The Advertising Edge

Advertising Tip: “If you want them to call, give them a call to action”

You created ad copy that would make Madison Avenue green with envy. In fact, you framed it and put it next to pictures of your kids. Now, take another look at your master piece. Does it give your customers an incentive to buy now? With all marketing materials, it’s crucial to get potential customers to act today! Try the following techniques to create a call to action that will make your phone ring and your Web traffic soar.

GIVE A DEADLINE FOR ORDERING
We have all received promotional materials with a deadline for ordering or responding. The offer could end on that date or it could coincide with a deadline for an upgrade or free gift. For example, order by the 15th and receive…. Or, try to make the ending date within the same month as your materials are received. That way, your potential customers know they have a limited time to respond and they won’t fall victim to the “I’ll do it later” syndrome.

OFFER A FREE GIFT
Nothing attracts new customers like free gifts. “As an added incentive for ordering, we’re offering a free gift to the first 1,000 people who respond.”

OFFER AN UPGRADE ON THEIR ORDER
One simple line can boost your sales. “Order within 10 days and we’ll upgrade you to the deluxe model.”

EXTEND AN INVITATION TO VISIT YOUR WEBSITE
Invite those who see your ad to go to your site to watch a video or a slide show of interest to them or to get advice or a helpful tip. While they are there, offer them an incentive to register for a sweepstakes or get a monthly newsletter with helpful hints and ideas. No matter how you approach your own call to action, be sure to give your customers the perks of responding immediately. The call to action creates a conversation between you and those who see your ads and this leads to more customers.

****************************************************************************************************

Advertising Tip: “What to do with the non-clicking 84%”

I read this perspective recently on a daily blog from Seth Godin, a bestselling author, entrepreneur and self described agent of change. I found his take on the subject of online ad clicks to be note worthy so I thought I would share it.

Basically, all of the clicks for online ads come from only 16% of the surfers, and most of them come from just 4% of all internet users. So, if you optimize your online ads for clicks, it means you’re ignoring a huge population. If your business is built around the kind of person who clicks, you win. If it isn’t, you either need to not buy ads online or buy ads optimized for attention and familiarity, not clicks. Imagine that only left-handed people clicked on ads (it’s about the same percent). What are you going to do if you make a product for the right-handed portion of the population as well, ignore them? It’s okay to make an ad that isn’t easy to measure. If it works, that’s enough.

****************************************************************************************************

Advertising Tip: “When advertising, benefits are all that matter”

What Makes a Good Print Ad? This is the million dollar question and one that cannot be answered with a single sentence or paragraph because print ads serve several roles in driving your marketing initiatives. You can use print ads to increase the awareness and integrity of your brand as well as directly and indirectly drive sales. Often, a print ad is asked to do all of these tasks at once. As a result, the success of your print ad campaign is ultimately defined by you, the advertiser.

However, no matter what you want your ad to do for you there is one major rule to follow, make sure your ad message sells your product’s benefits, not just your product’s features. This is an age old rule that is too often ignored by advertisers. In a bid to outsell, out-promote and out-do competitors, many businesses still fall into the trap of advertising product features, not benefits, month after month. Let’s face it, if an advertisement does not answer the reader’s question, “What’s in it for me?” it is not likely to draw much interest.

Strive to make your ads work harder for you by letting them address any problems your product will solve and make suggestions to readers on how your product can improve their lives, or their horse’s lives, in some meaningful way. Give me a call and let’s talk about ways we can “kick your advertisements up a notch.”

****************************************************************************************************
Advertising Tip: “If they are listening, keep talking”
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” Charles R. Swindoll- Author, Educator, Pastor
A recent article in Knowledge at Wharton underscores the need to keep talking to your customers now more than ever. Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader notes that “as companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.” Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during recessions perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses who chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise. Source: BNET
Right now, consumers are carefully taking extra time to learn all they can before making buying decisions. It makes sense. Money is tight and they can’t afford to get it wrong. With this in mind, ask yourself one question before making the final decision to drastically slash your marketing budget.
“How will your customers react to your decision to scale back on educating them about your products when their need for your information is now greater than ever?”
Western Horseman speaks to nearly 500,000 monthly readers. This number equates to filling the new Dallas Cowboys stadium 4.5 times each month with horse owners who are willing to pay for a seat to hear what Western Horseman has to say about the western stock horse industry and your products and services. I may be biased, but it makes sense to me to let us help you keep your message in front of the largest group of horse owners in the industry.

We are officially in the middle of a recession, which reminds me of something Sam Walton once said when asked how he would respond to a recession.  He simply replied, “I would choose not to participate.”

If asked how you would handle a recession, how would you respond?  Better yet, how have you already responded?  Have you followed the sage advice of Sam Walton and decided not to participate or have you dealt with this recession, lack of business, and general “tough times by deciding to stop your advertising?   The other option is to keep educating your customers with well-placed advertising messages and in the process choose to take this recession on by embracing the opportunities it presents.

Sadly, statistics show the first budget slashed is usually marketing when panic drives the reaction to a recession.  This happened in 1981, and history is trying to repeat itself again.  Sure, cutting advertising is a short term way to reduce expenses and for a brief period, this action provides a sense of relief. However, whacking away at marketing is no different than the decision to refinance a house to pay off maxed out credit cards.  Only this time it isn’t home equity being burned as a bail out, it is your hard-earned market share.

Here are a few examples of businesses that chose to buck the trend, be creative and brave, and get the most out of a good recession opportunity.

1. Kellogg’s® pushed their ads through the Great Depression; Post® didn’t. Guess who dominated the cereal market for the next 50 years. Can you say corn flakes?

2. Stanley® Tools launched its biggest ad campaign during the 1974 recession. Their consumer product division took off.  They grew at twice the rate of competitors every year thereafter.

3. In the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958, and 1961, companies tracked for ad spending cutbacks saw sales and profits fall off.  Those who kept ad budgets saw profits increase and kept an edge in the years that followed.

4. Regarding the 1974 to 1975 recession, the study stated, “Companies that did not cut advertising expenditures during the recession experienced higher sales and net income during those two years and the two years following than those companies which cut in either one or both recession years.”

There comes a time in the life of any business when it has a downturn, when the customer count declines, when beating last year’s figures seems an impossible task.   However, studies show it takes five times as much money to attract a new customer as it does to keep the customers you already have.   Think about it and make the decision to keep letting your cusotmers know you are still in business by advertising.