If you are a small business owner the chances are you have undertaken some form of advertising at some stage. But unless you understand some fundamentals about how people buy you may waste your advertising spend.

Just think of your own experience in buying. You go through a number of stages...

Stage One - Need
You have a need - your washing machine is 5 years old and it’s started making a clunking noise on the spin cycle, sooner or later it’s going to stop. You don’t really want to spend money now but realise that sooner or later you will have to.

Stage two - Considering Your Options
You consider what functions you need from your machine – is it just a straight replacement or will you go for a washer dryer this time? You’ll start recalling the brand names of washing machines you’ve had in the past, one’s your family and friends have mentioned (good and bad) or that you’ve seen advertised. You might start asking around or surfing the internet. It’s unlikely that you’ll look seriously at a brand name you’ve never heard of but with the power of the internet nowadays some more obscure brands may be bought to your attention.

Stage Three - Price
You might start to think about your budget and whether you will take a loan or look out for interest free credit type arrangements. The incessant advertising by the major electrical retailers will start to return to your consciousness at this point and you’ll start to pay attention when TV ads for washing machines appear.

Stage Four - Urgent Need
The inevitable has happened – the machine has stopped working, half way through a cycle, flooding the kitchen in the process. You don’t want to waste money having an old machine repaired so you’re going to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

You will start your search in earnest – possibly visiting the local retail park and checking out the offers in Curry’s, Comet and the like. Increasingly you’re also likely to search online possibly by brand name or by price.

Stage Five - Purchase
You found the one you want at the right price and you make the purchase - online, over the telephone or in person. And then no doubt you wait for the washing machine to be delivered.

Stage Six - Review Decision
At this stage many people (me included) go through a really weird stage – we start to review our decision and wonder whether we’ve bought the right thing. Whether we paid over the odds and whether it has the fastest spin option. Until the machine is plumbed in and working we might continue to feel uncomfortable about our decision and we’ll probably still continue to review any adverts we see.

The Role Of Advertising
I hope you can see how your advertising and marketing activity has a role to play at each of these stages. Firstly, in making a potential customer aware of your company (your brand if you like) as one of the ...

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