Most businesses think that using mass media in their marketing campaign is out of the question due to its perceived costs and only to be used for larger companies. This just isn’t so. This article has some great cost effective ways to use the reach and power of mass media for your next marketing campaign. Take another look at your  Funding Business Plan and Marketing Strategies to find some good areas to incoporate into mass media.

The Power of Mass Media

Why should you consider using mass media? Mass media gives your business wide spread appeal and identity, along with wide recognition. This helps you to establish a brand and quickly. Today mass media is far less expensive than it has ever been, and it is now offered to small businesses regularly. Mass Media really needs to be part of any small business’s  Business Plan Process.

Mass Media Outlets and Sources

Newspapers:  While  SEO is really giving newspaper advertising a run for its money, you will find that newspaper ads are getting cheaper and cheaper as a answer.  Moreover, a newspaper can add flexibility and can be quite targeted if necessary.  Always test your ads by including codes so you know which ones are most effective.  Narrow your ads to the most effective papers by contrastive ads and gauging the differences.

• Send in good artwork and substantiate with the production department that your Ad will print well.
• I like to run smaller ads in different sections with tracking codes to determine your best as placement.
• I like the Classified Section Ads because this is where serious buyers go.
• Always point to a particular Sales Page on your website which is designed around the Ad you place.
• Always ask about volume discounts and reduced ad rates when testing the paper’s effectiveness.  Everything in Advertising is negotiable!
• Offer something for FREE (Bold it & Capitalize it).
• Use a Graphic or Logo to increase the effectiveness of your ad by 30%.
• Repeat your subject three times in a small area by using a Logo, Headline and Copy that relate.
• If you advertise on the TV, using one frame from the TV ad can increase the print ad’s effectiveness by 40%.
• A good ad can make good circulars and help brand your name / product.
• Newspaper advertising requires consistency to get any traction or ROI but make sure it is working for you before committing to a long run. 

Magazines:  I like Magazine advertising as it is Regional and National in scope and you can target your audience effectively.  I like to test classified ads in different Magazines to see what works then I consider Display ads (and keep the classified ad). 

• Magazines lend credibleness
• You can use your Ad effectively in a Circular or other company medium.  Always say, “As Seen in Entrepreneur Magazine (insert the magazine the ad appeared in).”  This gives you instant familiarity, credence and credibility with the reader.
• Consider run a low cost classified Ad in a multitude of Magazines which target your prospect verses running a Display as in a couple.  Your ROI for dollars spent will typically be much better.
• A prospect reading a classified as will think you are cheaper than the advertiser with the expensive Display Ad.  If you aren’t selling a luxury product, this can be a great start to put across with a price conscious prospect.  They think money is being saved even before they call you and discuss price.  What a win-win for both the prospect and the business owner!
• Multiple Ads run through a Ad Media Company in several magazines can get some great discounts.  If your credit is decent, you can be extended payment terms which correspond with your Ad ROI.  Therefore, no money out of pocket until revenue is generated from the Ads (if timed correctly).  Powerful!
• Take advantage of Split Runs with Magazines to see what Ad works best, in what section of the magazine.  Great way to test a Headline or Copy.
• Magazines are more targeted for the type of reader verses a newspaper.  A newspaper is more geographically targeted.  Using the two in alignment can be powerful!
• If your product or service is business orientated, consider advertising in a Trade Magazine. MediaFinder is a great way to find the Trade Magazines to advertise in.
• Magazines lend themselves to color.  Use it!
• Magazines life cycle or longer.  People go back to them over and over, as well as, hang on to them.  Your Ad has a chance of being read multiple times.
• direct your Magazine Display Ad with Boldface sub-heads.  These will be read first, should grab attention and get the reader to either read more or act.  No more than 50% of a Display Ad should be text.
• Consider blowing up your Magazine Ads into posters and mount them strategically around and outside your business, with the Headline:  “As Seen in Entrepreneur Magazine….”
• Ask the Ad Space Rep to call you when remnant space is available.  You will save big bucks!

Radio:  Radio is great because you can have and questions and answer type show or ad, where the caller is asking the expert a question. This type of format sets you up as the expert. This is very price negotiable since it is partly a public service, which is the sanction of radio. In other words, it is an ad disguised as an informational resource. Both a win-win for your business and the radio station. Make sure you give out a memorable and short web address and an easy to remember phone number during the ad. Then be sure to track the results and use the resources at the radio station to tune up your ad session.

• Another strategy is to run cheap, short ads on less popular stations, bundled for maximal savings but make sure you test and track them to ensure a good ROI.  Cheap isn’t good unless you get viable, profitable results.
• Be sure to individualize your Ads and you do the talk.  This is a great opportunity to connect with your prospects.
• Partner up with other strategic businesses to offer complete solution radio talk shows, like a panel of experts to give out advice.  This is significant:  Have the moderator give out one website address and one phone number and the prospect can choose the company (or better yet companies) to follow up with.  You can offer discounts for conjunctive services and meet the customer as a dual solution.  A marketing fulfilment company can help you set up and maintain a coop partnership.  For example, a Landscaper can partner with a Landscape Designer, which are two services that can be combined for a total solution for the customer.  You can coop the cost with your Strategic Partners.  You can kill the competition with this strategy!  Make sure you choose your partner(s) carefully.
• Put your Ads on the website for people to listen to, especially your Q & A Expert Sessions.
• Interviewing the President of the company can be a great way to start, giving you plenty of material to draw on to make a variety of Radio and Online Ads.  This is a very effective use of your Ad dollars.
• Consider the good afternoon for peoples drive home for your radio ads, you’ll have their attention.
• Always reference your website and an easy to remember number.  9 times out of 10, if the website is easy to remember, the listener will find it.

TV:  You can cost effectively target your audience.  The average U.S. Household watches an average of 8 hours TV per day, with the average viewer watching 4  hours per day.   With Cable, you can cost effectively target an audience.

• TV is a great set up for your Sales Page on your Website.
• Avoid prime time and take advantage of fringe time.  Consider a media buying service to really save on your ad times; they often buy unsold TV time for pennies on the dollar.
• Consider hiring an inbound telemarketing cal center to take the calls off your ads, no matter the hour of the day.  If you use a different phone number from channel to channel or ad to ad, you can easily track them.
• Direct Response TV can offer your prospects the entire sales process.  This is a powerful system!  Some direct Response advertising can be bought on a per inquiry or sales basis, taking a lot of risk out of your capital outlay.
• The TV station can provide all the Production services, saving you thousands.  However, with a good marketing advisor, you should publish the script.  I like a Storyboard because it helps you visualize the Ad.  Save money by having a pre-production meeting to ensure things run promptly and smoothly on production day.  The less the editing, the more economical your ads will be – plan ahead!  You ordinarily can lay down three good ads in one production day – good planning can help you achieve this great use of time and money, which brings your production cost per ad to about $300.  Shoot in digital so you can replay it immediately and quickly make any fixes.
• Concentrate on 30 second spots.  Direct Response sales ads should be about 2 minutes and keep the phone number visible during the entire ad.
• Show your product or service in Action.  This is the real advantage to TV ads.
• Don’t make the Ad more interesting than your product.
• Remember a TV’s volume may be muted so tell your story visually!

Outdoor Ads:  I really don’t like Outdoor Ads because most aren’t visual enough or have an ad conducive to somebody driving by it at 55 mph.  If your Ad tells someone to Exit Now; has a big arrow; something very Visual, and your Ad is in a good location, then maybe it might be worthwhile.  Things like Next Exit or Two Miles Ahead work, while being a constant reminder to commuters.  An Outdoor Ad can establish an Identity for your business.  However, these ads can be very expensive depending on the location.

• Use no more than Five Words; use one large Graphic; make sure it is well illuminated.
• If it is a Digital Board, make sure your Ad stays up long enough for passer bys to visually take it in and act on it.
• Consider sharing the Billboard with another business in your Office Park or Retail Center and / or have your Office Park or Retail Center mentioned for even greater cost savings!
• Consider other less costly alternatives like bus, taxi or bus stop Advertising if it serves your market well.
• Remember, an Outdoor Ad should be clear from afar as prospects will be viewing typically from a moving vehicle.
• Be careful to design your sign with the persona and taste of your community in mind.

Direct Mail:  Generates leads that can lead to a sale.  Direct Mail sets up your leads.

• Advantages:
  • Measure results immediately
  • Can target your audience
  • Can be personalized
  • Receives some of the highest response rates of all media
  • Great for repeat sales
• Important Elements of a Successful Campaign:
  • Ask the reader to take Action
  • Find recipients who have bought via mail before
  • Include a recommendation in your letter
  • Ask for the business in your first headline
  • Use Black and Red color types.  Red for important words or headlines
  • Have a good logo or graphic
  • For success, repeat your mailings with different content
• The Numbers:
  • 90% chance of reaching your targeted audience
  • 60% read the letter
  • 50% make it to the decision maker at a business

  • 60-30-10 Rule:  60% of your Direct Mail success depends on the right list; 30% of it depends on the offer; and 10% depends on the Creative.

• Tips:
  • Oversize the Addressee’s Name
  • Consider putting no return address on it to increase curiosity
  • Use mail as a follow up for:
    • Sales Call
    • Appointment Confirmation
    • Bad Customer Experience
    • Recognize Achievement
    • Introduce a new team member
    • Holidays
    • A Thank You for a demo, presentation, sale, no sale, referral

Note:  If possible, I opt Direct Email over Direct Mail because it is instant, automated, easily tracked and cost effective.  However, obtaining good email lists without violating Spam Laws can be a gainsay.  Always consider using Direct Mail with Email or Point to a Website with Direct Chat to heighten the talks and personalize your campaign.

Resource:  Consider getting the Magazine Direct Marketing to learn as much as possible about the art of Direct Mail.

• Tips (continued):
  • Keep a elaborate database and manage your mailings with a Customer Contact System.
  • Repeat important items / benefits
  • Photos are good and increase response rates
  • Best individual Direct Mail months are January, February and October.   Best business Direct Mail months are January, February and March.
  • Offer a Free Trial or Free Product
  • Bundle your Product and Service Offerings
  • Offer payment terms, discounts and a warranty
  • Address the reader / audience directly and personally
  • Keep your wording short and concise
  • Provide a list or Problems, Benefits and the corresponding solutions
  • Test Mail until you have all the kinks out
  • Repeat mailings combined with email and phone really increase your odds of success
  • When marketing to Business Owners or Executives do not use labels.  And follow the mailing with a handwritten note.
  • Consider putting a Teaser on the envelope and don’t forget that a great Teaser location is the back of an envelope
  • A handwritten P.S. gets people’s attention – use it wisely.  I.e. Call to Action, an Added Benefit, a Bonus, Discount, etc.
  • Toll Free Phone Numbers can threefold your response rate.
  • Treat every Direct Mail order as a Rush Order. 
  • Test, Test, Test to ensure your Direct Mail will work.  Your goal is to break even during the testing period.
  • Include publicity about your Company on your mailings
  • Test many different lists to find the best ones
  • Check out Direct Mail News
• Post Cards:  I like Post Cards over a letter.  Why?  No decision whether to open or not.  Costs 1/3 less.  Easy and quick to print yourself.  Post Cards force you to be concise, which can be the main reason they are so effective. Consider using Email Audio Post Cards
• Combine Direct Mail with Email:  The combining of mail and email can double your response rate.  You can send out mass emails and then mail a postcard to the ones who actually opened the emails.  You can alternatively send a post card introducing your company and benefits, then follow with a more detailed email that calls for action and points the prospect to a web sales page (by the way, a phone number and web sales page should be included with the postcards for Your “hot” prospects).
• Catalogs:  You need 25,000 customers for this to make sense.  32 pages is the optimum length.  40% of prospects save their catalogs – this is the primary benefit.
  • of necessity to be well organized, indexed and have categories.
  • Too cost prohibitive for you now?  No problem:  put it up on the web and grow your catalog customer organically.

About the Writer

Frank Goley is a Business Consultant and Business Planner for ABC Business Consulting and has been helping companies to succeed for many years. He is an expert in developing business plans, marketing plans, funding plans, strategic plans, turnaround plans, web marketing strategies, and project specific business plans. Frank is also a business coach, business turnaround consultant, and a web development, web marketing and web seo consultant. Frank is author of the business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 130 published articles on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog.