Advertising & PR

What's the best way to communicate with my customers?

The answer to this question is not a simple one - it depends on who your customers are, the budget you have available and what your overall marketing objectives are. There are five main tools that you can use to communicate with your customers, each with its strengths and weaknesses:

• Advertising
• Public relations
• Direct marketing
• Sales promotion
• Personal selling

As your business grows, it can be tempting to place adverts reactively as local newspapers telephone you with special offers on advertising space. The most important thing to remember is that all communication should be carefully planned. When you have identified your target customers, you need to:

• devise a suitable message
• decide which communication tools you will use and when you will use them
• measure and monitor their effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

This article based on Crown Copyright © 2002