Advertising - There are three main reasons for advertising:

• To provide your target audience with information - creating awareness.
• To persuade them to buy from you. By promoting product and company benefits.
• To reinforce your existence by consistently repeating key messages.

Research shows that people need to see an advertisement at least seven times before it starts to mean anything to them. So, to be effective, advertising needs to be conducted regularly in a consistent and 'recognisable' manner.

It can therefore be quite costly. Typical advertising media include Yellow Pages, local newspapers, radio, trade journals, exhibitions and websites. It is also difficult to assess how much business is achieved through 'paid-for' advertising unless you include some form of monitoring scheme (such as a discount voucher) within the advertisement.

Public Relations - PR

Public Relations - Publicity is something that 'happens' to a company and the result may be good or bad. Public relations (or PR) involve a sustained attempt to develop your reputation as a business by using the media to help create the image you desire. It is a way of keeping the business in your customers' eyes.

News or press releases can be distributed to the media to announce, for example, new product launches, a change in opening times or company successes. Articles can be distributed to trade journals or local newspapers, and sponsorship or charitable donations can help to position your business more prominently in the market place than your competitors. Attendance at exhibitions and seminars can also help to promote the image of your business to a chosen target audience.

If you feel confident dealing with the media yourself, then public relations can be a very cost-effective method of promoting your business.

Sales promotion

This activity is best described as a specific, usually short-term, promotion that is 'over and above' what you would normally provide to the customer (e.g. buy one, get one free).

When used effectively, sales promotions can help to move old stock, counteract competitor activity, merchandise new products, encourage repeat buying and motivate your staff. They can also be monitored, so the success of a particular sales promotion can be measured over time.

Sales promotions are a good way of attracting new customers. However, on their own they are unlikely to build customer loyalty or change their longer term buying habits. The type of promotion selected also has to be relevant to your target customers as well as to your own marketing objectives.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing is an increasingly popular technique as it enables you to target specific customer groups very accurately. It is a flexible way to deliver your message and, because each letter can be personalised, the chances of a response are greatly improved. The overall success of a campaign can also be directly measured in terms of the number of responses received.

You can collect information on customers and use this to build up your own 'in-house' database. Although this can be time-consuming, the information gathered will be accurate and relevant to you, and can be relatively easily kept up to date.

Alternatively, you can buy a mailing list of potential customers that is tailored to your precise specification. For example, if you were selling 'up-market' motorbikes and associated products, you could buy a mailing list that provided details of men over 40 years old, who own a bike, live in a certain postcode area and have a salary of above £25,000. The cost of buying this list may be high, but if you get a good response rate from your mailing activity to this group, then the expense would be considered to be worthwhile.

Be aware that some false addresses may be included in a purchased list so that the seller of the list can verify the mailing activity that takes place and stop theft of a list.