If Armstrong weren't such an incredible winner, if he hadn't gotten so much coverage in the media - the USPS logo prominent in every case - few people would even be aware that the USPS supports the team to the tune of $25 million dollars. The question being asked is, "Why does the USPS have to advertise? Aren't they a monopoly?" Actually, they have a monopoly on basic first-class mail, but there's plenty of competition for the lucrative overnight business.

And just about every other enterprise faces competition. All businesses have to tell their story to the public somehow. Because it's a large expense item, what should people consider when making decisions on advertising?

Define your market

We advertise in the HEB Chamber of Commerce directory because it targets small businesses like ourselves. We provide on-site computer services. Since most of the chamber members have computers, it's a perfect spot for us.

Because computer and network repairs are mostly "on-demand" services, we also focus marketing dollars on Yellow Pages advertising. When computers break, people often look there first to find a repair company. Even someone looking to put in a new network or manage an existing one will turn to the yellow pages.

We have looked into advertising on billboards, radio and television, but at this point, we don't believe the return would justify the expense. A hard, and costly, lesson for me to learn was that you can't use a shotgun approach to advertising.

- Tim Landers, owner, Beep-a-Geek Computer Services, Euless

Know what and where

From an advertising agency perspective, we counsel our clients to consider many different factors. Perhaps the two most obvious - and critical - are "What are we going to say?" and "Where are we going to say it?"

Determining the "what" isn't as easy as it might sound. It involves selecting the right message and then creating the most arresting way to present it. We believe that all advertising should be supported by a thorough brand-building process - which means a lot of upfront work to decide the most appropriate personality to project, the most important benefits to tout and the core emotional commitment to make with your customer. These aren't things you can necessarily spell out as simply as A-B-C, but they should be the life force of your creative concepts, reflected in every ad you produce.

The "where" is decided by which places your customers are most likely to see your message and where they'll be most receptive to it. Obviously, you don't see many ads for snowshoes in the Star-Telegram. Finding the right places to be also depends on your budget. In most cases, you need sustained exposure to get your message across. There's an old saying in advertising: You'll be tired of your ads before your customers even notice them. The message: Patience and repetition pay off.

It's easy to produce ads that stand out. Creating outstanding ads is more difficult. A strong brand-building approach and a smart media strategy are the right choices every time.

- Scott Kirk, senior vice president, Witherspoon Advertising & Public Relations, Fort Worth

Put in some effort

As a nonprofit, one of our biggest considerations must be return on investment. We want to make sure that every dollar donated to our cause is well spent.

We do our best to take advantage of the opportunities that may require a little bit of effort but don't cost actual dollars. We work to take advantage of "free" advertising: news articles and stories, press releases, "Click" photos, answers like this printed in "Working Wisdom," etc. It's a way to use the media available, and it enables us to recognize our donors and put the work we do in front of the public.

- Sarah Zink, director, resource generation, Junior Achievement, Fort Worth

Hitting our target

Cost is a major consideration for us when it comes to advertising.

We're an independent operation. We're on a growth curve. We just opened our first showroom. We'd love to flood the market with advertising, but we know we have to be very conscious of our cash flow. We just can't afford a full advertising schedule on the No. 1 stations in the Metroplex - yet.

If you don't advertise, you're not going to make it. But if you spend all your money on advertising, you don't have enough money to run your business.

Once we've identified affordable alternatives, we study their market reach and how closely their demographics match our customer profile. Are they reaching people who might be interested in our products?

We provide water purification systems. Our customers are on the high side on health consciousness. We've found that the older generation - those over 50 - and younger people under 20 tend to be much more health conscious. Since our customers are almost exclusively homeowners, we target that over-50 market.

One of our most productive advertising mediums is 770 AM KAAM radio. They play music definitely preferred by people in our target age group. And as a 10,000-watt station, their rates are lower than a 50,000-watt station. That's fine. It's not important to us that if the atmospheric conditions are right their programming can be heard in Colorado.

Another expenditure that really paid off for us is signage. We're on the corner of two major thoroughfares - lots of traffic. So we invested a significant amount of money in two major signs. Again, just alerting people to the possibility of chlorine-free swimming generated business.

- Mike Robertson, partner, Eco-Smarte of Dallas-Fort Worth, Arlington