What Advertising Means To You
By Bruce Wisdom

You may want to know a bit of my advertising experience, I have been in the world of advertising for 6 years from cub copywriter to creative director. And I was privileged to attend a workshop conducted by Neil French, a well known advertising guru, I asked Neil to define advertising to me in one simple sentence and he in his flamboyant style answered me in one word: "Life!"

I agree with him totally because if you don't understand life it is very hard to be successful in advertising because advertising is about communicating well with people on your products and services to the extend that they just can't wait to get their hands on your products or use your services!

I love using acronyms to communicate my message and it makes it easy for you to remember the key factors or points. What Advertising means to you can be subjective too depending on what you were taught, experienced or have read about it. You can write a book on it, but I am only going to cover a little on the basic points. Let's agree on the fundamentals:

A stands for Attitude which is link to your beliefs which comes from your experience. Basically to have effective advertising, you must have the right attitude and understand the importance of advertising, why billions of dollars are spent on it? You may have the best product or best service but if nobody knows about it, it is of not much use, isn't it? Of course, the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth advertising because it is based on trust and relationship.

D stands for Desire, what do you really want to achieve from your advertising, the objectives and end results? Clarity is power! If you don't know where you want to go, any road will get you there. You must be very clear on what you want to achieve with your advertising and every word and picture must be directed towards accomplishing your end result.

V stands for Visualize, Verbalize and Verify, you have to create a sizzling offer that is crystal clear to your prospects and with lots of testimonials to its value and benefits. Make them see it, hear it and feel it!

E stands for Ethics, Enthusiasm and Extras, your advertising has to be ethical, as Abraham Lincoln said it so well, you can fool all the people some time but you cannot fool all the people all the time. It is silly, stupid and foolish to do poor or unethical advertising, it will come back to haunt and hurt you financially! You have to be enthusiastic about your advertising and give extras so that your prospects feel they are getting more or something they can't get from your competitors. This is very important, we call it the USP, Unique Selling Proposition, what makes you stand out from your competitors.

R stands for Research, you must know what the market wants and never assume because ASSUME stands for "making an ASS out of U and ME" You must do your market research and do market testing to find out what your customers really want?

T stands for Timing, Tracking, and Tipping Point, you must advertise at the right time, track your advertisements and monitor the results, and more importantly enough times to the right targeted audience to reach the tipping point when your advertising created a viral effect when everyone starts talking about it positively!

I stands of Impact, Innovate and Identify. Before anything happens, you got to get the ATTENTION! You must be innovative and create advertising that get free mileage when people start talking about it. You want to leverage on the most effective advertising form which is word-of-mouth advertising or some call it viral marketing. You must be able to touch the hearts of your customers and make them identify themselves with your products or services. Learn to win the hearts of your customers and you will laugh all the way to the bank!

S stands for Sincerity, Service, and Solution. Honesty is still the best policy because people are tired of the lies, insincerity and misrepresentations, they want you to deliver what you promised to them. Whatever you do even if it is a product, people always appreciate good service, and if your advertising can communicate good service, you are half way there. And, of course, if your advertising offers a great solution, you will have them going for their credit cards!

I stands for Integrity in your message, products and services. There must be congruency in your message to your products or services and your customers can relate wholeheartedly to your advertising and remember it clearly and positively in their minds.

N stands for numbers, you must understand the numbers of advertising, you can keep on advertising as long as your sales justify them and make it more cost effective by understanding and applying what I've shared with you earlier.

G stands for Great. If your advertising can show that you offer Great Value, Great Quality, Great Service and Great Relationship, you will have your customers for life!

Do leverage on the World Wide Web, it is the biggest market in the world, if you want to learn more about advertising on the internet, go to: http://www.AdwordsMarketingTips.com

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine as long as the following information about author/website is included.

Marketing Consultant and Author. His passion lies in network marketing, internet marketing and everything to do with marketing! Bruce's website: http://www.BusinessAtAClick.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com