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Small-Business Owners: Stop Advertising. Really.

Yes, I get the irony. I’m a marketing and advertising guy telling you to stop advertising. But I mean it.

 

 

I’m talking to the small-business owners here. I’d love for you to succeed. So I’ll let you in on something I tell all my small-business clients: You should really cut it out.

Advertising is the paid rental of space or airtime, filled with a prepared message. Typically, you pay to have the message produced, too.

(Sometimes you don’t pay for the message production. There are plenty of advertising platforms or newspapers, etc., who say, “Don’t worry, you pay for the space and we’ll design the ad for you! Free of charge! What a deal!” Which is kind of like me offering to give you a free haircut. ... What, I hired a college student who has scissors and a comb! It’ll turn out great.

Anyway: Advertising is expensive for a normal small business. To do it in an effective way — meaning a way that will significantly improve your sales — it’s *really* expensive. And in terms of ROI, it’s not so good.

I wish I had a dollar for every time a business owner told me, “I did an ad in the newspaper. It paid for itself.” That's it? It paid for itself? Great. You gave someone money, and someone else gave you the same amount. But you had to do work or fork over your product to get that money back. Essentially, you bought a break-even amount of more work for yourself.

So: No more ads on Facebook. Or in the local newspaper. No radio spot. No billboard. No banner ad. No yellow-pages ad. And for heaven’s sake, PLEASE no television commercial. Don’t even let your kid’s high school photocopy your business card into the junior varsity tennis awards-banquet program. Cut. It. Out.

There: Doesn’t that feel good? Look at all the money you saved! Now, let’s put it toward more effective endeavors.

 

Not advertising, but marketing.

 

As someone who started his career in advertising, I can understand why advertising seems to be the go-to first choice for business owners looking to grow. It’s a shiny object and more people understand what an ad campaign is than grasp the complexities of a marketing strategy.

Here’s some context: When there’s enough money in the budget, advertising can be one element of a good marketing plan. But advertising without a marketing strategy is a great way to throw money down a hole. Marketing, done well by an expert, will make money for your business. As in, profit. Growth.

Talk with an actual marketing expert. Pay them for that talk. Dig into who your customers are now, and who you want them to be. How much customers spend with you now, and how much you actually need them to spend. How many customers you have now, and how many you want. You get the picture. Once you know where you are, and where you want to go, you and your expert can plan the best way to get you there. Within your budget.

Examples: For about the same cost as creating, producing, and printing a full-page ad in a local magazine, you might be able to ...

 

 

1. Send Fancy Mail

Design, print, and mail a personalized brochure in an envelope 75 perfectly qualified potential customers who live within ten miles of your store, who have already expressed an affinity for what you sell, who have the money to spend, and who are likely to not only buy from you but tell their friends. (Do this instead of a chintzy postcard to a whole ZIP Code full of people, 98% of whom couldn’t care less about what you do for a living.)

2. Build the Starter Home Version of Your Own Website

Launch the first version of a professional website and learn how to make it drive ROI. Business owners, I know the prospect of owning and running a website can be intimidating if you’re not digitally inclined. But I also know there are still some of you trying to make Facebook or Google My Business or Yelp work as the whole-ass online representation of your brand.

That’s bad business. Trust me. Long story short, you’re relying on third parties who don’t have your best interests at heart and could add incorrect information, publish harmful ratings and reviews, post your competitors’ ads on your profile page, or erase your whole presence tomorrow.

Your marketing expert can explain how a real website will make your business easier to find, easier to learn about and like, and easier to give money to.

3. Make Your Business Pretty

Design real-live grown-up logo that didn’t come from AI or your cousin who’s “good in PowerPoint.” Or, maybe, you designed your own logo, and, “It looks fine. It’s good enough.” Listen: I promise, a professional brand identity will make a big difference in people’s willingness to believe you know what you’re doing. If nothing else, having a legitimate logo shows potential customers that you’re making an effort.

 

 

So work with an expert and try some professional marketing techniques to make a positive, measurable impact on your business. Once your sales are up, and things are humming along, you’ve got some money to burn, then you can discuss professional, quality advertising.

You and your expert can create and produce ads that build your brand. Campaigns to increase awareness or bring people to your events. Video ads to really make your business shine. Hell, maybe the JV tennis team can even be in your radio spot.

But first, good marketing will reveal and then connect you directly to the people you want to sell to. In a cost-effective, consistent, professional way.

While I tend to focus on creative work these days, I’ve also spent much of my career in strategic and advisory roles. For a few clients per year, I make myself available for marketing consulting with a preference for small and mid-sized businesses (B2B or B2C). Contact me if you’d like to have a conversation about it.

But even if you don’t, you should still find a good marketing expert. And until you do, stop advertising.

 

[Photo original by Annie Spratt. Heavily edited by HadKad.]