Wise Spending Advice When Advertising

We all want to make money, and we all want to spend wisely. But what does spending wisely actually mean? Ask 10 people this question and you'll get 10 different answers. And while most of these answers will be good, some may be counterproductive.

That's why we've put together this post all about how to spend wisely when advertising, including a list of the many things that you should never do under any circumstances!

9 Tips for Wise Spending Advice When Advertising

1) Have a goal in mind before you start buying anything.

This goes hand in hand with point #2, as you'll need a goal before you start advertising so you can measure your success. Without this, it's near impossible to know if you've spent money wisely or not.

2) Get a simple calculator and be sure to keep it handy.

A calculator isn't just for math class anymore! Use them to keep tabs on how much money you're spending monthly, quarterly, or yearly. It's important to be able to see the big picture in order to determine exactly what is going into your ad budget and what isn't. A lot of other folks that do business like this same device as well!

3) Start out small.

There's a lot of people out there that think they can throw $10,000 at Google Adwords and see results right off the bat. The truth is, this rarely happens! When starting out with any kind of ad campaign, it's important to make sure you're confident you can afford the monthly cost before going into debt to afford an initial bulk-buy. Set a budget and slowly increase it over time. This way, if you need to cut back – you can!

4) Keep detailed records.

If you're going to set a budget and stick to it, then you need to be able to keep track of all your spending. Last year, I simply used an Excel spreadsheet, but this year I've gone all out by using a website specifically designed to help with this. I can easily keep track of all my expenses, generate real-time reports, and spend less time doing paperwork! Check out Oribu.net if you want something similar – they even offer a free 30-day trial period so you can try before you buy.

5) Pick your battles carefully.

Some people advertise on everything from the radio and billboards, to newspapers and the internet. Some advertise exclusively on TV and radio. I'd suggest staying away from TV and radio, for the time being! These two mediums are definitely not for everyone, so if that's not what you do – this tip may be moot to you. Also, if you're not sure if your product is worth a spot on TV or an article in the newspaper, you should probably stick with online advertising until you know for certain. After all, there are plenty of other options to choose from!

6) Spend no more than 10% of your total ad budget on one or two ads.

This is a fairly common rule of thumb amongst professional advertisers, and it makes sense.

Conclusion…

Doing business doesn't have to be complicated. There are no "secrets" to being successful, only a lot of different ways of doing things the right way.