Work with an advertising agency

You can increase your sales by using advertising and promotion as part of your marketing strategy. Given the broad range of advertising options available, it pays to get good advice from a reputable agency if you want to ensure your campaigns are effective. Before you choose an advertising agency, you should:

• find out the size of the agency
• check if they are members of any professional associations
• ask what media they specialise in and if they have any creative strategies they prefer to use
• examine their past campaigns and find out how successful they were
• look at their types of clients, past and present
• ask about the main people who will be working on your account and their track record
• see if they have any experience of working for your type of business and if they understand the competition in your field
• check how they assess a campaign's effectiveness
• get an estimate of their fees and what's included - eg whether they would accept a payment-by-results agreement
• take up references from their clients if possible