• The Business plan
• Marketing and Sales Planning
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Lincolnshire Research Observatory
  • Marketing Plan
    • Analysis for your marketing plan
    • The Four and Seven Ps
    • Developing a Pricing Strategy
    • What else should be in the marketing plan?
  • Forecasting and planning your Sales
    • New Businesses
    • Creating a sales plan
  • Selling and Advertising
    • Advertising
    • Direct Marketing
    • Trade Shows and Exhibitions
  • Selling to the Public Sector
  • Looking after your Customer
    • Use customer care to increase sales
    • How to deal with customer complaints
  • Marketing Articles
    • Does your sales approach close more doors than it opens?
    • How do I determine my marketing budget?
    • Making an exhibition of yourself
    • Marketing in the credit crunch
    • Why might your competitors be doing better than you?
• Financial Planning
• Complying with the law
• Employing for the first time
• Business Rates
• Support Schemes
• Young Traders
• Top Tips

Advertising

Advertising is an important component of your marketing strategy. The aim is to promote your business and communicate the information you want to send to your intended audience, usually with the aim of increasing sales or making your audience aware of your products or services.

Advertising can be anything from your shop sign or a website, to an advertisement in a trade magazine or a 30-second radio slot.

Advertising can provide

• basic information such as your contact details and website address
• increase sales by telling potential customers about your product or service
• increase your short-term sales with a specific one-off message - informing people of a special offer or a particular benefit of your product
• prompt specific action - perhaps getting customers to visit your premises or website or use a discount voucher by a specified time
• even change people's attitudes and perceptions of your business

Local advertising

Advertising locally can benefit any business, especially small businesses and sole traders. Local advertising could include:

• leaflet drops, supermarket boards, postcards in shop windows, advertising space rented at railway stations, bus stops or on buses, roundabout islands, leisure centres or doctors' surgeries, local organisations' newsletters, fete programmes and parish magazines or local and regional newspapers, magazines and directories.

Links to local radio stations and newspapers can be found on the Media page under Contacts.