Meet Morris Hagerman,
Oakland Press Account Executive

The message you present in your advertising is the link between your business and your customers.  What you say and how you say it can be confusing.  But, the way to approach it is to keep to a simple message, create a vision of your prospective customer in your mind and consider the questions your current customers ask.

The first goal is to not tell them everything about your business.  You will use up valuable space in your ads if you do.  More importantly, you will lose the reader if you don’t get their attention immediately. The more information they have to sift through to find what they need to know, the longer it will take, and that will diminish your chance of getting their business.  So, focus on just one simple issue.

Next, think about the people that come to your store or contact you on the phone.  These are your current customers and there are more of them out there that you can be doing business with.  Keep them in mind because this will help you focus on a group of people that you can influence. 

What questions your current customers ask and what they want to know right up front is a clue to the advertising message you want to use. Cost certainly is always an issue, especially in tough economic times, but that isn’t the only thing they want to know. They need to make comparisons between the products and services you offer and that of your competition.  Are their questions about brand names, style, durability, installation or delivery options?  Take the number one question they have and make that the primary statement of the advertising.

If you have co-op available from some of your vendors, they may have requirements that you say things in a certain way.  This can be a very beneficial.  National brands spend a lot of money positioning their products in the marketplace and in building top of mind awareness (TOMA). Your message should be that you are the local source for the brand in the market. 

A picture, as the expression goes, is worth a thousand words.  Customers will more quickly recognize an illustration or picture than a few words of your message.  So use images to focus the attention and have the words in the advertising expand that message. An example may be a picture of a tire, then next to it the brand name and finally, something like, “Installed while you wait.”

In summary, everything you need to know to develop an effective marketing message is all around you.  Just use a simple message, keep your current customer in mind and know what they are asking about.  By following these steps you can be certain your message is right.