Any better idea instead of spending 300,000 a year for billboard advertisement?

[Begonia A]

My company spends 300,000 a year for billboard advertisement. Its already a branded product. I dont think there is any new customers will start buying our product just by seeing the billboard advertisement. Is there anyone got a better idea how to spend 300,000 that can induce new customers for our company?

[Have Your Say]

One good effect of billboard ads for an already branded product is that it helps the "top of mind" awareness. It helps maintain the brand, not just seek new customers.

TV is still very effective with proper placement, and you could do a lot with 300k there. Pick your target audience, and find their favorite crappy TV habits, appeal to their level, and call the cable advertising people.

[punkmonkey_hopsy]

Induce? That's when a woman is forced into labor, right?

[brand_guru2002]

HI,
Looks like you have a decent budget to spend. Yes bill boards do help in brand recall, but you could try this which is cost effective at the same time could fetch you more than the desired millage.However your marketing/communication team has to work on this , perhaps you could even hire some trainees,.

I am assuming that you brand is a household product. Well. Most of the people have cars in your part of the world. Make a TIN sheet size say 12 inches by 14 inches. print the message have hooks.
Write there DO NOT PARK YOUR CAR IN FRONT OF THIS GATE
which will be followed by the company logo/slogan and the brand name.

After seeking permission from the home owners you can display this in their gate!!!!
Look at the benefits
A these house hold members become familiar with your product/brand
Visitors who come to them
People who read this message.
Others like the Pizza delivery boys, courier delivery./and the post man....
For allowing you to hang this board if the house owner permits try to give them a sample free! or a nice gift or a discount coupon/Voucher
All the best!
Regards
Ravi Shivram
http://slogansmith.blogspot.com

[The Creator]

Important things to remember (according to me):
1. Customers must not be disturbed while watching TV
2. Nor they want you calling/mailing them again and again
3. They won't remember your ad when they need your product
4. Give customers something they to remember
5. Give customers something to reach you in need
6. They will remember their friend talking about your product
7. Give your users something to talk about, product innovation or new features

Spend some money on reasearching your customers/prospects. And target your advertisement by prospect segment.
More than selling focus should be on helping customers with your product.

Do you have an offer/product ... which if released takes you to top pages in all newspapers/search engines/tv news?
If yes, do that. Because that will get you an unpaid publicity.

No advertisement is better than someone talking in his/her office to peers about your brand & product.

If you have information on target customers:
E-mail Campaigns - Targeted to specific customers
Print Campaigns - Mail target customers

More open ... without any information:
Online
Youtube like websites - Upload your advertisements!
Adapt opensocial .. can you make something interesting for orkut or facebook using your product?
Twitter: Are you on tweeting on twitter? Ask questions. Get involved
Blog: Do you have a blog? Write about your business expertise; let people find you and ask for your expertise

Offline:
Write in business magazines more used around you business area; Get your company noticed


There are many more ways... and many more things which you can do. But all those depend on your business and product needs.

Hope this helps!

[hunjie]

its depends if you are advertising the product, the brand ,or the company.
Also how well the brand is accepted by the customer. If the company is known and trusted and the product is sort of unique to you or even just looks that way then you could get alot of mailshots out of that 300k. The mail list has to be good but most businesses already have a good one in their old sales records. I would build a list of a few thousand and do a triple mailing over a period of three months . use an access database to monitor the results ---thats critical, and tweak the letters and inserts as you go according to feed back. But mailshots are about percentages aim at a couple of % responses , mailling can work but they got a bad rep because most companies just dont understand how to get the best out of them.. I hope this helps , let me know if i can help anymore ( assuming this has actually been a help)

[Andrew]

INTERNET MARKETING. Use the money to target new customers on the web. If you're not taking advantage of Internet marketing you will fall way behind your competition

In terms of what types of Internet Marketing services, the following should be great for your business

1. Social Media / Web 2.0 - Social media provides the opportunity to directly reach your specific target market through a variety of different methods. Look for forums pertinent to your industry and establish a presence on these websites. If you sell organic products, go to organic and green forums, if you sell car parts, go to car/auto forums, etc.. Yahoo Answers is also a great Web 2.0 tool that you can use. Find relevant questions pertaining to your products and answer them using your website as a source.

Another factor of social media is building up brand awareness and enhancing your reputation. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN are all great social networking websites that allow you to communicate with your target market and keep them "in the loop" about new product offeres and information relating to your company. What else sets this strategy apart from billboard advertisement is that you can provide a human element through social networking...can't do that really with billboard advertising. There are literally thousands of effective ways to promote your brand/products through social media, but these provide some great starting points.


2. Paid Search - Google Adwords is my favorite, but Yahoo also some great paid search packages. Bid on target keywords relating to your website and target individuals directly through search terms. The cool thing about paid search is that you only "Pay Per Click" so you're not being charged for just having a presence on Google.


3. SEO - Optimize your website for search engine rankings. There is a lot of different variables that go into play here, but if you rank well for high quality relevant keywords (especially on Google), it will be huge for your business. In order to establish what keywords to target, you should use a keyword research tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) to see the volume for search terms relevant to your website. Once you establish your holy grail keywords, you need to optimize your website through content creation, inputting proper source code date (H tags, title tags), generate high quality external links to your website, and implementing a variety of other methods.


This is a mouth full, but I can honestly write 40 fold more than I did here (but wouldn't want to waste your time with that though ). Basically you should invest your money into reaching your target market on the web. They are out there, you just need to find them.

That being said, I work for a highly reputable Internet Marketing agency, called Prime Visibility, that has been growing rapidly (we were featured on Inc 5000 two years in a row as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States). If you're interested, you can contact us through http://www.primevisibility.com or if you have other questions, I'd be happy to help you if you e-mail me at primevisibility@ymail.com.


I hope this advice was helpful and best of luck to you and your business.

[Doran P]

Wow...someone in the marketing department needs to be fired.

Billboard advertising is really ineffective.

Who sees the billboard? ..only the specific people that cross its path....and likely it is just "awareness" advertising which is also not effective in generating new leads.

"Response" oriented advertising is far more effective. "Build it and they will come" ...sure...but INVITE them, and they will come quicker and more often.

If you spent that much per year on Direct Mail you would have several hundred times the response.

The mailbox is the first place people go when they get home.
and 3 out of 4 sort through it before doing anything else.

....So you have a highly captive audience....and you are not limited to just the people driving in front of the billboard, you are limited to....everyone in the nation.

99% of post cards get read, and 73% of envelopes get opened.

...Pizza lovers love getting deals on pizza in the mail...do you understand what that means? If you put together a professional looking piece, with a great offer, and send it to your most likely customer...than your going to get an exceptional response.

any schmuck can throw together a direct mail piece and still get 2%...but even so....with a budget like $300,000 per year? ..thats gonna be about 100,000 people reached...thats 2000 new customers, who are going to spend...how much per year with you? ...yeah..thats a load of money. ( if they spent $40 to $45 per month...thats a million dollars in revenue.

A good direct mail piece will get you well above that.

[vicseo]

What about effective "SEO" on your website since most shopper use the internet to find goods and services; and it's cost effective?

Good luck!