The goal of business marketing is to generate demand for your products or services. There are a variety of ways to market your business – traditional print advertising, web, social media, broadcast and cable television, as well as new channels such as Youtube, Google, and Facebook. With so many choices available, and each advertising sales rep telling you their medium is the best, how do you choose where to spend your marketing and advertising dollars?
I don’t propose to be the guru of advertising effectiveness, but I do know from past experience, a lot of reading, and observing the market, that the most important marketing dollar you will spend is creating the “image” you want to portray to your customers. Whether this be with photography, video production, or graphic design services, the money spent creating the “look” of your company will pay many dividends over the life of your advertising campaign. The old saying still holds true with marketing and advertising – “Junk in, junk out.”
As a business owner the smartest money you will spend will be in creating a unique visual signature for your company, that is then repeated again and again through your various advertising channels. Whether you are spending money on newspaper inserts, magazine ads, TV spots, Google advertising, or your web site, you want to start your campaign with a consistent visual signature that denotes quality. It would be crazy to spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on media buys, and then scrimp and save on your budget by using stock photography and videography. Sure, stock photos and footage have a place in business, but not as the signature image and look of your advertising campaign. Scrimping on your photography budget is like funding and running a NASCAR campaign yet saving money by having your engines built by Midas. Sure, they build a good engine, but you won’t be winning any races and probably won’t even be able to qualify for the event, even after spending millions on a championship driver, car haulers, pit crew, and car chassis.
To win at marketing and advertising – to stand out from the crowd – start with quality components. Hire a good graphic designer and use high quality, unique and custom imagery that tells your story – and creates demand for your products and services. Your sales staff will love you for it!
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