Advertising Effectiveness in B-to-B Markets

Do you know what makes a good advertisement? Well, there are many factors you should consider based on research through the years in various market segments. Here are few ideas for you to consider:

Size of Advertisement: A full page ad outperforms a fractional ad at least twice as well. So, if you have the budget it is better to design and place a full-page ad. A spread (meaning two pages together) received an even greater impact rating.

Positioning of Advertisement: The most desirable position is the inside front cover (more commonly called Cover 2). Then page 1, Cover 4 (back cover), page 2, page 3 and Cover 3 (inside back cover) in that order.

Color ads vs. black/white ads: Of course, color ads are more effective at drawing the reader's eye to the advertisement. Since we see in color we want to view our ads in color. Color makes the ad more believable.

Impact advertising: Impact advertising such as a non-traditional format like a cover wrap or bellyband, pull-out insert, gatefold or a product sample delivers strong recall results.

Frequency is key to success: The more you advertise your message the more the reader recalls and retains your ad's message. So, consider at least a 12x frequency to start.

Integrated marketing is essential: In conjunction with your print advertising or online advertising program, make sure you integrate all sources of the purchase process such as your Website, blog, or other online media as well as social media sites. This will help to create brand awareness and help with after sales support as well as making it easy for you to respond quickly to inquiries.

Does Advertising Work?

The answer is a profound yes. The more a company advertises in business publications, the more likely it is to benefit from increased sales and profits. More advertising means more leads. And more leads means more sales.

Do a little experiment with your company. Track your sales before an advertising campaign. Then when the campaign has been completed, track the sales again. But make sure your campaign is at least 4-6 months in length. If it is longer, you can also track mid-way, say at 6 months, if the campaign is a year long.

Increasing your advertising frequency can also increase sales leads and traffic to your Website. Frequency is the key. So many companies seem to start and stop their advertising. They'll place one ad ... in one journal ... one time ... and expect to get results. Your customers need to see your ad over and over again. In fact, the same ad campaign can keep working for at least a full year or more.

But, you don't have to offer up your first born child to the advertising gods to make your advertising consistent. There are ways to advertise cost-effectively. For example, even though full-page, 4-color ads, do obtain better results, you can also run quarter page ads. I advise my clients to focus on frequency rather than size of the ad. So, if they need to design a smaller ad but can place it 2-3 times more often than a full-page ad, I advice them to do so.

So, remember... advertising doesn't cost ... it pays. Think of your advertisement as an investment, not a cost.

Ad Copy: Keep it Short and Sweet

Do many of you get verbose when it comes to writing advertising copy? I know some of you will say that "my customers are highly technical and want a lot of information". Well, in an advertisement, you should tease the reader into wanting to find out more information about you. If you give them all the information they need to make a buying decision at one sitting, then they could very well rule your company out of the competition before you even get a face-to-face meeting with them.

I know I've been preaching to the choir about adding benefits to your ad copy, but don't add too many. Six is probably too many and two is probably not enough. So, settle on three to four benefits, three probably being the optimum. If you concentrate on three bullet points, this will force you to really focus and think about why you are the best in your business. Otherwise, your benefits will be "me too" benefits and won't show your uniqueness.

Another reason to keep your ad copy short and sweet is so that you don't have to use 6 pt. type. Your readers will appreciate not having to get out the magnifying glass to read your advertisement. Start out with a compelling headline, followed by a short explanatory subhead, and then the body copy with three benefits. Finally, close the advertisement with a call to action. Yes, you want the reader to do something (that is, call you, go to your website, inquire about your products, etc.) now that they've read your advertisement. Give the reader an incentive to accept your call to action by offering something of value to them. This could be a white paper, a free demonstration of your product, a free training session, or whatever your audience perceives is of value.

Keep it short. Keep it simple. Keep it sweet. The secret to writing great advertising copy.