How Advertising Works
When you advertise, you're essentially paying to promote your business, whether you're printing and distributing flyers or appearing in a television commercial. This is not the same thing as publicity (discussed in Chapter 18), which you don't pay for. If you purchase a quarter-page ad in your local newspaper, for example, that's advertising. If the local paper interviews you about the opening of your business and then runs a story about you (for which you don't pay), that's publicity. There's room for both in your marketing plan.
There are two main types of paid advertising: ads, which you design yourself; and advertorials, which often resemble regular news stories, but which you've paid for. Ads tend to be more attention-getting, but advertorials can look more credible or authoritative than ads. Consider which matches your image best.
Cost, of course, is the disadvantage to advertising. In major metropolitan areas, the leading newspapers, radio stations, and televisions stations are often out of reach for home-based businesses. The danger is that unless you've carefully considered your market and your message, you can spend a significant amount of operating funds on advertising that doesn't generate the response you want. The advantage of advertising, however, is that you have control over the content, timing, and often the placement of your ads. This is particularly important if you're planning a grand opening sale or some other time-sensitive event.
Ads
Ads are the traditional version of advertising: Whether they're running in print, radio, or television media, ads look or sound distinctly different from the news stories, features, or programs that they interrupt. Ads are often graphic or pictorial in nature and use logos, drawings, and fancy text effects to draw attention to their content.
Advertorials
Advertorials, on the other hand, are designed to resemble the other stories or programs in whatever media they're appearing in. In fact, their name comes from the combination of “advertising” and “editorial” (editorial refers to the nonadvertising content in the publication or program). In a newspaper,
for example, advertorials will look much like another news story with columns of text and possibly a photo, although they're often labeled with phrases such as “special advertising feature.” The difference is that you've paid for them just like you would for regular ads.
