Call to . . . um . . . Something

Advertising is the nudge that brings a new customer to your door. They may not have a thought in their head about your business, but once they see your ad they realize that something has to happen. The ad plants the seed that grows into your revenue.

Aside from the easy fertilizer=advertising joke, it's important to carefully prepare your advertising plans to ensure that your potential customer is properly enticed. You've got to get your message out, but most importantly, you've got to give them a call to action.

When you look at a "Got Milk?" ad, the call to action is to remind you that you need to get milk. When McDonald's asks, "Are You Mac Enough?" while showing a picture of a giant Big Mac, Icy Coke and pile of fries, the call to action is to get your tummy rumbling. When you see a real estate sign in front of a house and it says "Call 555-5555", the call to action is for you to call the real estate company and ask about the house.

It seems simple. Make sure that every ad has a way to lead the customer back to you. The problem is that so many people think about advertising as brand building - which it is - that they forget about business building. You need to keep your eye not only on how your potential customers feel about you, but also on making those potential customers contact you.

We think we can help. AdSymetrix is all about call to action. We're focused on helping small business focus their plans to get the most out of their advertising. Over the next few weeks, we'll have loads of information and tips in this space about advertising, building your brand, and most importantly, building your business. We're here to help.

Simplicity

Last week, Rick, Andy and Chris went to the Carson Workshop Future of Web 2.0 Applications Summit. It was fascinating to watch as experts in their fields explained how online services are being created to help users manage their own content, and how the services are poised to make money on that content.

Amongst the stories of how this company was built by a $10/hr developer and this service was formulated to exploit camera phones, one presentation stood out: Google explaining how they built their calendar service.

Google fascinates. They operate behind that single form webpage and generate billions of dollars. Their model is to marry a users' need for information/utility with a business' need to put themselves in front of that user. The presentation pulled back the curtain to show how they're managing to innovate and draw the two together.

While the calendar presentation focused on how that particular app was built, you could extrapolate the process to any application. In our case, it reminds us to keep the service simple, focused on utility and easy to use.

Small business advertisers want better control. AdSymetrix can help

Real Estate Ads Move to The Web

Real Estate Ads Move to the Web
from business week
Seems like some people are finding that there are better ways to spend their advertising dollars.

Carson Workshops Summit - The Future of Web Apps

In San Francisco next week? Want to learn about the next wave of online applications? Want to meet the folks behind AdSymetrix? We'll be at Carson Workshops Summit - The Future of Web Apps, gawking along with others at where this internet thing is headed next.

Web 2.0 - The Good and The Bad

Wired News fronts a story about the good and bad of the latest Web 2.0 Applications. Interesting to note that the fickle finger of favor seems to pass over online apps fairly quickly. Friendster was the topmost social network for a while, MySpace owns the world currently, but there's always an up and comer in the background.

Here's their look at the environment:

Web 2.0 Stinkers and Champions