Advertising Articles |
|
What Do Your Ads Say?
Make a list of everything you think should be included at one time or another, in one of your ad, be it radio, newspaper or Little Jimmie's class play program. Everything. Experience, staff, facility, product. The list will be quite long. Take the time to do it now, before you read the rest of this article. Next, take a hard look at your list, pencil in hand, and cross off all items that are about YOU (including YOUR staff, YOUR building, YOUR ranking, awards etc). Now, x-out all the FEATURES of your products or service. The number one rule, the only rule, for great advertising is "Sell the Benefits". Take a poll, people don't care if you have the largest selection in town. It means nothing that "New Stuff is arriving daily". They want to know what you or your product can do for them. WIIFM or "What's In It For Me?" Ease pain and you gain. You see and hear ads everyday that miss the point entirely. Giant billboards with pictures of the medical clinic staff standing in front of a wall of awards. Picture of a guy with a wrench and the words "See me for all your plumbing needs." Three little girls on TV yelling an unintelligible slogan about their daddy's store. It's all about them. It should be all about the customer. Did you see the one on TV where a guy gets the water cooler dumped on him because he bought the good software? What picture does that tell? It would have been better if the guy told me (from a sunny beach location) the boss gave him another week of vacation because the new software saved the company 40 million bucks. Benefits. How about the newspaper ad with the picture of the funeral home building and how they have been around for 85 years? Benefit? Ads about "you you you" can look and sound really great, to you, you, you. We all love to talk about ourselves. Where are the benefits? What hook does your face on a billboard use to bring customers through the door? Your face is NOT a benefit. We all grew up thinking "me me me". Remember how excited you got when you first saw your name or picture in the newspaper? Even the school paper. It was a BIG deal. "Me me me." Great for your ego, but take that thinking to your advertising and it flops. The first time you make the list and cross out the me me mees and all the features, you may have only one or two points left to promote. Make a new list and think "them them them". Think benefits. The ads that stick in your head are the ones that promise to make your life easier. The appliance store promising to deliver at the appointed time. You don't have to stay home all day waiting for the truck. A real benefit. It makes no difference if the TV is made by Acme or Zenith? They will deliver on time. Let's go there. Benefits. The company that says their plumber will show up clean, on time, and not smell. Another benefit! Who cares what a financial advisor looks like, but tell people they can retire and not eat dog food and you get their attention. Benefit. Funny thing, the ads about benefits are the ones we make the mental note to remember. Hmmm. Sell the benefits and you don't have to sell yourself. For more about advertising, get my article "What's Your Selling Sentence?" Send a blank eMail to MailTo:[email protected] �2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved [email protected] BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small Business Consultant with over 30 years experience, http://BIGIdeasGroup.com Subscribe to "BIG Mike's BIG Ideas" Newsletter MailTo:[email protected]
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Go Ahead Im Listening In today's fast paced environment, interaction with family and friends is often relegated to a few left over minutes here and there, leaving many people feeling isolated. In Advertising Bigger isn?t Always Better If you have been following the recent advertising news you will notice that more and more major advertisers are looking to smaller ad agencies to handle their campaigns. Fax Advertising : Hitting Your Target Immediately In the business of marketing and advertising, it used to be that companies that wanted to get the word out quickly to key customers on a new development would rely on email with follow-up phone calls. But with the new technologies available in fax broadcasting, fax advertising has taken over as the advertising medium of choice when it comes to contacting your customers at the speed of light. What the Newspaper Ad Person Won?t Tell You Newspapers are considered the PRIMARY advertising medium by 99.4% of all retailers. Newspapers have been there in every step of the typical store owner's life from the very beginning. Newspapers covered his birth, his high school graduation, his engagement, his marriage, the death of his parents and everything else. Is Your Yellow Pages Ad Putting Cash in Your Pocket... or Sucking Cash Out? Any idea? It's a question that more than a few Yellow Page advertisers ponder. If you are currently spending money every month to run an ad in your local directory, you don't want to wrestle with that question. You want to know that your investment is generating a consistent flow of new clients to your business. So what can you do to maximize returns and stop worrying? The Secrets of High Money Classified Ads When used effectively, classified ads can be one of the quickest and most inexpensive ways to increase your sales. A well written classified ad can generate thousands in sales, yet could cost you pennies to write and run. How to Get People to Read Your Ads Like CRAZY! Rule One :- The Headline The SKINNY on Newspaper Advertising The SKINNY on Newspapers 15 Tips for Better Yellow Page Ads Yellow Pages advertising is one of the most popular forms of advertising in the country today. Almost every home in America (96.9%) and business has at least one copy of "the book". Small Cards, Big Ideas: Alternative Uses for Business Cards Aggressive business card marketing isn't about handing your business cards out to everyone you see. Direct Response Advertising; Radio vs TV Radio advertising vs. television advertising Push vs Pull Advertising Push vs. Pull Advertising - Understand the Consequences for your Product or Service Never Be Caught Cardless Again: Five Tips to Help You Remember Business Cards Sorry, I Don't Seem to Have a Business Card With Me... Direct Mail Rules of Thumb First and foremost - You should identify your target market. Target your direct marketing lists. Identify who you are selling to, and why they should buy from you instead of your competition. Keep in mind that placing your offer in front of 100 targeted response leads that have shown an interest or have a history of using your product or service can be much more effective than marketing to 1000 non pre-qualified leads. Secrets to Profitable Mail Order Products Generally speaking, everybody either in or wanting to get into mail order, feels that they have the final answer to what the general public will beat a path to their door to buy.� The problem is that once they've invested a good deal of hard-earned cash and countless hours, their programs don't sell quite as well as they had hoped they would.� Thus it is that these people begin to feel that they've left something out or perhaps not doing "some little thing" that they should be doing. Advertising That Annoys: The Real Story Critics conclude that entertaining or "creative" commercials sell better than those that are bland. But liking the commercial may not really be that important in the scheme of things. It all depends on the needs and preferences, motivation and financial reservations of the customer. The question isn't whether people like the advertisement or not, it's whether the advertisement is effective in selling. What Does Your Business Card Say? Business cards are the most underutilized and misunderstood marketing tool in business. Many people spend the bucks for cards and don't make an effort to get them into the hands of those who can hire them or buy from them. Localized Advertising ? Door-to-Door Ad Distribution on the Fly! Have you ever had to distribute door-hanger advertisements for your business? Media Savvy - How To Lead, Persuade And Influence The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective managers. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. In an age of convergence in the media and increased scepticism over traditional communication methods, a new breed of managers and leaders is emerging that sees the media as an opportunity and not a threat. They use the media in a pro-active way to build their organisation's image, reputation and identity. If You Want To Get More Customers, Heres 10 Powerful Stories To Improve Your Ads Remember, as a child lying in bed and listening to stories. Remember how engaged you were. Remember how you never got bored of them and always wanted to learn more. |
home | site map |
© 2005 |