Business of any kind depends a lot on advertising, since you need to get the word across to potential customers. Choosing the right advertising media is very important if you wish to see our clientele grow, and yet do not want to end up wasting many resources on worthless advertising.

How to Choose an Advertising Media:

Here are some things to keep in mind when selecting an advertising media.

1) What are the features of your products that you want to emphasize?

2) Are you building a brand for your company or just want to sell a product?

3) How much are you ready to spend on advertising?

4) What is the profile of the targeted customers?

5) How frequently will your products be bought?

6) At what time do you want to display the ads? People have different moods at different times, so advertisements have differing psychological impacts based on the time of display of ads.

Types of Advertisements:

There are different kinds of advertisements depending on customer profile, brand, product etc.

1) Category Specific Advertisements

These ads are “one size fits all” kinds, where all you have to do is fill your product name in a preset template. A typical category specific advertisement can be used for any number of products in similar categories.

2) Franchise Advertisements

These ads are useful when it comes to building a brand. The advertisement builds up hype around a brand, and thus costs more than a category specific ad.

3) Store Specific Advertisements

Store specific ads are highly region specific; what works for one retail store in one location may not work for another in the same or different location.

4) Product Specific Advertisement

The product specific ads are about the product on sale. It has nothing to do with brands, company, or any other subject related to the seller. These advertisements are the best option for small businesses and franchisees. However, franchisees should take care that these advertisements do not just highlight the manufacturer’s business, but also the products you retail on behalf of the manufacturers.

What Your Advertising Firm Never Told You:
When selecting an advertising media, you should not think that simply putting in a lot of money would do the trick. Here are some surprising findings by the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

1) The effectiveness of the advertisement has nothing to do with what you spend on them.

2) Content of the advertisement is more important than how much money you spend on it.

3) Repeating advertisements is a very effective way of getting your message across.

Best Advertising Media:
Some of the most widely used advertising media are:

1) Billboards

2) Television

3) Radio

4) Newspapers

5) Direct Mailing to potential customers

The above guidelines will help you generate more revenue through higher sales that result from effective advertising. Good advertising is more about proper content, and it should be delivered keeping the profile of the customers in mind. You can hire a small business advisor to help you with choosing the best advertising media for your small business if you want to know more about the kind of advertising vehicle that suits your business.

How many freelance writing gigs have you replied to on Craigslist? How many were hustlers looking for free samples? Unfortunately, people without ethics prey on others on Craigslist. This is especially true in the jobs section of Craigslist. Hustlers know that in this economy, people are desperate to find jobs and earn money. When looking for freelance writing gigs, you can sometimes tell the bad ads right away. Sometimes though the bogus ads are not always identifiable. While there’s no absolute way to weed out every bogus ad, there are some signs you should look for when answering freelance writing gigs on Craigslist and avoid many of the hustlers.

Does the Craigslist ad clearly define the type of writing or the scope of the freelance writing gig?

Ads that are basic one liners saying, “I need a writer”, are most likely hustlers looking for free samples or wanting to sell you something. There are some though that are legitimate offers. College students and some people looking for help with a resume or business proposal will place vague ads because they don’t know any better. Trust your gut instinct.

Does the ad mention the company or entity offering the freelance writing gig?

Most valid freelance writing work offers indicate who is asking for writers. If they provide a website, do some research on the company. Sometimes the ad is from an Internet marketer looking for articles and there is no company name. However, the ad from an individual should at least define the scope of the project as mentioned above.

Does the ad indicate a pay rate for the freelance writing gig?

Valid ads will almost always indicate some sort of compensation rate. Sometimes it will be a fixed figure or at least ask you to give them a rate quote. Approach ads with caution that only mention “compensation” or do not indicate anything about pay.

Does the ad ask for social media information?

Ads asking for your social media handle should set off some red flags. While social media does play a huge role in marketing, asking for your social media handles is not something I would consider as necessary when replying to freelance work. The next thing you know, a scam marketer gets hold of your “friends” list and begins spamming them with offers.

Does the ad have major grammatical errors?

Someone posting a freelance writing job has some knowledge of writing and the English language. Avoid ads written in broken English, poor punctuation, all or no capitalization or any other major grammatical errors.

Does the ad list a free email address?

While many valid ads will use the private email given by Craigslist at the top, some hustlers will list an email in the body of the ad to make an attempt at appearing legitimate. Ads with Hotmail or Gmail email addresses should be looked at with a cautious eye. Legitimate companies and individuals will have emails that look professional.

Some valid freelance writing gigs advertised in Craigslist might have one or two of the red flags. However, most bogus will possess several of the above characteristics. The hustlers are getting better at disguising themselves as legitimate offers. Sometimes what you think is a bogus ad isn’t, and sometimes what looks like a legitimate offer turns out to be something else. Above all trust your instincts.

Facebook PPC Advertising is overlooked by many pay per click marketers. Facebook’s Pay Per Click is still really an affordable way to do PPC and can be an important part of your PPC marketing.

Facebook Advertising is less expansive than Google and very targeted. You can pick the location to target by country, state, and city if you wish. As far as picking Demographics, you can pick the age and gender of your targeted market.

The part I like the best is you can target people by their likes and interests. If you want to market to people who are only interested in Network Marketing, you just put in network marketing in likes and interests. The only people who will see your Facebook PPC Ad is people who meet your criteria and are interested in network marketing.

Your targeted market can be refined even further if you like. Facebook Pay Per Click Advertising can be an important part of your marketing strategy. Because it is a fairly new platform costs are low and Facebook PPC Advertising gives you a good return on investment.

If you are just starting out doing PPC whether it is on Facebook or some where else you need to educate yourself about marketing.

I have watched plenty of people fall on their faces, regardless of their products or companies, because they simply do not KNOW how to market, or build their businesses FIRST. Your job is to EDUCATE yourself first and foremost, to develop yourself, and to ALWAYS be learning and growing.