Modern Advertising Methods

In a time where there are so many advertising and marketing options, how do you determine what works best, what methods would actually achieve what you are looking at accomplishing and where your dollars are best spent. With over 15 "hands on" years experience both as a consumer and a marketing advisor to a variety of clients in Canada and USA, my experience has proven that doing what is different always works best.

If you are doing what everyone else is doing or doing what you have always done then you are going to get ordinary and average results. Step out and realize what is the "NOW" in modern advertising methods.

What's new? Everything!

You can look at modern advertising methods as something that you can do by following a step by step guide that will lead you to believe you are doing something really special and because you are doing it, it simply must mean that you will get these fantastic results and your competitors will simply be in awe that you are such an inspiration. Don't be blinded by the limelight. Get modern! Modern advertising methods come down to one basic and simple principle.... Be Creative!

The best advice that I have ever employed or recommended to any of my top clients is this simple. The best results any company, from the dawn of advertising and marketing, has simply boiled down to this one simple element - Creativeness. That's not to say you have to try to think of a new publication, a new place or style of billboard, a great artwork style or design. It simply means that if you remove yourself from thinking like your company always has or like your local media, or even like your consumers think of you. You will find yourself open to a huge new plethora of opportunities for both your product, service and your company. It is not about how to better promote the product, but how to better promote why your consumer wants it.

Think Brilliant... Get brilliant results! Do you truly believe that this is only for the creative genius's that work for the large marketing and ad agencies, think again. Some of the best ideas are unveiled by some of the least likely participants. Listen around the office as ideas and concepts are thrown about or during those sometimes long and drawn out boardroom meetings. Sometimes things said in humor or jest deserve more merit than you may think. Sure the initial idea may be a little weak or glamorous or even outrageous, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have real merit to make a huge impact on your potential customers. Who would have guessed that a talking gecko could sell phones or that a talking duck could build confidence with the masses; so much so that the consumers have built a bond strong enough to make them actually take stake in such a company that is represented by a talking duct! Do you think that going back 15 - 20 years ago that an insurance company who used a talking duct as a mascot to lure in new customers (customers who were most likely already invested in another, potentially "more credible and stable" insurance company) would have success in gaining thousands of new clients; not in your wildest dreams! However, here we stand confronted with the genius of a talking duct representing a credible insurance company who now represents thousands of additional clients and still rapidly growing, year over year.

A great somewhat local example (in my area) is that of Sam Bernstein, attorney at law. When Sam Bernstein made the decision to step out of doing things as expected by both his fellow legal practitioners and by the legal industry in general, he simply wanted to realize a successful modern advertising method that would expose his talents, service and skills to potential new clients. His decision to reach out to the masses by using TV to promote his practice was quickly scoffed by the legal society and by some notary public officials. However, when the realization that doing things different was a clear recipe for success, the critiques quickly became the converted. Now it is common place to see lawyers from personal injury lawyers to divorce lawyers, joining the ranks of Sam Bernstein and doing what works... taking a modern approach to modern advertising methods.

What are modern advertising methods? Well if you haven't gathered by now my thoughts on modern advertising methods are first thinking of how you can do something that is magnificently different from what your industry would normally expect from either your company or your product/service. Sure there are a plethora of new techniques that are being injected into the list of potential options available to advertisers, such as: email marketing, search engine optimization, a plethora of social network options both on the internet and traditional methods, then there is the strategic use of advertisements, commercials, billboards and radio. Wow, how selling and promoting a product or service on TV has changed. How many times have you watched a commercial and didn't even realize what they were trying to sell you until the very end when a logo and possibly a product displayed on the screen? Come on, admit it... you, just like me, have been lured in and kicked ourselves when we realized what just happened. It's great! I love it when I see something so brilliant catch my attention and draw me in so tight that I get slapped with the sale at the end of it and snicker as I have to humbly admit "they got me"!

Modern advertising methods are really what you need them to be. They are the limit of our own creativeness or the ability to harness the vision of others who may be on the edge of what could be the next big thing like U-tube, Google or eBay. So if you were looking for some specific point by point, step by step instructions on what are the latest and greatest modern advertising methods, well you may be a little disappointed with my suggestions, but heed the warning, the best and most effective modern advertising methods are truly boiling down to the one simple factor that I mentioned at the beginning of this article... Creativity! The nice thing about this, we ALL can afford it!

If you want to receive my monthly updates on how to market and promote your business effectively join my free monthly e-newsletter or logon often to see what is new and exciting. As I find it I will share it with you. I believe that sharing knowledge and experience is what we should all do for each other. As much as I would love to meet with and help any business professional who is looking for a new modern advertising method to promote their business, I know that this would be impossible, so the internet has provided me the ability to help as many people as want to learn. Talk to you next time!

By Matt Dunlop