Category: Advertising
Advertising Agency Software: What You Need to Know
There are many different types of software that an advertising agency needs to conduct business efficiently. Here are some examples of tasks that can be supported by software that is currently available to agencies:
ï Create estimates and quotes, invoices and schedules for client approval
ï Prepare drafts of a new brochure, print ad, or annual report for review
ï Manage client feedback on direct mail materials
ï Track key project milestone dates
ï Prepare and review media plans
ï Prepare a storyboard presentation for a client
ï Prepare market research
ï Schedule project tasks
ï Review rough cuts
ï Create project timelines
ï Manage external client and prospect requests
ï Schedule media
ï Time tracking
ï Track expenses against estimates
ï Plan and analyze resources usage
ï Accounting and bookkeeping
To meet these needs, an advertising agency should consider the following:
Graphic Design Software ñ The agency will need a creative design Application Suite like Macromedia Design Suite or
Adobe Creative Suite to do the basic graphic design, storyboarding and other more creative aspects of producing
advertising material.
Audio and Video Editing Software ñ If they do the mockups of their radio and television commercials in-house they will need to be able to edit them for client review before they turn everything over to the actual production company that produces the final versions.
Office Applications – Most companies use Microsoft Office for word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software since it has become the standard for businesses.
Contact Manager ñ The agency needs a good contact manager to keep track of all of their client information. Larger agencies may want to opt for a sophisticated customer relations management (CRM) system instead.
Email Client ñ An agency needs a good email client. Although there are a lot of good email clients available, Outlook is the business standard and has scheduling capabilities for meetings, distribution lists, public folders, the ability to flag all correspondence from specific individual clients and basic content management capabilities.
Project management, Time & Expense Tracking Software ñ because they work on individual projects, an agency needs software that can track all of the costs associated with each project. The software should be able to track employee time with the ability to use split rates and multiple rates, raw materials, outsourced invoices, etc.
Accounting Software ñ They need standard accounting software that provides invoicing, accounts receivable, accounts payable and general ledger functions. Larger agencies may need the software to handle multiple currencies and tax codes.
New Possibilities
With the advent of extranets, special software suites have been developed specifically for advertising agencies. They include programs that can provide contact management, time & expense tracking, project management, scheduling and email management. Some of the applications can even interface directly with the firmís accounting software.
Another innovation is the client service extranet. They have replaced email as the favored forum for sharing and organizing the vast number of documents that are part of all client/agency relationships.
Using an extranet allows all employees, vendors, suppliers, clients and others on the project team to have real time access to all of the pertinent project details from anywhere in the world. Best of all, an extranet makes it possible to share the design documents, audio and video clips with the project online in real time. No more waiting for courier delivery or a face-to-face meeting providing better customer service than ever before possible.
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Advertising Balloon With Helium ñ Laugh It Up
I really am a throw back. In this day and age of Washington Concensus minded, self-persevering valued folks, Iím just an old fashioned egalitarian. This doesnít mean that I think we should all sew up some Mao-style unisex suits and eat from cans labeled in black in white. It just means that I donít think that the playing field is level and it needs to be and then measures need to be enacted to maintain equal opportunity. Well it means some other things too, but thatís neither her nor there for this little chat. In the end, my support for equality comes down to equal opportunity and respect. And thatís how I try to approach people today.
I feel that everyone has something positive to share with me and the world and I try to approach all in this manner until proven otherwise. I have spent time with some wonderfully intelligent and caring wealthy people and I certainly have ample experiences of sharing time with those less fortunate that have taught me much about life with their wisdom, patience and sense of humor.
This is why I like balloons. I feel like their the egalitarian activist in the world of toys and advertising. So many other toys and advertising gimmicks typically associate themselves with one segment of society or another. This is not the case with balloons.
Although balloons boast an incredibly low and anachronistic price, both rich and poor kids want them at their party. Middle school kids still let off balloons to carry messages of goodwill to its unknown recipient. Even Colombian mules count on balloons as an integral part of their import/export businesses.
So, if you truly believe in equality, put your money where your mouth is and drop socially stratifying toys like PlayStation or Homies and get yourself some balloons. Letís play and advertise in solidarity. Land, Liberty, Balloons!
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Advertising Door Hanger Can Help New Business Down The Street
Metro Hanger Advertising media is placed on home mailboxes, doorknobs, plus cars, apartment buildings, bikes, and other consumer connection points. Metro Hanger Advertising can consist of straightforward paper door hangers, plastic bag door hangers, and/or custom shaped door hangers. Our goal is to provide the Colorado small business owner with high quality, high impact, low cost door hanger advertising. We also will give you available advertising templates for ads, postcards, door hangers and flyers at no cost. Door hanger advertising can help announce to everyone in your area that you’re the .
Years ago, I started collecting junk mail and advertising gimmicks: door hangers, table top tent cards from restaurants, all kinds of direct mail especially letters. Thankfully, there are other methods of door-to-door advertising: leaving a flyer or door-hanger. Co-operative advertising is a variety of diverse businesses targeting the same neighbourhood and sharing the advertising space on a door hanger. mmLoadMenus(); Door hangers can be informative or advertising in nature. It’s basically a marketing material, where you hook the door hanger onto the door knob of a door advertising your product or service. Think of the promotional possibilities that door hanger advertising can afford a local bar or restaurant. The potential benefits of door hanger printing and door hanger advertising cannot be understated. The memo board door hanger is a visible and creative advertising medium. That’s not hard to understand
door hangers are just such a handy way to leave your advertising message. How it works Advertising messages are printed on door hangers, similar to the type used on “do not disturb” signs in hotels.
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Advertising Ideas To Get Your Mind Bubbling
There are a couple of truths that seem to apply to many small businesses, especially ones that are also newly established. One of them is that budgets do not allow for all ideas to be implemented. Another is that advertising is necessary. A quick look over these two statements will result in a belief that they are contradictory factors of a business if they are both true. That is unfortunately a misconception held by many new business owners. As we all know the majority of new business to not make it past their second year in business.
One of the factors that can assist in the difficulties of establishing a new, small business is the belief that important money to sustain the business cannot be spent on advertising. The allocation of money to advertising usually has a very low priority in a small businesses budget. This is a mistake, advertising is necessary, but there are a number of ways that it can be done in a cost effective manner.
First on a businesses list should be the largest yellow pages ad they are able to afford. Although the phone book is an old form of advertising with the importance that the internet is taking on, this is still one of the first things potential clients do when looking for a business or product.
Other print advertising ideas can be done with newspaper advertising. Local papers can get your geographic region narrowed in on. This is especially important given that the majority of small business clients come from a 3 to 5 mile radius. Also, papers can be good because they frequently have specialized advertising sections, which will be read by just the people you want. Local business groups also create special advertising sections that can be a great advertising idea and cost effective too.
Other ideas might look into specialized magazine advertising, using vehicle graphics and using the billing and other mailing necessities you have to further promote upcoming events and specials. There are a lot of ways out there that offer advertising idea possibilities, but the one thing that must be adhered to is that you must do something.
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Advertising Gold – Extreme Benefits Extraction For E-Authors
Once a cherished project such as your first ebook or ecourse has been completed, we need to turn our attention to the marketing of your project.
Here’s where things sometimes turn somewhat difficult if the author and the marketeer are one and the same person, and here’s where we have to be cautious and take the right steps in the right order, so we might stay on track.
In order to write ANY form of marketing material for your ebook or course, you need to be completely FAMILIAR with all the benefits of your product.
Now it seems obvious that the author, of all people, SHOULD be familiar with the benefits but there is such a thing as over-familiarity, as well as having been immersed in the project for a long time and thus not seeing the proverbial forest for the trees any longer.
I was assisting just such an ebook author and absolute AUTHORITY on writing their major sales page the other day, and I was astonished that they couldn’t answer certain basic questions I put to them, such as:
“How many chapters are there in your book?”
“How many pages does your book have?”
“How many illustrations?”
“How many words?”
“What’s the ISBN?”
The answer was always something along the lines of, “Ahm … I guess I could look it up …”
Oooh!
These are the kind of “technical details” that are handled in a publishing house by “other people” – but of course, in web publishing they need to be known EXACTLY by the author, because these things comprise the “technical specifications” of the product and a prospective purchaser might well enquire or need to know up front before they make their buying decision.
But that’s just an example and in a way, it is the tip of the iceberg.
What became very apparent was that the author in question had missed out on the first step of ANY marketing analysis.
This important step, which is the core topic of this article, is ESSENTIAL to be able to write any form of advertising copy, to target the correct audiences with the correct approach and to market the product, full stop.
This first step is called “the benefits extraction”.
*** How To Do The Benefits Extraction ***
You need a printed out copy of your book or course, PLENTY of empty pieces of paper, a big pot of coffee and then, you take off your author’s hat and instead, you put on your marketing hat and go through the text, ONE PARAGRAPH AT A TIME, and “extract” ALL the benefits that could possibly accrue for the reader/user/learner AND all they come into contact with *if they follow the advice and procedures outlined* exactly.
There is a HUGE range of potential benefits that can and will be found in this process, and even before we get into the text and content itself, there’s also benefits such as:
Good sized print – easy to read for older people, avoid headaches!
Good use of white space – easy on the eye, relaxing reading
Well structured – information flow is logical, and thus easy to understand and learn
Fully indexed – things are easy to find, you can quickly get to what you need to know.
Helpful diagrams and illustrations – pictures say more than a thousand words …
… and so on.
Once you get into the content, you will notice that sometimes, a single sentence or paragraph hides a MAJOR benefit, such as:
“The SINGLE little known SECRET to all your marketing problems!” (Page 23)
Take your time and keep backing up and asking yourself over and over again, “What BENEFITS will the reader/user get from this?”
Immediately, short term, long term?
Don’t stop with things like,
“Reader will learn how to use the snarkometer …”
That’s not a benefit.
A benefit is what happens WHEN you use a snarkometer as its creator designed it to be used – so the benefit might be:
“Reader will be able to capture even well hidden, rare and elusive snarks.”
From there, you can go on to further future benefits, such as:
“Reader will become famous and rich from his snark sales.”
That’s the point, after all!
*** Sorting Out Your Benefits ***
If you do this properly, you will find HUNDREDS of benefits, big and small, and for all sorts of different applications, situations and people, and from all sorts of different angles, in ANY decent ebook or ecourse.
You will have them all written down, as they come, with the referencing page numbers on your many sheets of paper.
Now it’s time to sort them out.
Firstly, go through your list and find the MAJOR benefits that would make the best HEADLINES and major bonus lists.
As soon as you’ve got those, your advertising and marketing falls into place because now you know WHAT IT IS THAT YOU ARE SELLING!
“Deep down”, of course you knew that all along but it’s extraordinary how “deep down” this stuff often is and how hard one has to dig to get it out of the authors to bring it to the surface!
Pick out the top ten benefits and transfer them to a new sheet of paper.
Now, pick the next 20 or so which will become benefits in lists on pitch pages, or will be laid end-to-end in classifieds and sales letters.
Finally, take all the rest and sort them out in any way you want.
You might find that a particular market emerges that you hadn’t thought about before with their OWN benefits list that is quite separate from the general main benefits, and where you can then market your product accordingly.
You might well find material amongst those benefits that you can use to write articles or engage in customer “education” – explain how and why these benefits arise in separate articles so they get to appreciate what you do and how VALUABLE your product really is.
You will find ideas, headlines, tag lines, and pure advertising GOLD COPY in this benefits extraction and analysis.
And once you are done, NOW you are ready to write REAL advertisements of all kinds – and you’ll find that now you ACTUALLY KNOW what your product is from the marketer’s standpoint, you’ll also be able to SELL IT TO OTHERS.
Oh, and one more thing.
A benefits extraction is also possibly one of THE most motivational and exciting things any author or creator can do for THEMSELVES.
Yup, it’s all true. It really is THAT good, and it REALLY has all those benefits!
It’ll do the world for your self confidence AND for YOUR ability to start shouting about the amazing benefits of YOUR amazing product from the rooftops – and that in turn, leads to a whole lot more sales, more money in the bank, more joy and freedom and love all around!
So if you have not yet done your word-by-word extreme benefits extraction, go for it NOW.
It is absolutely THE FIRST STEP to ALL future marketing.
Good luck and surprise blessings,
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
Advertising – Are You Wasting Your Money?
Anybody who has a product to sell, an idea to promote or a service to offer relies on advertising to get the attention they require.
There are so many forms of advertising that finding the correct medium can sometimes be a daunting task.
Depending on the type of business, or the reason for your need for promotion you may find it easier to seek some professional advice.
Firstly you need to decide who your target market is, whether it is men or woman, older generation, younger generation, companies etc.
Secondly you need to ascertain whether your market is local, national or global. This is important, as leaflet dropping in your local supermarket car park is fine if your product or service is a local one, but if your services can be offered world wide or nationally, then you are seriously losing out on the largest percentage of your market.
Once you know who you are planning to target, and where they are, you can begin to research the how, which are the options you have available.
There is an absolute ton of free information on the internet, and if you are reading this, you must have access to it!
If you have a low budget, try doing the advertising yourself, you can knock up some great leaflets from your own pc, (providing your market is local).
Making a website has become a lot easier over the years, and if you shop around you can get some great prices on hosting packages and domain names. Try downloading a free html editor, preferably with a wysiwyg platform, (what you see is what you get), there is a wealth of information on the internet to guide you through making a simple website.
If you have a bigger budget, then consulting with one of the many advertising companies is an option. These people can advise you, and come up with some fantastic ideas, but be sure to shop around and not just go with the first company you come across. Prices will vary, and their expertise will vary also, so itís an idea to ask to see some references, or some of their projects with other clients that they have worked on.
Done correctly, and with proper research, advertising will reap rewards. It is after all one of the most important factors in any business. So I personally, would always recommend that you give this area the attention it deserves!
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
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