|
Subscribe to the AFSD ...
|
 |
|
|
|
Marketing Tips You Can Use Right Now ...
Some Selling Secrets ...
If you, as owner of the business have developed a successful selling method, stick to it. The more outsiders you go to for advice and services, the more control you lose. Why entrust your successful relationship with a customer to someone else? "I developed my own skills in marketing and advertising," says Phil Ward the amazing entrepreneur who established the first truly mass marketed business advice newsletter in Australia. Phil says, "I learned to consider the hard sell first. The harder you hit, the greater the impact. I tell potential buyers. Here's my product, my price and my address - come and get it. You know the people you are trying to reach best. You can save time and money by continuing to reach him yourself rather than using outside help in advertising."
Phil's advice to business owners: Every ad should carry your logo or company name high up, unless it can be incorporated in the headline. If you want people to think about your company - even for a fleeting moment - you have to tell them about your company. And tell the often. No company can allow its selling season to be shorter than 365 days a year or allow ad funds to run dry before they have touched each of the 52 weeks. In other words, don't wait until Xmas to spend your entire budget when you could have been advertising all year.
An ad must make news, either verbally, graphically or numerically, or it's a waste of money "ho-hummer". Stop people with words like "Sale" and "New Now". If nothing is happening, make something happen. Hold a sale. Offer giveaways.
Every ad must entice. It should release pheromones, those chemicals that are the essence of animal magnetism. It must empathise also, and project a oneness with the audience.
Finally every ad has to convey benefits. People always want to know: What's in it for me? Tell them the truth. That's not often easy, but it's absolutely essential.
Caution: Don't hit so hard that it's overkill. Too often companies make the mistake of using more space, more colour and larger type than they actually need to get their message across. Spend what's necessary to attract new customers. The new customer is the most likely one to be a repeat customer. It takes at least twice as much money to attract new customer as to retract a repeat customer. But when you make a noise like cheese, this new customer is the mouse that hears best.
|