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Advertising is the best way to market your business or a certain product you are offering. Advertising is how you make your business known to others, how leads are generated, and a way to advance your brand. Depending on where you're advertising and how you are advertising, costs can vary greatly. Obviously, a small newspaper ad is less expensive than a television commercial, but sometimes, a smaller ad can be more efficient.

There are two terms that are important to remember in advertising: Reach and Frequency. Reach is how many people are exposed to an ad, and frequency is how many times people see your ad. Studies show that people need to see an ad nine times before it actually makes an impression on them once. And because prospects usually need to be impressed with an ad at least three times before taking any action, you'll need to place your ad at least TWENTY SEVEN times if you want your prospects to inquire about your business further. Therefore, frequency is extremely important in the process of making sales. Of course, if you don't have enough reach, the return on your advertising investment will be meager.

When creating the ads themselves, many things need to be taken into account. Most people won't even pay attention to your ad if it's not interesting and compelling, and in newspapers and magazines, hardly anyone looks past the headline of an ad unless it catches their attention. But a good headline doesn't make the sale, and an ad must also have interesting and appropriate copy. If you don't think you can write compelling copy, hire a copywriter to do it for you (they can write headlines, too). If you can, incorporate graphics into your ad, and make your ad consistent with your other communications. Keep ads short and to the point, remember, people won't take much time to read an ad, especially if it's boring. Entertainment is as important as getting the point across, because if you only have the latter, nobody is going to read it.

The point of all advertisements is to generate a consumer response. If you want that all-valuable response, you have to prompt it. In your advertisement, there are many ways to do this. You can give out a toll-free phone number and kindly suggest that they call you for more information. Even better, offer a brochure explaining everything your business does, or, offer them a free gift in exchange for a visit to your Web site or a phone call. By offering a gift, people have more of a reason to call you, but don't make your

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