It's been said that advertising is the lifeblood of every retail business. This is definitely true with our retail store - we can see a direct correlation between an effective advertising campaign and increases in customer traffic.

As an independent retail store owner you know that you have a limited advertising budget and a great need for new customers. This makes for a situation where you cannot afford to make very many mistakes with your advertising campaigns.

Here are some key steps in planning your advertising strategy:

1. Have a detailed written plan. Advertising is expensive. Your business depends on getting new customers to survive. You cannot afford to "wing it" here.

2. Have a clear idea of who represents your store's typical customer. Your advertising needs to be focused on reaching your target market.

3. Avoid image advertising and focus on product and event ad campaigns. Image advertising need repetition to be effective while product and event campaigns produce immediate results.

4. Know how much you can spend. Your advertising expenditures should be within the range of other similar stores. Advertising to sales ratios vary by store type. Find out what yours should be and use this as a benchmark.

5. Copy or run similar campaigns that have worked for you in the past. These become your "bread and butter" campaigns that you know you can count on to drive traffic and sales.

6. Try as many low cost advertising campaigns as possible to supplement what you know works. You can find detailed information on low cost advertising campaigns at independentstoresuccess.com. These campaigns are low risk and can offer high rewards for your target market.

7. Calculate the results of every advertising campaign. You need to know the effectiveness of each so that you can build on your successes.

8. Take action and put together your advertising campaign. Knowing that you should do it is different than actually taking the steps to do so. Your business depends on you to advertise.

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