Don't spend your entire marketing and advertising budget on advertising in local newspapers and magazines. Print ads only work if you're sure your target audience is reading those publications and if you consistently advertise in those publications week after week. Marketing studies have shown that the effectiveness of the print medium relies on repetition. Readers will only start noticing your company and recognizing the name after they see it more than a dozen times. This means that you'll have to spend a lot of money to become recognized among other advertisers.

The same holds true for spending with local radio stations. Rather than paying for spots, see if you can use guerrilla tools and generate some free or low-cost publicity on the radio. Radio advertisers have to buy spots at the same times over the course of many days for listeners to notice. Also, radio isn't the best medium for conveying your catering services. Hearing is the only sense you don't use to judge food, so it follows that a hearing-exclusive medium is not the most efficient way to attract clients.

By using the inventive techniques discussed earlier in the chapter, you may not have much need to advertise through traditional media. Stick with what works for you, and you will continue to attract new clients and please your existing customers.