Wunderlich

What is awareness, anyway? The dictionary describes it as wakefulness or knowingness. In the world of advertising, the meaning is slightly different. Awareness is described in a variety of ways, including recall and recognition of brand, key features and positioning. If your customers can remember any of these about your products or services, you are doing well.

How do you create awareness? Word-of-mouth is the most inexpensive option and works well as long as you are providing quality customer service and products. Tell everyone you know about your business. If you are proud of what you do, this should be easy. Its nearly impossible not to talk shop when you dont feel like work is work at all.

There are of course, many other options. Television, radio (those costs add up quickly) in-store displays, direct mail, brochures, sales letters, newspaper and magazine advertisements. All of these create awareness. The trick is to do it in a way that the customer remembers you. This is where copywriting skills come in handy, and if you cant do it yourself, pay someone who can. The time and money you spend up front will be well worth it in the end.

Once you have created awareness, you need to maintain it. If you stop advertising, even when business is going strong, you will eventually see your client base start to dwindle. As a business owner, you need to constantly be bringing in new customers. Keep advertising, and keep up customer service skills. Address any problems immediately. You dont want negative word-of-mouth floating around out there, its nearly impossible to kill, and will only die when your business does.

Loralea Prentis is a copywriter currently living in Ottawa, Canada with her husband and two children. She is educated in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations and in the health care field. For more information, please visit her website at http://www.thewritingshop.ca