Rick and Whitney  

We covered a really great topic this last show and I hope you get a chance to listen to it.  Advertising your small business in your local business journal.  Is it worth it?  You small business folks are getting approached daily with advertising salespeople that are telling your their product is the next big thing and you have a hard time telling if it will work for you or not.  The best way to test this out is to ask for a reduced fee and/or a reduced contract length.  I highly recommend trying to get a lower rate so you aren't fully leveraged on advertising that may not work for your business.  Remember these tips when trying out new advertising:

1. Ask for a shortened term on the agreement while you test.
2. Don't try the advertising for less than 3 months.
3. Measure the results.  Use a piece of paper or software.
4. If the ad isn't working it can be a bad ad, bad colors etc. So try variations and measure them.
5. Determine your ROI. How much business do you need to get to pay for the ad and profit.
6. Compare this advertising to other things you are doing and get rid of underperformers.

We really appreciate speaking with Joe Kennedy of the Eastside Business Newspaper in Bellevue, Washington.