Would Harley Davidson advertise at a golf game? I wouldn’t put my money on that. As a small business the same principle applies. You have to advertise/market in the appropriate places, through appropriate channels. Knowing your ideal customer helps your brand advertising.

In a partial rephrasing of what Bill Clinton had to say….the answer is:  “It Depends”.  If you had a golf outing that included a Pro-Am, with the ‘Ams’ being cycle enthusiasts, then the answer could be ‘yes’.   But how do you fine-tune your brand advertising to get the best and longest ride out of your marketing dollars?

Brand Advertising the Right Way

Let’s start by taking a look at who your customer is.  Can you define your customer?  What is his or her age, locale, income level, interest in your product?  Do they shop online or come to your brick and mortar store?  Could be a stupid question…but do they even use the internet?  Do they know what Facebook is?  Do they tweet?

I had a client who wanted to do some of their advertising using Twitter. This client sold high-end original art.  Was Twitter the right place for their brand advertising?  Probably not the most effective place, as 62% of Twitter users are in the 18-34 age group.  Clients buying high-end art are, on the average, in an older age group than that.

What staff do you have assigned to your brand advertising?  Or do you ‘get to it when you can’ type of thing?  Ouch!  Did you throw up a website and then not revisit it in the last year or two?  Ouch, again!  The internet has forced us all to add the needed social networking department to our companies.  Keeping up with brand advertising through the company’s website, Facebook page, maintaining emails and the possible Twitter account, is a monumental task, needing full-time attention.

So which if any of these internet driven sources are best for your company’s advertising needs?  And how would hard copy such as window displays, newspaper, magazines and hand-outs work for your brand advertising?  Have you brainstormed with your marketing and/or advertising team–whoever they may be–to exhaust all ideas, and begin your advertising trial and error pursuits?  Does your brainstorming team represent the same demographic group that you are selling your wares to?

Some points to ponder:

Finding your way through the advertising maze is a lot like playing golf, actually.  Every once in a while you hit a drive that comes right off the sweet spot of your club, and goes a million yards straight down the middle of the fairway.  Then you muff the next shot.  Finding the right advertising places for your brand takes a lot of practice, hits and misses, until you find what works for your brand advertising.

I must give credit to @dmscott for inspiring this blog with a tip he put in his book: The New Rules of Marketing and PR