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Ageless Marketing Secret Revealed
--------------------------------------------------------------PUBLISHING GUIDELINES:You have permission to publish this article electronicallyor in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be ...
Marketing as a Spiritual Practice
“Marketing as a spiritual practice.” It sounds contradictory – how can sales and promotion possibly be considered spiritual? But the secret is, once you truly understand that marketing isn’t all about struggle, jargon, tricks or gimmicks, spiritual ...
What'S The One Question Your Marketing Needs To Answer?
It started with a question about their web site, and before I knew it, the company president was bringing in every piece of promotional material they used, from their yellow page and magazine ads to the booklet they give clients at a first meeting. With ...
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business. Even if your customers come entirely from one
customer telling another, your sales go nowhere unless you
have a way to get the word out.
But what happens when marketing fails to do its job? You
shuck out hundreds, even thousands of dollars for
advertising. The ad runs, then nothing. The phone doesn't
ring, Nobody comes in your store. Your web site gets no
hits.
Do-nothing marketing gives you a sinking feeling. You
didn't just waste your ad budget, you're also flying without
any good way to bring new customers to your business.
You have spent money without any assurance you will be
making more down the road.
Fortunately, most marketing problems have fairly easy
answers. Listen closely to what your marketing is telling
you and you will discover surprisingly simple ways to fix
lackluster advertising.
Problem1. Your ad runs,but nothing happens. Most ads
that fall short do so because customers didn't notice or
didn't understand what your ad was trying to tell them. It's
that simple. The ad doesn't communicate so people don't
respond.
Give your ad the"mother" test. Ask yourself if your mother
would completely understand it. Customers are a lot like
Mom. They are smart people but may not know much
about your industry. What makes perfect sense to folks in
your business may sound like Greek to customers.
Watch for insider jargon, long complicated sentences that
mix up your meaning, or ad copy so clever it hides your
main message.
Problem 2. You get response, but it is from the wrong kind
of people. The folks who come in your store or email you
aren't the same people who will become good customers.
For example, you advertise car covers, but everyone who
contacts you is looking for bumpers. This problem is
usually caused by poor targeting. Your ad might have
reached a lot of people, but most weren't individuals who
would buy from you. This is a common problem for
businesses advertising in big newspapers or on TV. They
reach a big massive audience, but not many are interested in
what the business sells.
Solve this problem by putting your ad in magazines, ezines,
and on radio stations and cable shows that have a narrow,
specific audience that closely matches your best customers.
Problem 3. You get response from a few good prospects,
but not as much as you anticipated. Instead of a flood, you
get a trickle. This often happens when your headline or
offer doesn't grab attention. It may not be juicy enough or
loud or obvious enough.
"Come visit our online mall" doesn't turn near as many
heads as "Get an instant $100 gift certificate when you visit
our online mall." My tests have found prospects jump at
headlines that include big dollar numbers or free computers.
Your industry may have other hot button offers that always
get response. The only way to know is to test different
ads. Also pay attention to what works for your
competitors. If they have used the same offer for years, it
probably works like gangbusters.
Problem 4. You super charge your ad with a great offer,
but still get only a trickle of response. Great ads don't
always work the first time they appear. In fact, the first ad
rarely gets an avalanche of results. Once you develop an ad
that seems to be hitting home with customers, repeat it over
and over.
During the many years I worked in media, we figured it
took a minimum of two weeks of heavy promotion to get an
idea across to our audience. It often took six weeks to
really do the job right. Promoting for only a week virtually
insured we wouldn't get much response (and that was with
an exciting ad running EVERY hour of the day).
So what if your ad budget is just a small monthly amount?
Find a good ad, then repeat it week after week and month
after month. Watch closely to see if sales gradually mount.
The business world is full of examples where a small
business put a tiny display ad in the Sunday paper month
after month. After a year or two, almost all their new
business comes from the ad.
Problem 5. Your ad pulls lots of interest, but nobody buys.
We see this a lot with advertising on the Internet. A site
will run a great ad in an email newsletter and get plenty of
clicks, but nobody buys. In this case, the problem isn't with
the ad, but with the web site. Frequently the web copy fails
to do its job. The ad gets the customers through the door,
but the copy is too flat, too short, or doesn't encourage
customer confidence.
The same kind of thing happens in retail stores. We did a
wildly successful promotion for an auto dealer. Hundreds
of people came into the dealership each hour of the
promotion. The store's sales people were completely
unrepaired for that kind of response. They stood around
grinning with their hands in their pockets. Not once did a
sales person offer to help the hordes streaming through the
door. At the end of the day, not a single car had been sold.
Solve this problem by making sure your sales or support
staff know all the details of your advertised offer. When a
prospect sees your ad and calls, anyone who answers the
phone should immediately know what the customer is
asking about.
Most ads fall short because of one of these five problems.
All have definent symptoms and easy solutions. Listen to
what your marketing is telling you. Then fix the problems
and encourage your successes. You will quickly take the
mystery out of marketing and make it a reliable partner.
About the Author
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copywriting.
Read all his free tips and see his popular promotion
packages at http://DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at
kevin@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006.
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