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Archive for July, 2009

Ads or Articles – Which is Better to Market a Small Business?

By: Dan Kennedy on: July 9th, 2009 9 Comments

The Advertorial, The Challenge Of Maximum Readership Reconsidered

The knee-jerk answer is: articles. And the argument for the “advertorial” i.e. an ad made to look like editorial material is that it is obvious; people buy newspapers and magazines for the articles, not the ads. But, like all dogma, ain’t necessarily so. For example, lots of people buy the Wednesday newspaper to get the supermarket coupons, buy the Friday or weekend newspaper to see the movie and nightclub ads. In analogy, people often go to national conventions more interested in the trade show than in the seminars, me included.

MY ADVICE: DON’T STEP IN THE DOGMA

Anybody who has an ironclad rule about the most successful way to do something can be proven wrong. I constantly violate one of the most respected direct response copywriter’s rule about the number of words for a headline. The “A-pile mail” argument makes perfect sense, but I have beaten it in split-tests with teaser copy laden envelopes. Not often. But sometimes. To conclude that the advertorial is the ad format that will always get the highest readership is wrong. On the other hand, a lot of advertisers err in never using it – in space as well as in direct-mail.

I try to be careful about this; I know too much about what doesn’t work. So, I try to be careful not to be dogmatic, or too quickly shut off a client’s idea. I’ll say: I’ve never known ‘x’ to work, and I’ve certainly seen it not work, but let’s explore it from several different directions, including:

  1. Can it be easily and cheaply tested?
  2. Is there a more reliable approach that will do just as well?
  3. Is there enough benefit to balance the cost of experimenting? Etc.

THE CHALLENGE OF READERSHIP

Here’s the key point to keep in mind, whether contemplating different ads or FSI or direct-mail formats, headlines, photos, grabbers, etc.: it can’t sell if it isn’t read. The Big Lesson is – you have to WORK JUST AT GETTING IT READ. Not presume readership, which is what most people do. Way, way, way too much advertising and mail is produced with a presumption of readership. Actually, the opposite is the smarter approach; presuming every recipient will try NOT to read it.

THE BEST WAY TO MAXIMIZE READERSHIP IS targeting. My message to market match’ principle. But when you can’t target, when you must use mass media and fish from a very large lake, then you have to work even harder at getting people to bother reading your message.

Use the News to Market Your Small Business

By: Dan Kennedy on: July 9th, 2009 3 Comments

WHEN WILL NEXT GIANT METEORITE STRIKE EARTH AND CAUSE MASS EXTINCTION? There are actually people worrying about this sort of thing. According to the article from USA TODAY, the last bash was about 250 million years ago.

Apparently this is cyclical, so, according to this article, in another 50 or 100 million years, you may not want to be standing in the middle of Australia. Make a note of that on the calendar in your Palm Pilot. You’ll thank me later.

Well, why have I put this odd news item smack in the middle of  this post? Years ago, Sinatra recorded the “once there was a little old ant who thought he’d move a rubber tree plant”, High Hopes song on a bet, that he could take any piece they handed him, record it, and put it on the charts. A former client of mine, Dick Sutphen, took a similar wager, and made a cassette of rain falling on his Malibu roof and sold it successfully.

One of the “dares” I like taking is: hand me any newspaper and I’ll find something I can use to advertise or promote something of mine or my clients’. This particular day’s USA TODAY had slim pickings, so I got stuck with this meteorite story.

“So, if used as grabber, then “As you can see, I’ve sent you an article about a giant meteorite wiping out life on earth. Why have I sent you this? Three important reasons. Reason#1…”

For Ron LeGrand or Jeff Kaller:

You don’t have to wait until another giant meteorite strikes to find unbelievable real estate opportunities at dirt-cheap, bargain prices.

For Bob Higgins:

Free when we paint your house:

100-Million Year Warranty Against Meteorite Damage.

For Jack “Quick Kill” Williams:

How to defend yourself against attack by muggers, rapists, marauding mobs, terrorists, even giant meteorites — with your bare hands.

For Roy Myers:

Warning: Epic disasters can strike your investment portfolio – tomorrow, not 50 million years from now.

Ah, I got a million of

em. Good 2nd grabber’d be a little rock, a hunk of a meteorite. Or sand in a baggie; a do it yourself meteorite kit.

Yes, it is possible that, this month, I had a little too much time on my hands. But the demonstration has a legitimate point: there’s no shortage of “jumping off point” fodder for ads, sales letters, promotions, thus no excuse whatsoever for boring your customers or prospects, for turning out mundane copy. The daily news is ripe with opportunity and ideas. But you need to condition yourself to “read FOR what you can use”. Most people do not read for purpose, watch TV for purpose, even listen to the random conversations around them for purpose.

Great fiction writers listen to the conversations around them for purpose – to capture dialogue to use. I do the same thing, to capture “copy” for ads and sales letters.

You can program your subconscious to do this automatically, without conscious work on your part. You’ll have to do it very consciously and deliberately for 21 to 30 days, then your subconscious’ll get the idea and take over. So, get a notebook to carry around, and set a goal to capture “out of the blue” at least one hot, possibly useable idea — ad theme, piece of copy, title, etc. — everyday. Every day, read your newspaper with the goal and purpose of tearing out one item you can somehow use in your marketing.

Smart-Bomb Selling: Use Information Technology to Home In on Hot Prospects

By: Dan Kennedy on: July 9th, 2009 4 Comments

By Duncan Maxwell Anderson

From Success Magazine

DAN KENNEDY says he’s found a way to multiply your closing ratio in face-to-face selling: Instead of carpet-bombing the universe of possible prospects with telephone calls trying to get an appointment, use the techniques of direct-response advertising. Generate a response from those who already need your product. Then home in like a cruise missile for the close. Kennedy, president of Empire Communications Corp. in Phoenix, uses direct response to grow his own business and consults to other companies.

“One of my client companies sells seals for industrial pumps,” says Kennedy. “The ordinary seal has to be replaced every 30,000 pumps, taking four hours of downtime. But this company’s seal lasts 300,000 pumps and takes only two hours to replace. How would you sell it? The conventional approach is to send out a rep to each factory with a bag of seals under one arm and a box of doughnuts under the other. He’ll wait around for an hour waiting to see someone. That uses up time, and it’s also bad positioning.”

GET IN POSITION TO CLOSE

Kennedy says that you’re in better position to close a sale if you manage to get the customers who might need your product to come to you. This is where the direct-response methods come in. “Suppose you send every prospect a brochure that offers him a free video showing how to cut his downtime in half when he’s servicing his pump. It’s closely related to your business, but it’s not about your company or product.

“Once the guy responds and says, ‘I want to see the video,’ he doesn’t view you as a pump-parts salesman anymore. His defenses come down, because he feels as if he’s in charge when he says, ‘I think you’re the guy who can help me. Tell me how this works.’ Now you’re in a good position to tell him about your longer-lasting seal. If you cold-marketed the same prospect, your results would not be as good.”

With its free video offer, the client company more than doubled its closing ratio per 100 prospects — from 3 to 7. That opens the possibility of hiring more reps, who sell more and make more money. As Kennedy says, “There’s no reason for a sales rep to spend his time on the phone to narrow his prospect search when a letter can do it for him.”

THE SECRET OF BABY STEPS

Kennedy says the strategy works in any market: Every potential customer would be grateful for free information on some area of need, free from a sales pitch. “Take baby steps with your customer to build rapport,” Kennedy says, “until you’re ready for a giant step like a big-ticket sale. Your free report — or video, or manual — should have an exciting title,” says Kennedy. “It should be as good as something you might buy at a bookstore, but you’re giving it to him free.

“Say a computer store wants to sell software, hardware, and Internet hookups,” says Kennedy. “Why not target people with kids, offering a free report entitled ‘How to get your kid into the college of his and your choice’? Let’s say 18 of the 101 tips involve the use of the computer. At the end of the report, put in another offer: ‘Come in to our education fair from March 22 to 24. All of tips 50 to 68 will be on display, with free Internet access and instructors available.’ Have a discount offer that day for software or hardware, and give away a demo of ‘The 5 Greatest Educational Tools for Your Computer.’ These are measures that offer value, cost little, and generate goodwill and sales.”

The principle of the smart bomb can work even with a presentation or sales letter, if you are very confident. It’s a benefit that grows out of what Kennedy calls “the positive power of negative preparation.” In presentations, we are accustomed to mentioning only our strengths, hoping the prospect will forget about the possibility of weaknesses. Of course he doesn’t. All the while, he’s trying to figure out what problems he between the lines. That tension is bad, Kennedy says.

“Why not painfully acknowledge all the weaknesses in your case — every one of your flaws?” he suggests. “Then, answer these problems with the best possible responses. You preempt most objections and show your honesty. Sales managers don’t tend to do this,” he adds, with considerable understatement.

“But winning sports coaches do. They go through all their plays and ask themselves, ‘What do we do if this goes wrong? Or how about this?’ ”

If you can handle the obstacles without breaking a sweat, it’s easier to get in position to score.

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