, now the promotional mix, and in particular the advertising is focused on signs and semiotics. Some argue that the marketers' efforts eventually are "turning the economy into symbol so that it means something to the consumer" (Williamson, cited in Anonymous, Marketing Communications, 2006: 569). One critical consequence is that many of the contemporary advertisements "are selling us ourselves" (ibid.)

Advertising

The abovementioned process is influenced by the commoditisation of products and blurring of consumer's own perceptions of the companies' offering. In order to differentiate and position their products and/or services today's businesses employ advertising which is sometimes considered not only of bad taste, but also as deliberately intrusive and manipulative. The issue of bad advertising is topical to such extent that organisations like Adbusters have embraced the tactics of subvertising - revealing the real intend behind the modern advertising. The Adbusters magazine editor-in-chief Kalle Lason commented on the corporate image building communication activities of the big companies: "We know that oil companies aren't really friendly to nature, and tobacco companies don't really care about ethics" (Arnold, 2001). On the other hand, the "ethics and social responsibility are important determinants of such long-term gains as survival, long-term profitability, and competitiveness of the organization" (Singhapakdi, 1999). Without communications strategy that revolves around ethics and social responsibility the concepts of total quality and customer relationships building become elusive. However, there could be no easy clear-cut ethics formula of marketing communications.

ADVERTISING - PRESCIOUS INFORMATION OR VICIOUS MANIPULATION?

In order to get insights into the consumer perception about the role of advertising we have reviewed a number of articles and conducted four in-depth interviews. A number of research papers reach opposed conclusions. These vary from the ones stating that "the ethicality of a firm's behavior is an important consideration during the purchase decision" and that consumers "will reward ethical behavior by a willingness to pay higher prices for that firm's product" (Creyer and Ross Jr., 1997) to others stressing that "although consumers may express a desire to support ethical companies, and punish unethical companies, their actual purchase behaviour often remains unaffected by ethical concerns" and that "price, quality and value outweigh ethical criteria in consumer purchase behaviour" (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Focusing on the advertising as the most prominent marketing communication tool we have constructed and conducted an interview consisting of four themes and nine questions. The conceptual frame of this paper is built on these four themes.

THEME I. The Ethics in Advertising

The first theme comprises two introductory questions about the ethics in advertising in general.

I.A. How would you define the ethics in advertising?

The term ethics in business involves "morality, organisational ethics and professional deontology" (Isaac, cited in Bergadaa', 2007). Every industry has its own guidelines for the ethical requirements. However, the principal four requirements for marketing communications are to be legal, decent, honest and truthful. Unfortunately, in a society where the course of action of the companies is determined by profit targets the use of marketing communications messages "may constitute a form of social pollution through the potentially damaging and unintended effects it may have on consumer decision making" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999).

One of the interviewed respondents stated that "the most successful companies do no need ethics in their activities because they have built empires." Another view is that "sooner or later whoever is not ethical will face the negative consequences."

I.B. What is your perception of the importance of ethics in advertising?

The second question is about the importance of being moral when communicating with/to your target audiences and the way consumers/customers view it. In different research papers we have found quite opposing conclusions. Ethics of business seems to be evaluated either as very important in the decision making process or as not really a serious factor in this process. An example of rather extreme stance is that "disaster awaits any brand that acts cynically" (Odell, 2007).

It may seem obvious that the responsibility should be carried by the advertiser because "his is the key responsibility in keeping advertising clean and decent" (Bernstein, 1951). On the other hand the companies' actions are defined by the "the canons of social responsibility and good taste" (ibid.). One of the interviewees said:

"The only responsible for giving decent advertising is the one who profits at the end. Company's profits should not be at the expense of society."

Another one stated that "our culture and the level of societal awareness determine the good and bad in advertising".

The increased importance of marketing communications ethics is underscored by the need of applying more dialogical, two-way communications approaches. The "demassification technologies have the potential to facilitate dialogue", but the "monologic" attitude is still the predominant one (Botan, 1997). Arnold (2001) points out the cases of Monsanto and Esso which had to pay "a price for its [theirs] one-way communications strategy". In this train of thought we may review ethics in advertisements from two different perspectives as suggested by our respondents and different points of view in the reviewed papers. The first one is that it is imperative to have one common code of ethics imposed by the law. The other affirms the independence and responsibility of every industry for setting its own standards.

THEME II. Which type of regulation should be the leading one in the field of advertising?

The next theme directs the attention towards the regulation system which should be the primary one. Widely accepted opinion is that both self regulation and legal controls should work in synergy. In other words the codes of practice are meant to complement the laws. However, in certain countries there are stronger legal controls over the advertising, e.g. in Scandinavia. On the other hand the industry's self regulation is preferred in the Anglo-Saxon world. Still, not everyone agrees with the laissez-faire concept.

One of our respondents said:

"I believe governments should impose stricter legal frame and harsher punishment for companies which do not comply with the law."

Needless to say, the social acceptability varies from one culture/country to another. At the end of the day "good taste or bad is largely a matter of the time, the place, and the individual" (Bernstein, 1951). It would be also probably impossible to set clear-cut detailed rules in the era of Internet and interactive TV. Therefore, both types of regulation should be applied with the ultimate aim of reaching balance between the sacred right of freedom of choice and information and minimizing possible widespread offence. Put differently, the goal is synchronising the "different ethical frameworks" of marketers and "others in society" in order to fill the "ethics gap" (Hunt and Vitell, 2006).

THEME III. Content of Advertisements.

Probably the most controversial issue in the field of marketing communications is the content of advertisements. Nwachukwu et al. (1997) distinguish three areas of interest in terms of ethical judgment of ads: "individual autonomy, consumer sovereignty, and the nature of the product". The individual autonomy is concerned with advertising to children. Consumer sovereignty deals with the level of knowledge and sophistication of the target audience whereas the ads for harmful products are in the centre of public opinion for a long time. We have added two more perspectives to arrive at five questions in the conducted interviews. The first one concerns the advertisement that imply sense of guilt and praise affluence that in the most cases cannot be achieved and the second one is about advertisements stimulating desire and satisfaction through acquisition of material goods.

III.A. What is your attitude towards the advertisement of harmful products?

A typical example is the advertisement of cigarettes. Nowadays we cannot see slogans like "Camel Agrees with Your Throat" (Chickenhead, accessed 25th September 2007) or "Chesterfield - Packs More Pleasure - Because It's More Perfectly Packed!" (Chickenhead, accessed 25th September 2007). The general advertisement, sponsorship and other marketing communications means are already prohibited to be used by cigarette producers. Surprisingly, most of the answers of the respondents were not against the cigarettes advertisement. One of the respondents said:

"People are well informed about the consequences of smoking so it is a matter of personal choice."

As with many other contemporary products the shift in communications messages for cigarettes is oriented towards symbol and image building. The same can be said for the alcohol ads. A well-known example of emotional advertising is the Absolut Vodka campaign. From Absolut Nectar, through Absolut Fantasy to Absolut World the Swedish drink actually aims to be Absolut... Everything.

Advertising of hazardous products is even more harshly criticised when it is aimed at audiences with low individual autonomy, i.e. children. Two main issues in this respect are the manipulation of cigarettes and alcohol as "the rite of passage into adulthood" and the fact that "sales of health-hazardous products (alcohol, cigarettes) develop freely without much disapproval" (Bergadaa, 2007).

III.B. What is your attitude towards the advertisement to children?

Children are not only customers, but also consumers, influencers and users in the family Decision-Making Unit (DMU). Additional difficulty is that they are too impressionable to be deciders in the DMU. At the same time it is not a secret that marketers apply "the same basic strategy of trying to sell the parent through the child's insistence on the purchase" (Bernstein, 1951). It is not a surprise then that "spending on advertising for children has increased five-fold in the last ten years and two thirds of commercials during child television programs are for food products" (Bergadaa 2007). In the US alone children represent a direct purchases market of billion worth (McNeal cited in Bergadaa, 2007) which certainly is on the top of the agendas of many companies. While exploiting children's decision-making immaturity advertisers often go too far in dematerialising their products and "teleporting children out of the tangible and into the virtual world of brand names" (Bergadaa 2007). Teenage virtual worlds like Habbo where snack food brands run advertising campaigns are already a fact of life (Goldie, 2007). The imaginative worlds are popular not only online. Hugely successful for creating a fantasy world is Mc Donald's. The company tops the European list of kids' advertisers while more than half of the children's adverts are for junk food.

In some countries there are harsher restrictions to the children advertising.

• "Sweden and Norway do not permit any television advertising to be directed towards children under 12 and no adverts at all are allowed during children's programmes.
• Australia does not allow advertisements during programmes for pre-school children.
• Austria does not permit advertising during children's programmes, and in the Flemish region of Belgium no advertising is permitted 5 minutes before or after programmes for children.
• Sponsorship of children's programmes is not permitted in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden while in Germany and the Netherlands, although it is allowed, it is not used in practice." (McSpotlight, accessed 20th September 2007).

According to a research by Roberts and Pettigrew (2007) the most frequent themes in children advertising are "grazing, the denigration of core foods, exaggerated health claims, and the implied ability of certain foods to enhance popularity, performance and mood." But the junk food is not the only reason for parents' preoccupation. According to a study of Kaiser Family Foundation (Dolliver, 2007) parents are concerned about the amount of advertising of the following products (in order of importance): toys, video games, clothing, alcohol/beer, movies, etc.

The interviewed respondents were unanimous: "The advertising to children should be strictly monitored." Similar results were obtained in surveys by Rasmussen Reports and Kaiser Family Foundation. Nevertheless, the legal means are just one part of the children's protection. The other part involves "the decision-making responsibility of parents and teachers" which is "to assist their children in developing a skeptical attitude to the information in advertising" (Bergadaa 2007). The marketers themselves should also be involved in shaping the moral system of our future and "each brand should have its own deontology - a code of practice regarding children - rather than rely on industry codes" (Horgan, 2007).

III.C. Do you think there are many misleading, exaggerating and confusing advertisements. Are many ads promising things that are not possible to achieve?

It will not be exaggerated to state that advertising is in a sense "salesmanship addressed to masses of potential buyers rather than to one buyer at a time" (Bernstein, 1951). Since "salesmanship itself is persuasion" (ibid.) we cannot merely blame advertisers for pursuing their sales goals. However, in the last twenty years or so advertisers have increasingly applied semiotics in their messages and as a consequence ads have begun to function more and more as symbols. One extreme case in this stream of advertising is the creation of idealised image of a person who uses the advertised product. Bishop (2000) draws our attention to two "typical representatives of self-identity image ads" which entice consumers to project the respective images to themselves through use of the products:

- "The Beautiful Woman";
- "The Sexy Teenagers.

Through setting of such stereotypes advertisers not only mislead the public and exaggerate the effects of products but also provoke low self-esteem in consumers. At the same time they promise results that in most cases are simply impossible to achieve. Instead of promoting "'glamorous' anorexic body images" communication messages should use "varied body types" and should drop the idea of the "impossible physical body images" (Bishop, 2000).

To question III.C one of the respondents commented:

"The customers of these products [the ones advertised through thin models] are mostly people who do not have the same physical characteristic. For me, this type of advertising is deliberately aimed at people to make them feel not complete, far from attractive social outsiders."

However, another interviewed stated that: "every person has his own way of evaluating what is believable and what is misleading. Consumers are enough sophisticated to know what is exaggerated."

Similarly, Bishop (2000) concludes that "image ads are not false or misleading", and "whether or not they advocate false values is a matter for subjective reflection." The author argues that image ads do not interfere with our internal autonomy and if people are misled, it is because they want it. It is all about our free choice of behaviour and no advertisement can modify our desires. Perhaps, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two extreme positions.

III.D. What is your attitude towards advertisement that imply sense of guilt, and praise affluence that in the most cases cannot be achieved?

A more specific case of controversial advertising is the one used to "promote not so much self indulgence as self doubt"; the one that "seeks to create needs, not to fulfill them: to generate new anxieties instead of allaying old ones" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). A response of our interviewee reads:

"It is not only a matter of advertising. It has to do with the social inequality and the desire to possess what you can not."

Hackley and Kitchen (1999) refer to this discrepancy as to "when reality does not match the image of affluence and the result is a subjective feeling of dissonance". The issue could be elaborated further through the next question.

III.E. Are advertisements stimulating desire and satisfaction through acquisition of material goods moral?

We live in a society which is more or less marked by materialism. Advertisements are often blamed to fuel consumption which is allegedly leading to happiness. The role of promoting satisfaction through acquisition of material goods has become so important that currently the "media products are characterised by relativism, irony, self referentiality and hedonism" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). Is the popular saying "those who die with most toys win" really a motivator in consumers' behavior and could consumption be the cure of emotional dissonance? This seems to be the case provided a brand succeeds to enter in the evoked set of consumer choices. This new "kind of materialism" goes hand in hand with "the emergence of individualism via sheer hedonism along with narcissism and selfishness" (Bergadaa 2007).

THEME IV. Is the quantity of advertisements justified?

IV.A. Do you think there is too much advertising?

An audit of food advertising aimed at children in Australia by Roberts and Pettigrew (2007) revealed that "28.5 hours of children's television programming sampled contained 950 advertisements." Actually, we all are being bombarded by ads on TV, Internet, print media, etc. The amount and content of marketing communications messages puts the consumer's information processing capacity to a test. The exposure to marketing data overload often leads to diluted consumer's selective perception. Whether our responses are circumscribed by "confusion, existential despair, and loss of moral identity" or we "adapt constructively to the [communications] Leviathan and become intelligent, cynical, streetwise" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999) is a question open to debate.

Two opposite streams of attitudes were produced in our research. One stance is concerned with the undue quantity of advertisement. The other stream proclaims that "If there is an advertisement, so it is justified by a need." We agree that the communications overload may indeed have "pervasive effect on the social ecology of the developed world" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). If the increasing communication pollution is not managed properly by both legal and industry points of view yet again the advertising will manage "to hoist its foot to its own mouth and kick out a couple of its own front teeth" (Bernstein, 1951).

CONCLUSION

In preparation of this paper we have used qualitative depth interviews in order to get insights for what actual customers opine. We have also substantiated our presentation with references to a number of influential articles in the field of ethics in marketing communications. Generally, our respondents as well as various authors have taken two opposing stances. The first one affirms that ethics in marketing communications matters considerably, whereas the other one downsizes the importance of ethics, thereby stressing the role of other factors in consumer decision-making, i.e. price, brand loyalty, convenience, etc.

Marketers should understand their "responsibility for the emerging portrait of future society" (Bergadaa 2007). Not only there is a need of legal ethical frame but also professional ethical benchmarks and deontology should be in place. One of the main challenges is to avoid creating "a happy customer in the short term", because "in the long run both consumer and society may suffer as a direct result of the marketer's actions in 'satisfying' the consumer" (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001).

The strength of the advertisement influence exerted on consumers is only one part of the equation. On the other hand we may affirm that consumers are not morally subservient and according to the information process models there is a natural cognitive defense. The communications tools "offer us a theatre of our own imagination" (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). Consequently, we accept the reality in terms of our own experiences. In this sense marketers do not create reality - they are simply a mirror of the society. We may argue that unfortunately this is not always the case.

Advertising is often deservedly seen as the embodiment of consumer freedom and choice. Notwithstanding this important role, when the choice is "between one candy bar and another, the latest savoury snack or sweetened breakfast cereal or fast food restaurant" (McSpotlight, accessed 20th September 2007) it represents anything else but not an alternative and certainly not a healthy one.

The words of Bernstein (1951), said fifty-six years ago are still very much a question of present interest: "It is not true that if we 'save advertising, we save all,' but it seems reasonable to assume that if we do not save advertising, we might lose all."

Anonymous (2006). Module Book 6, Marketing Communications, University of Leicester.

Arnold, M. (2001). Walking the Ethical Tightrope (Marketing Corporate Social Responsibility), Marketing, 7/12/1001, p. 17.

Bergadaa M. (2007). Children and Business: Pluralistic Ethics of Marketers, Society and Business Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 53-73.

Bernstein, S. R. (1951). Good Taste in Advertising, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 42-50.

Bishop, J. D. (2000). Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 371-398.

Botan, C. (1997). Ethics in Strategic Communication Campaigns: The Case for a New Approach to Public Relations, Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 188-202.

Carrigan, M. and Attalla, A. (2001). The Myth of the Ethical Consumer - Do Ethics Matter in Purchase Behaviour?, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18, No. 7, pp. 560-577.

Chickenhead, 'Truth in advertising'. Online. Available at: chickenhead.com/truth/chesterfield6.html (accessed 25th September 2007).

Chickenhead, 'Truth in advertising'. Online. Available at: chickenhead.com/truth/camel1.html (accessed 25th September 2007).

Creyer, E. H. and Ross Jr. W. T. (1997). The Influence of Firm Behavior on Purchase Intention: Do Consumers Really Care About Business Ethics?, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 421-432.

Dolliver, M. (2007). A Parental Dim View of Advertising, Adweek, Vol. 48, No. 26, pp. 25.

Goldie, L. (2007). Brands Free To Use Virtual Worlds To Target Kids, New Media Age, 8/9/2007, p. 2.

Hackley, C. E. and Kitchen P. J. (1999). Ethical Perspectives on the Postmodern Communications Leviathan, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 15-26.

Horgan, S. (2007). Online Brands Need Their Own Ethical Guidelines, Marketing Week, Vol. 30, No. 26, p. 30.

Hunt, S. D. and Vitell, S. J. (2006). The General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Revision and Three Questions, Journal of Macromarketing; Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 143-153.

McSpotlight, 'Advertising to children, UK the worst in Europe' Online. Available at: mcspotlight.org/media/press/food_jan97.html, (accessed 20th September 2007).

Nwachukwu, S.L.S, Vitell, Jr. S.J., Gilbert, F.W., Barnes, James H. (1997). Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation of Advertising Strategies, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 107-118.

Odell, P. (2007). Marketing under the Influence, Promo, Vol. 20, No. 6, p. 27.

Roberts, M. and Pettigrew, S. (2007). A Thematic Content Analysis of Children's Food Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 357-367.

Singhapakdi, A. (1999). Perceived Importance of Ethics and Ethical Decisions in Marketing,
Journal of Business Research, Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 89-99.

Stanford University, 'Alcoholic Advertisements'. Online. Available at: stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/alcohol%20ads/index.htm, (accessed 20th September 2007).

Vintage Virginia Slims, Online. Available at: freenet-homepage.de/mshel120/vintage/vintage-vs.html, (accessed 25th September 2007).

Advertising - Precious Information Or Vicious Manipulation?

Boyan Yordanof is Internet Marketing Executive at RIU Seabank Hotel Malta: http://www.seabankhotel.com

You can also reach him on his personal website [http://www.yordanof.com]

Business Marketing Shift - From Billboards to Online Media

Many businesses are making a fast shift from more expensive forms of business marketing to online marketing practices. Moving from expensive billboard advertisements, to different online marketing strategies like Google AdWords, contextual advertising, and online promotions is proving more affordable in these troublesome economic times. From product promotion to the promotion of services, business owners are now making the cost-effective decision to avail themselves of online marketing and Internet business marketing strategies.

So how many businesses are using online marketing? Recent statistical analysis reveals that more than 90 percent of businesses that engage in advertising are using Internet and online marketing strategies to market their websites, services, and for product promotion. Print forms of advertising have fallen to second place when compared to online marketing and 88 percent of advertisers are still relying on print forms of advertising and product promotion. Nearly fifty five percent of businesses using advertising strategies to spread the word about products and services combine the powers of print forms of media as well as online business marketing methods.

Advertising

While radio advertising is just under 50 percent at this time, the use of radio advertising is likely to rise in the future since there are online methods for sharing advertising via radio. Voice over Internet Protocol has paved the way for Internet radio, and once businesses catch on to the power of online marketing via Internet radio, it is very possible that radio advertising will gain significant attention as a viable form of Internet business marketing too. Online radio marketing, online interviews on radio shows, and interviews based on products and services are great ways to get a business's message across.

The types of business marketing online and product promotion online need to be considered by the business owner if the advertising online is to be well received by targeted audiences however. Studies have found that Internet users prefer advertisements that are unobtrusive and that do little to interfere with the user's Internet experience. For excellent product promotion online, the business owner will want to refrain from using advertising techniques involving pop-ups and mouse-overs since web users typically frown upon such forms of advertising. Advertising with music that suddenly comes on and offers the web user no controls over the volume are also found somewhat unsettling for some web users. Web banners, ads, Internet radio advertisements, and Google AdSense campaigns however, prove tremendously powerful in terms of advertising online.

Business Marketing Shift - From Billboards to Online Media

To find out more about business marketing visit AusBusiness Review website http://www.ausbusiness.net/

Trading and Profit and Loss Account

Trading Account

As already discussed, first section of trading and profit and loss account is called trading account. The aim of preparing trading account is to find out gross profit or gross loss while that of second section is to find out net profit or net loss.

Advertising

Preparation of Trading Account

Trading account is prepared mainly to know the profitability of the goods bought (or manufactured) sold by the businessman. The difference between selling price and cost of goods sold is the,5 earning of the businessman. Thus in order to calculate the gross earning, it is necessary to know:

(a) cost of goods sold.

(b) sales.

Total sales can be ascertained from the sales ledger. The cost of goods sold is, however, calculated. n order to calculate the cost of sales it is necessary to know its meaning. The 'cost of goods' includes the purchase price of the goods plus expenses relating to purchase of goods and brining the goods to the place of business. In order to calculate the cost of goods " we should deduct from the total cost of goods purchased the cost of goods in hand. We can study this phenomenon with the help of following formula:

Opening stock + cost of purchases - closing stock = cost of sales

As already discussed that the purpose of preparing trading account is to calculate the gross profit of the business. It can be described as excess of amount of 'Sales' over 'Cost of Sales'. This definition can be explained in terms of following equation:

Gross Profit = Sales-Cost of goods sold or (Sales + Closing Stock) -(Stock in the beginning + Purchases + Direct Expenses)

The opening stock and purchases along with buying and bringing expenses (direct exp.) are recorded the debit side whereas sales and closing stock is recorded on the credit side. If credit side is Jeater than the debit side the difference is written on the debit side as gross profit which is ultimately recorded on the credit side of profit and loss account. When the debit side exceeds the credit side, the difference is gross loss which is recorded at credit side and ultimately shown on the debit side of profit & loss account.

Usual Items in a Trading Account:

A) Debit Side

1. Opening Stock. It is the stock which remained unsold at the end of previous year. It must have been brought into books with the help of opening entry; so it always appears inside the trial balance. Generally, it is shown as first item at the debit side of trading account. Of course, in the first year of a business there will be no opening stock.

2. Purchases. It is normally second item on the debit side of trading account. 'Purchases' mean total purchases i.e. cash plus credit purchases. Any return outwards (purchases return) should be deducted out of purchases to find out the net purchases. Sometimes goods are received before the relevant invoice from the supplier. In such a situation, on the date of preparing final accounts an entry should be passed to debit the purchases account and to credit the suppliers' account with the cost of goods.

3. Buying Expenses. All expenses relating to purchase of goods are also debited in the trading account. These include-wages, carriage inwards freight, duty, clearing charges, dock charges, excise duty, octroi and import duty etc.

4. Manufacturing Expenses. Such expenses are incurred by businessmen to manufacture or to render the goods in saleable condition viz., motive power, gas fuel, stores, royalties, factory expenses, foreman and supervisor's salary etc.

Though manufacturing expenses are strictly to be taken in the manufacturing account since we are preparing only trading account, expenses of this type may also be included in the trading account.

(B) Credit Side

1. Sales. Sales mean total sales i.e. cash plus credit sales. If there are any sales returns, these should be deducted from sales. So net sales are credited to trading account. If an asset of the firm has been sold, it should not be included in the sales.

2. Closing Stock. It is the value of stock lying unsold in the godown or shop on the last date of accounting period. Normally closing stock is given outside the trial balance in that case it is shown on the credit side of trading account. But if it is given inside the trial balance, it is not to be shown on the credit side of trading account but appears only in the balance sheet as asset. Closing stock should be valued at cost or market price whichever is less.

Valuation of Closing Stock

The ascertain the value of closing stock it is necessary to make a complete inventory or list of all the items in the god own together with quantities. On the basis of physical observation the stock lists are prepared and the value of total stock is calculated on the basis of unit value. Thus, it is clear that stock-taking entails (i) inventorying, (ii) pricing. Each item is priced at cost, unless the market price is lower. Pricing an inventory at cost is easy if cost remains fixed. But prices remain fluctuating; so the valuation of stock is done on the basis of one of many valuation methods.

The preparation of trading account helps the trade to know the relationship between the costs be incurred and the revenues earned and the level of efficiency with which operations have been conducted. The ratio of gross profit to sales is very significant: it is arrived at :

Gross Profit X 100 / Sales

With the help of G.P. ratio he can ascertain as to how efficiently he is running the business higher the ratio, better will be the efficiency.

Closing Entries pertaining to trading Account

For transferring various accounts relating to goods and buying expenses, following closing entries recorded:

(i) For opening Stock: Debit trading account and credit stock account

(ii) For purchases: Debit trading account and credit purchases account, the amount being the et amount after deducting purchases returns.

(iii) For purchases returns: Debit purchases return account and credit purchases account.

(iv) For returns inwards: Debit sales account and credit sales return account

(v) For direct expenses: Debit trading account and credit direct expenses accounts individually.

(vi) For sales: Debit sales account and credit trading account. We will find that all the accounts as mentioned above will be closed with the exception of trading account

(vii) For closing stock: Debit closing stock account and credit trading account After recording above entries the trading account will be balanced and difference of two sides ascertained. If credit side is more the result is gross profit for which following entry is recorded.

(viii) For gross profit: Debit trading account and credit profit and loss account If the result is gross loss the above entry is reversed.

Profit and Loss Account

The profit and loss account is opened by recording the gross profit (on credit side) or gross loss (debit side).

For earning net profit a businessman has to incur many more expenses in addition to the direct expenses. Those expenses are deducted from profit (or added to gross loss), the resultant figure will be net profit or net loss.

The expenses which are recorded in profit and loss account are ailed 'indirect expenses'. These be classified as follows:

Selling and distribution expenses.

These comprise of following expenses:

(a) Salesmen's salary and commission

(b) Commission to agents

(c) Freight & carriage on sales

(d) Sales tax

(e) Bad debts

(f) Advertising

(g) Packing expenses

(h) Export duty

Administrative Expenses.

These include:

(a) Office salaries & wages

(b) Insurance

(c) Legal expenses

(d) Trade expenses

(e) Rates & taxes

(f) Audit fees

(g) Insurance

(h) Rent

(i) Printing and stationery

(j) Postage and telegrams

(k) Bank charges

Financial Expenses

These comprise:

(a) Discount allowed

(b) Interest on Capital

(c) Interest on loan

(d) Discount Charges on bill discounted

Maintenance, depreciations and Provisions etc.

These include following expenses

(a) Repairs

(b) Depreciation on assets

(c) Provision or reserve for doubtful debts

(d) Reserve for discount on debtors.

Along with above indirect expenses the debit side of profit and loss account comprises of various business losses also.

On the credit side of profit and loss account the items recorded are:

(a) Discount received

(b) Commission received

(c) Rent received

(d) Interest received

(e) Income from investments

(f) Profit on sale of assets

(g) Bad debts recovered

(h) Dividend received

(i) Apprenticeship premium etc.

Trading and Profit and Loss Account

The author is an engineering graduate, B.E.(Hons), and is managing his own software development firm, HiTech Computer Services, that mainly deals in accounting, billing and inventory control software for traders, industries, business houses, hotels, hospitals, medical stores, newspapers, magazines, petrol pumps, automobile dealers, commodity brokers and other business segments, website and web application deveopment for business. The software are available both for intranet and internet. These software are available for download from the website:

Evaluation version accounting software download is available at http://www.hitech-on-web.com/p10.asp

Copy of the article and full Financial Accounting Primer or Tutorial is available at: http://www.hitech-on-web.com/Trading_and_Profit_and_Loss_Account.asp

Visit HiTech Computer Services at http://www.hitech-on-web.com/

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct Mail

The advantages of direct mail advertising are many. Direct mail offers both large and small companies the ability to market their services or products to specific and defined markets at a reasonable price. Coupons or special offers can be offered to a company's client list or potential client list. Alternatively, mailing lists segregated by many types of demographics can be purchased from various sources. The costs of direct mail are a major advantage as well. When compared to other mediums of advertising the price tag can be kept relatively low. In addition to low per copy costs, the total expenditure can be limited to any budget by reducing or expanding the number of mailings. The price of individual mailings can be kept low by ordering in bulk and reusing the same mailer for multiple mailings. Turnaround time for design to production is a key component to the success of direct mailings as well. The process can be as short as 1 to 2 months, which allows a time sensitive opportunity to be taken advantage of before it passes. Direct mailings can also be used to research a current or potential niche in the market.

As mentioned before the price is not as restrictive as with other types of advertising. Combined with the abilities to manipulate the "offer" to fit the customer and to isolate various segments of the population, direct mailings can provide invaluable data for planning future mailings as well as other types of future marketing. Some disadvantages of direct mailings include the fact that many people view direct mailings as junk mail. Also, there is no shortage of competing articles arriving by mail, so the advertisement may easily be overlooked or discarded. This fact makes the likelihood of a single mailing less probable. A longer more sustained campaign may be necessary to garner the desired results. Price can be prohibitive as well. Although the costs can be an advantage, they could also become excessive the more creative and extravagant the mailer. The balance between costs versus creativity is a crucial part of the equation to launching a successful direct mail advertising campaign.

Advertising

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct Mail

Learn about how traditional media compares with internet search marketing at http://www.atlanticoptimize.com

Your Business And Newspaper Advertising

Advertising is integral for any business irrespective or its size of operations. The success of any business lies on its visibility - the idea is that your products will sell only when the consumers can see them. Advertising gives any business this platform. The business strategy plays an important role in all the stages of a company's business cycle, starting from its inception to new product launches and expansion.

Newspaper Advertising:

Advertising

Newspaper advertising is the oldest form of advertising and is among the most effective. Almost all the businesses till date are keen on applying this tested advertising strategy to their businesses. Success of newspaper advertising lies in its wide reach and great visibility that it offers. For almost all of us newspaper reading is a necessary daily activity, perhaps the first activity during the day. Hence, it is unlikely that we miss the advertisement in the newspaper if it is a famous daily and is framed in a catchy headline and body.

Moreover, you have the flexibility of capturing the target audience by exercising choice, on which column and page would you like to place the advertisement. This ensures that you are able to reach out your target audience. For instance, if you are in the business of event management and want to popularize an event you are planning on a particular day, you can place an ad for the same on the entertainment column/page of a newspaper so that people planning an entertaining evening get to see the ad and buy the passes for the event.

Cost of Newspaper Advertising:

All forms of advertising have costs attached with them and so is the newspaper advertising. Print costs depend on a number of factors such as the size of your ad, the brand name of the paper where you want to place the ad, which section in the newspaper you wish the ad to appear, and for how many days would you like the ad to reappear on the page. You can determine the cost of advertising by getting in touch with the sales representative of the newspaper that you are targeting for advertising.

After determining various factors, you must check if the newspaper's production desk is ready to help you with designing the ad. Many newspapers offer this service for free to their clients. Otherwise, you incur the cost of hiring an ad designer, which is an extra expenditure, in case you do not have someone in-house.

It is best if you are able to get an annual contract with the newspaper, as you are likely to get significant discounts for the long contract. If you think advertising prominently on a page is exceeding your budget, you can place the ads in the local sections of the dailies.

Your Business And Newspaper Advertising

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at .95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Best Advertising Business - Top 10 of Effective Advertising Slogans - 3 Ways to Make a Good Slogan

The best advertising business is the one that comes up with some good catchy names and slogans. Because I am a home business owner, I also need good catchy slogans for my advertising campaigns, newsletters, blogs, articles, videos, etc. Whenever I need a new catch phrase for my marketing efforts online, I start searching on the internet for some inspiration and examples. According to the statistics, these are the best... Let me share them with you the top 10 and some ways to create an effective advertising slogan.

Best Advertising Business - Top 10 of Effective Advertising Slogans - 3 Ways To Make a Good Slogan

Advertising

Top 10 Advertising Slogans

1. DeBeers - 'Diamonds are forever'

2. MicroSoft - 'Where do You Want to Go Today?'

3. Avis - 'We try harder'

4. Nike - 'Just do it'

5. Clairol - 'Does she... or doesn't she?'

6. Wendy's - 'Where's the beef?'

7. Molson Canadian Beer - 'I am Canadian'

8. Miller Beer - The Champagne of bottled beer'

9. SBC communications - 'Seeing small business differently'

10. T-Mobile - 'Get More'

3 Methods To Make a Good Slogan

The best advertising business will always adhere to 3 basic foundation to make a good slogan.

1. Make The Slogan Easy to Remember

You want to come up with a phrase that people can easily memorize and something that comes out of the mouth smoothly. You can achieve this by what they call Alliteration. You repeat the first letter of the first word in the second or third word. For example, Dial a Donut.

2. Inclusion Of The Main Benefit

If you include the main benefit in your slogan, you are close to being the best advertising business. Some bad slogans are those that only focus on the features of their product or service. Not a good idea. Focusing on the benefit will catch the customers attention much easier. The slogan from McDonalds is a good example here, 'I'm Loving it',

3. The Recall of Brand

The most powerful slogans that work and are proven and effective slogans, are those that include the name of the actual brand in the catch phrase. A good example is from the company Bisto with the powerful advertising slogan 'Ah, Bisto!', or Miller with 'It's Miller Time!'

The best advertising business will always stay in touch with the latest marketing methods that are available today, to not only create effective advertising slogans, but also to market the products online and offline.

JumpStart your business and elevate your profits to the highest levels of success possible. Click now, best ways to advertise business, complete the form and pick up your FREE guide to Online Marketing which you can start using for your business right away!

Best Advertising Business - Top 10 of Effective Advertising Slogans - 3 Ways to Make a Good Slogan

To learn more about Mike and his team, visit now his website.

He teaches Individuals, Newbies and Seasoned Pros, to reach Online Success through proven, professional, effective marketing methods and business strategies, to stay competitive in the marketing arena, to leave the competition eating dust and to stay well ahead of all the new trends.

What is Brand Advertising?

Brand advertising is at the heart of any businesses success. It's all too easy as a business owner to make the mistake of thinking of your brand as a logo and a color scheme along with a slogan. To the consumer (Remember them? they're the people who keep you in business), your brand is synonymous with your company. People build a relationship which can be very personal to your brand, not your company per se. The best brands build an emotional connection with consumers, leading to customer loyalty.

Successful brand advertising is all about building this connection with the consumer, most importantly establishing your business or your product as something which is a known quantity to them - something comforting which they can trust. You already know how great your product or service is; but that alone won't guarantee your success. You need to raise the profile of your brand in order to get the attention of consumers and begin building a relationship with them based on trust.

Advertising

While some media lend themselves more readily to brand advertising than others, a comprehensive campaign of branding or re-branding will typically be done across several different media. Print and television are usually the media of choice for brand advertising, including ads in publications, billboard and other advertising as well as 'captive audience' formats such as adverts on subways and buses.

Television is also a visual medium and as such it can make a powerful brand impact on consumers when used effectively but regardless of the media chosen, simplicity is the best way to advertise your brand. A combination of print and television media brand advertising is generally a good media mix for a brand advertising campaign. Your other marketing efforts can build on your branding later, but when you need to establish a presence for your brand, keep it simple for the biggest impact.

Radio spots and online advertising can also add to your brand advertising campaign; while they usually are not a suitable substitute for the more traditional print and television placements, they can be a valuable part of your branding efforts. Online advertising in particular is growing in popularity, with a growing number of businesses choosing to go where consumers are ' which is online in many cases. Online brand advertising incorporating banner ads, blogs and even video are becoming more common and they seem to be having an effect on the consumer; meaning that these online brand advertising venues are to be ignored at your peril as a business.

What is Brand Advertising?

Andrew Long is an advertising sales consultant and expert in the field of generating revenues from websites and other media. He offers media companies a bespoke solution to selling advertising and making money from their websites and other media.

This article can be used on other relevant websites but a reference to the author and a live web link to the selling advertising.com website MUST be displayed. For more information about Andrew's services please go to http://www.selling-advertising.com/Advertising-Revenue-Centre

Acai Berry - How I Lost 30 Pounds in Under 30 Days Using The Acai Berry

There was a time when I was grossly overweight. At that time, I had no clue about the acai berry. I was fat, ugly, sloppy and laden with a negative attitude. This is when I saw Dr. Oz explaining about the acai berry on CNN. I was impressed and decided to try the acai berry myself. This is what it did to me.

It Was Easy To Follow

Advertising

The biggest advantage of opting for this program was that it was simple and straightforward and I never had to beat around the bush to get there. All I had to do was to choose the site of my choice, place an order and get started-it was that simple. So, I had no hesitation on staring off with this product.

It Was Completely Natural

The second advantage of following this program was that it was completely natural. While most weight loss programs are infected with some or other kinds of chemicals, this is one method which has been proven completely natural and free from any harmful side effects.

It Worked From Day one

The moment I started to use this miracle formula, I was certain that it was going to work for me. This is so as it started to show results from day ONE. By the end of the month, I had lost a mind blowing 29.80 pounds. It was unbelievable and it took a while for the news to sink in. I even tried different weighing scales to cross check and was happy with the results.

Acai Berry - How I Lost 30 Pounds in Under 30 Days Using The Acai Berry

I like many of you who is reading this, was overweight and was not happy with my body shape. I did try several weight loss programs and diets with no benefit. My life changed when I saw Dr. Oz talking good things about the berry supplement and thought to give it a try. I went ahead and got the free trial of Acai Berry supplement and colon cleanse. It complete changed my life. You should check out my story from fat to fit at http://www.hilarysweightloss.com/ and try the Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse diet free!

What Do You Think About Advertising?

Some people say advertising encourages them to buy things they don't want to through misleading ideas. That is why advertising plays a major role in the competitive business in the era of globalization. There are more and more advertising in our life. We have the same experience that we purchase things that we do not want initially because of the impact of advertising. The advertising provides the avenue for people to choose wisely in their life. There are no better tools than advertising highlight the features of their product to the public, even though the product is deemed undesirable.

The decisions made by us in everyday life have been impacted by the advertising very strongly. We had accepted the introduction of a new flavor of burger, a fast food industry. The advertising influence children more easily. Sometimes they mislead our ideas and being negatively influential on our decision.

Advertising

The most important one is that advertising make people to have the right choices while buy essential things. Most of us get professional terms from advertising. We learn to compare a product in terms of price, quality, reliability and so on. If there is no advertising we are difficult to judge the worthiness of a product.

Nowadays there are many advertising online, for example, SEO. It is the special advertising. Different companies give us the different opportunity to choose widely when purchasing our item. I know some good stores online, they always hold real and original packed goods. I bought Christian Louboutin high heels online, and received my item last week, they fit me perfectly.

What Do You Think About Advertising?

Fengmei song is high heels shoes fan, she is interesting in shopping skills and tips for have shoes. she is usually online, you can discuss with her. she knows many famous shoes and shares with us, for example, MBT, Christian Louboutin [http://www.christianlouboutinstores.com/].

Advertising in Tough Economic Times

How to market in tough times? Take advantage of the opportunity! Economic downturns are Darwinian events in the marketplace. The weak perish and the strong and agile survive, even thrive. During downturns, some companies disappear or are swallowed up by rivals. Others emerge stronger than ever. There are basic principles which apply during all downturns. How those principles are dealt with determine which companies will eat and which ones will be eaten.

What's a marketer to do? Cut prices? Ask Detroit how rebates worked for them. When sales stalled, the three American car companies flooded the market with so many off-price deals that nobody would buy Detroit again without a big rebate or a 0% financing offer. Cut product quality or service? Remember Schlitz? Just thirty years ago The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous was America's second-best-selling brew. Someone decided to trim costs by switching to high-temperature fermentation. Customers wouldn't notice, right? Wrong. Six years later the company was out of business. Cut advertising? When Netflix began making serious inroads into Blockbuster's customer base in 2005, Blockbuster cut its 4.2 million advertising budget to .7 million. No surprise that Netflix grew from 4.2 million subscribers then to 7.1 million now. How'd the ad cut work for Blockbuster? In 2007, they closed 500 stores and saw a .4 million profit turn into a 5 million loss through the third quarter.

Advertising

The Opportunity? Absolutely! Advertisers should go all out in the media that produce quantifiable results, especially since their messages will be more prominent as competitors reduce spending. No matter how deep the recession is or how long it lasts, it's the perfect opportunity to become aggressive and grab market share as competitors scale back their marketing efforts.

An aggressive approach will pay some dividends early but down-the-road rewards are even greater. Companies that gain share during downturns historically keep that increased share when the economy bounces back. Each share point gained during the recession is worth incrementally more as the market eventually recovers.

A McGraw-Hill study showed that four years after a downturn, companies that maintained or increased marketing communications during the economic slowdown typically experienced 14 times more growth than companies that cut back. As far as today's overall gloomy consumer confidence, there is one thing that is emerging. Even though consumers are cutting back, they're not doing so entirely. Consumers are finding ways to maintain their quality of life.

Even in a time of belt-tightening, Americans are demonstrating a strong reluctance to give up on everyday pleasures. According to CNNMoney.com on 7/15/2008, many are leaving the car in the garage and staying home. A whopping 50% of Americans plan to buy an HDTV in the next year.

Also, despite the expense, consumers are refusing to give up entirely on vacationing. Even in these tough times, 59% of Americans plan to take a trip of 100+ miles in the next six months. To grapple with fuel costs, they just plan on closer-to-home trips: Epcot instead of Europe.

Advertising in Tough Economic Times

Pete Michuda is a Certified Radio Marketing Consultant and Certified Professional Commercial Copywriter working in the Chicago market radio industry. He's successfully worked with many small to mid-sized businesses by helping them learn how to properly market their companies and how to realize a positive net return on their marketing investment. He can be contacted via e-mail at pmichuda@nextmediachicago.com