So You’ve just started a small business and don’t have the big bucks to spend on a marketing campaign. But  instead of hiring the services of an advertising agency or a marketing guru, you decide to do things your way by coming up with your own print ad and putting up flyers all over the neighborhood. You thought you did alright, but why aren’t customers walking through your door?

Or perhaps you’d gladly spend $10,000 for a guaranteed 1,000 customers. $10 per person is quite an investment for a small business but you don’t mind. You know that these customers will be with you for a lifetime. You shell out the sum and launch a marketing blitz full force. Print ads, TV ads, radio ads, billboards and flyers, but why are you not getting the results you expected?

Where did you go wrong? You would think that you are using the wrong medium or reaching out to the wrong target market. But chances are you’re just saying the wrong thing. Your ad might have been too focused on being charming and funny that you forgot that your ultimate goal is to be believable and persuasive. Or you ended up being vague and boring, by offering “the best quality at the lowest price” without offering any tangible proof. So you claim to be the best, but haven’t we all heard that before?

There is no single key to success in advertising. Often it is a mix of creativity, a keen business sense and of course, a few tips and techniques of the trade to help you along the way.

For those with the bucks, repetitiveness and being memorable are the magic words. Here are some tips on how to score big with your ads and getting the maximum results for your money’s worth:

• Create a campaign, not just an ad. A single ad placement is often not enough to tell your whole story. To make your point stick in your prospective clients’ minds, tell your story in more than just one way, powerful and persuasive every time.
• Frequency is key. Most of the time, the more people see and hear your ads, the more it gets stuck in their heads. If possible, try employing more than one format. Remember the  buzzwords: repeat and be remembered.

Advertising can be cheap and effective, too. If you are scrimping your hard-earned dollars, it is definitely a good idea to write and produce your own advertisement. Here are some thrifty tips on how to get the word out:

• Use verbs, not adjectives. You do not want to sound like a budding poet. Instead you want to inspire action. Avoid clichés and stick to words that get the job done. Try unexpected verbs. Why not rip, seize, fling, smack, jolt rather than buy, hurry and run?
• Make a compelling offer. Contrary to popular belief, offering free samples or free trials is far more inexpensive than TV ads and marketing blitzes. Consider this tactic if you are on a budget.
• Say something irresistible, memorable, impressionable. It gets the job done every time.

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