Business Perspective: The laws of advertising

With the recent recession and economy break down, companies are finding it very hard to advertise their products and services, but then there is no option when one is in business, for it is almost a must that a company advertises. Companies often miss the fundamentals of advertising. Regardless of the size of the business an understanding of the laws of advertising can reap huge rewards. Some companies have missed reaping the fruit of their advertising because of not understanding the laws of advertising. Some of these laws are as follows; The first law of advertising is to convey one message, which should be simple and compelling in print advert, and when in electronic media the advert should not take more than 3 seconds. This is because when the message is longer, people tend to get bored with reading or listening to it, yet the company would have spent a huge amount of money in advertising but no one is bothered about it. Adding credibility to your products or services is very vital. During the advert the claims should be real and credible. This is because any claim made in an advertisement which will not be met by a customer will be a horrible waste of resources, because clients will expect you to deliver as per your advert, if not-all clients will run away. Also before going to advertise, everything should be tested. There is no need to run into advertising when a company has not tested the waters in their line of business. Testing one item at a time and one medium is very crucial as well. The testing can also be as simple as starting with asking your clients for a given number of weeks how they came to learn of your business-after which a company can be confident enough that word has gone out there and people are ready for them. Contact is everything in business. One has to be very careful about their adverts. Correct contacts and addresses should be given out. This seems to be the simplest things to remember, but in fact-this part is mostly forgotten by many companies. When an advert is still running and the company has moved offices, this should also be contacted immediately, so that clients know where to go. I have seen adverts with wrong addresses confuse clients; this can result into a huge loss. And let all the channels of communication be readily available, it is sad to call a company line for it to go unanswered or be told that the number is no longer in use. Be accessible and reap the fruits of advertising. Target one market at a time; it can be very confusing to advertise for different products or services at the same time. Successful business advertising speaks to one target market only, and the adverts should be tailored for each market, focus the message to the target group. When looking for an advertising consultant, a company should look at how creative they are. Adverts should always create curiosity from clients, who end up being clients. When the response to advertising for a company is poor, it is only the company that should take the blame, because advertising takes planning, testing and constant exposure to have an impact in your business.If these laws are followed, advertising can be a winning strategy for any company. kayitesius@yahoo.com