One of the most common questions that I receive regularly from business owners is about the methods of advertising and how many should be utilized at once.  While every business is different, there are common threads that can be seen from the larger scale between them all, regardless of industry, location, or size.

There are two primary ways to advertise your business - Passively and Actively.  Both are absolutely necessary if you intend to reach new customers or markets, and strong growth of your business is to occur.  Let me give you the highlights of each:

 •1.      Passive Advertising

The goal of passive advertising is to be visible to potential clients who are actively looking for you, your competition, or anyone in your industry to purchase a product or service.  This ad is positioned to make a case for why potential customers should come to you on an impulse level.  To be successful, this ad must grab the attention of readers who are not only looking at your business, but also looking at the ads of all of your competitors as well.

Examples of this type of advertising include ads in the Yellow Pages, your own website, and in online business directories.

 •2.      Active Advertising

The goal of active advertising is to position your business in “Top of Mind” with your potential clients, knowing that while they may or may not have need of your product or service today, they are still forming opinions and making decisions about who they will do business with in the future.  This type of ad also will generate new business to your business and industry by helping clients understand needs they didn’t even know they had.

Some refer to this “Top of Mind” state as building familiarity with your business and with your products/services.  As human beings are creatures of habit, we are also creatures of familiarity.  With all other things being equal, people will always do business with their friends, or people they feel they know.

Examples of this type of advertising include television, radio, and publications like the Good Morning News.

So Whats Best for my Business?

Passive advertising (like your phone number in the Yellow Pages) is necessary for your business, because even your existing clients still need to know how to contact you if they are looking for you.  However, in order for you to drive more potential business to look for you, you also need to take care to actively gain shelf space in the mind of your market and create familiarity.  To do that, you need to utilize active advertising methods.

A real life example I ran across myself recently was when my wife and I were looking to have our house cleaned before a dinner party.  We didn’t know any cleaners off hand, so we went to the Yellow Pages to find someone local. 

 Scanning down the list of cleaners, I read them aloud to my wife, “1891629 Alberta Ltd., A-1 Super Cleaners, Instant Service Maids, Molly Maid, Sani…” 

“Wait, Stop.  Molly Maid?” My wife asked, “I know them.”

“Really?” I asked, as I don’t know anyone with a maid of any sort.  “From where?”

“I don’t know, but I know their name so lots of people must use them….  Call them first and see what they have to say.”

At the end of the day, Molly Maid gave us a great impression when we called, and our search stopped there.  There wasn’t any need for us to keep calling.  Molly Maid had created this familiarity with their local advertising in small papers and their cute little cars that had driven us to recognize their name and pick them out of a crowd.

While Passive advertising is necessary for people to contact you, ACTIVE advertising is necessary if you want to grow your business, and DRIVE people to find you.  On its own, the phone book is NOT enough to do that.