For business to business advertising, industry trade journals, digital magazines, websites and online newsletters are highly useful and cost effective when you need to enter selected regional markets nationally and internationally to solicit qualified responses for your technical, scientific or clinically based products or services. The readership of these publications is well known and segmented, which allows you to selectively target your advertisements to qualified readers who may be interested what you have to offer.

For business to consumer advertising, mainstream media (press, radio, television, websites) may be required to solicit qualified responses from prospective customers. Importantly, responses can be tracked to determine cost effectiveness of acquiring a new lead and a new sale.

Typically your advertising efforts should be part of an effective marketing campaign that may include some personalised direct mail or colourful and audiovisual emails to selected individuals. Mail and emails will get through if they are personalised and your message is presented professionally and is education based. Permission based mail and email lists, representing thousands of qualified scientists, researchers, engineers and executives, are typically available for rental from the industry journals and the selection criteria can be quite specific.

If you require prospective customers to visit your website or contact you by email or telephone -you need to persuade them to do so. Persuasion (lead generation) techniques are fully accountable as you can measure the volume of qualified leads generated or your dialogues with your prospective customers.

One of the most effective tools for persuasion involves the emotions. Generating an emotional response is best achieved through powerful benefits. You must touch on human desires and needs and offer the solution. Testimonials can be effective and are usually believed by your audience.

Direct response press advertisements differ from their awareness only ads by the fact that direct ads are designed to persuade and motivate people to do something. They are usually longer to give readers enough information to act on. Importantly, a call to action and an offer are essential to maximise responses as you need to overcome human inertia to get someone to take immediate action.

Persuading someone to act is only the first step in the sales sequence as they must then be converted to a customer or strategic alliance partner. This is typically a function of your back end sales process which is critical to the ultimate success of your marketing efforts.