Winking in the Dark

Have you ever heard the phrase 'Winking in the Dark'?

In 1956 in the New York Herald Tribune, it was noted that "doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does."

I think this a great phrase that sums up many business' activies. Especially new businesses. It is important for companies to try to figure out what they can do to get their brand out there, so that consumers can *see* what they are doing, and what they have to offer.

There are lots of different ways that companies can do this, and we'll be examining all the different possibilities that are out there. But lets just start at point one. You need to advertise your business and/or your products so that you customers know its out there! Because no one can buy it if they don't know it exists.

So don't I mean marketing and not advertising? Well no, and this is a common mistake that alot of people make. Marketing is a very broad spectrum of activities which define and promote your brand, and advertising is just one of those activities. And really, its the most important one. How does the burger shop get you into their store to try their new, comes with tastebuds bursting extra topped up flavours burger - they advertise. Sure you already know their brand, heck you drive past it every day, but if they didn't advertise what they have to offer, how else could you be reminded of just how good their burgers are that they persuade you to drop in? Because if your customers don't know about you, or aren't reminded about you on a regular basis, then they will unfortunately forget about you and head off to your competitor down the road who spend some of his dollars telling people about his business.

So which kind of advertising is right for your business? Well, that depends entirely on what your business is. If you are a local handyman, then advertising on National TV probably isn't going to get you business that is bang for your bucks, whereas a small ad in the local classifieds paper will most likely bring the sort of business that you are looking for. On the other hand, businesses looking to promote themselves throughout a whole city or region, may look at another form of advertising which is more widespread, such as transit or newspaper, where a wider cross section of society will have the opportunity to view their advert. If you are unsure which kind of advertising is right for you, simply drop us a line, we'd be more than happy to giv eyou an unbiased opinion.

One thing to remember is that it is the placement of your advert that counts the most. If people don't remember your advertising, you're wasting money, and in some cases vast sums of money, because the expenditure is not advancing your brand. Put another way, a poorly placed or poorly produced ad will never really be effective in the marketplace, no matter how many advertising dollars you put behind it. It's like playing poker and continuing to throw good money behind a bad bet. Or winking in the dark; and we wouldn't want you to do that....