With the economy slowing down and many businesses taking a look at their expenses to find places to cut back a great place to look to spend a little more would be your website. Why? Cost mostly, but there are several reasons why your website should be an extension of your print advertising.
The problem with traditional print advertising is that you are limited by space, typically so many inches by so many inches and you need to fit your information as effectively in that space as possible. If you need more space, it costs more money. While traditional print and media advertising is essential to any business for exposure, it can be most effective when coupled with a website to drive people someplace for more details, or to actually order your product or service.
By using your website to expand the information in your print advertising you can provide more details, demonstrate case studies or examples of your work or provide more research for those that like to do their due diligence before buying. Since you are typically not limited by space on the web, you essentially unlimited room to get your message across.
Another great way to use print advertising to enhance your website is by using special codes or “eCoupons” that can be used on your website for getting incentives or discounts and tracked back to a particular publication or event. This will allow you to see how effective your print advertising is doing to understand how well the publication or your messaging is working for you.
Some companies have slimmed down their print advertising from large ads to slightly smaller ads to save some costs and focusing efforts on their website to drive their customers there frequently as a regular destination point, leading to much larger marketing savings down the road.
Take an assessment of you own advertising and your website. Are you spending a fortune in print advertising and not listing your website anywhere? Are you spending a fortune on advertising and when clients get to your website they are lost or can not get the information they need? Talk to your web provider and see what tips they might have for leveraging your website better and more economically for your business. And if you don’t have a website at all, at least see about getting your business listed on other websites like the City’s, MySantaClarita.com, the Chamber website, etc. for at least some online exposure.
Rob Gardner, founder of Santa Clarita Web Services, has more than 15 years experience working with Web and IT technologies, including information security, regulatory compliance, and data loss prevention for Fortune 500 companies across the country.
For more information or if you’re a business owner/manager and have questions or need assistance with your website or IT services, please call Rob Gardner at 661-799-9100 or email support@eSCV.com