Susan hit it on the head with “Necessity, the Mother of Invention.” In today’s world of advertising, we simply cannot get away from it. This means a large part of our population can simply tune it out. To communicate with an audience, we have found the wrong approach is the direct one. You must get your product in front of your audience without them realizing it.

Like Susan, we began our company with traditional advertising all the way down to the quarter page ad in the yellow pages. A surveyor called the other day inquiring about my “Yellow Page” reading habits. I really had to think to recall the last time I opened that book. Yes, the book is right there under the phone. But to look something up, my laptop and Google are so much quicker and easier. The same goes for newspapers. I get all my news online these days.

Methods to getting your business out in front of people are changing fast. Think about it for a minute. We’ve used phone directories, newspapers, mailers, television and radio as our way to communicate with potential clients for better part of a century. Now, that has changed in less than ten years.

As Susan stated, every business is different and how you get your message out will vary. What’s important to understand is WHO your potential clients are and HOW to reach them so they think of you when they are ready to make a purchase.

First question is, where are your customers? – That is, what percentage of them is local as compared to national or even international? Don’t forget that in today’s world of the internet and Federal Express and American Express, a few clicks of a mouse can bring whatever you want to your doorstep within a few days from anywhere. Think locally, think nationally, and think globally.

You should take your advertising budget and spread it out accordingly. Absolutely, positively you must have a website. You must have presence on the web. The more urban the community, the more likely your customer will reach for their laptop before they reach for the phone book.

Then develop a mixture of traditional and non-traditional methods to get your name out there. One area that works for me, focus on news articles that ultimately drive people to your website or store front.