Gerringong & Gerroa- the pretty coastal village.....
Gerringong is the hometown of South Coast Imag, we have a little office at the back of the chemists arcade & also live in town (Narelle in Gerringong & myself in Werri Beach), so I am slightly bias when promoting this hometown as a must-see!
You can find Gerringong about 10 mins south of Kiama or 40 mins south of Wollongong, it is close to many great day trip destinations on the south coast including Jervis Bay (approx 40 mins away).
Originally cleared by cedar cutters, Gerringong developed as a dairying village at the centre of rich pastures, more recently it has become a holiday town, popular with those that prize our beaches, glorious surroundings, rolling hills and proximity to Sydney.
The famous Natural Necessity Surf Shop in the main street of Gerringong (who coined the terms 'definitely worth the drive....') along with lots of homewares shops dotted up and down the street, a great bakery and the Deli (with wonderful coffee) or Scoops (delicious icecreams!) are also must- stop places.
Open on weekends you can stop at the Gerringong Heritage Museum in Blackwood St, displaying info from Gerringong's interesting past. The Crooked River Winery up the road has great wine to enjoy with a meal whilst taking in the view of the picturesque winery pastures below.
Boat Harbour is a great spot to take the kids for a bbq, watch the pelicans and swim in the rockpool, the grassed area means you can play a game of cricket/kick a ball & enjoy other Aussie family activities!
Werri Beach also has 2 rockpools one for the kiddies and 1 for adults as well as of course the beach nearby, the beach can be a bit rough so it's important to swim between the flags but this one can also be good for experienced surfers.
Gerroa, about 5 mins down south, is a great child-friendly beach & really good for beginner surfers, take your MAL out & give it a go, there is also surf schools that operate on the beach for those wanting a lesson.
Lots of accommodation is available in Gerringong now from Bellachara which has it's own kids club to Anchor Inn Motel (good steak at the Stonegrill Restaurant) to quaint B&B's and holiday houses down at Werri Beach, contact South Coast Holidays for more information & bookings.
We have more info in the mag or on our website at www.southcoastimag.com.au as well as Kiama Tourism who has an abundance of info both in the shop & online at www.kiama.com.au
So, have decided to start to write my blogs about our beautiful south coast! There is so much to see & do and nothing should be missed, especially with the warmer weather upon us meaning outdoor activities are a must.
I am going to work my way down the coast from the top of our region Shellharbour & down to just before Batemans Bay at the coastal town of Cullendulla.
If you are looking for a day trip destination then Shellharbour is a great one, it offers lots of self contained accommodation along with motels and a good van park by the water. You can visit Shellharbour Square at one end for endless shopping or to get the groceries whilst at the other you can see the quaint harbour village, with good cafes, boutique shopping, a good gallery & more.
Down at the village a cheap activity is to simply grab an icecream and enjoy a stroll down by the harbour (or bike ride, but wait till after the icecream for that!), you can watch the boats come in & out, search the rockpools or have a dip in the seapool not far along.
Shopping in the village is good as there are not a huge amount of shops but they all offer something unique, you have harbour rose & happy talk top boutiques for beautiful dresses and accessories or the special Green Poppy which is a groovy cafe that also makes its own specialty teas in-house. They always have a free variety brewing to try so duck in, give it a try & you might find a type you like.
Do you dive or snorkle? Shellharbour at Bushranger's Bay Marine Aquatic Reserve is known for its underwater paradise for Scuba Diving, if you are certified you can get any equipment you need at the top of town at the Scuba Shop. Other places close by to Shellharbour are the white sandy beaches of South Beach which is a good safe family beach or if surfing is your thing then 'The Farm' (as called by the locals) located within Killalea State Park is a popular surfing beach.
Other activities include golf at the Links, the HARS (aviation museum- let the kids see what old school planes looked like!) or Tongarra Museum at Albion Park (a historical step back in time).
I could go on & on with some more fun activities for Shellharbour but don't have all day! See the visitors centre or their website for more info, they are always happy to assist. Visit our website at www.southcoastimag.com.au where you can find what to do, what to see & where to go on the coast & download our latest magazine. PS- All the pics shown in this blog have been sourced from Shellharbour Tourism.
This month I thought I would talk about the pro-s & con's of a couple of different promotional types including newspapers, radio & website/online media.
In my next blog I will feature a few different other promotional types, these can help show you some advantages and disadvantages of various types of media.
Firstly we will start with Newspapers....
Newspapers: Cons: -Lack of quality reproduction- the stock used lack the clarity and quality of flyers or magazine print. Often you pay more for colour print & the grainy look of papers may not represent the image you are trying to express. -Short shelf life- paper will be thrown away next day or week, generally papers not kept for reading or for reference later on. If a reader only views certain sections eg 'sport' or does a quick ‘flick’ through they may not even see your message.
-Costly- newspaper advertisements may not be too costly for a once-off advert, however if you are running a 3 month campaign of weekly advertisements this can quickly add up.
-Clutter- newspaper content consist of more then 50% advertising and may result in your advertisement competing with many similar ones or the message being lost.
Pros: -Value- People generally have to pay for the paper, it is not FREE (most), which can often mean that readers will value the content more- they will read every last part to make sure they are getting value for what they paid for it.
-Target- You can target a fairly specific regional area eg Wollongong district or certain Sydney suburbs, meaning your marketing is tailored to a more specific area (eg if you have a cafe in Nowra & promote in a local Nowra paper you are generally more likely to recieve local business then say promoting in a Sydney paper).
-Online Presence- Many papers now have an online presence- meaning you are reaching the online market for no extra cost.
This website can give you some more Advantages & Disadvantages of Newspaper Advertising www.websitemarketingplan.com
Radio Promotion
Cons: -Competing Messages- Thousands of competing messages mean that your advertisement can sometimes get lost in the bunch.
-Once the message is heard – that’s it, the customer cannot return to message for a reference- what if they forget the phone number or website?!
-No visuals- as consumers we relate to pictures and images but with radio there is only sound, so message is easily forgotton
-With a range of competing music like ipods & car CD players- many people are not listening to radio like they used to & will simply switch to their cd player when advertisements start. Have you ever changed the channel to another station if the song stops and add’s come on? So do many others!
Pros: -Targeted listeners- radio can target your advertisment to similar listeners by placing say an advertisement that wants to reach career-based men with a high income level ages XX in a time slot that suits (such as the drive to work/home time slot), they often have great stats and feedback to help find a time slot to suits your needs.
-Features- There are other options such as a live broadcast, sponsorship & other ways in which you can publicise your business on the radio (instead of just straight out adverts) & this is something to consider. This site will take you to a list of radio stations in Australia-http://www.ausradiostations.com/ Online Promotion
Cons: -Wastage of audience- Would someone in India be interested in your restaurant in NSW? This media means it is sometimes difficult to target a specific audience.
-Huge amount of material on the Net- there are over 4 billion pages (& growing each day) listed on Google! How will you make your business stand out from the crowd.
Pros: -The internet is the way of the world, more and more people have access to the net and use it to search products & services, if you dont have a website you are seen as being behind the times & some people will even find you less than credible if you dont have one.
-With Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Websites, online advertising & more there are more and more ways to stay in touch on the net & it's often a great platform to promote your business for a relatively low cost. Web stats can tell you very specific information about who is reading your information.
There are literally hundreds of great sites online that offer more specific hints & tips about marketing online, a couple of the links below can get you started:
Running a print magazine has given me some great insight into the do's & dont's of running a print marketing campaign, i wanted to share with you some hints & tips for putting together a successful advertisement for my first Blog.
These principals can be applied to an advertisement online, in a magazine or newspaper or even in a direct mail flyer.
As a small business (or any business for that matter) we generally don't have thousands upon thousands of dollars to spend on ad's so making sure that time is spent putting together an advertisement that reaches your target market is vital in saving you time & money.
This information is based on a presentation i did at the Ulladulla Tourism meeting last month.
** Scroll to the bottom to see some really creative print advertisements.
Research What do you like/dislike about your competitors advertisements? Are they too cluttered, not enough 'bold' or colour used?
Have a catchy heading or logo Find an eye catching way in which to present your product or service.
Your message Think about what the main message in your ad will be- is it for brand recognition or for a particular sale/offer? What message are you trying to convey.
Point of Difference Focus on one clear point of difference, the more specific, the higher the impact. Avoid promoting a 'shopping list' or products you provide. The POD is something you provide that your competitors dont. Eg- serving only fair trade coffee where other cafes in your town don't. 'Great service' & 'good staff' are not your POD as most businesses claim to have this.
Stress the benefits not features Learn to identify the customer benefits eg- a toothbrush whitens your teeth (benefit) whilst the feature may be 'strong bristles'. The benefit is the advantage gained by the customer & is often an 'emotional' thing.
Keep it Simple The most common issue we come across is over crowded, messy and cluttered advertisements, less is definitely more & so focus on one clear thing to promote, if an advertisement is too cluttered, customers will simply scan over it.
Use of words Use words like 'us', 'our', 'we' where possible & have large easy to read wording. As a guide if a 6 year old child cannot understand your ad then review & simplify.
Use Photos not Cartoons Photos can be likened to the real world & as a result they facilitate recall better then cartoons or drawings- research suggests by as much as 26%. Use people in your images where possible as people can relate to other people (eg an image of a couple having a coffee in a cafe compared to a just a cartoon coffee cup). Make sure you have high jpeg good quality images, they make all the difference. Low quality pics can pixelate and become blury in publications & this reflects poorly on your business.
Audience Identify your target market, you cannot promote to everyone as the impact of the advertisement will be lost so identify what market you are trying to promote to & tailor the artwork to suit this particular market eg- women 25-35 living in XYZ regionwith high incomes.
Call to Action What do you want your customer to do after they read the advertisement- visit your website, call you, pop in?
End date Make sure you have an end date on any promotions or offers, this creates immediacy.
Print & Check Sounds obvious right? But printing your advert & having several people proof read is vital, we have had many people simply scan over advert on the computer screen to find the result in print format is not the same as a high def desktop computer....people often miss vital things such as an incorrect phone number which can make or break the advertisement.
Using the same format again & again Continuously changing colours, looks and formats doesn't help to build brand recognition & awareness. However every so often changing a promotion or different variables in an ad can help to refresh your image to regular readers.
Track the Response There is no point in running an advertisement unless you monitor how well it went & the response to the campaign. Ask each customer that comes in or phones where they heard about you from to tell whether you should repeat that form of advertising again.
Conclusion
While many marketing campaigns are turning to the internet as a means of promoting their products and services, print marketing remains an effective means of advertising for many companies. By utilizing the right marketing techniques, paired with aiming for the proper audience, and setting and remaining within a reasonable budget, print marketing may remain a viable option for you and your company as well.
Check out some interesting & catchy print campaigns below.
NB:With the new technologies that are out there & great photoshop techniques this means that many graphic design artists can often replicate or design advertisments with elements like the ones below that several years ago may not have been possible without a massive budget.
To promote your business with my magazine 'South Coast Monthly Imag', email me at vanessa@southcoastimag.com.au or visit our website for details at www.southcoastimag.com.au
