7 Rules for Successful Advertising

Follow these rules, and it could save you tons of time and money when it comes to advertising your e-commerce stores and your products.

Rule # 1 - Always start with small advertising spend

Yes, we know you like to Think Big (just like us). But never try rush into BIG campaign without first testing the concept and formula. Always start small, keep testing until you find a formula that works (which brings in sales!) and then roll it out big time!

Most businesses fail this way - NOT serving customer needs > No sales > Out of money > Bye-bye. Very few actually fail because of NOT spending enough on advertising. Some of the really great e-tailer like Zappos did not advertise much but get most of their sales by Word-of-Mouth (WOM) and repeat customer purchases!

Rule # 2 - Advertising that works, works immediately

If your advertising is going to work, it will bring you enquiry-calls or paid checkout right from the start.

Don't fall for the advertising sales pitch, that you need to run your ads at least for a several times a month before you could even expect results (sales, Sales, SALES)!

Rule # 3 - Advertising either works, or it doesn't

Advertising that works pay for itself within a reasonable period of times, and we are talking about weeks, NOT months or years! If it does not work, go back to the drawing board and come out with a revised or fresh new campaign. In simplest term, your campaign should follow this simplified process flow:

Target market > Copywrite > Ad & Landing Page Design > Distribution > Track Conversion > Improve

Never stop testing (and keep improving by revising) until you get it works!

Tips: Never underestimate the power of copywrite. One small tweak might boost your conversion by a few hundred percent! We recommend you start reading CopyBlogger for Great Copywriting Tips.

Rule # 4 - If Advertising cannot be measured. don't advertise

Let's be honest, do you track your advertising? If NOT, how would you ever know whether your campaign really works? and since you don't track, how are you going to fix what isn't working and improve your advertising effectiveness? Purely based on your "Gut Feeling"?

But is "Gut Feeling" good enough? Apparently NOT, below we recommend a few practical ways to track your ads.

How to Track Offline Advertising

Notice how Dell track advertisements effectiveness on all of its marketing channels? They put up a Special Code (they call it e-value code) you can use to easily get to the advertised deal - This tells them where exactly you see their ad!

Similarly, when you advertise your online store or products on offline channel like TV, Newspaper etc, you can Create a Unique Coupon Code (easily done via webShaper Stores) tied to the ad distributed via the channel. When customers apply the discount code during checkout, you will know which ad actually converts better!

Alternatively, you can also signup a Toll Free 1800 number (most have reporting capability) and display it prominently on your ads, so when it runs you will know how many prospects calls are driven by the ads based on the log files provided.

How to Track Online Advertising

Do you know out of all advertising channels, Internet is the most trackable? Almost everything on the Internet can be tracked and turn into very useful analysis which can help you make improvement on your campaign. It can be done easily by setting up a FREE web Analytics Account with Statcounter.com or Google Analytics. (Learn more on how to setup web tracking with webshaper Stores)

If you already advertise with Pay-per-click Keywords Advertising like Google Adwords, just link the Adwords account with your Google Analytics account.

Besides Keyword Advertising, Google Analytics can track all types of online media including banner ads, referral links, email campaigns, and organic and paid search. Don't forget to put up a referral code after the URL. Eg http://www.yourstore.com/?ref=blog to specifically know that it originates from this particular URL.

Learn more here at

• Understanding the 5 dimensions of online advertising campaign tracking
• How do you tag your links with Google Analytics?
  

 

Rule # 5 - Good Advertising, will never (ever) overcome a poor web store

Advertising brings in the traffic (prospects), but it does not stop here, you need to CONVERT them into buyers! (now this is the really challenging part...)

Your web store plays a crucial role in closing the deal. Is your webstore badly designed? Think messy, think bad use of colours, think hard to read and navigate - Avoid all these!!! And to help you off a good-start, we have a collection of nicely designed, ready-made ecommerce template for any business to kickstart with confidence!

Also, Does your web store communicate high trust and have you missed out any of the below?
- Do your ads lead to a landing page? If so does your landing page clearly state the benefits (to customers) and what they suppose to do next (Call-to-Action) ?
- Put up your phone number clearly on the top right or left corner so they can call you if they need any help
- Place proper guide on how to buy, orders, Top 5 reasons to buy, payment policy, shipping policy, customer satisfaction guarantee bla bla bla and the list goes on...

Tips: Learn more on how to build trust online - "Top 10 ways to build trust for your online store"

Rule # 6 - Advertising that works always stand out

Smoking Hot Offer? Really Low Price? Special Service like Free Overnight Shipping?

If you don't offer something Better, Different, Special or Unique, it is better to keep the money in the bank. Bear in mind, unless you give them an Incentive, they won't take the plunge. And you can easily start off by offering a Free Shipping (see how to setup free shipping in webShaper stores) which proven to be one of the best converting tactic for online store!

Rule # 7 - You can't please anybody

Who are your targeted buyer for this ad? What's your core message? How is your product going to benefit them? It's NOT possible to reach everyone with limited space given on banner, google text ad, You need to be focused! Put the right value proposition for the targeted market you want to reach!

Last, I wanna close this with a quote from the ad guru, the legend David Ogivly

"Never spend money on advertising which does not sell"