So many places to spend money to reach your best prospects. Where do you turn? Which advertising medium is going to work best? How can you be sure every advertising dollar you invest has a positive return?

My clients are almost always confused over the number of choices they face when they consider a marketing and advertising program. And there is so much to choose from: business publications, daily and weekly newspapers, Chamber inserts, radio commercials, cable television, transit advertisements, outdoor bill boards, direct mail and The Internet, the Internet and the Internet.

How do you sort this out?

First, every marketing program I write begins with a strategy to reach and hang onto current customers. You can fool around with all sorts of media, but if you want to keep the customers you have, then personally call five of them everyday and thank them for being loyal. Ask what you can do better. Look for ways to serve them better. Woo them, make them feel important, build and strengthen your relationship with them. They probably account for 80 percent of your income and they are always your best source of new business.

If, after you have positively cemented relationships with your current customers and you have any time or resources left over, consider the following.

1) Decide what it is you are selling and make your offer as powerful, as competitive and as attractively presented as you possibly can. Billions of advertising dollars are wasted because the advertisers are too busy, too lazy, too uninvolved, to be sure their advertisements cut through with a clear statement of benefits. What makes you better, different, cheaper, more expensive? Prove it to me. Value, selection and price messages should scream from your advertisement. If you can’t write an advertisement that sings, get professional help.

2) Advertising is, ultimately, the art of surprise; your message has to cut through the clutter. Dull advertisements get dull results.

3) Consistent advertising that reaches your best prospects hardly ever fails. One time advertisements and meaningless goodwill advertisements hardly ever succeed. Say, ‘no thank you’ to all but a consistent schedule of advertisements.

4) Test your advertising messages by employing a response mechanism; if the advertisement produces measurable results, continue to refine it. If you get no response, run for your life.

5) The Internet may be a hot place to advertise to the world, but word of mouth is still the most powerful advertising medium to bring customers into your front door. This translates into the highest level of customer service. I see clients tack up a mission statement and tell the staff to memorize it and assume it means something to customers. What means something to customers is being treated as the most valuable people in the world. Good customer service begins every morning and you still have to earn it with each transaction.

6) In a time when qualified help is at an absolute premium, it’s vitally important to hang onto your best people. Nothing turns off an old customer faster than a new employee who does not know who they are and no advertisement in the world is going to make up for that lack of knowledge. Make sure your sales people know who you best customers are and make sure they receive on-going training in sales, customer service, telephone etiquette, problem and complaint handling.

A successful advertising program must transcend a media mix. There’s too much competition out there to simply rely on ordering up an advertisement and expecting something to happen. Begin with a solid marketing and sales plan. Take care of your current customers. Put your advertisements where they can will be seen by your best prospects and measure the results. Challenge your sales people to do better and reward them like crazy when they make their quota.

Look at advertising, marketing and sales as an integrated program and give it the attention it deserves. Have a plan and stick to it. You’ll be rewarded many times over and you won’t be wondering whether that last advertisement was really worth it. You’ll know for sure.

(Editor’s Note: Bill Hoke is a principal of Hoke Consulting in Poulsbo. The company provides a wide range of marketing services, low tech to high tech, new business to established business. He can be reached at (360) 697-4653 or whoke@grafhoke.com.).