Advertising Vs. Promotion for Business | Boomer Business Builders ...

What Is the Difference and Why Should I Care?

The main thing in the minds of business owners is simply to get customers in the door (or in the mail or through their website and so on). Yet becoming a student of the various facets of marketing can pay off for your business big time.

Advertising

For my money, an advertisement?exists to bring in money for?your business. Nothing else. Advertising can also build a brand, make the owner look like a genius, be amazed at your product or service selection and several other benefits?but they are all secondary to bringing in sales.

There are several good definitions for advertising, but?perhaps a better approach?should be to?tell you what?is NOT an ad. ?There should be, to my mind as to what advertising,?no such thing as ?image advertising.? This is where an ad agency or marketer, after perhaps reading the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review to ?get your ad out there to build your image/brand/name.?

If an advertisement does not call for some sort of action on the part of a reader, you are throwing money away. It is?a paid editorial, puff piece or whatever else you want to call it. Simple as that.

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Promotion

Promotion is a subset of advertising that focuses on a direct activity to attract new buyers. This activity can consist of coupons, a person outside your place of business dressed as a company mascot, door hangers, flyer distribution and associated activities.

A promotion should be done in connection with congruent advertising that supports the promotion to be most effective.

Promotion manifests itself?in many different flavors.? You as the owner, must carefully?judge which ?type? of promotion both breaks the short attention span of would-be customers to consider your product or service AND yet keeps in line with your corporate image.

Examples of promotions might be: ?See?our discount?coupons on our website that will only be available for two weeks!? or a person carrying a sign,?Large Supreme pizza with 7 toppings only $10 for dine-in customers only all next week!? or a door hanger or flyer that proclaims ?Any EZ-1040 form taxes will be done a NO CHARGE every Tuesday January through April!?

What?s that? You say both advertising and promotions are calls to action? You are absolutely correct. However, in advertising, we are trying to build a long term customer base (for purchasers) and in promotions, we are trying to effect an immediate incentive or action (buy the pizza, visit our showroom, give your taxes to us).

Both advertising and promotion should be, in your customer?s mind, ?logical? to your business. If you are selling hotdogs and do a promotion with a person dressed up as a poached egg, it isn?t going to be logical?and may therefore lessen your brand image.

Does that make sense? Every business has a personality?most often of the owner. This personality may or may not be the image that is conveyed to the public or what they perceive. Both can be highly impactful in your business if used wisely.

Some Boomer Business Bulder Network locations have a local promotion module that they only offer locally. If your area does not have a BBBN promotions arm, let us know and we will help you!

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Source: http://boomerbusinessbuildersnetwork.com/uncategorized/advertising-vs-promotion-for-business/

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