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Article:
Advertising Your Holistic Business by: Jenifer Shapiro The most basic answer is the same answer as to the question, how does advertising work? Advertising works through repetition, and Holistic Hometown offers you that repetition. What all successful companies know is that advertising it a process. It's been stated in marketing files for over 50 years that potential clients, unless they are in need of your services when they initially see your ad, take 5-7 repetitions to recall who you are. What does that mean? Well, if you are only advertising in one source, it could mean you are wasting your time and money. What's the best way to begin an advertising campaign when the goal is visibility? Find sources that attract your target market AND that you can afford over the longer term (1-3 years) for ongoing products/services and find targets with high repetition for shorter term (1+ months) for events and shorter-term needs. For example, if I am marketing an event and have 2 months to market it, I will use the internet, e-mail marketing, and an ad in a monthly magazine to get the word out quickly. I may even take out two ads if it is a large event. If I am, instead, marketing a product or service which will take ongoing clients, I'll use the same vehicles, smaller ads, and have them in the magazine ongoing for a year or more. People often ask me if that isn't expensive. I tell them there are two reasons many businesses fail: they don't spend enough on advertising, and they done spend their advertising dollars in the most effective ways. Think about it, if you spend a lot on advertising AND you receive a lot of customers from it, the advertising ends up not being very expensive after all. In the same way, a cheap advertising option is actually expensive if you don't get more customers from it. One thing is for sure, I ALWAYS use the internet for advertising because of it's high repetition and low cost (when done right). When someone comes to my site once, they almost always come back to check something again. Right there, there were 2 repetitions. With Holistic Hometown, there is even more opportunity for repetitions because WE MARKET YOU through the web, direct mail, e-mail marketing, telemarketing, and more so that you get the most repetitions for the least amount of money. A great additional opportunity with Holistic Hometown and internet marketing is that you can change your information anytime at no extra cost. Therefore, if you decide to add an additional service, you just update your listing or ad. It's a good thing to highlight new offerings for a few months for highest visibility. One thing I'll ad here is that it is very important that your ads are QUALITY ads. Remember that people see your ads before they meet you. That means often their opinion of you is created from the ad. A less than attractive or unprofessional ad is not the first lead you want with a prospective client. Take your time, get the resources to do it right the first time, and you will reap the benefits of your time, money and energy. Blessings on your entrepreneurial endeavor! Check back in our Member Articles Area under Holistic Business Articles for more on how to create and maintain a successful holistic business! About The Author Holistic Hometown, www.HolisticHometown.com, is a new holistic online community developed to offer a unique connection point for holistic practitioners and the holistic community. For more information, contact info@HolisticHometown.com. This article was written by Jenifer Shapiro, MBA, CHt, CNLP, CYT, and founder of The Empowerment Centre (js@theempowermentcentre.com) and Holistic Hometown. Jenifer has been assisting businesses and individuals in successfully manifesting their visions for over a decade. This article was posted on April '11
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