TV vs Small Business Advertising Conundrum.
It's difficult for businesses to advertise to me. I don't own a TV, I listen to NPR, college, and internet radio stations, and in general I try to avoid being in situations where I'm bombarded with corporate advertising. Especially if I'm asked to pay to see and hear the advertising. But I'm also a small business owner. I have to get the word out about my pottery otherwise you'll not know about it and you won't buy it and I won't be able to make more pots. That would be sad.
You may have noticed little advertisements on this blog. I have no control over them but I always hope that they are for small businesses that are meaningful to you. If you click on the ad I make a few cents, if you buy something I make a few more. It's not a living, it's a tiny supplement. This type of advertising is also important to the companies that place the ads but it's also a little distraction to the blog.
So how does someone get the word out, and get customers to buy without annoying people with ads? Maybe the problem isn't with small businesses advertising, maybe it's just too darn much advertising hitting our senses all day long. Maybe we need to try to tune out as much advertising as we can and just focus on the ones that inform us about places we want to shop.
Yes, this blog is an advertisement. But it's also a conversation, it's a connection between the readers who comment, the readers who email me privately, and even the people that tell me they read my blog and then we talk about an article. So this is my kind of advertising because even if you never buy a pot from me I'm richer for the connection.
What kind of advertising works for you?
Have you been to Mudcolony this week?
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
You may have noticed little advertisements on this blog. I have no control over them but I always hope that they are for small businesses that are meaningful to you. If you click on the ad I make a few cents, if you buy something I make a few more. It's not a living, it's a tiny supplement. This type of advertising is also important to the companies that place the ads but it's also a little distraction to the blog.
.jpg "Flying Bird Stein by Lori Buff") |
| Soaring Eagle Mug |
So how does someone get the word out, and get customers to buy without annoying people with ads? Maybe the problem isn't with small businesses advertising, maybe it's just too darn much advertising hitting our senses all day long. Maybe we need to try to tune out as much advertising as we can and just focus on the ones that inform us about places we want to shop.
Yes, this blog is an advertisement. But it's also a conversation, it's a connection between the readers who comment, the readers who email me privately, and even the people that tell me they read my blog and then we talk about an article. So this is my kind of advertising because even if you never buy a pot from me I'm richer for the connection.
What kind of advertising works for you?
Have you been to Mudcolony this week?
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
The ads on your blog don't bother me. Maybe I should click on them so that you can make a few more pennies!
ReplyDeleteAs for advertising our pottery; we buy an ad on the Seagrove Area Potters Map - inexpensive and lots of maps get printed and distributed. I think that facebook is great for promoting our work and events. We have even started to pay to promote posts when we are having an event, it really increases how many times your post is viewed and increases "likes" on your page. It's also cheap, $5. I also take advantage of event web listings, most are free, a few you can pay a fee and include photos (worth it). Then of course the website and blog are out there all the time.
Hi Michèle, Clicking on an ad now and then would be a help, especially if it's something you are interested in seeing/buying. I've seen the Seagrove Map, it's pretty well done, seems like it's totally worth it.
DeleteI honestly have to say that I have paid almost no attention to the ads on blogs, except when I accidently click on one thinking it was something the blogger was blogging about. The ads that bug me the most are the pop ups that are getting more and more frequent, hate those!
ReplyDeleteTV ads are the least effective, I get up and leave the room during commercials, and now that they turn up the volume more than the show you are watching, we turn off the volume during ads. Word of mouth is probably the most effective with me and radio ads, someone tells me about something and if I am interested I go in search of it.
We have stopped watching most TV programming, it is just too awful, but we do netflix and hulu, which is pretty good, especially the documentaries, and the ads are filtered...
I guess the most effective ad use for artists are the beautiful postcards I get. That reminds me, I need to order some!
Hi Tracey, It seems like if an ad pops up on my computer screen it's a scam, like if you hear a radio ad and they repeat the phone number 6 times at the end. You know that's a number you just don't want to call.
DeleteLove the postcards.