y: Radhika Venkata
When you start your online business, you will go through a series of steps like:
==>Domain registration
==>Website designing and installing your inventory and order links
==>Advertising about your products or service
Regarding advertising, you should always target your audience.When you are selling garden tools in Miami, you will get better results with offline advertising and Joint Ventures with other websites that are focused on Gardening and pointing to Miami area.
After Advertising, one important step is 'TESTING' your advertising campaign.
Why?
Look at this example.You spent $50 on keeping an ad on some famous site or a email campaign.Let's say this is one time ad.
If you don't know how many people clicked on your URL or how many people bought your product coming through that link, how are you going to spend another $50 on the same advertising method?
Rather than Click thrus you can go one step further and calculate the number of sales per one advertising method.
Here are few methods you can use to track your results.
**1.Email Tracking:
If you have ezine and you are keeping your subscription email links in different places like other ezines, websites and ebooks, you can give a little code to your email address.
Like this-
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ezine
subscribe@yourdomain.com?subject=ebook
First one in ezines and second one in your ebook.That little code goes in to subject area of emails.
By seeing your emails you can know from where you are getting more response.
**2.URL Tracking:
There are different ways to track your URLs.
You can keep your URL with a little code similar to emails.
www.yourdomain.com/product.html?source=ebook
You can also upload a different page for your each ad campaign.See the example below.
You have a page like- www.yourdomain.com/product.html
Then you can upoload the same page with different URL like- www.yourdomain.com/prod.html
So the visitors that comes to that page can be seen in your weblogs.If you have a good logging software you can save all the visitors information for that particular page.Check this weblogger-
http://www.logitpro.com/
http://perlonline.com/
This weblogger tells you exactly how many hits are taking by one webpage and referers.
So you can see how many hits are coming to your '/prod.html' page and referers.
**3.Click Tracking Software:
Click tracking script is a cgi script that gives you information about a click. The click may be on your website, emails, ezines, banners or anything.
If the click tracking script tells you the number of clicks it is not going to be useful to you. Because you can't differentiate the people buying through your campaign links or your regular links.
So what a Click tracking script should tell you?
1. Tell the number of clicks to tell the click thru ratio:
By this you can optimize your ads. If a specified ad get low click thrus you can change the optimize it.
2. Tell the ip address of the visitor.
By this you can know which ad bringing you the sales. If a particular ip clicking on a specific link buys your product you can know that ad campaign's ROI.
3. Tells the geographical distribution of the clicks.
This is useful when you want to know how many clicks coming from different countries. Like if you see 'jp' with ip address, you can know the visitor from Japan. But this is not possible in all cases.
http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/clicktracking/index.shtml
This is a FREE Click tracking script that gives you all needed information. It comes with easy admin panel.
IMPORTANT TIPS IN TESTING YOUR ADs:
==>If you think your URL is 'Alive', don't delete that page on your server.
If you keep an ad in your ezine articles and submit to other ezines, your articles will be spread all over the net after a while.If you delete that URL on your server people will get '404 page not found' error and you will lose your potential visitor.
==>In email campaigns consider short URLs.Long URLs will break up in to two lines and the reader can not click on it to get your desired page.
==>Test ONE VARIABLE at a time.Suppose you want to check the response and sales rate for two different types of sales letter and by giving free gifts with your product. Don't test both at once. First check the sales page variable.If you don't get good response then go to free gifts variable.
If you get good response to one of the sales pages, then use the free gifts method in different advertising campaign.
Good luck!!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
10 Ezine Advertising Strategies For Starters
y: Diane Hughes
Copyright 2005 Diane Hughes
If you're like most ezine advertisers you wish to generate FAST Sales by sending your message in front of thousands ezine subscribers.
Some spend hundreds in ezine advertising hoping to generate a BIG profit... but it ends up costing them more than they earn.
Yes, ezine advertising works, but if you really want to WIN the ezine advertising GAME you must take in consideration the strategies below:
1. What do you plan to advertise?
e.g. an affiliate product, your own product, a course by e-mail, an ebook, etc.
You must know exactly what you want to promote in other ezines before advertising in them; ask yourself these questions:
Is the product related to your target audience?
Is the product valuable?
Does the seller offer a money-back guarantee?
Does the Web Site make you want to purchase the product yourself?
Does the Web Sales Letter convert into Sales?
2. Who is your target audience?
The product you plan to promote in other ezines must be related to a certain niche (target audience) so don't make the mistake to think that everyone needs or wants what you promote.
e.g. if your product is related to dog lovers, don't advertise in ezines related to cat lovers because you won't make any sales.
3. Where to find the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in?
The 'BEST' ezine to promote a product in is the one targeted to your audience.
The more specific your target audience and the ezine TOPIC, the more sales you could receive.
Also, the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in is the one where the publisher has already built TRUST with his/her subscribers and they purchase regularly from their recommendations.
Ezine Advertising List
http://www.probiztrack.com/go/p.cgi/ezines
4. What's your BUDGET?
If you only afford $300 to spend on ezine advertising, you don't want to spend it all on one ezine. Try to invest your money wisely, step-by-step.
Have you seen a publisher claiming their ezine has 90,000+ subscribers and they sell advertising for $25 - $50 or so?
If these offers sound too good to be true, maybe it is!
5. How many subscribers does the ezine have?
Numbers don't count, the quality of the ezine CONTENT itself is what makes the difference; if a publisher sends too many ads to their subscribers, I suppose you imagine there are not too happy seeing all those ads.
The more CONTENT and less advertising an ezine has, the better RESULTS you could receive from your advertising.
6. Who wrote your Ad Copy?
You know exactly the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in, how much you want to spend on advertising, but your ad copy is weak ... try to improve it yourself or ask a copywriter to rewrite it.
How to make your Ad Copy bring in GREAT results?
- write an eye-catching headline or no one will read your WHOLE ad copy;
- use powerful / action words in your headline & ad copy like 'INSTANT', 'FREE', 'GET', 'CASH', 'UNLIMITED', 'TURN', 'BOOST', 'CREATE', etc.
- write your ad copy to promote a FREE offer like a FREE course by e-mail, a FREE ebook or a FREE sample of a product.
7. Don't want to track your Ad?
Why not? How will you know that the ezine you advertised in is profitable or not?
Most advertisers don't track their ads. Just look in other ezines and you'll see their regular Web Site link, no tracking URL available.
A tracking URL will show you how many clicks your ad receives and how many sales it makes from those clicks.
http://www.probiztrack.com
8. Don't want to use autoresponders in your Ad Copy?
Autoresponders are one of the SMARTEST internet marketing tools simply because they allow you to follow-up with your leads and send out more promotional offers automatically. You only write your messages once and then put them on the autoresponder sequences to be delivered at pre-determined intervals like 1, 2 or more days. You can even use autoresponders to build your own mailing lists of leads and customers.
Instead of sending prospects to your main Web Site page, direct them to a Web Page where they can GET a FREE course by e-mail. Use this course to educate them and build a relationship with them, gain their trust.
9. Want to play with 'SPAM'?
Don't do it if you are SMART. Search on your favorite search engine for "spam laws + email marketing" and you'll get a picture of what 'SPAM' is and how you can protect yourself!
Make sure you read about the CAN-Spam law if you want to know how to legally send commercial emails.
Also, don't forget about the FTC laws on e-mail marketing!
10. What ads are 'BEST'?
If you want to sell something directly from your ad, try Solo Mailings (one e-mail sent to all subscribers with no other ads in competition!)
If you want to TEST your ad or want to promote a FREE offer, try Classified, Top Sponsor or Bottom Ads.
They are much cheaper than Solos and could bring 'POOR' results.
If you invest in Solo Ads, make sure your ad copy is short and to the point, don't bore your prospect with long ad copy.
About the Author
Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
Copyright 2005 Diane Hughes
If you're like most ezine advertisers you wish to generate FAST Sales by sending your message in front of thousands ezine subscribers.
Some spend hundreds in ezine advertising hoping to generate a BIG profit... but it ends up costing them more than they earn.
Yes, ezine advertising works, but if you really want to WIN the ezine advertising GAME you must take in consideration the strategies below:
1. What do you plan to advertise?
e.g. an affiliate product, your own product, a course by e-mail, an ebook, etc.
You must know exactly what you want to promote in other ezines before advertising in them; ask yourself these questions:
Is the product related to your target audience?
Is the product valuable?
Does the seller offer a money-back guarantee?
Does the Web Site make you want to purchase the product yourself?
Does the Web Sales Letter convert into Sales?
2. Who is your target audience?
The product you plan to promote in other ezines must be related to a certain niche (target audience) so don't make the mistake to think that everyone needs or wants what you promote.
e.g. if your product is related to dog lovers, don't advertise in ezines related to cat lovers because you won't make any sales.
3. Where to find the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in?
The 'BEST' ezine to promote a product in is the one targeted to your audience.
The more specific your target audience and the ezine TOPIC, the more sales you could receive.
Also, the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in is the one where the publisher has already built TRUST with his/her subscribers and they purchase regularly from their recommendations.
Ezine Advertising List
http://www.probiztrack.com/go/p.cgi/ezines
4. What's your BUDGET?
If you only afford $300 to spend on ezine advertising, you don't want to spend it all on one ezine. Try to invest your money wisely, step-by-step.
Have you seen a publisher claiming their ezine has 90,000+ subscribers and they sell advertising for $25 - $50 or so?
If these offers sound too good to be true, maybe it is!
5. How many subscribers does the ezine have?
Numbers don't count, the quality of the ezine CONTENT itself is what makes the difference; if a publisher sends too many ads to their subscribers, I suppose you imagine there are not too happy seeing all those ads.
The more CONTENT and less advertising an ezine has, the better RESULTS you could receive from your advertising.
6. Who wrote your Ad Copy?
You know exactly the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in, how much you want to spend on advertising, but your ad copy is weak ... try to improve it yourself or ask a copywriter to rewrite it.
How to make your Ad Copy bring in GREAT results?
- write an eye-catching headline or no one will read your WHOLE ad copy;
- use powerful / action words in your headline & ad copy like 'INSTANT', 'FREE', 'GET', 'CASH', 'UNLIMITED', 'TURN', 'BOOST', 'CREATE', etc.
- write your ad copy to promote a FREE offer like a FREE course by e-mail, a FREE ebook or a FREE sample of a product.
7. Don't want to track your Ad?
Why not? How will you know that the ezine you advertised in is profitable or not?
Most advertisers don't track their ads. Just look in other ezines and you'll see their regular Web Site link, no tracking URL available.
A tracking URL will show you how many clicks your ad receives and how many sales it makes from those clicks.
http://www.probiztrack.com
8. Don't want to use autoresponders in your Ad Copy?
Autoresponders are one of the SMARTEST internet marketing tools simply because they allow you to follow-up with your leads and send out more promotional offers automatically. You only write your messages once and then put them on the autoresponder sequences to be delivered at pre-determined intervals like 1, 2 or more days. You can even use autoresponders to build your own mailing lists of leads and customers.
Instead of sending prospects to your main Web Site page, direct them to a Web Page where they can GET a FREE course by e-mail. Use this course to educate them and build a relationship with them, gain their trust.
9. Want to play with 'SPAM'?
Don't do it if you are SMART. Search on your favorite search engine for "spam laws + email marketing" and you'll get a picture of what 'SPAM' is and how you can protect yourself!
Make sure you read about the CAN-Spam law if you want to know how to legally send commercial emails.
Also, don't forget about the FTC laws on e-mail marketing!
10. What ads are 'BEST'?
If you want to sell something directly from your ad, try Solo Mailings (one e-mail sent to all subscribers with no other ads in competition!)
If you want to TEST your ad or want to promote a FREE offer, try Classified, Top Sponsor or Bottom Ads.
They are much cheaper than Solos and could bring 'POOR' results.
If you invest in Solo Ads, make sure your ad copy is short and to the point, don't bore your prospect with long ad copy.
About the Author
Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
Online Advertising Traffic and the First Law of Web Surfing
by: Joel Walsh
Hint: don't send send your online advertising traffic to your homepage.
How do you convert online advertising traffic into customers? The key is a phenomenon of human behavior that only comes into play on the web.
You won't read about this phenomenon in books or articles on general principles of advertising or direct marketing. In fact, traditional advertising professionals and direct marketers often create only so-so online advertising campaigns simply because they've never heard of this phenomenon, even though it's essentially the first law of human web surfing behavior.
How to convert your online advertising traffic into customersReady to find out what that all-important first law of web surfing is? Prepare to be not very amazed. You see, everyone who surfs the web already knows about this phenomenon of human behavior because we all do it--even you.
So here it is, the first law of human web surfing behavior, which you absolutely must take into account when marketing your website: While surfing the web, almost everyone will hit the "back" button if they think there's a chance--even a small chance-- they've come to the wrong web page.
The corollary to this law of web surfing behavior: Anyone who clicks through to your site via an online advertising link needs to know they've arrived at the right place as soon as they get there.
Immediately. Within a second. From a click glance. Without having to read anything. The average human attention span on the web has been measured at eight seconds, and you'll have already lost a few seconds while the page downloaded.
The Key(word) to Converting Advertisement-Clickers into CustomersHow do you make absolutely sure visitors feel like they've arrived in the right place?
Make the title and first heading of your landing page (the page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking on an advertisement) the same as the headline of the advertisement that brought your visitor there. If the landing page links to a banner (image) advertisement, use the same pictures and color scheme as the advertisement.
The landing page absolutely must immediately remind the visitor of the advertisement.
The advertisements, in turn, must flow logically from the keywords they are targeting. Even if your advertisements are appearing on websites rather than search engine results, you need to be thinking in terms of the keywords people are using to search for your product in order to speak the language of your prospective customers.
That's why it is very important both your advertisement and landing page incorporate the target keyword prominently, in headings as well as the page body. That's also why it's so important you don't send your visitors from online advertising to your homepage--it's unlikely you could optimize your homepage for all your possible advertisements. Visitors who arrive via advertising need to land on a special "landing page," or they may crash and leave your site.
Conversions: your advertising campaign's goalBut what happens once visitors land on your site and decide to stay more than ten seconds? It's no use if they just hang around. They need to convert.
Important definition: In online advertising parlance, saying a website visitor "converts," means he or she has taken a desired action toward becoming a customer, either 1) buying something or 2) contacting you for more information, thereby becoming a lead.
The percentage of visitors who convert out of the total number of visitors who arrive at your page is the conversion rate. Your goal is to get this rate as high possible. You do that by finding the right message to display on your landing page, and also by targeting the advertising so you are getting visitors who are most likely to convert.
In order to get your visitors to convert once they arrive, you need to make sure they have a clear path to conversion from the landing page. The simpler the path, the better--a winding road might lose some potential customers. This conversion path could be as simple as a "buy now" button or a contact form, or as complex as a multi-step shopping cart with required registration with required email confirmation to scare away those who are not truly devoted buyers.
Targeting your trafficWhat you show visitors who arrive at your site is only half the equation. The visitors themselves are the other. As with everything in life, you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse. In this case, the sow's ear is paid traffic that is not targeted, or is coming from popunders or other forced viewing, or is just plain faked (there is software specifically designed to emulate human visitors so fraudsters can sell the "traffic").
Even in the best of cases, some traffic converts better than others. Generally speaking, visitors who are looking for you are the likeliest to convert, so conversion rates tend to be highest from advertising on search engines. Conversion rates tend to be lower from advertising on websites (so-called "content" or "contextual" advertising).
Conversion rates are lower still on advertising on website popups, and lowest of all on so-called adware (programs that display popups on a user's computer; the people who sell this advertising often label it "targeted traffic"). Sending emails that consist of nothing but your advertisement, even if you've skirted the legal definition of spam, is not worth the bad will and damage to your brand.
Preaching to non-converting online advertising trafficA significant percentage of visitors, maybe a majority, will never just click "buy now." How do you reach them?
Many people simply will never make a purchase without speaking to a salesperson first. For them, provide a convenient contact form, as well as a live chat option--if you can afford the time and expense--your email, and a telephone number. A telephone number is especially important since there are some visitors who will never convert without hearing the voice of someone on your end.
For visitors who are not ready to convert immediately, you should have informational articles, "about us" pages or FAQs ready to help them make up their minds.
For visitors who simply will not be ready to convert today, give a reason to bookmark your page. Good articles. A special offer. A newsletter to sign up for. Free advice.
Just make sure you don't place these alternative non-converting options in too prominent a position, or you'll risk distracting prospective customers. A few paragraphs up from the very bottom of the page is a good place to catch people who are interested in you enough to read the entire page, but still haven't converted. The very bottom of the page should be reserved for a conversion option for all the prospective customers accustomed to scrolling to the bottom of the page to get a quick overview.
After all, if you want your visitors from online advertising traffic to convert into customers, shouldn't you at least make it easy for them?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Walsh has written as a staff writer for St. Martin's Press and Barnes & Noble, as well as numerous online publications. He is the head writer for UpMarket, a website content provider and online advertising resource for small and medium-sized business websites. You can get a template guide for writing a landing page, with samples, at: http://upmarketcontent.com/landing-page-template.htm
Hint: don't send send your online advertising traffic to your homepage.
How do you convert online advertising traffic into customers? The key is a phenomenon of human behavior that only comes into play on the web.
You won't read about this phenomenon in books or articles on general principles of advertising or direct marketing. In fact, traditional advertising professionals and direct marketers often create only so-so online advertising campaigns simply because they've never heard of this phenomenon, even though it's essentially the first law of human web surfing behavior.
How to convert your online advertising traffic into customersReady to find out what that all-important first law of web surfing is? Prepare to be not very amazed. You see, everyone who surfs the web already knows about this phenomenon of human behavior because we all do it--even you.
So here it is, the first law of human web surfing behavior, which you absolutely must take into account when marketing your website: While surfing the web, almost everyone will hit the "back" button if they think there's a chance--even a small chance-- they've come to the wrong web page.
The corollary to this law of web surfing behavior: Anyone who clicks through to your site via an online advertising link needs to know they've arrived at the right place as soon as they get there.
Immediately. Within a second. From a click glance. Without having to read anything. The average human attention span on the web has been measured at eight seconds, and you'll have already lost a few seconds while the page downloaded.
The Key(word) to Converting Advertisement-Clickers into CustomersHow do you make absolutely sure visitors feel like they've arrived in the right place?
Make the title and first heading of your landing page (the page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking on an advertisement) the same as the headline of the advertisement that brought your visitor there. If the landing page links to a banner (image) advertisement, use the same pictures and color scheme as the advertisement.
The landing page absolutely must immediately remind the visitor of the advertisement.
The advertisements, in turn, must flow logically from the keywords they are targeting. Even if your advertisements are appearing on websites rather than search engine results, you need to be thinking in terms of the keywords people are using to search for your product in order to speak the language of your prospective customers.
That's why it is very important both your advertisement and landing page incorporate the target keyword prominently, in headings as well as the page body. That's also why it's so important you don't send your visitors from online advertising to your homepage--it's unlikely you could optimize your homepage for all your possible advertisements. Visitors who arrive via advertising need to land on a special "landing page," or they may crash and leave your site.
Conversions: your advertising campaign's goalBut what happens once visitors land on your site and decide to stay more than ten seconds? It's no use if they just hang around. They need to convert.
Important definition: In online advertising parlance, saying a website visitor "converts," means he or she has taken a desired action toward becoming a customer, either 1) buying something or 2) contacting you for more information, thereby becoming a lead.
The percentage of visitors who convert out of the total number of visitors who arrive at your page is the conversion rate. Your goal is to get this rate as high possible. You do that by finding the right message to display on your landing page, and also by targeting the advertising so you are getting visitors who are most likely to convert.
In order to get your visitors to convert once they arrive, you need to make sure they have a clear path to conversion from the landing page. The simpler the path, the better--a winding road might lose some potential customers. This conversion path could be as simple as a "buy now" button or a contact form, or as complex as a multi-step shopping cart with required registration with required email confirmation to scare away those who are not truly devoted buyers.
Targeting your trafficWhat you show visitors who arrive at your site is only half the equation. The visitors themselves are the other. As with everything in life, you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse. In this case, the sow's ear is paid traffic that is not targeted, or is coming from popunders or other forced viewing, or is just plain faked (there is software specifically designed to emulate human visitors so fraudsters can sell the "traffic").
Even in the best of cases, some traffic converts better than others. Generally speaking, visitors who are looking for you are the likeliest to convert, so conversion rates tend to be highest from advertising on search engines. Conversion rates tend to be lower from advertising on websites (so-called "content" or "contextual" advertising).
Conversion rates are lower still on advertising on website popups, and lowest of all on so-called adware (programs that display popups on a user's computer; the people who sell this advertising often label it "targeted traffic"). Sending emails that consist of nothing but your advertisement, even if you've skirted the legal definition of spam, is not worth the bad will and damage to your brand.
Preaching to non-converting online advertising trafficA significant percentage of visitors, maybe a majority, will never just click "buy now." How do you reach them?
Many people simply will never make a purchase without speaking to a salesperson first. For them, provide a convenient contact form, as well as a live chat option--if you can afford the time and expense--your email, and a telephone number. A telephone number is especially important since there are some visitors who will never convert without hearing the voice of someone on your end.
For visitors who are not ready to convert immediately, you should have informational articles, "about us" pages or FAQs ready to help them make up their minds.
For visitors who simply will not be ready to convert today, give a reason to bookmark your page. Good articles. A special offer. A newsletter to sign up for. Free advice.
Just make sure you don't place these alternative non-converting options in too prominent a position, or you'll risk distracting prospective customers. A few paragraphs up from the very bottom of the page is a good place to catch people who are interested in you enough to read the entire page, but still haven't converted. The very bottom of the page should be reserved for a conversion option for all the prospective customers accustomed to scrolling to the bottom of the page to get a quick overview.
After all, if you want your visitors from online advertising traffic to convert into customers, shouldn't you at least make it easy for them?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Walsh has written as a staff writer for St. Martin's Press and Barnes & Noble, as well as numerous online publications. He is the head writer for UpMarket, a website content provider and online advertising resource for small and medium-sized business websites. You can get a template guide for writing a landing page, with samples, at: http://upmarketcontent.com/landing-page-template.htm
Advertising Made Easy
by: chet holmes
How You Can Make Advertising Pay Big Dividends (source: www.chetholmes.com)
McGraw Hill once commissioned an extensive study to determine what marketing weapons make a company famous in it's market or community.
The study went on to show that advertising created more product, service, or brand awareness than all other marketing weapons combined.
The fact is, we know that Coke is "The Real Thing" because Coke advertises, not because it has good salespeople or does great direct mail.
Advertising stays in front of your prospects when you can't be there. While a handful of salespeople can only be in front of perhaps a hundred or so prospects per month, advertising can reach thousands of potential buyers each and every month, week, or day.
Studies also show that advertising inspires confidence from your current clients. When current clients see your ad, it reinforces their belief in you.
It makes them feel like they made the right decision to be your client. But advertising can also waste money if you don't use it properly.
To avoid wasting money, keep these three tips in mind. Don't spend money on an advertising vehicle if the majority of its listeners/viewer/readers will never buy your type of product or services.
For example, let's say that you own a commercial real estate company or a business bank. In both cases, you are only interested in business people.
Broad-reaching television or radio stations or general-interest daily newspapers base their rates on how many consumers they reach.
An examination of their audiences may easily show you that a high percentage of their listeners or readers are not business people, yet you will have to pay to reach all of them.
Conversely, there are more specialized advertising vehicles that target a far greater percentage of your potential buyers.
A business radio program or a business publication will offer you an audience comprised mostly of your potential buyers.
If you do advertise, do not expect that a single ad, or even a few ads, constitute effective advertising. Effective advertising needs to be consistent and steady.
However: If you don't have the budget to take a full advertising schedule, I often recommend that my clients buy one, well placed ad in the ideal magazine and then use that piece for years sometimes with a banner that says: "As Seen In Industry Today."
This ad then works very hard for you as a direct mail piece, promo piece, or even a hand out at a trade show.
Don't spread your advertising too thin. Some years ago, a corporate training company launched its services by buying a few spots per week on seven different radio stations.
Since it was not on any one station long enough to give its message a chance to take root, the advertising was a total failure.
The company should have taken its entire budget and sunk it into one or (at the most) two primary vehicles. Each advertising vehicle has a loyal audience.
You are far better off having a heavy schedule in one vehicle, where you have a chance to break through the clutter and get noticed, than to take a few spots in a half-dozen vehicles in which you get lost in the commercial clutter.
Today, repetition and concentration are the keys to successful advertising.
Another important point along the lines of advertising smart is that cable TV today can virtually change your life in a week. I know a fellow who has an electronic repair business.
He would fix VCR's, TV's, Toasters, etc. and he also would come to your home to hook up your entire entertainment system if you needed him to do that. The name of the business was Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service.
First, on my advice, he took an insert in the newspaper. (An "insert" is a flyer that is printed separately and "inserted" into the newspaper as a loose piece of paper).
This is generally a very good way to go with B2B in a trade journal or B2C in a newspaper.
These are good because they fall out of the magazine or newspaper onto your desk or kitchen table and they are less expensive to buy than printing your ad right in the vehicle of choice.
When I ran magazines and newspapers, we discouraged them because we NEEDED ads in the magazine/newspaper, but when we had a client we were going to lose over lack of response, we ALWAYS recommended the insert because they almost always worked.
So Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service took the newspaper insert in the local newspaper and bought, specifically, the major neighborhoods where he felt they have more time than money.
That's the other beauty of newspaper inserts is that you can generally buy a small piece of the circulation to test the idea or to concentrate geographically. This worked for months for Mr. Tim, as people kept the insert around until they needed him.
But one of the people that spotted that insert was the local cable salesperson who told him he could make him famous. Mr. Tim thought TV would be WAY too expensive, but, as it turns out, in some markets, you can buy just a neighborhood. You can buy by zip code.
So for $200 per week, Mr. Tim was on TV like 60 times per week, spread all over 50 different cable channels.
It was amazing. You'd be watching re-runs of Seinfeld and there would come this Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service ad and his phone would ring. It worked great.
Then one day he walks into a bike shop and someone recognized him from his TV ad. He was becoming famous from this mere $200 per week.
Not for everyone, but if you sell B2C, look into local cable and concentrate with a lot of spots.
Every business action requires some kind of cost justification. Does the effort justify the cost? Company X advertised its professional educational materials.
When it seemed as though the advertising was not working, the company was going to cancel its ad campaign.
Then it discovered a startling correlation between its advertising and its direct-mail efforts: Its direct-mail response went up by 30% in the months it advertised to the same audience.
This is typical. The more penetration you can get to the same audience, the better the possibility that you will get noticed.
In the '90s, getting noticed is everything. In today's commercial clutter, you get noticed only by continually reaching the same potential customer with a consistent theme, message, look, and feel.
If you advertise in a print medium (magazine, newspaper, etc.), you will find that most publications will rent you their mailing lists.
This means you can direct mail to the same audience to which you are advertising! This is a very smart usage of marketing dollars.
Look at the lifetime value. If you have an inexpensive product, your advertising has to deliver a high number of leads, or every lead has to turn into a repeat customer.
For example, say your average customer spends $25 with you. If you are spending $1,000 per month on advertising, you will need to attract 40 new customers per month to break even on the ad, not counting any of your other costs, such as product costs and overhead.
If those customers are one-time buyers, then you have to find a way to make your advertising more effective or less expensive. If they become regular buyers, then you can accept lower response rates.
The key here is to look at the "lifetime value" of a customer. A customer who spends $25 a month and comes to your store only once is only worth $25 to you.
But if you can get that customer to be a repeat customer, then that customer is worth $300 a year, or $1,500 over five years!
Most business people do not understand the power of advertising; they do not realize that each new $25 customer is potentially a $1,500 customer!
Advertising brings in the customers, but it is your job to keep them buying from you.
Advertising promotes word-of-mouth
Often, a loyal customer will see your ad while with a friend or business associate. Your customer will show your ad to the friend and say, "Hey Joe, now this is a really great company/product/service."
Joe will come into your business, and you will ask him how he heard of you. He will say that his friend referred him and never think to mention that it was your advertising that prompted the friend to open his mouth in the first place.
I headed up a Neilson study that tracked hundreds of ads and the response rate each ad generated. Each month, a computer printout listed the ads and how much response each had generated. The first printout came and it looked like this:
* X Company....22 responses
* Y Company.......20 responses
* Z Company.....23 responses
* K Company.....223 responses
* J Company......26 responses
In the midst of all the other ads generating responses in the low 20's, one ad was generated more than 200 responses!
Turning to the ad, we expected to find some totally new or unique offer, product or service.
Instead, we found that the product advertised was nearly identical in price and features to four or five other products in the same publication.
Thus, it wasn't the product that made the response jump so significantly, it was the ad! After a year of tracking the highest response generating ads, we learned that, for the most part, the ads that pulled the greatest response followed four primary rules:
Rule No 1: Is it distinctive? You must design advertising that is so distinctive looking (or sounding, if you're on the radio) that it pops out of the clutter.
In print, the first goal of high-response-oriented advertising is that it be visually distinctive. On radio, the audio must be distinctive. Naturally, TV has both visual and audio possibilities.
I ran a TV spot advertising a free seminar I'm doing with Jay Abraham. Among other images we used in the spot, I put a shot of me throwing a double side kick (I have 23 years of karate training) to the head of a business owner (we're both in suits).
What's the point of that? One point. It makes you want to find out "what the heck is going on there?" Today, 70% of TV watchers are muting out the commercials.
But if you see something really intriguing, you will UN-mute just to see what the heck is happening there.
There's a spot running right now where this kid sprays his mother with a squirt gun and she pulls the hose out of the sink and nails the kid with it.
I saw that spot several times and it finally got my goat. I wanted to see what they were advertising.
So make your ad distinctive. Something that makes it STAND OUT.
Rule No. 2: Tell me what you want to tell me. If you page through a magazine, you will quickly notice that you do not read the ads that make it difficult for you to figure out what they are selling.
"Clever" is only better if it is "super clever." Clever headlines that do not tell you what they are trying to sell are simply not effective.
Most ads in most publications today don't have headlines that tell you what they are trying to sell. In the information age, don't hint around; say what you want to say, right in the headline.
A good headline follows these four criteria:
* It tells you what the product or service is.
* It starts with the word you or your (not always, but mostly).
* It contains a benefit to the reader. Most companies brag about themselves, rather than talk about the benefit to the reader (prospect).
High-response-oriented advertising focuses like a laser beam on the benefit to the customer.
* It makes the consumer want to read on.
The headline is the ad for the ad. If the headline isn't good, no one will read the rest of the ad. Responses to ads have jumped ten fold by simply changing the headlines.
Rule No. 3: The body copy should.
Be curiosity driven, unfolding the story you want to tell.
By highly benefit oriented. So many ads talk about features, when it is benefits that motivate buying.
Give you a reason to take action now! Can you offer something for free that will help you engage the potential customer?
Rule No. 4: Ask for the order. Too many ads do not give explicit instructions as to what action you would like the customer to take: "Order today and save," or "Call us today and receive this free..". You must always ask for the order!
Summary
Advertising is a powerful tool for becoming a well-known player in any market.
Even if you take a small schedule and a small ad, by consistently letting it run in an appropriately targeted vehicle, over time that ad will have an impact. People will see your logo and it will register.
Advertising supports everything else you do in your business. But it is only part of a total package.
You must have other marketing, and you must make sure, ultimately, that you are treating the customer like gold. Happy customers will spread the word faster, and advertising will help facilitate that. Happy advertising!
Chet Holmes is President and CEO of Jordan Productions, an international training firm that helps companies accelerate growth using Chet's proprietary techniques. See www.chetholmes.com to attend a webinar about Chet's concepts.
About The Author
Chet Holmes is author and creator of the popular business series Guerrilla Marketing Meets Karate Master with Jay Conrad Levinson, Business Growth Masters, and Zero to $100 Million.
Chet charges $5,000 an hour and has been paid fees up to $1 million dollars from a single client. He's personally had 50 Fortune 500 clients and has 60 products selling in 19 countries.
How You Can Make Advertising Pay Big Dividends (source: www.chetholmes.com)
McGraw Hill once commissioned an extensive study to determine what marketing weapons make a company famous in it's market or community.
The study went on to show that advertising created more product, service, or brand awareness than all other marketing weapons combined.
The fact is, we know that Coke is "The Real Thing" because Coke advertises, not because it has good salespeople or does great direct mail.
Advertising stays in front of your prospects when you can't be there. While a handful of salespeople can only be in front of perhaps a hundred or so prospects per month, advertising can reach thousands of potential buyers each and every month, week, or day.
Studies also show that advertising inspires confidence from your current clients. When current clients see your ad, it reinforces their belief in you.
It makes them feel like they made the right decision to be your client. But advertising can also waste money if you don't use it properly.
To avoid wasting money, keep these three tips in mind. Don't spend money on an advertising vehicle if the majority of its listeners/viewer/readers will never buy your type of product or services.
For example, let's say that you own a commercial real estate company or a business bank. In both cases, you are only interested in business people.
Broad-reaching television or radio stations or general-interest daily newspapers base their rates on how many consumers they reach.
An examination of their audiences may easily show you that a high percentage of their listeners or readers are not business people, yet you will have to pay to reach all of them.
Conversely, there are more specialized advertising vehicles that target a far greater percentage of your potential buyers.
A business radio program or a business publication will offer you an audience comprised mostly of your potential buyers.
If you do advertise, do not expect that a single ad, or even a few ads, constitute effective advertising. Effective advertising needs to be consistent and steady.
However: If you don't have the budget to take a full advertising schedule, I often recommend that my clients buy one, well placed ad in the ideal magazine and then use that piece for years sometimes with a banner that says: "As Seen In Industry Today."
This ad then works very hard for you as a direct mail piece, promo piece, or even a hand out at a trade show.
Don't spread your advertising too thin. Some years ago, a corporate training company launched its services by buying a few spots per week on seven different radio stations.
Since it was not on any one station long enough to give its message a chance to take root, the advertising was a total failure.
The company should have taken its entire budget and sunk it into one or (at the most) two primary vehicles. Each advertising vehicle has a loyal audience.
You are far better off having a heavy schedule in one vehicle, where you have a chance to break through the clutter and get noticed, than to take a few spots in a half-dozen vehicles in which you get lost in the commercial clutter.
Today, repetition and concentration are the keys to successful advertising.
Another important point along the lines of advertising smart is that cable TV today can virtually change your life in a week. I know a fellow who has an electronic repair business.
He would fix VCR's, TV's, Toasters, etc. and he also would come to your home to hook up your entire entertainment system if you needed him to do that. The name of the business was Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service.
First, on my advice, he took an insert in the newspaper. (An "insert" is a flyer that is printed separately and "inserted" into the newspaper as a loose piece of paper).
This is generally a very good way to go with B2B in a trade journal or B2C in a newspaper.
These are good because they fall out of the magazine or newspaper onto your desk or kitchen table and they are less expensive to buy than printing your ad right in the vehicle of choice.
When I ran magazines and newspapers, we discouraged them because we NEEDED ads in the magazine/newspaper, but when we had a client we were going to lose over lack of response, we ALWAYS recommended the insert because they almost always worked.
So Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service took the newspaper insert in the local newspaper and bought, specifically, the major neighborhoods where he felt they have more time than money.
That's the other beauty of newspaper inserts is that you can generally buy a small piece of the circulation to test the idea or to concentrate geographically. This worked for months for Mr. Tim, as people kept the insert around until they needed him.
But one of the people that spotted that insert was the local cable salesperson who told him he could make him famous. Mr. Tim thought TV would be WAY too expensive, but, as it turns out, in some markets, you can buy just a neighborhood. You can buy by zip code.
So for $200 per week, Mr. Tim was on TV like 60 times per week, spread all over 50 different cable channels.
It was amazing. You'd be watching re-runs of Seinfeld and there would come this Mr. Tim's Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service ad and his phone would ring. It worked great.
Then one day he walks into a bike shop and someone recognized him from his TV ad. He was becoming famous from this mere $200 per week.
Not for everyone, but if you sell B2C, look into local cable and concentrate with a lot of spots.
Every business action requires some kind of cost justification. Does the effort justify the cost? Company X advertised its professional educational materials.
When it seemed as though the advertising was not working, the company was going to cancel its ad campaign.
Then it discovered a startling correlation between its advertising and its direct-mail efforts: Its direct-mail response went up by 30% in the months it advertised to the same audience.
This is typical. The more penetration you can get to the same audience, the better the possibility that you will get noticed.
In the '90s, getting noticed is everything. In today's commercial clutter, you get noticed only by continually reaching the same potential customer with a consistent theme, message, look, and feel.
If you advertise in a print medium (magazine, newspaper, etc.), you will find that most publications will rent you their mailing lists.
This means you can direct mail to the same audience to which you are advertising! This is a very smart usage of marketing dollars.
Look at the lifetime value. If you have an inexpensive product, your advertising has to deliver a high number of leads, or every lead has to turn into a repeat customer.
For example, say your average customer spends $25 with you. If you are spending $1,000 per month on advertising, you will need to attract 40 new customers per month to break even on the ad, not counting any of your other costs, such as product costs and overhead.
If those customers are one-time buyers, then you have to find a way to make your advertising more effective or less expensive. If they become regular buyers, then you can accept lower response rates.
The key here is to look at the "lifetime value" of a customer. A customer who spends $25 a month and comes to your store only once is only worth $25 to you.
But if you can get that customer to be a repeat customer, then that customer is worth $300 a year, or $1,500 over five years!
Most business people do not understand the power of advertising; they do not realize that each new $25 customer is potentially a $1,500 customer!
Advertising brings in the customers, but it is your job to keep them buying from you.
Advertising promotes word-of-mouth
Often, a loyal customer will see your ad while with a friend or business associate. Your customer will show your ad to the friend and say, "Hey Joe, now this is a really great company/product/service."
Joe will come into your business, and you will ask him how he heard of you. He will say that his friend referred him and never think to mention that it was your advertising that prompted the friend to open his mouth in the first place.
I headed up a Neilson study that tracked hundreds of ads and the response rate each ad generated. Each month, a computer printout listed the ads and how much response each had generated. The first printout came and it looked like this:
* X Company....22 responses
* Y Company.......20 responses
* Z Company.....23 responses
* K Company.....223 responses
* J Company......26 responses
In the midst of all the other ads generating responses in the low 20's, one ad was generated more than 200 responses!
Turning to the ad, we expected to find some totally new or unique offer, product or service.
Instead, we found that the product advertised was nearly identical in price and features to four or five other products in the same publication.
Thus, it wasn't the product that made the response jump so significantly, it was the ad! After a year of tracking the highest response generating ads, we learned that, for the most part, the ads that pulled the greatest response followed four primary rules:
Rule No 1: Is it distinctive? You must design advertising that is so distinctive looking (or sounding, if you're on the radio) that it pops out of the clutter.
In print, the first goal of high-response-oriented advertising is that it be visually distinctive. On radio, the audio must be distinctive. Naturally, TV has both visual and audio possibilities.
I ran a TV spot advertising a free seminar I'm doing with Jay Abraham. Among other images we used in the spot, I put a shot of me throwing a double side kick (I have 23 years of karate training) to the head of a business owner (we're both in suits).
What's the point of that? One point. It makes you want to find out "what the heck is going on there?" Today, 70% of TV watchers are muting out the commercials.
But if you see something really intriguing, you will UN-mute just to see what the heck is happening there.
There's a spot running right now where this kid sprays his mother with a squirt gun and she pulls the hose out of the sink and nails the kid with it.
I saw that spot several times and it finally got my goat. I wanted to see what they were advertising.
So make your ad distinctive. Something that makes it STAND OUT.
Rule No. 2: Tell me what you want to tell me. If you page through a magazine, you will quickly notice that you do not read the ads that make it difficult for you to figure out what they are selling.
"Clever" is only better if it is "super clever." Clever headlines that do not tell you what they are trying to sell are simply not effective.
Most ads in most publications today don't have headlines that tell you what they are trying to sell. In the information age, don't hint around; say what you want to say, right in the headline.
A good headline follows these four criteria:
* It tells you what the product or service is.
* It starts with the word you or your (not always, but mostly).
* It contains a benefit to the reader. Most companies brag about themselves, rather than talk about the benefit to the reader (prospect).
High-response-oriented advertising focuses like a laser beam on the benefit to the customer.
* It makes the consumer want to read on.
The headline is the ad for the ad. If the headline isn't good, no one will read the rest of the ad. Responses to ads have jumped ten fold by simply changing the headlines.
Rule No. 3: The body copy should.
Be curiosity driven, unfolding the story you want to tell.
By highly benefit oriented. So many ads talk about features, when it is benefits that motivate buying.
Give you a reason to take action now! Can you offer something for free that will help you engage the potential customer?
Rule No. 4: Ask for the order. Too many ads do not give explicit instructions as to what action you would like the customer to take: "Order today and save," or "Call us today and receive this free..". You must always ask for the order!
Summary
Advertising is a powerful tool for becoming a well-known player in any market.
Even if you take a small schedule and a small ad, by consistently letting it run in an appropriately targeted vehicle, over time that ad will have an impact. People will see your logo and it will register.
Advertising supports everything else you do in your business. But it is only part of a total package.
You must have other marketing, and you must make sure, ultimately, that you are treating the customer like gold. Happy customers will spread the word faster, and advertising will help facilitate that. Happy advertising!
Chet Holmes is President and CEO of Jordan Productions, an international training firm that helps companies accelerate growth using Chet's proprietary techniques. See www.chetholmes.com to attend a webinar about Chet's concepts.
About The Author
Chet Holmes is author and creator of the popular business series Guerrilla Marketing Meets Karate Master with Jay Conrad Levinson, Business Growth Masters, and Zero to $100 Million.
Chet charges $5,000 an hour and has been paid fees up to $1 million dollars from a single client. He's personally had 50 Fortune 500 clients and has 60 products selling in 19 countries.
16 Methods for Getting Free Advertising
1. Place copies of your circular on bulletin boards throughout your community, such as in coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, barber shops, etc. Concentrate of Fridays and Saturdays when shopping increases.
2. Check with local newspapers. Before going to press, many smaller newspapers have space left that needs filling.. Your ad may be just the right size to occupy this unfilled space and they will run it free.
3. Place your circulars on windshields of parked autos, Youngsters will be happy to do this for you for a dollar or two. Check first with city ordinances to see if this is permitted in your locality.
4. Leave sales literature on doorsteps of homes & businesses in your area. Do this on weekends in residential areas; weekdays for businesses.
5. Have your best pulling 1 inch or 2 inch ad made into a rubber stamp. Stamp this on envelopes of all of your outgoing mail.. Check rubber stamp dealer's ads in current mail order publications for price information.
6. When you have envelopes printed with your return address, have them also print your best ad directly beneath your address. It costs noting additional to have this printed on the front of your envelopes.
7. If you publish a mail order magazine, newspaper, adsheet, etc., contact other publishers, If your circulation is equal to theirs, many will be happy to exchange an equal amount of ad space with you.
8. Many publishers will give you free adspace for mailing a few copies of their publication. Simply write to them and ask if they will give you a free 1 inch ad in exchange for mailing 50 to 100 copies of their pub.
9. Write informative articles for mail order trade publication. Most publishers will give you free ad space for the use of your article.
10. Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc. This saving is the same as getting one ad free of charge.
11. Some publishers offer a free classified ad with your first display ad. Watch for such specials. Use the free ad and pocket the savings.
12. When starting a new publication, many publishers will offer reduced ad rates to help fill space. Watch for ads regarding such offers.
13. In your ads, request a SASE. Then insert some of your other offers in regular outgoing mail. This is the same as getting free advertising.
14. Become a mailer. Get your printer's lowest price for printing circulars on both sides of the sheet. Contact other dealers and state you will print and mail their circulars for this price with no conflicting ads on the back. Then print your circulars on the reverse and distribute them with your outgoing mail. There is no extra cost for postage and envelopes, and your side of the circular is paid for by your customers.
15. Offer a free commission circulars. Print one of your regular offers on one side; a commission offer on the reverse, leaving space where the mailer can rubber stamp his name & address, Your offer gets a free ride.
16. If you use a postage meter machine, use the ad space directly left of stamp imprint for a free message.
Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
2. Check with local newspapers. Before going to press, many smaller newspapers have space left that needs filling.. Your ad may be just the right size to occupy this unfilled space and they will run it free.
3. Place your circulars on windshields of parked autos, Youngsters will be happy to do this for you for a dollar or two. Check first with city ordinances to see if this is permitted in your locality.
4. Leave sales literature on doorsteps of homes & businesses in your area. Do this on weekends in residential areas; weekdays for businesses.
5. Have your best pulling 1 inch or 2 inch ad made into a rubber stamp. Stamp this on envelopes of all of your outgoing mail.. Check rubber stamp dealer's ads in current mail order publications for price information.
6. When you have envelopes printed with your return address, have them also print your best ad directly beneath your address. It costs noting additional to have this printed on the front of your envelopes.
7. If you publish a mail order magazine, newspaper, adsheet, etc., contact other publishers, If your circulation is equal to theirs, many will be happy to exchange an equal amount of ad space with you.
8. Many publishers will give you free adspace for mailing a few copies of their publication. Simply write to them and ask if they will give you a free 1 inch ad in exchange for mailing 50 to 100 copies of their pub.
9. Write informative articles for mail order trade publication. Most publishers will give you free ad space for the use of your article.
10. Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc. This saving is the same as getting one ad free of charge.
11. Some publishers offer a free classified ad with your first display ad. Watch for such specials. Use the free ad and pocket the savings.
12. When starting a new publication, many publishers will offer reduced ad rates to help fill space. Watch for ads regarding such offers.
13. In your ads, request a SASE. Then insert some of your other offers in regular outgoing mail. This is the same as getting free advertising.
14. Become a mailer. Get your printer's lowest price for printing circulars on both sides of the sheet. Contact other dealers and state you will print and mail their circulars for this price with no conflicting ads on the back. Then print your circulars on the reverse and distribute them with your outgoing mail. There is no extra cost for postage and envelopes, and your side of the circular is paid for by your customers.
15. Offer a free commission circulars. Print one of your regular offers on one side; a commission offer on the reverse, leaving space where the mailer can rubber stamp his name & address, Your offer gets a free ride.
16. If you use a postage meter machine, use the ad space directly left of stamp imprint for a free message.
Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
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