• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that you

I’ve been in business for several months and things are moving in the right direction; however, I want more business. I’ve thought about advertising but it seems so expensive. Do you have any advice on where to advertise and how much to spend?

Many design professionals equate advertising with marketing. This is not, in fact, the case. While advertising may be a component of an effective marketing strategy, the terms “advertising” and “marketing” are NOT synonymous.

Advertising is, in most cases, expensive and – without repeated ad appearances – fails to provide the new business you hoped for. As a result, I highly recommend focusing your efforts on other marketing strategies that are more effective, such as speaking and writing.

But, to the extent your budget is large enough to support an advertising campaign (as opposed to haphazard occasional placement of “an ad here and another ad there” – otherwise known as “shotgun advertising” which is NOT at all effective), I have a few things you should keep in mind:

• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that your

Many design professionals equate advertising with marketing. This is not, in fact, the case. While advertising may be a component of an effective marketing strategy, the terms “advertising” and “marketing” are NOT synonymous.

Advertising is, in most cases, expensive and – without repeated ad appearances – fails to provide the new business you hoped for. As a result, I highly recommend focusing your efforts on other marketing strategies that are more effective, such as speaking and writing.

But, to the extent your budget is large enough to support an advertising campaign (as opposed to haphazard occasional placement of “an ad here and another ad there” – otherwise known as “shotgun advertising” which is NOT at all effective), I have a few things you should keep in mind:

• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that you

Advertising is, in most cases, expensive and – without repeated ad appearances – fails to provide the new business you hoped for. As a result, I highly recommend focusing your efforts on other marketing strategies that are more effective, such as speaking and writing.

But, to the extent your budget is large enough to support an advertising campaign (as opposed to haphazard occasional placement of “an ad here and another ad there” – otherwise known as “shotgun advertising” which is NOT at all effective), I have a few things you should keep in mind:

• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that you

But, to the extent your budget is large enough to support an advertising campaign (as opposed to haphazard occasional placement of “an ad here and another ad there” – otherwise known as “shotgun advertising” which is NOT at all effective), I have a few things you should keep in mind:

• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that you

• Advertising budget. The Small Business Administration suggests that 5% of your gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. As an example, if you project $50,000 in gross revenues, the SBA recommends that your annual advertising budget be $2,500 (or just over $200/month). While you can use this as a “rule of thumb,” don’t fret if your available funds do not support this kind of expenditure. Instead of investing hundreds of DOLLARS per month in traditional advertising, spend your TIME & EFFORTS seeking to “get in front of” your target market as much as possible (by, for example, speaking, writing or networking).

• Before placing an ad, do your homework. Contact the publication to ascertain demographics related to their subscribers and readers. Indeed, you need to confirm that your target market reads the publication you seek to advertise in.

• There is no correlation between the amount of money spent and the resulting new business. This conclusion was reached in a recent study at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. So if the money spent does not necessarily indicate the success of an ad, what does?

• The message is the most important aspect of an ad. Often, the message is in the headline, w