2. Why should I advertise?
There are a number of reasons why people do advertise:

- to attract new customers
- to keep existing customers
- to stay ahead of competitors
- to achieve your company growth objectives
- to remind lapsed customers to come back and buy from you
- to get rid of stock which needs moving
- to achieve sales performance needed to produce the profit which all businesses need to keep investing and expanding.

Quite simply, advertising is one of the most effective ways to sell something, and without the right level of sales, the overall performance of a company can be put in jeopardy.

But advertising can achieve much more than simply selling a product or service (although that is important!). Bennetton used advertising to portray a statement about their clothes against a backdrop of the international world we all live in. Not everyone agreed with the way they went about it, and so we always try to produce a favourable reaction to the products being sold in our newspapers and web sites.

Some people use advertising to try to change opinions. Who can forget the "Labour isn't working" posters used by the Conservative Party some years ago? Marks and Spencer have tried to do this with the photo of a size 16 woman.

The best advertising message should touch our emotions to some degree. Otherwise it's just an inert statement. But it's not just the advertisement message which matters, it's also where the message is to be seen, if it is to have the maximum effect.

Over the years newspapers have proved the most effective way for local companies to sell their products or the services they offer. The link with content rich web sites is also important. Local newspapers produce the most in depth content and so the link with their web sites is a useful addition to a growing audience.

As broadcast media fragment (for example 7 years ago there was just 1 commercial radio station covering Norfolk and now there are 5 stations covering the same area), it becomes more expensive to capture the number of people you need to make sure an advertisement will work.

Most of us are bombarded with advertising messages and so we all need to focus on the media which works for customers like you.

Principally you need to use something which is trustworthy, which has been at the hub of the local community for over 100 years, and which is still as highly regarded now as it was when it was first launched. Basically you need us!

If you would like to set up a confidential discussion, free of any obligation, then just ring me (on 020 8269 7000), or e-mail me (j.henderson@archant.co.uk).