Do you know how to design and deploy a marketing campaign?

Do you know how to design and deploy a marketing campaign?

Even if your ad budget is small you should still plan and measure the results of you advertising. This process is the key to your ultimate success.

You see, there are two types of advertising. The first is broadcast marketing. This category includes TV and radio commercials. While broadcast ads can be effective, they are very expensive and almost impossible to measure.

And you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

Which brings us to direct marketing. These ads are sent directly to your prospects. Sales letters, coupons, and order ready websites are some examples of this type of ad. But the truth is, any ad that you can accurately measure the results of falls into the category of direct marketing.

The advantage of direct marketing is that it is more science than art. You can key every ad you use and measure the real world results exactly.

This is huge. Through trial and error you can test the effectiveness of your ads. Over time you can gradually improve the pulling power. Eventually you’ll have a set of ads that work really well.

More sales for less money.

To get there you must key every ad and keep careful records of the results each produce. Run two ads every time you advertise in any given media. Compare the results and go with the winning ad.

Then write another ad and put it up against your winning ad or control. If it beats your control then use it instead. Keep refining and testing.

This is an ongoing process. Markets change and ads loose their effectiveness after a while. To have a top-notch marketing campaign you must be constantly improving your ads.

Good Design Makes Good Sense

Organized your pencils and pens lately? Sorted your clothes into a logical system in your drawers? Then you already understand the basic elements of good design: it’s practical, it’s systematic, and it makes life easier.

In the same way, marketing materials that use good design make business easier for your customers. Layout and presentation make the difference as to whether people will understand your products and services. This is why a well-designed ad outperforms one that’s thrown together using intuition alone.

Well-designed materials become even more important as their complexity grows. For instance, an ad typically gets someone’s attention for five seconds. In contrast, a brochure has the potential to claim much more of your prospect’s time and commitment. Hand a customer a poorly-formatted, hard-to-read piece and you may lose them forever.

So is good design really as simple as organizing your tie collection? Well, not quite. But there are some hard and fast rules you can follow. Use this checklist for your next project. Structure and time your piece correctly, and then brace yourself for every businessperson’s dream: informed customers who are ready to do business with your company.

Five Basics of Good Design

1. Never obscure your message. The KISS (Keep It Simple, Smarty) rule applies equally well to writing copy, creating graphics, and choosing a format.

2. Work backwards from your goal to your marketing piece. Listen to your customers’ needs before you make a decision about how to fill them. A website may not initially appeal to you as a tool, but if your customer base is using the Internet, it may be a great way to deliver your message.

3. Present similar kinds of information in similar ways. People love to look for patterns. And we feel good when we find them, so let your customers in on that happy feeling. Chances are it will help them retain your information better and use it more effectively.

4. Save special effects for the 4th of July. Just because you can print in all caps in that cool new font, it doesn’t mean you should. Readability wins out over gimmicks every time.

5. Be practical and be dedicated. Consider all the steps involved in a project, from the time you spend creating it all the way through to postage or follow-up calls. Commit to following through on every item or your project may not succeed.

Advertising Basics for Beginners

Author: Cathy Wagner

So many of us who have decided to do business online have no background in marketing or advertising. It can be so frustrating without any kind of guide.

Here is a list of some textbook rules regarding marketing and advertising in general. These are important points that we should all keep in mind when promoting our offers:

1. People don’t like ads until they see something they want or need.

2. Headlines should always illustrate the best, specific benefits of one’s offer. Cryptic headlines might be fun, but they simply can’t compare (in terms of results) to an honest headline that spells out your offer.

3. Tell your prospects exactly what you want them to do. Don’t assume that they know what the next step is. Whether you want them to click through to your web site or send you an email for more information, be sure to let them know and don’t forget to provide the link or address.

4. Every ad you place is an opportunity to rate your copy. A mediocre ad won’t get many responses, but a great ad can clicks almost anywhere. Don’t waste your time placing ineffective ads, always check your results.

5. Networking with others is a good way to make sales, but nothing beats good ad copy.

6. Networking is not about making lots of instant sales. It’s about getting to know people and letting them know what you have to offer. When they have a need for your product, they will look you up.

Writing effective ad copy takes practice. Don’t get discouraged if your first attempts don’t yield a lot of results. Continue to work with it and test it until you find that words that speak to your perfect customers and make them click.

Why I Like The Ads I Hate!

Author: Yvonne Finn

It’s been said that the antidote to liking/loving is not hating, but indifference. So, when an ad makes you angry or disgusted or evokes any other strong emotion, it has done it’s job. That is what advertising is supposed to do! Isn’t it?

There is an advertisement currently running on T.V. that makes me so disgusted that I spent quite a few minutes last night discussing it with my sister,

The ad is for a well known brand of toothpaste that is being recommended for people with sensitive teeth. Nothing wrong so far. There are plenty of people with sensitive teeth and I have no personal knowledge of the truthfullness of the claims made by the manufacturer.

My objection is to the presentation of this product. There is a beautiful women, dressed only in camisole and under wear parading around as she touts the benefits of using this product. There is nothing wrong with that either. But what is the connection? Do you have to be beautiful, female and barely dressed to benefit from this toothpaste?

I am sure the manufacturer would not want to limit his market to that niche only. What a waste of his advertising money? It is getting harder and harder to get your message noticed, with so many other products vying for the same market shares that you’re after.

Why get that consumer’s attention, only to then turn them off or away, with an inappropriate advertisement.

So, I like this ad because it certainly demonstrates that advertising gets you noticed and talked about.

It is up to you. however, to target your market appropriately and benefit from your hard won exposure.

P.S. By the way my sister hates the ad, too!

7 Tips for Better Ads

Author: Mike McDaniel

The content of advertising is basically the same no matter what the media. It is good and it works, or it is bad. Some TV ads are so clever people tend to remember the cleverness and forget the product.

Here are seven tips to help you create better ads. Better ads for Newspaper, Radio, Billboards, Cable, Yellow Pages, anything with your name on it.

1 It’s Not About YOU. Sell the benefits. The benefits of coming to your store or doing business with you is what the customer wants, They say “What’s In It For Me?” Your mug shot on a 40 foot billboard can’t answer that question.

2 Be Consistent Pick a theme and stick with it, in all your print, radio and TV ads. Pick a look and stick with it. Every ad builds on your brand, don’t change the concept because YOU are getting tired of it. The exposure level with potential customers is much less than with you.

3 Sell Benefits not Features. Once you get the customer in the door you can brag about the features of your product or company, but lure them there with a promise of a great benefit. “Brushless Car Wash” is a feature “Cleaner than new in two minutes” is a benefit.

4 Be Different. Check your Sunday paper to see how many ads look alike. In the supermarket, most mustard is in a yellow package, most Ginger Ale has a green label. In advertising sameness is suicide. Don’t look like or sound like your competition.

5 Use a Great Headline “Jim’s Locksmith Shop” at the top of an ad is NOT a powerful headline, or a good opening for a radio ad. “We can Pick ANY lock!” or “Locked out? We Can Get You Back IN” are powerful and answer WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me?”)

6 Make it Easy to Find You The best ads, in print and in the air are directions, NOT address. Pay attention to ads you see this week. “809 Main” doesn’t say much, but “On Main Street Downtown across from the firehouse” is a good as a map. Note: If your advertising will cover several communities (most do) be sure to include your city or community. No need to use state. “On Main Street in Downtown Smallville across from the firehouse”

7 Avoid Phone Numbers With the exception of Yellow Pages Advertising, where people are looking for telephone numbers, most folks don’t carry a pad in the car or keep one next to the TV to jot down numbers. Remember how hard it was to find something to write with when you saw something on a TV news show that you really wanted to call about? By the time you found the pencil, it was gone. Same with advertising. Focus on getting them to remember your benefits and your name. Phone numbers are a big NoNo.

To have the best advertising, YOU must become the advertising expert. Advice from the person selling advertising is usually best only for the media being pitched and does not help you with the others. Become an astute observer of others who advertise and use the best elements you see.

100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing

Author: DeAnna Spencer

Any business needs effective advertising to be successful. Here are some words and phrases that will help you to write successful ads.

100 Excellent Words

  1. Absolutely.
  2. Amazing.
  3. Approved.
  4. Attractive.
  5. Authentic.
  6. Bargain.
  7. Beautiful.
  8. Better.
  9. Big.
  10. Colorful.
  11. Colossal.
  12. Complete.
  13. Confidential.
  14. Crammed.
  15. Delivered.
  16. Direct.
  17. Discount.
  18. Easily.
  19. Endorsed.
  20. Enormous.
  21. Excellent.
  22. Exciting.
  23. Exclusive.
  24. Expert.
  25. Famous.
  26. Fascinating.
  27. Fortune.
  28. Full.
  29. Genuine.
  30. Gift.
  31. Gigantic.
  32. Greatest.
  33. Guaranteed.
  34. Helpful.
  35. Highest.
  36. Huge.
  37. Immediately.
  38. Improved.
  39. Informative.
  40. Instructive.
  41. Interesting.
  42. Largest.
  43. Latest.
  44. Lavishly.
  45. Liberal.
  46. Lifetime.
  47. Limited.
  48. Lowest.
  49. Magic.
  50. Mammoth.
  51. Miracle.
  52. Noted.
  53. Odd.
  54. Outstanding.
  55. Personalized.
  56. Popular.
  57. Powerful.
  58. Practical.
  59. Professional.
  60. Profitable.
  61. Profusely.
  62. Proven.
  63. Quality.
  64. Quickly.
  65. Rare.
  66. Reduced.
  67. Refundable.
  68. Remarkable.
  69. Reliable.
  70. Revealing.
  71. Revolutionary.
  72. Scarce.
  73. Secrets.
  74. Security.
  75. Selected.
  76. Sensational.
  77. Simplified.
  78. Sizable.
  79. Special.
  80. Startling.
  81. Strange.
  82. Strong.
  83. Sturdy.
  84. Successful.
  85. Superior.
  86. Surprise.
  87. Terrific.
  88. Tested.
  89. Tremendous.
  90. Unconditional.
  91. Unique.
  92. Unlimited.
  93. Unparalleled.
  94. Unsurpassed.
  95. Unusual.
  96. Useful.
  97. Valuable.
  98. Wealth.
  99. Weird.
  100. Wonderful.

 

70 Action getting phrases.

Act now! Send your name. All sent free to introduce. Amazing literature. Free. Ask for free folder. Bargain lists sent free. Be first to qualify. Booklet free. Catalog included free. Complete details free. Current list free. Dealers write for prices. Description sent free. Details free. Dime brings details. Everything supplied. Exciting details free. Extra for promptness. First lesson, 25 cents. Folder free. For literature write. Free booklet explains. Free plans tell how. Free selling kit. Free wholesale plan. Free with approvals. Full particulars free. Get facts that help. Get started today. Get your copy now. Get yours wholesale. Gifts with purchases. Illustrated lists free. Interesting details free. Investigate today. It’s free. Act Now. Literature free. Mail material to: Money making facts free. No obligation. Write! Offer limited. Send today. Only 10 cents to introduce. Order direct from: Order Now. Don’t delay. Particulars free. Postcard brings details. Request free literature. Revealing booklet free. Rush name for details. Sales kit furnished. Sample details free. Samples sent on trial. See before you buy. Send for free details. Send for it today. Send no money. Send postcard today. Send 15 cents for mailing. Send today. Send your want lists. Stamp brings details. Stamped envelope brings. Test lesson free. Unique sample offer. Valuable details free. Write for free booklet. Write us first! Yours for the asking. 37-cent stamp for details. $1 brings complete 32-page catalog free.

The key is to combine your words: EXAMPLE: “The Magic Mammoth Miracle”; “The Three ‘M’ Program”. This has already caught the attention and interest of your prospect. Now for example, say: The Money Making Facts Are Free. Simply fill out the form on my website or whatever action it is you want them to take. Fill in with a few details and you have an excellent Profit Pulling Ad. Of course you should be creative, but make sure to build your ads around these words and phrases. Make sure that your follow-up material is as interesting as the ad so you can get orders.

16 Methods for Getting Free Advertising

Author: DeAnna Spencer

Advertising is an important part of any business. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Here are some suggestions for free advertising. Make sure that you check your local laws before you do any of these things. It’s not worth going to jail or getting fined to get 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.

Write Attention Getting Advertisements

Author: DeAnna Spencer

The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, you aren’t generating any income and your business will die. All sales begin with advertisments. To build sales the ad must get the buyer to act. The ad writer must know what he or she wants the buyer to do.

All ads are written with a basic formula, which is:

1. Attract the attention of your prospect.

2. Interest your prospect in your product/service.

3. Cause your prospect to “desire” your product.

4. Demand “action” from the prospect.

Never forget the basic rules of copywriting.

If the ad isn’t read, it won’t generate a sale.

If the ad isn’t seen it won’t be read.

If the ad doesn’t command the attention of the reader, it won’t be seen!

Lastly, longer isn’t always better. If you can say what you need to say with fewer words then do so. People are rushed these days and they don’t have time to read a long and wordy advertisement.

Driving Customers to You – Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle

Author: Cathy Stucker

You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked. Here are some of the best ways to use your vehicle as a marketing tool.

Bumper stickers are so inexpensive that you may want to print enough for employees, friends, family members, customers and others. Publisher Susan Sabo of Small Dogs Press made bumper stickers saying, “I do bad things for love,” along with the Small Dogs web site URL. The line is from one of their books, and everyone who sees the bumper sticker wants one. Sabo sells them at her web site, and gives them away at book fairs. Of course, she has one on her car, and says she has given them to all of her friends, too.

License plate frames are a favorite of car dealers and auto repair shops, but they can work for any business. You can have them custom made with your business name or slogan, along with a phone number or URL.

Magnetic signs are an easy and low-cost way to put a lot of information on your car. Put them on both sides of the car, and make sure the lettering is large enough to read, even from a distance and when the vehicle is in motion. Personal chef Sue Gaughenbaugh added an effective twist to this idea. She bought a supply of magnetic business cards and placed them around the sign on her truck. When customers see her truck in a parking lot, they can pick up a card to take with them. Gaughenbaugh started getting calls from new customers within days of putting the take-away magnetic cards on her truck.

Vinyl decals and window stickers are a highly visible way to promote your web site. Put the URL in large letters across the width of your rear windshield. After all, you never know who might be behind you in traffic. This is most effective if you have a catchy and descriptive domain name. Custom stickers are available at prices starting under $20.

You can order many of these items from local printers and sign shops. Or, do an online search for companies that can create bumper stickers, magnetic signs, decals and other promotional items.

And when you are ready to go all-out, consider a vehicle wrap. These vinyl decals look like a custom paint job and cover your entire vehicle with bright, high-quality graphics. This is not a do-it-yourself project, but you can hire companies such as www.coloredink.com to design and install the graphics. At an estimated cost of $3,500, this option is much more expensive than the others described here, but it will certainly make an impression on the other drivers you encounter.

When your car is a traveling billboard, the time you spend in traffic will become more productive.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with creative strategies that help your business excel.

The Key To Marketing New Ideas!

Author: Daniel A. Levis

Imagine tossing a pebble into a crystal clear pond on a still day, & watching the ripples make their way to the shore. A tiny cause has a massive effect.

But on a windswept stormy day? You could hurl the largest boulder into the same pool, and the effect would be felt for no more than a few feet.

So it is with marketing new ideas.

Your prospects are in a trance that is like a still pool of awareness. They are in an “I’m worried about money” trance. They are in an “I wish I could finally find that somebody special” trance. They are in an “I’m sick of my dead end job” trance, & so on.

If you enter that trance with your words, your prospects will follow you. They will accept your suggestions. They will give those suggestions power, like the pebble that makes its presence felt on the shore, because receiving your message is effortless.

On the other hand, any striving on the part of your prospect to maintain their attention on your message, because it fails to harmonize with their trance, & no power will be granted.

“Belief Is All-Powerful!”

To enter the buyer’s trance, begin your sales message by showing where your position agrees with their accepted beliefs.

As you move forward, make a logical connection between that which is accepted, & another conclusion that is a step closer to the new conclusion you wish to promote.

This act of mental agreement creates momentum.

For example, let’s say your target market believes that Guaranteed Investment Certificates are the best way to invest for their retirement. Are they likely to listen to you if you boldly proclaim the superiority of Mutual Funds?

But would they give you some attention if you began with, “Would you be interested in more of the kind of money growth you’ve enjoyed through Guaranteed Investment Certificates?”

And then, “If there were a low risk strategy for using GICs, together with Mutual Funds to increase your returns by 53% or more, would you want to find out about it?”

And then, “Give me just 15 minutes, & I’ll show you the failsafe secret to an earlier retirement!”

By establishing empathy in your sales message, you enter the trance. And you can begin marketing new ideas.

Each successive point or question should do three things.

1) Echo accepted belief.

2) Introduce a new element that when logically combined with the previous conclusion, creates a new hypothesis.

3) Raise the level of commitment to the new idea.

You begin pursuing small yes responses, & gradually grow those agreements into bigger YES responses, until your final call to action.

Do you see how this works?

Use questions, statements, & logic that get your prospect thinking YES & OK!

Why Does It Work?

To be human, is to have unlimited freedom of choice. We are able to consciously decide our response to every stimulus. This is our god given gift.

However, we forget this. Instead, we are a bundle of conditioned responses. We hypnotize ourselves into believing that external circumstances give rise to our thoughts.

For instance, if I were to say to you that you are stupid, you would probably become angry. You would think I was a jerk for saying so. That is a choice you make.

You could just as easily make a choice to ignore my remark. You could make any choice you wish. You could even decide to think that I am a jealous fool, & feel sorry for me. The choice is all yours.

On the other hand, if I were to say to you that you are brilliant, you would no doubt feel pleased with yourself. Again, this is a choice. You could just as easily decide to pay no attention to my opinion.

But you forget you are making a choice. You automatically become angry or flattered, depending on the stimulus. You are in a trance of your own making.

To be human, is to be filled with such conditioning.

When we accept a logical conclusion that contains our own beliefs, we are conditioned to accept another one, & then another. Until without even realizing it, we have before long accepted a new belief that we would not have accepted, had it been forced on us in the first place.

Such is the judo of persuasion, & marketing new ideas.

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

 

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters! http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html