Advertising, sales promotion and public relations are three spokes of a small business’ marketing communication hub. Seth Godin is one the foremost industry marketing gurus. He posts a “marketing thought of the day” regularly on LinkedIn. Recently he shared some hints, tips and techniques that all small business marketers can adopt.

1. Don't interrupt, start a conversation. When communicating via advertising or sales promotion, your goal is to start a conversation. The copy needs to lead the viewer to say, “tell me more.” The answer leads to more questions that generate an opportunity to sell the company’s products or services.

2. Dare to be different, not safe. Buyers make selections of products and services not just on price, quality, availability or reliability, but on differentiation. Product promotion copy needs to focus on what makes the offering unique when compared to competing products or services.

3. Make the ad about the customer. The focus of great advertising is not the products or service and the features of the offering, but the benefits to the buyer. The copy must be buyer-focused. When it is focused on the buyer the emphasis is on the value proposition - what need, want or desire is being offered and then delivered. Focus on benefits, not features.

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4. Show, don't just tell. We all know that pictures are worth a 1,000 words, so use images to tell the story, supported by copy. Most people get tired of reading before they get the entire message completed. Keep it short and have the emphasis on images that reinforce the words.

5. Ads must be remarkable. The average adult is exposed to over 1,500 marketing messages a day. Today's communication channels are overcrowded and supersaturated so the messaging needs to grab the viewers' attention instantly and then be memorable.

6. Tell a story. What is unique about a story? It is easy to remember. It is logical in its construction. It has a beginning, middle and end. And, it creates an image in the mind of the reader. When the message is a story that is memorable then the viewer is able to be positioned to take the next step in the story - buy. The viewer becomes a lead that has the potential to become a sale.

7. Keep it simple. When messages become complicated, they lack the ability to be memorable. Most people buy when they have a need, not just when advertisers present their story. When a message is simple, tells a story and highlights benefits to the buyer, there is a potential for progressing through the buying continuum. When they are complicated, the message's desired “call to action” is most likely lost.

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8. Create a tribe, not customers. The goal in advertising is create a tribe of loyal followers and maybe even brand fanatics, not just customers. Advertisers who do a great job create loyalists who not only buy, but tell others to buy.

9. Don't try to sell, try to connect. Selling happens after you have made potential buyers aware of the brand, understand and believe the advertiser’s value proposition. If you try to close too early in the sales cycle, the effort will be short circuited since the buyer is not positioned yet to “try” the offering. Patience in the process is needed to achieve the goal - sales.

10. Just like in all aspects of small business, advertising and sales promotion take planning and forethought. What’s the objective? How will you measure it? How will you improve upon it every time you execute a marketing promotion strategy?

Contributed by Marc L. Goldberg, Certified Mentor, SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands. For free and complimentary mentoring contact us at: www.score.org/capecod or capecodscore@scorevolunteer.org or 508-740-4820. Source: Seth Godin, Blog, LinkedIn.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Advertising, sales promotion and public relations tips