In the highly competitive world of business, advertising is a critical component for success. In fact, it could be the difference between staying open and closing down. Yet, many businesses only start to consider advertising when they are already struggling or on the brink of closure.
But when you wait until it’s almost doomsday you’re in crisis mode, desperately doing anything to keep from drowning. Instead think of advertising during good – or even peak! – times as routine maintenance. If you want to keep your business in the black, you need to invest a little bit to stay there, stay ahead of the competition, and continue to grow your business.
In this article we will discuss 5 of the most common advertising benefits, goals, and reasons businesses should prioritize advertising – especially before it’s too late.
Benefits of Advertising
- Brand Awareness
- Brand Identity
- Driving Sales & Revenue
- Business-2-Consumer Relationship Building
- Creating A Competitive Advantage
1. Brand Awareness (& Keeping Your Business Top Of Mind)
First and foremost, advertising is essential for raising brand awareness. Brand awareness is the degree to which consumers are familiar with a particular business or brand, and it can help businesses attract new customers, keep your business top of mind, and build loyalty with existing customers, charge premium prices, and more.
Brand awareness is measured by how well consumers can recall or recognize your logo, name, products, and other assets.
There are two main types of brand awareness: recall and recognition. Recall is when a consumer can remember a brand without any prompting. Recognition is when a consumer can identify a brand when they see it.
A few ways you can use different forms of advertising to generate brand awareness for your business:
- Use social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to showcase your restaurant’s menu, interior space, overall ambiance, new products and services, and teach your community something valuable related to your industry. Share photos and videos regularly and use keywords in your captions to increase visibility.
- Run Google Ads campaigns targeted towards people searching for restaurants in your area or with specific keywords related to your business.
- Utilize email marketing to send newsletters, updates, and promotions to your mailing list.
If you’re looking to get your business’s name out there, attract new customers, keep your existing ones engaged, and help stop your business from being forgotten or overshadowed by competitors – brand awareness is exactly what your business needs.
2. Brand Identity
Similar to brand awareness, advertising can help to create a strong brand identity for your business.
Brand identity is the set of unique characteristics that make your brand or business recognizable and memorable, through the use of your name, logo, colors, typography, imagery, and tagline. It can also include your brand’s values, personality, and tone of voice.
A few of the most important components of brand identity are that it helps to create a lasting impression in the minds of consumers, helps to differentiate a brand from its competitors, and that it can make a brand or business more appealing to customers.
Some ways advertising can help solidify your brand identity:
- By reaffirming your business’s consistent visual style and tone of voice that reflects its values and unique selling points – this can include things like color schemes, typography, and messaging
- By leveraging brand awareness to create a cohesive presence with all of your marketing materials + website, social media, print collateral, etc
- By partnering with local influencers or media companies who align with your brand to promote your business and create a sense of community
Building a strong brand identity takes time and effort, but it is an essential investment for any business that wants to be successful. By developing a consistent message and aesthetic through advertising and your own marketing channels, you can establish your business as a unique and recognizable brand – which can help to differentiate you from other businesses and create a sense of loyalty among your customers. If this is one of your goals, advertising is an excellent option for establishing your brand identity amongst large groups of people both quickly and consistently over time!
3. Driving Sales & Revenue
One of the most common (and self-explanatory) advertising benefits and goals is driving sales and revenue. Because when more people know about your business, you open up your potential customer pool and increase your chances of creating new customers.
Through advertising your business can generate leads, drive traffic to your website, and promote current sales and discounts.
A few easy ways your business can achieve this goal:
- Offer special deals and promotions exclusively to your social media followers or email subscribers
- Utilize targeted advertising campaigns on social media or Google Ads to promote specific products, services, or events
- Use digital or traditional media to reach larger audience pools and increase brand awareness to convert new customers
By running advertisements about your business and its products, services, events, and promotions, you can let people know (or remind them) that you exist and entice them to visit and spend money.
4. Business-2-Consumer (B2C) Relationship Building
An underrated but immensely important benefit and goal of advertising is business-2-consumer (B2C) relationship building. B2C relationship building is the process of establishing and maintaining positive relationships with consumers, and it’s important for businesses because it can help increase sales, improve customer loyalty, and gain valuable insights into the needs of consumers.
Advertising helps businesses achieve B2C relationship building in conjunction with several other aforementioned benefits. For starters, advertising can help to build trust by demonstrating that your company is credible and reliable. This can be done through things like providing clear and concise information about your business, products, or services and by using testimonials from satisfied customers.
Advertising can also be used to communicate effectively with customers by providing clear and concise information about your business, products or services or by answering common questions that customers may have. This can help to build trust and rapport with customers – which can lead to increased sales, customer loyalty, and word of mouth marketing.
Along with advertising, there are lots of ways your business can further build B2C relationships:
- Respond promptly and thoughtfully to customer reviews on platforms like Yelp or Google My Business
- Use social media to solicit feedback and engage in two-way communication with your customers
- Host events or pop-ups that allow customers to interact with your business and create memorable experiences
- Provide excellent customer service so that customers feel like they are valued and respected (thus making them more likely to do business with you again in the future)
- Personalize your customers’ experience by understanding the needs of your customers and tailoring your interactions with them accordingly through things like using their name, asking them questions about their preferences, and providing them with relevant recommendations
- Building trust over time through consistent and reliable interactions with customers
- By communicating effectively with customers, being clear and concise in those communications, and being responsive to their needs and concerns
5. Creating A Competitive Advantage
Last but certainly not least, advertising can help your business create a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is something that gives a business an edge over its competitors. It can be anything from a unique product or service to a superior marketing strategy, and businesses that have a competitive advantage are usually more likely to be successful in the long run.
These days there are often many similar options within your industry for customers to choose from – and advertising allows you to differentiate your business from competitors and highlight your unique selling points. Not only does this help your business to stand out in a crowded market, it’ll also help you attract more customers.
SOB TIP: When building advertising campaigns for Step Out Buffalo clients, we focus heavily on the business’s differentiators within the creatives. This results in engaging, effective, and exciting pieces of advertising that we know will resonate with our audience and move them to action – whether that’s visiting the business or sharing it with friends. Having differentiators is extremely important, but making sure your target audience knows about them is half the battle. That’s where advertising comes in.
Some ways you can create a competitive advantage for your business through advertising:
- Highlight unique features of your business
- Consider using digital tools like online booking or direct links to products to make the customer experience more convenient and streamlined
- Build partnerships with other local businesses or organizations to cross-promote and reach new audiences
By taking a proactive approach to advertising, you can set your business apart and create a competitive advantage that may be difficult for others to replicate.
The reality is that investing in advertising before it’s too late will likely cost a lot less in the long run. Just like with anything in life, the longer you wait to address any issue, the more challenging (and often more expensive) it is to address. Furthermore, taking preventative measures is always the best option.
TL;DR
Advertising is essential for the success of all businesses, no matter your industry. It can help to raise brand awareness, create a strong brand identity, drive sales and revenue, build relationships with customers, and create a competitive advantage.
By investing in advertising before it’s too late, businesses can position themselves for long-term success and growth. If you’re a business owner or manager, it’s important to make advertising a priority and to consider it as an investment in the future of your business – even when times are good.
PS: Step Out Buffalo offers advertising options for local businesses throughout WNY. If you’re looking for a creative and effective way to reach your target audience, let’s chat! Contact us for more information on our advertising packages.
