by Joe Polish
Advertising is one of those crafts that every business owner has done, and more often than not has done it unsuccessfully.
I have seen thousands of ads from clients insisting that they have a "great" piece for their company, something they may have spent thousands of dollars on to have created, yet when I ask them what their return on investment was from that campaign ... they get a blank look on their faces.
"How much did you generate in sales from each advertising dollar you spent?"
"Ummm ... I have no idea ..."
"Then how can you say the ad is ‘great'?"
"Well look how nice the glossy paper and our logo are!"
Marketing is all about numbers. It's a science. I want to know that for every dollar invested I'm generating four, 10, 20, 50 in return. This means that marketing pieces must be trackable, and also that they must generate "action" in your audience so that you have something to track.
There are ads created to make business owners feel good, and ads created to make business owners money. Personally, if the ad is making money that makes ME feel good ... and I'm sure you feel the same way.
The problem is, most people do not know how to create ads that create response in their market of potential clients, so they fall back on doing something pretty or cute or creative. And everyone else looks and sees their competitor doing this and assumes this MUST be what is working for them, and they copy it.
Grab a copy of your local yellow pages book or your newspaper and see how many ads you could literally plug competitors' names into and the same ad would work for them - because everyone's ads look just like everyone else's. They are all image ads. Ads with name, rank, and serial number, with some kind of "we're the best" tag or a glossy photo that gives them the illusion that they're marketing ... when actually they are just tearing up hundreds or thousands of dollars and tossing them in the trash.
Not a pleasant thought. But this unfortunately is the reality for most companies.
So what's the answer? It's to create an ad that creates a response AND a return on your investment. It's to leave the warm fuzzies of the typical image advertising, and strategically create some direct response ads that make you money instead.
What is a Direct Response Ad? It's an ad that
1. has a headline;
2. creates interest in the service or product;
3. creates desire in the prospect;
4. has a specific offer; and
5. has a deadline or cut-off date.
Most advertising in magazines and newspapers and on radio and TV are not direct response. They are institutional advertising (also called "image" advertising). There is no way of accurately tracking the response, since there is no specific offer ... but advertising agencies like it this way.
Why do advertising agencies like image advertising? They like it because they can't be held responsible for zero results. It's hard to track an ad that is not trackable. If an ad campaign doesn't increase sales, ad agencies like to do one of the following:
A. Blame it on the economy.
B. Tell you that you need to run these ads that didn't work over again, and
after a certain number of "impressions," a prospect will finally call you.
Neither is true! Out of the two, the second is by far the worst. Advertising agencies are notorious for saying, "Well, the public just needs to see your ads more often, and then you'll start to get more sales." So many companies continue to waste a lot more money and still don't get results.
This theory is flawed. If an ad doesn't work at all once, it's not suddenly going to
bring in lots of money. It doesn't work that way. There is a tiny bit of truth in that a
very small percentage of your response will come from people who have seen your
ad before, but that number isn't enough to substantiate wasting so much money.
Advertising agencies are interested in being creative and "cutesy." That's what wins advertising awards. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. The advertising field gives awards based on creativity, not results. Many ads that have won top awards didn't produce any substantial increase in sales for their clients. Take a look at the past winners over the last decade of "best ads" and see how many of these companies are in Chapter 11 or have had huge layoffs ... I don't think the CEOs are placated by knowing that at least their ad agency won "most creative ad campaign."
Ad agencies seem to have forgotten that advertising is meant to do one thing and
one thing only: GET MORE CLIENTS!
That's the only reason I advertise. I don't care about name recognition - I just want
more clients.
Building name recognition is only possible with a HUGE advertising budget. There is a lot of waste in that type of advertising, but some really big international businesses can survive with that level of waste. Businesses like McDonald's, Coke, and Budweiser - they can afford to spend tens of millions on saturating their name and brand everywhere. Small, local businesses do not have that option. We can't afford to waste marketing dollars on ads that don't pull in immediate and consistent cash. Direct response is RESULTS oriented. You know exactly how much money you made from jobs that come from each direct response method. It gives your prospects something they want and tells them exactly what to do to get it. It gives them compelling reasons to use you. It gets response.
And response means $$$.
Therefore, when creating an ad for your company, to make it a successful ad, you
want to make certain you have these 7 questions covered:
1) Have I selected a Target Market?
The reason the target market is so important is that half of the battle with marketing is selecting the RIGHT list and then having the message to communicate to that list. The best marketing message communicated to the wrong list will create zero results. For example, a great promotional offer for a new steak house sent to a list of local vegetarians would flop ... not because the offer is necessarily bad, but because it was sent to the wrong audience, so it was bad for them.
A general list typically does not make as much money as a specialized list that focuses on specific criteria. Those criteria can be demographics (age, income, marital status, education ...) or they can be behavioral (pet owner, allergy sufferer, online shopper ...). And the more thought you put into the "who" you want to communicate to with the "what" you have to communicate, the more results you will be able to create with your campaigns.
Most businesses fall into what we call the "Blind Archery TrapTM," where they take a marketing message and just blanket an area with it, hoping to get a customer in the process. This is like playing archery blindfolded and shooting arrow after arrow hoping to hit the bull's-eye. What you want to do is to get a clear idea of your ideal customer criteria and send a message that speaks to that person's needs. This way, you can focus and get a direct hit with one just shot.
Instead of mailing out ten thousand flyers to a general random list, if you have a small (but well-chosen) list, you can create a multiple sequence campaign and communicate to a strong targeted list and generate sales with each mailing. Some of the best marketers in the business are the best not necessarily because their marketing pieces are the best, but because they are very good at choosing the best people to communicate to with what they have to sell. A hungry market is a buying market.
A mediocre piece sent to an eager list will sell more than the best piece sent to an uninterested list. Your list choice is key, so make sure you know who your target market is and what they are hungry for.
2) Do I have a Compelling Offer?
The worst offer to make is no offer at all. The next worst offer is a price discount offer that isn't compelling.
If you are going to use money or prices as a means of making an offer, make sure that the offer is compelling; that it speaks to the BENEFITS of what you sell and not the features. Features tell what a product/service is, but benefits tell what a product/service DOES for a client who buys. Benefits talk in terms of the pain it will eliminate or the pleasure it will create.
The offer should encourage action and also remove the risk of choosing "you." In the cleaning industry a very good offer utilizing a guarantee is "You'll get the most thorough cleaning ever ... or it's free!" It makes a promise of expert service, and also removes the risk of buying, because if you are not happy, you will get your money back. That makes it a safe and easy buying decision.
When you have your target list in mind, think about what the people on it really want and why, and then craft an offer that speaks to this "want" and make it compelling by making it easy to say yes to.
3) Does my Headline tell the complete story?
A headline is essentially an ad for the ad.
Could you imagine reading the newspaper without any headlines? Or driving by a movie theater with no marquee to read? It would be really difficult to know what might be interesting to read or to find the movie you are looking for.
The same thing applies to advertising. Your company name or your logo is not a headline, but most businesses use their names as the headlines, not realizing that this says absolutely nothing to prospects.
Examples of a good headline would be "4 Reasons to Choose a ______" or "The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Choosing a _______." Any service provider or product retailer could fill in those blanks with something that would work for him or her.
If the ad mentions the biggest mistakes people make when choosing a daycare center, then it will attract working parents' eyes. If it's an ad that mentions mistakes when choosing a remodeler, then it will attract the eyes of homeowners getting ready to improve their property. The headline will draw in the market it is after.
Make sure your headline speaks to the problems that your product/service solves or overcomes, and it will attract the eyes of those who are the best prospects for you to be reaching. You should of course have your company name and number in the ad ... just not as the headline!
4) Does it look like News?
If you want to dramatically increase the response from your ads, make them look like articles. If you have crafted an "advertorial" layout, the readers will approach the piece with the feeling that they are going to "learn" something from reading it.
Education-based marketing pieces (advertising material that seeks to educate its audience so they make better informed buying decisions) are powerful in attracting and filtering out prospects who are pre-qualified, pre-interested, and pre-sold on what you have to offer.
When something looks like an "ad," people know they are being sold, so their radar goes up. When something looks like "news," people expect to learn something, and those who are interested in the subject will focus more attention on the content. Using the editorial style of articles, you can fill up your advertising space with compelling copy that shares the reasons why they need what you have to offer or that gives them insight on how to avoid mistakes as a consumer in your industry.
The powerful point about "educating" is that even if you are teaching consumers how to choose the right person in your field, the fact that you are the one revealing this to them sets you apart as the only "expert" to use. Instead of just saying "I'm the best!" your sharing of valuable knowledge labels you as the go-to person in the business because you are the "author" of the article. It gives you credibility even though it's an ad that they are reading. That's the power of education-based marketing when it's done well.
5) Am I using Conversational Language?
You want to talk to people in your advertisement the same way you would talk to them if you were selling them face-to-face. Talk like a real human being. Don't write like a big corporation, or like a textbook.
The more academic and "official" sounding a piece is, the more detached the reader becomes to the message. It creates distance. But a conversational and friendly tone lowers barriers and creates rapport. It's nonthreatening and creates a better opportunity for the reader to trust what you have to say.
If you aren't sure if your ad is using conversational language, then read it aloud or have someone else read it to you. If you have trouble writing in a conversational manner, then record yourself talking about your business and what you have to offer, and then have it transcribed to use in your marketing materials. The improper grammar and run-on sentences might have gotten you red marks in school ... but they will get you in the black in your business.
6) Is it clear what I am asking the reader To Do?
When you educate a prospect or client and you let them know about all the wonderful benefits that your product/service does and then you don't give them a specific call to action, then you have gotten them interested but haven't made them DO anything.
Ask yourself with your ad - what do I want them to do? Is it to have them call a Free Recorded Message that's available 24 hours a day? Is it to have them call to set up an estimate or consultation? Make it very clear what the next step is. Don't give them 20 different phone numbers with extensions and make people jump through hoops in order to do business with you. Make sure that doing business with you is easy.
Too many choices or leaving them asking "What now?" will cause delays in acting ... and delay is often the death of a sale.
7) Do I have a Free Recorded Message in the ad?
Three of the most powerful words in advertising are "Free Recorded Message."
Listing the number in your ad for a Free Recorded Message available around the clock gives you the opportunity to record your best sales pitch and have it delivered 24/7 to people who want to hear it. It's really like having your best employee working 24 hours a day, for free, with no sick days and no "bad" days. It gives you the opportunity to share more information with potential clients so that when they are ready to contact your company, they are
calling to buy and not to ask "how much."
From the prospect's perspective, a Free Recorded Message is nonthreatening, and it is not as intimidating as calling and talking to a live salesperson. So when interested prospects see "Free Recorded Message" on an ad, in the yellow pages, or on a business card, they will call for the information and educate themselves ... and
then sell themselves in the process. Your message does all the heavy lifting for you, and you just wait to talk with those ready to buy.
You generally have a limited amount of time with a prospect in an ad - or a limited amount of space - so the Free Recorded Message gives a secondary reason for response and allows you more time to share more information. And this robotic marketing system can often cover the most common questions before prospects even contact you, which saves you from having the same Q&A sessions over and over
again.
Utilizing marketing systems like these not only free up your time, but they deliver a strong marketing message to the right audience robotically, so they create a constant conveyor belt of new business to you. It helps to transform your business into an ELFTM Business - easy, lucrative, and fun.
Business Is a Game
Whoever said business was hard didn't know how to play it right. When you know the rules and know how to score the points, then it's easier to play and easier to win. And in business, marketing helps you score the points and create the results.
Here are some final rules when marketing:
· NEVER do anything for which you can't directly track the results.
· NEVER run an ad a second time that didn't work the first time.
• NEVER fall in love with your ad.
An ad is only good if it gets results. Period. So don't fall in love with any ad until you have tested it and know for certain that it pulls. And when it does and proves it's a successful ad ... then go ahead and love it a little, and keep using it until it stops adding to the company score.
If you follow the marketing wisdom in this article, I guarantee that you will have the power to transform your company into a powerhouse in whatever industry you're in.
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