When Reza out of our California office suggested I watch the movie Art & Copy I was intrigued but not too sure what to expect.

The film, through fantastic interviews, superb narration and clever editing, shows you the importance of creativity in advertising and the love advertising agencies give their work.

The filmmakers explain first hand the pitfalls most business owners don’t see when running a campaign and how good creative is set up to avoid these problems by connecting to the target audience more effectively.

The film, although not a perfect snapshot of this mammoth industry, is a very compelling piece of art in itself. I can see why this was the 2009 Official Selection at Sundance.

The agencies interviewed are those whose clients can afford large campaigns, something that is not always the case with Agencies who don’t work with giants like Nike and Apple. However it does show you how if you invest in good creative and placement you will recoup your expenses and then some.

Tommy Hilfiger tells of how so very embarrassed he was when his ad agency used a campaign comparing him (a nobody at the time) to the likes of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Even so, he was able to go through with the pricey half page ads and expensive 7th Ave billboard in New York. And when he did, he soon became one of the most talked about designers in the U.S. sending his sales skyrocketing beyond his wildest dreams.

Despite the fact that the creators of the “GOT MILK?” campaign or the creators of the dancing silhouette iPod commercials talk about how they are pitting themselves against the giants in New York, they still aren’t necessarily feather weights either. In fact their facilities reminded me of something out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, or maybe MTV Cribs.

Wieden + Kennedy in particular houses a basketball court, and a nice little practice space for bands, among other things! All of these luxuries are to help with the creative process because they know that good creative sells products.

This film lets you see the process agencies undertake to get a campaign. Everything from ideas to approved billboards and TV ads.
Relive the impact of the first Macintosh TV commercial. Re-experience the social movement created out of the JUST DO IT campaign, and learn the startling truth about where that line came from.

The importance of clever, responsible and creative advertising campaign’s that inspire rather than numb audiences comes to the forefront of the themes presented, and while it seems one-sided, the film does not flop.

To learn more about getting creative with your advertising watch this movie, and if you decide you need more help getting good creative remember that you can call on us any time.

Click on the image of the silly ad to see the full blog post at Ask a Copywriter blog!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUS246Dj5jk

Getting your blog and networking sites to work together.

Implementing programs to enhance your web marketing

Having a blog in business these days is essential; so is using networking websites. If you haven’t become a part of this new social media landscape you are about to miss the express bus to Successvile.

Why Social networking sites are important to your business

Setting up a blog, which can easily be done on sites like Wordpress, writing quality information about your company and possibly some of your products is a great way to get customers. It’s also the best way to optimize your website through use of SEO, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

However if your blog is not set up with your networking sites properly you may be wasting your time altogether because you aren’t making it readily available to your customers and target markets.

Remember the article about Lazy Technology? If not, this may be a good time to read it!

How to connect your blog to your network.

At Assurance Advertising we are pros at this. To see an example of how our network is set up check out our Twitter page , our Facebook fan page, and our Myspace page.

Basically instead of just posting a series of blog posts, we maximize links and keywords on multiple sites which all ultimately lead to the blog…which itself has direct links to the main website. Keep in mind, easy connectivity is a key in directing customers where you want them to go.

Once a blog is posted, we post the link on Facebook, where all of our fans see it automatically. Our Facebook fan-page is set up to automatically take all of our posts and directly post them to twitter, no additional log in needed.

From the blog-post itself anyone in the world can repost their favorite topic onto all sorts of social media sites with the click of a button (check out the nice WORDPRESS plugin that shows up as “SHARE THE WEALTH links” below each of our posts).

We use this to repost the blog again to Linkedin, Twitter and Myspace for those who might have missed it the first time.

We can also repost all of our blog entries over and over again at different times and days so that the blogs can be seen by most of our contacts whenever it is they happen to be signing in.

This automates the blog posts so that all we have to focus on is talking with our followers about their likes, dislikes and daily lives.

Your social media accounts should always feel personal and never robotic. Remember people like doing business with humans as opposed to heartless machines.

Most companies don’t have the time or resources to manage the daunting task of keeping up with social networking. This is why Assurance Advertising offers services that handle all social media needs at a low monthly cost.

Usually this amount can prove to be less expensive than paying an employee to do this work, not to mention we employ specialists trained to write blogs that will get attention.

To find out how much it will cost to set up your company please contact us. Make sure to ask about our social media flat rate program and blog services.

Happy marketing!

Got more insight on this topic that can benefit our esteemed customers and blog fans? Make sure and leave us a comment!

The Doritos spots were inventive, but not really impressive (I’m wondering if those were really the best of the submitted ads for their annual super bowl video contest).

Some of our own favorites were most definitely the E-trade babies, the Simpsons Coke ad, and The Griswold’s cameo in the Home Away spot.

The winner for us hands down though, was the Google ad. It cost practically nothing and had a storyline that was cute and could connect with both males and females (a LARGE majority of the ads this year had a machoman tint to them, which only works at alienating the multitudes of ladies that love watching the game).

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE AD SPOT?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqOGhWw3Q8

Five Reasons Why Businesses Fail – CLICK HERE AND CHOOSE “SAVE AS” TO GET THIS FREE EBOOK!

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You can also watch the presentation at a lower quality without having to download anything here:

Companies want to create good advertising but they tend to forget it is necessary to have something good to advertise to get peoples attention. I’ve seen many ads that are just the name or logo of some company and a slogan. Graphic design and copy alone can’t move products or sell services. Give your customer an excuse to buy from you with a unique promotion.

Recently a lot of advertisers have become more innovative as the slumping economy has created a need to be more aggressive with their promotions and they have come up with some great ideas.

If you buy a Hyundai Sonata you can get $1000 to trade in your car, some sort of $2000 dollar rebate and, last but not least, gas at the price of $1.49 for a whole year. Now if you haven’t ever worked for a car dealership, know this: these offers are no different than the normal rebates which have always been available (as far as out of pocket expense for the car company). It has just now been set up in a way that gets you thinking differently and attracts you to it because of your current needs. Everyone wants to get cheaper gas especially if you have a family and need to get a roomy car like a Sonata.

Chili’s new “Two for Twenty” deal is another great advertising idea. It’s a meal for two people for only 20 bucks. You could have always had two meals for twenty bucks at Chili’s if you try hard enough or walk in with a Sunday paper coupon, but Chili’s has taken the work out and given themselves a great excuse to run an ad campaign.

Make sure your company is doing this type of advertising. Just putting your name in the paper with a great ad concept will not entice your buyers to…well; buy anything from you right now.

One notable way to get ideas is through research. Look back at your old records to see which promotions worked. This gives you a starting point to be creative. A lot of times you can combine two old ideas to come up with one amazing promotion. So go ahead take some time and get creative.

Another way to come up with new innovative promotions is to test them. If you don’t have big money tied up in your business for rigorously testing your promotions, go ahead and talk to some of your clients. Ask them what types of promotions they would love to see offered, and out of those which promotions would be too hard to pass up.

Give your clients a reason to pick up the phone and call or to come in and buy. Create the need with a strong call to action!
Your customers will act.

]]> http://www.smallbusinessmarketingandadvertisinghelp.com/blog/2009/09/19/great-advertising-ideas-to-make-your-own-ads-better/feed/ 2 http://www.smallbusinessmarketingandadvertisinghelp.com/blog/2009/06/08/should-i-advertise-in-a-recession-a-time-to-gain-market-share-part-one/ http://www.smallbusinessmarketingandadvertisinghelp.com/blog/2009/06/08/should-i-advertise-in-a-recession-a-time-to-gain-market-share-part-one/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:03:16 +0000 admin http://assuranceadvertising.wordpress.com/?p=45 Should I Advertise in a Recession?

(A time to gain market share!)

*PART ONE*

Did you know that you could set your business up to gain market share when the economy is bad?

All you have to do is focus your marketing efforts to gain the clients your competitors are no longer fighting for. The key here is to get really good at understanding your competitors and your target markets.

First, let’s talk about understanding your competitors. You need to know their names, locations, websites (not just how to get to it but actually what it looks like and what sort of content is on it). Find out what their current sales promotions are so you can make sure you are playing in the same ball park. But most importantly, how are they (or aren’t they) reaching their target audience.

Second, look at your own target market. Think of this more like looking at one or two specific people that would be the perfect customer (or the new type of customer you’re trying to gain). What makes them view one company as a superior choice to another? What types of media do they have exposure to? For example, if they regularly ride the bus to work or drive certain freeways the understanding of these facts can let you know how to take advantage of all sorts of media that will get your message to a very specific group of people that aren’t being reached currently. Is there a promotion that those customers will feel the benefits of more than another? What level of service do they expect? How do they actually get your product or service? Study these things, and write them down. Analyze the information and then your campaigns will be more effective in making you more money, even in a so-called recession!

Digest that information and start employing some of those practices into your daily routine and tune in next time to read about more you can do to gain that competitive edge!

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