Steemit Engagement Challenge | S14W4 | Advertisement!

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Marketing is a must! So is advertising!

Now, I am sure you are wondering why I split marketing and advertising, as for many, they are the same thing. Well, they are not.

When you are a business owner, the first thing you need to do is figure out what your customers or clients want. In other words, what are their needs, or what do they require?

Advertising, on the other hand, is promoting your business or products through paid media. Your advertisements form part of your marketing strategy.

The advantages of advertising for the growth of a business

There are plenty of forms of advertising, for example, on radio, television, billboards, flyers, blogs, emails, and magazines, and don’t forget the telephone calls that we so often get that make us wonder where they get our telephone numbers from.

All businesses should advertise, whether they sell a product or offer a service. It is the one tool that you cannot neglect, or you will stay behind. Well, that is if you want to grow your business.

The advantages of advertising are huge!

Here are my top 10 advantages:

1. Advertising will help your business be profitable, as it will stand out from your competitors.
2. Advertising creates awareness of your business and offerings.
3. Advertising speeds up the process of sales in your business.
4. Advertising takes your product or service to the client without them leaving their homes.
5. Advertising in the right manner can make your brand be remembered for a very long time.
6. Advertisements can be used to broaden your target market.
7. Advertisements help you educate your clients and customers.
8. Advertising costs can be low but with a high return.
9. Advertising can be used when you want to expand your business.
10. Advertising helps you build the image of your business, what it stands for, and its goodwill.

It is only through advertising that you will get to experience the true value it can add to your business.

The most effective ways to advertise a business in South Africa that will grab the attention of the audience

Now, this is very interesting. Years ago, it was those full-page advertisements in a glossy magazine, but not anymore. Time is changing, and so is advertising.

I classify advertising that you will find in my beloved country and what works into two main types of advertising: grassroots advertising and interactive advertising.

Grassroots advertising:

There are no two ways about it that grassroots advertising is the advertising that most businesses are mad about. It’s that "word of mouth"" advertising that doesn’t cost you a lot of money. "Have you heard?" "Did you see?”

Because grassroots advertising spreads quickly, it's also known as viral advertising.

Let me give you an example.

Many years ago, I attended a business seminar in Johannesburg. One of the speakers came on stage, and the first thing he did was tell the audience about a bad experience he had at a well-known chicken takeout outlet.

Now, here was one person telling 3,000 people about the bad experience he had. If 10% of the audience tells a friend, 10% of them tell a friend, and so on, can you imagine how many people got to know about the bad experience he had? This is the power of grassroots advertising.

Okay, you might say that this is not good advertising but bad publicity. Well, I tell you that any grassroots advertising is good no matter if it is good or bad. This company's name was on the lips of thousands if not millions. After all, here I am and for years I have been telling the story and I am still buying from them.

Now on to interactive advertising.

Interactive advertising (social media)

Advertising that engages users is referred to as interactive. These are the advertisements that often take place on websites and social media platforms.

Social media is magic for business and can be used for various types of advertising, including surveys, competitions, and new product launches.
What I like about interactive advertising is that it is relatively cheap compared to advertising on television or in magazines.

Time for another example, and this time close to home.

We were going to launch a new property website in South Africa called Tivvit.

As we were competing with the giants of the industry, we had to make sure that it was good, and we had only one shot. We decided to focus on interactive advertising and something unique. In other words, it has never been seen before.

First of all, we looked at what was “hot” in the news. Now, there is a “thing” in South Africa, the Tokoloshe. Nobody knows if it is a human, animal, spirit, or anything else. All that we do know is that South Africans are scared of this mischievous Tokoloshe. Often, you get to read or hear about people who had an experience with the Tokoloshe.

It was time for the Tokoloshe to make an appearance, and we are going to claim it in our advertisements.

We made an unbranded video that looked like a recording of a television news bulletin of someone who was interviewed by a reporter and who claimed that he saw the Tokoloshe. We then paid bloggers and influencers to post about this video.

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