Advertise to advance

“For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things show yourself to the world.” This statement was found in the greatest business manual in history, The Bible.

To advertise simply means to make a public announcement of your product or service. In other words, to publicly promote your product in order to increase your sales.

Doing business without advertising it is like presenting a drama in the dark. Whatever is done in the secret might never be known in the open. As long as your business is not being advertised, it will remain a secret to the world; hence it will be limited in patronage.

The most patronised products today are not necessarily the best products, but the most known products. Companies in the class of Coca-Cola sell more than other companies, because they spend more money on advertisement than others. Your chance to succeed is more in the open than in the secret.

Until you let the world know what you are selling, they won’t buy. This is because the world only buys what they know and see. We are in the most competitive age in the history of business and only those who make the greatest noise, will make the greatest news.

Today’s market place is very competitive, and so, you really need to pump up the volume of your adverts, in order to catch your audience’s attention. The product you under-advertise will eventually be under-sold. If I may ask, how many quality products are being under-sold today?

You will agree with me that Jesus Christ (one of the greatest entrepreneurs in history) brought a Divine Product to the world about 2000 years ago and first of all sold it to 12 people. Due to consistent advertising of this Sacred Product, several millions of people have become His “customers.” One of the secrets of the widespread sale of His product is advertisement.

“And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised (or announced) that he was in the house. And straight away many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them…” (Mark 2: 1, 2). (Emphasis mine)

Within three and half years, what He started with twelve people had gathered or “caught” several thousands of people’s attention because He did not stop making noise (advertisement). Your business has a great future, but without quality and consistent advertisement, it might pack up unknown.

Your Style Of Advertisement

A sale is about transfer of interest and this can be enhanced by quality advertisement, which is supposed to get people’s attention and get them interested in your product. If this is not achieved, then the effort is not worth it.

Many business people don’t take time to assess the impact of their style of advertisement on their sales. So, when there is a need to improve or change their style of advertisement for maximum impact, they might not see the need.

At this point, I need to bring to your remembrance, a classic formula used by advertisers, the formula is AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention: The first thing every quality advertisement must grab is the audience’s attention and this can be achieved with a catchy headline, or colourful approach.

Interest: When you get people’s attention, you need to provoke their interest in your products and services.

Desire: Being interested in your product is quite different from desiring it. Quality advertisement must be capable of converting the audience’s interest into a strong desire for what you are offering.

Action: The process is not considered successful, until the audience takes action. They must be told how to take action.

If your style of advertisement is not getting maximum result, change it. To stick to an unproductive style is like flogging a dead horse to run.

This is what many business people are doing. You can change your style, but don’t ever stop advertising your products and services, even when the impact is not felt.

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….to be continued.