Advertising and marketing in all its forms burns so much cash. Unfortunately, for all its being expensive, there is even no way to trace which parts of the campaign are making the real impact to the target audience.

All these so called communications strategy seem like a hundred arrows shot at random until one hits the target; the problem is no one will ever know whose shaft hit the bull’s eye. There’s a sad side about any forms of advertisement, sad but worth pondering: no one really gives any thought whether the ads are posted or not or whether they are effective or whatsoever. No one really cares. It is understandable if the target audience is already indifferent to the various marketing communications strategy because to tell the truth, they could not already tell which ones to believe. The target audience are already saturated with hundreds if not thousands of advertisements every day; they are no longer delighted by its presence. Rather they maybe get pissed because it has become an unwelcome interruption with their routine which they consider to be far essential than anything you could ever offer.

The point here however is not to give up utterly all efforts of marketing communications nor you cease to strategize. What you need to do is to polish whatever it is you’ve got, make it simple and do it in a way that actively engages your target audience. The strength of your message will certainly matter; the other half of the whole thing is how you convey that message. So here are some of the steps that may help you say what you want to say the best way.

• Make it brief – Anything you want to say, things that could really get the attention of your audience, compress and say it in 3 seconds. Make it simple and concise without actually losing the essence of your message. So you may have to be just creative enough to do this. It may be difficult for a while but when you already start going, everything else is a piece of cake. When people already start buying into your tag lines, that’s the time you pull them over to one side and spill everything you got with all the specifics and details.
• Establish your principle – what makes a good advertiser from a bad advertiser is principle. A good advertiser knows what matters to him. Your principle will see you through when you are confronted by hard decisions.
• Be specific– ambiguity does not play well in advertising. When you say things, say it in plain language. There is nothing to gain if you let things hung by the thread. Your target audience will appreciate your clarity when you are specific at all times.

Advertising is already hard enough; make your life simple by enforcing your clarity with your target audience.

Viral Marketing may have already influenced you in so many other ways without you knowing it even exists. You do not know its entirety and how it works. Below are some tips that will make you understand the composition of viral marketing campaigns and how to apply it to your advantage.

Viral marketing works exactly in the same way biological virus does. It lets you spread the context of a product advertisement in as easy as flu is spread by sneezing. Viral marketing saturates a greater mass of people thus increasing its probability of making a sale whatsoever. It works powerfully because it spreads more likely in a form of byword chain; basically a heightened word of mouth advertisement. The principles of this kind of marketing are fundamentally the same with both small and big businesses, and that is to spread it using the people’s interconnected social profile as its medium. Below are some of the simple steps to follow when you want to start your own viral marketing campaigns.

Make your tag line brief yet catchy

Since more likely than not the products name come out even in the most ordinary conversations, it ensures advertising breakthrough. You must be creative enough to make and state your tag line/lines which contain the entire message about the product. The infamous line of Nike “Just do it” is exactly one of the best examples of viral marketing campaigns out there. It is concise yet it catches the interest of everyone, man or woman, young and old. It is so easy to remember that you keep repeating it you almost thought you are singing it.

Establish your status

Viral Marketing campaign is heavily dependent upon the name and reputation of a certain product. A poor service and sub standard products stifle the fun and speeds up the demise of your business. Viral Marketing reaches an unbelievable number of potential targets. Now if you have never been careful in taking good care of your legacy, then you will utterly bring the business down. The word spreads like wild fire whether it’s good or ill intentioned.

Offer incentives

Incentives can do a lot of things; for one, it gets people to talk about your business. Simple incentives will even do, such as books and any other useful stuff.

Give away free stuffs

People love freebies. It is one of the oldest tricks really. But no matter how old this trick is, it still works, and it works wonderfully.

Be resourceful

Viral marketing campaign is a battle of resources. The good thing is, in the advent of technology, resources are now accessible. Most of viral marketing today take form in the web, which actually gives you the idea that you can tap to the resources of any affiliate programs. You can even send emails using some of the free email directories. Lastly, take advantage of the popularity of the social media networks, and use it to your advantage.

Tapping the powerful grip of viral marketing campaign is one of the best ways to hit it big, so learn its anatomy, study how it really works.

Whatever business you’re involved in, whether it’s a brick and mortar shop or an online virtual store, we bet you that there are a thousand more businesses just like yours. In an environment where the only rule is survival of the fittest; and the atmosphere is where individuals are jockeying for position for every square inch of the market, there is always that pressing need to identify what separates you from the rest of the pack.  You’ve got to prove that you’re a cut above the rest!

Adapt a Selling Mindset

Any successful sales person will tell you that products sell because of benefits. All products have their own selling points; but without any clear-cut value-add, it’s assured that they’ll only gather dust on a shelf.  It’s the exact same thing for your business.

In adapting a selling mindset, there are three acronyms that you should always remember: F.A.B.; Features, Advantages, and Benefits.  The old sales adage goes, “features tell, benefits sell.”  Features tell your customers what you do; benefits, on the other hand, tell your customers what’s in it for them. Don’t make a mistake of sticking with your product’s features

Always make sure that it’s explicitly known how your product or service will benefit your customers. Instead of telling your customers that you “provide human resource consultancy services,” you can add benefits into the mix by telling them that your company “provides human resource consultancy services to ensure employee productivity, maximize workforce potential, and increase organizational performance.”

Create your own Identity

Given the plethora of similar products and services, you’ve got to be creative in crafting your own identity. Even the biggest and universally known brand names spend millions of dollars a year just to make sure that they are known and their presence felt.

In establishing your own identity, it is not necessary to spend lots of money doing so. You can just start out with small things. Maybe you can reconsider the packaging or the design of your product to look more of a ‘winner.’ You might also want to rethink your company logo or your website/blog to better appeal to your target market. Think of the ‘Swoosh,’ the sexy-curved bottle, or the Prancing Horse, and you’ll get what I mean.

Use Numbers to your advantage

Another way to catch attention is to provide the numbers . Treat your business like it is publicly traded. Share how many satisfied customers you’ve had or how many customers have actually been helped by your product. Remember that “Burgers Served…6B” sign? It tells the customers that business is good.

Update, update, update

If your business has a website/blog, a Twitter, or a Facebook account ; always make sure that content is updated; ideally, on a daily basis. No one wants to follow a  “dead stick.” No website or social media updates equate to customers assuming your business already went belly-up. Furthermore, when updating, make sure to come up with very interesting content as well; craft something that will get your readers to buy your product and service.

Consistently get Feedback

Nothing beats feedback from a customer; whether good or bad. Feedback gives you a real feel of how your business is viewed by the people whom you aim to please.  You can personally do an after sales call to the customer after a few days to find out how he or she finds the product. You can also send out a customer satisfaction email once a sale has been made. These practices, might take you a little bit of time at the start, but will give you long term benefits, especially in product and service improvement department.