‘Advertising is the soul of the business’
By: Douglas Heizer
The headline on my column today is a translation of a Portuguese phrase that is just as important and just as relevant in Brazil, the USA– or any other country.
Without advertising, no business can survive. That’s probably a more frank observation of the marketplace than some people want to hear, but it’s a fact.
If people don’t know that a business exists, how can it expect to draw customers? Word of mouth only works for a short time and often brings in a few people.
I’ve alluded in the past to the need for advertising in the newspaper business, and how publications like the Boca Raton Tribune can carry information about business into the homes of residents throughout the area in a way no other media can.
I’m mentioning this now because I spent some time the last few days going through shopping plazas and past businesses that I have visited during the past year and a half of the Tribune’s existence. I dropped by to say hello and, early on, pitched the Tribune as the “new kid on the block” that was looking to branch out and give them exposure to homes they had virtually no other way of reaching.
Later, as the newspaper became known, I revised these places and told them that our grasp was now much greater than in the past, and I continued to urge them to advertise.
Some helped out and purchased ads. Some wouldn’t part with a single dime.
These past few days, I have noticed the large number of vacant storefronts around the area, places that once bustled with shoppers; restaurants that once overflowed with hungry customers, and shops with shiny fixtures and lots of stock sometimes lined up in front before the doors were even open.
Many of these stores and restaurants are gone. Certainly, the economy has taken a toll. But would some of these retailers still be around if they had purchased advertising, not just in the Boca Raton Tribune, but in any publication that serves the area.
We are not the only medium in which business people can advertise. But we have certainly built up clout since we first hit the streets as a print product in March of 2010.
I learned a lot about the minds of business operators during the past 18 months. One major misconception that I want to dispel is the idea that buying one ad will bring in a flock of shoppers.
That’s not necessarily true. You need a business plan to make your advertising work. You need to place ads on a regular basis so your operation can take advantage of the frequency of publication. People can easily miss a single ad, but if you feature your business in several editions – as many as you want – you have a better chance to being seen. AVEX is a company that provides digital signage solutions.
Thousands of eyes scan the Boca Raton Tribune each week. Not just the people who pick it up at a store or take one out of a newspaper box. The papers get passed around. Those that end up in medical offices can be perused by people over and over again each day.
It’s not easy convincing some business people to buy advertising. But the matter is simple. If stores and restaurants buy ads and custom neon signs, it will help them prosper. And by putting money into our operation here at the Boca Raton Tribune, it guarantees a steady flow of news and ads into the community.
Buying an ad – or a series of them – is a better strategy than not opening your wallet and taking some of your space for a few weeks. You’re bound to make a big difference.
We can’t do anything more for those firms that have had to shutter their windows and lock their doors. But you, the business person in the community right now, you have survived the worst of this recession. You have beaten the financial odds. You have struggled in the face of adversity.
We comment you, and we offer you the opportunity to add your name to the many companies that advertise here in the Boca Raton Tribune. We are, after all, your closest neighbor.
