Apple Capital Group Blog

Tag Archive: Marketing

Stepping Into A New Way For Marketing

Stepping Into A New Way For Marketing

Do it Right.

I receive postcards all the time. The other day I received a postcard trying to sell me a copy machine. It had tiny, tiny lettering slathered all over the front and a large portion of the back of the card.

It was extremely hard to read, so hard in fact that I threw it away.

Several days later I received a postcard with 32 words on it telling me that I could get complete information on unrestricted long distance telephone service for 5.5 cents a minute with no additional monthly fee by calling the 800 number on the card.

I did call. I got the information, had my questions answered and ordered my long distance service changed.
The company who offered me the long distance service was using a time tested 2 step selling process:

Step 1. Generate a lead – Get me to call their 800 number.

Step 2. Provide the requested information – Provided to me on the phone by one of their sales representatives, who was able to answer my questions and make me feel confident that I could save quite a bit of money on my long distance bill and that the service would be as good or better.

What’s So Good About 2 Steps?

It is much easier to create interest (a lead) than it is to get a person through an entire buying process (a sale).

You aren’t getting the prospect or existing customer to part with any money just yet.

You can use postcards to inexpensively promote to your target prospects and customers and generate leads (inquiries about your products and services) to then be followed up on and converted to sales.

This 2 step process also helps you to create a list of people who were interested enough in what you offered to contact you.

You can then recontact the one’s who you didn’t complete a sale with when they first inquired, preferably until they do buy from you.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to get the information you will need to recontact the people who responded to your postcard offering.

Repetitive follow-ups with the people who contacted you will result in increased sales. Make it a company policy to follow up with those people who contacted you about your products and services.

The Most Effective Use of Postcards:

The purpose of your postcard’s message is to generate a sufficient level of interest in the mind of your prospect to get him/her to contact you to ask you about your offer.

You are generating interest, not collecting their money (not yet anyway). That is what the 2 step marketing process is about. Generating interested prospects and customers who contact you for more information.

Your message needs 3 parts to be most effective:

1. A clear statement of the biggest benefit of your product or service (in the long distance example, it was cost savings).

2. A good reason for them to contact you NOW.

3. A simple, easy way for them to respond (an 800 number for example).

Your message should be short and to the point. Short messages on postcards produce more leads than long ones.

For example:

Call 800-555-1212 for Your Copy of Our Free Report:

What 99% of Business Owners Don’t Know and Will Never Find Out About Using Postcards to Explode Their Profits

Offer ends 5-5-01 (Print a date 3 weeks from your mailing date to create some urgency)

Lots of people will respond to find out what they might not know. Don’t forget, they responded, which is least some interest in the information you have created a curiosity about.

This method works and is sure to produce a large number of inquiries if sent to your proper market.

This 2 Step Marketing Process Works.

Use the tips you have read here to create your next postcard’s message and see what happens.

You will generate a bunch of leads from people who are truly interested in your products and services.

May 24, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , 0 Read more >

Overcoming Perfectionism in Your Small Business

Overcoming Perfectionism in Your Small Business
Perfectionism can get in the way of building or marketing a successful business.  It can prevent us from moving ahead quickly or from taking advantage of business opportunities.  We set ourselves up with unrealistic expectations or goals, which can be damaging to us personally or professionally.  Striving for perfection can damage our self-esteem because we never feel like we are good enough.  Instead, consider adopting an attitude of striving for excellence.  Look at failure as just another teacher.  Let’s explore how being less than perfect can move you ahead in your business!

1.  Get into action.  One of the best ways to overcome perfectionism is to get into action and do something.  In the case of your marketing, put yourself out there.  Show the world who you are through your website, business cards, brochures, or through giving a speech.  Don’t wait until you get all of these things perfected.  The truth is that they never will be.  Everything you do is a work in progress.  Do something now.  Get feedback, and then make corrections as you move forward.

2.  Say “no” to unreasonably high demands.  We often set high standards of performance for ourselves that would be difficult, if not impossible, to meet even under the best of circumstances.  Learn how to say “no” to yourself.  We always set much higher standards for ourselves than anyone else would and in the big picture, it really means nothing.  You would be surprised at how satisfied most people would be with average performance on your part.  I’m not saying that you should sacrifice quality in what you do, but what you’ll incrementally gain for large expenditures of your personal energy is certainly not productive.  Trying to be perfect in your marketing will only delay getting your message out to those who need to hear it most.

3.  Set realistic goals.  Unreasonably high demands go hand in hand with setting unrealistic goals.  You cannot expect to do everything at once or even at the same level of quality.  Creating a plan of what needs to be done in your business is a top priority.  For each major project or item that you need to accomplish, break it down into a number of goals that are easily doable.  A goal of creating your website can be daunting.  However, breaking it into a number of other goals including drafting a plan for your site, obtaining your domain name, and interviewing three web developers makes it much easier to accomplish.

4.   Find support.  Find others who will support you in the things you are doing.  You might consider asking friends, colleagues, or family members to give their sign-off of approval on some of the projects that you are working on.  While you might not think that something is perfect enough, the people on your support team can provide you with much a much less biased opinion.  Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing, we cannot see that it is perfect just as it is.  Recruit a supportive team to help you determine when enough is enough.

5.  Perfect as it is.  Consider adopting a mindset that whatever you do is the right thing to do and the best thing to do.  This powerful attitude can make all the difference in creating a successful business.  Not only will potential clients find your sense of personal strength attractive, but you will also have more confidence to make things happen and to make them happen quickly.  You’ll take more risks, ask more confidently for business, and work more effectively at everything you do.

6.  Failure is my friend.  Redefine how you look at failure.  Failure is a natural part of life and will inevitably impact your business to varying degrees.  Failure is not the end of anything, nor does it mean that you are incompetent.  Realize that failure is a teacher and that it can help you innovate in your business.  It provides you with valuable information that you’re doing something or going in a direction that isn’t providing the results that you want.  The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can re-orient yourself in another direction, which can lead to your success.

7.  Reframe your attitudes.  Perfection is defined as freedom from fault or defect, or the quality or state of being saintly.  What does it mean to you?  The words we use to describe what we do or who we are, make a tremendous difference in the success we achieve.  How would you define perfection for yourself?  What about adopting an attitude that you are perfect the way you are?  That you are enough.  Write down what perfection means to you and post it in a place where you can read it daily.

8.  Make lemons out of lemonade.  You might be surprised that when you’re not trying to be perfect, you may actually find the perfect opportunity.  For example, you might not be dressed appropriately for a networking event and you don’t feel like you’re “perfect enough” to talk to anyone.  But, you take the opportunity to chat with someone standing next to the hors d’oeuvre table and the next thing you know you’ve created a potential for new business.  Opportunities are everywhere.  In fact, take a look at the last few things you did which you didn’t think were perfect or which didn’t meet your high standards.  What were the results of what you did?  What other exciting things blossomed as a result?

9.  Making it happen is more important than perfection.  Doing things, putting yourself into action, telling people about what you can do for them…all of these things are much more important than spending another hour or another dollar trying to make something perfect in hopes that it will buy you some increased level of success.  People aren’t attracted to perfection, they’re attracted to people that make things happen.  If you’re at the office trying to perfect anything in your business, the trade-off is that you aren’t somewhere where you can be making valuable business contacts.  It is important to surround yourself with people who like to take action.  Not only will they motivate you to do the same, but you’ll also be able to witness, firsthand, the results they are having by getting out there.

10.  Be kind to yourself.  Perfectionists often feel down on themselves for not achieving…well, perfection.  Perfection is an ideal, not a reality; it is humanely impossible to achieve.  Learn how to forgive yourself when you do something you don’t think is good enough or perfect.  Love yourself for being you and know that everything you do in your business possesses your personal spin.  Potential clients won’t be attracted to you because of your business card or website.  They will be attracted to you because of who you are.

May 22, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , 0 Read more >

Using Webinars, Videos and Online Presentations to Promotion Your Business

Using Webinars, Videos and Online Presentations to Promotion Your Business

The amount of videos posted online continues to grow with seemingly no end in sight. A recent study by Cisco predicts that by 2017, videos will account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic—a 12 percent jump from 2012. Webisodes, or web series, will certainly be part of this upswing in viewership. Like scripted broadcast or cable programming, webisodes can have an ongoing story and intriguing characters—but instead of merely entertaining viewers, they can also build awareness of your brand, forge stronger ties with your customers, and provide content that is relevant and useful.

Frame them like stories

Although webisodes are often used as part of a business strategy, experts warn that they are not commercials in disguise. Customers and potential buyers will not sit still for watching a long sales pitch spread out over multiple segments. “Entertaining, engaging content is always king,” says Curt Mercadante, president of Charleston, South Carolina-based Gravina Online Strategies. “Webisodes are like a TV show where people are left wanting more.”

Webisodes can tell stories through different dramatic formats to stoke viewer curiosity and keep them involved with the storyline. For example, Mercadante has partnered with a firm called Feed.Us that develops web-based content management applications. Instead of a hard, direct pitch about the features and benefits of their products, Feed.Us produced webisodes about two of their technicians who answer customer problems over the phone, “but they built [it around] this soap opera of webisodes that has a funny romance,” Mercadante says. “They filmed the webisodes at their desk. Sometimes a grainier look is better because it has that human feel.”

Some webisodes have recurring characters or an ongoing plot, but others can center on a common theme. Mercadante produced webisodes for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform called Faces of Lawsuit Abuse. While these looked like mini-documentaries or news segments, they also tell stories of victims of lawsuit abuse. “The [institute’s] product is lawsuit reform, but it is rarely mentioned in any of the videos,” Mercadante explains. “It’s less about selling the action and more about telling the story about being real life victims.”

Like a morning talk show

Some businesses are comfortable producing webisodes internally. Others find that using a familiar talk show format and a seasoned interviewer can bring out and capture the essence of their business and the personality of the business owner in a more accessible way.

“The video needs to be professional if they want the business to look professional,” says Bella Shaw, a former anchor for CNN who now does videos for the BzS business webisode series. Shaw begins by doing a pre-interview with the subject and using questions before the filming to draw out key points, such as: What makes you the star of your own business? What sets you apart from the competition? What success stories can you share? What is something people would be surprised to know about you? Shaw will also send out an in-depth memo that covers everything from what the subject should wear to how to use simple language and stories to make their points.

“A lot of people are nervous in front of the camera, but I tell them that this is a conversation,” Shaw says. “The nice thing is, it’s not live. I know when I have my sound bite. If I don’t get what I need, I rephrase the question in a way that we can get that.”

The interview takes place on a set that looks like a morning talk show, with footage of the subject at their business or doing something unexpected edited in later. “You have to have good visuals,” Shaw says. “We did a video of a company called Ladyface Ale, a brewery in Calabasas, California. We showed the owner taste testing and walking around the plant. Anything moving makes really good video.”

Taking it on the road

Webisodes provide great flexibility and versatility for involving viewers in a storyline. Just ask Jacob Ballard, self-proclaimed grand pooh-bah of iWebXpert, an Asheville, North Carolina-based company specializing in Internet marketing.

In April 2013, Ballard and his brother, a company vice president, took off for a two-month road trip across the United States for the purpose of interviewing small business owners, pushing the benefits of entrepreneurship—and marketing their own company as well. They edited the videos into a series of webisodes called Big Town Small Business.The amount of videos posted online continues to grow with seemingly no end in sight. A recent study by Cisco predicts that by 2017, videos will account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic—a 12 percent jump from 2012. Webisodes, or web series, will certainly be part of this upswing in viewership. Like scripted broadcast or cable programming, webisodes can have an ongoing story and intriguing characters—but instead of merely entertaining viewers, they can also build awareness of your brand, forge stronger ties with your customers, and provide content that is relevant and useful.

Frame them like stories

Although webisodes are often used as part of a business strategy, experts warn that they are not commercials in disguise. Customers and potential buyers will not sit still for watching a long sales pitch spread out over multiple segments. “Entertaining, engaging content is always king,” says Curt Mercadante, president of Charleston, South Carolina-based Gravina Online Strategies. “Webisodes are like a TV show where people are left wanting more.”

Webisodes can tell stories through different dramatic formats to stoke viewer curiosity and keep them involved with the storyline. For example, Mercadante has partnered with a firm called Feed.Us that develops web-based content management applications. Instead of a hard, direct pitch about the features and benefits of their products, Feed.Us produced webisodes about two of their technicians who answer customer problems over the phone, “but they built [it around] this soap opera of webisodes that has a funny romance,” Mercadante says. “They filmed the webisodes at their desk. Sometimes a grainier look is better because it has that human feel.”

Some webisodes have recurring characters or an ongoing plot, but others can center on a common theme. Mercadante produced webisodes for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform called Faces of Lawsuit Abuse. While these looked like mini-documentaries or news segments, they also tell stories of victims of lawsuit abuse. “The [institute’s] product is lawsuit reform, but it is rarely mentioned in any of the videos,” Mercadante explains. “It’s less about selling the action and more about telling the story about being real life victims.”

Like a morning talk show

Some businesses are comfortable producing webisodes internally. Others find that using a familiar talk show format and a seasoned interviewer can bring out and capture the essence of their business and the personality of the business owner in a more accessible way.

“The video needs to be professional if they want the business to look professional,” says Bella Shaw, a former anchor for CNN who now does videos for the BzS business webisode series. Shaw begins by doing a pre-interview with the subject and using questions before the filming to draw out key points, such as: What makes you the star of your own business? What sets you apart from the competition? What success stories can you share? What is something people would be surprised to know about you? Shaw will also send out an in-depth memo that covers everything from what the subject should wear to how to use simple language and stories to make their points.

“A lot of people are nervous in front of the camera, but I tell them that this is a conversation,” Shaw says. “The nice thing is, it’s not live. I know when I have my sound bite. If I don’t get what I need, I rephrase the question in a way that we can get that.”

The interview takes place on a set that looks like a morning talk show, with footage of the subject at their business or doing something unexpected edited in later. “You have to have good visuals,” Shaw says. “We did a video of a company called Ladyface Ale, a brewery in Calabasas, California. We showed the owner taste testing and walking around the plant. Anything moving makes really good video.”

Taking it on the road

Webisodes provide great flexibility and versatility for involving viewers in a storyline. Just ask Jacob Ballard, self-proclaimed grand pooh-bah of iWebXpert, an Asheville, North Carolina-based company specializing in Internet marketing.

In April 2013, Ballard and his brother, a company vice president, took off for a two-month road trip across the United States for the purpose of interviewing small business owners, pushing the benefits of entrepreneurship—and marketing their own company as well. They edited the videos into a series of webisodes called Big Town Small Business.
The amount of videos posted online continues to grow with seemingly no end in sight. A recent study by Cisco predicts that by 2017, videos will account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic—a 12 percent jump from 2012. Webisodes, or web series, will certainly be part of this upswing in viewership. Like scripted broadcast or cable programming, webisodes can have an ongoing story and intriguing characters—but instead of merely entertaining viewers, they can also build awareness of your brand, forge stronger ties with your customers, and provide content that is relevant and useful.

Frame them like stories

Although webisodes are often used as part of a business strategy, experts warn that they are not commercials in disguise. Customers and potential buyers will not sit still for watching a long sales pitch spread out over multiple segments. “Entertaining, engaging content is always king,” says Curt Mercadante, president of Charleston, South Carolina-based Gravina Online Strategies. “Webisodes are like a TV show where people are left wanting more.”

Webisodes can tell stories through different dramatic formats to stoke viewer curiosity and keep them involved with the storyline. For example, Mercadante has partnered with a firm called Feed.Us that develops web-based content management applications. Instead of a hard, direct pitch about the features and benefits of their products, Feed.Us produced webisodes about two of their technicians who answer customer problems over the phone, “but they built [it around] this soap opera of webisodes that has a funny romance,” Mercadante says. “They filmed the webisodes at their desk. Sometimes a grainier look is better because it has that human feel.”

Some webisodes have recurring characters or an ongoing plot, but others can center on a common theme. Mercadante produced webisodes for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform called Faces of Lawsuit Abuse. While these looked like mini-documentaries or news segments, they also tell stories of victims of lawsuit abuse. “The [institute’s] product is lawsuit reform, but it is rarely mentioned in any of the videos,” Mercadante explains. “It’s less about selling the action and more about telling the story about being real life victims.”

Like a morning talk show

Some businesses are comfortable producing webisodes internally. Others find that using a familiar talk show format and a seasoned interviewer can bring out and capture the essence of their business and the personality of the business owner in a more accessible way.

“The video needs to be professional if they want the business to look professional,” says Bella Shaw, a former anchor for CNN who now does videos for the BzS business webisode series. Shaw begins by doing a pre-interview with the subject and using questions before the filming to draw out key points, such as: What makes you the star of your own business? What sets you apart from the competition? What success stories can you share? What is something people would be surprised to know about you? Shaw will also send out an in-depth memo that covers everything from what the subject should wear to how to use simple language and stories to make their points.

“A lot of people are nervous in front of the camera, but I tell them that this is a conversation,” Shaw says. “The nice thing is, it’s not live. I know when I have my sound bite. If I don’t get what I need, I rephrase the question in a way that we can get that.”

The interview takes place on a set that looks like a morning talk show, with footage of the subject at their business or doing something unexpected edited in later. “You have to have good visuals,” Shaw says. “We did a video of a company called Ladyface Ale, a brewery in Calabasas, California. We showed the owner taste testing and walking around the plant. Anything moving makes really good video.”

Taking it on the road

Webisodes provide great flexibility and versatility for involving viewers in a storyline. Just ask Jacob Ballard, self-proclaimed grand pooh-bah of iWebXpert, an Asheville, North Carolina-based company specializing in Internet marketing.

In April 2013, Ballard and his brother, a company vice president, took off for a two-month road trip across the United States for the purpose of interviewing small business owners, pushing the benefits of entrepreneurship—and marketing their own company as well. They edited the videos into a series of webisodes called Big Town Small Business.

May 15, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , 0 Read more >

Customer Service with Excellence!

Customer Service with Excellence!
Are you a stickler about receiving top notch customer service? Do you routinely “come through” as a provider of exemplary services to your customers? Chances are you have been greatly disappointed at one time or another regarding the service you received from a salesperson, an internet hosting company, a hair colorist, or any one of thousands of different service providers. Frankly, customer service in many areas — retail, for one — isn’t what it used to be. However, where there is poor customer service there is also a great opportunity. Read on and I will explain.

Let’s say you are in a field that routinely provides so-so service to customers. It could be that customer expectations are low and no one expects top notch service. Maybe most customers are simply “price sensitive” and could care less about how fast or how well you deliver. However, you can bet that there are a percentage of customers out there who appreciate service that goes above and beyond the industry standard. These same customers typically will pay a little extra for service that really serves them. If you can tap into this customer base, you can create a niche, raise your prices, and make more money in the long run.

Depending on your industry, you could command a price premium of 10-25% over the average provider. That may not sound like a lot, but it could spell the difference between eating hamburger or eating steak. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer eating steak!

Naturally, providing a high level of customer service means you will have to break a sweat. You may have to happily redo [its all in the attitude, baby!] or improve on an existing project in order to satisfy a good paying customer. This is what sets you apart from the pack.

If you are satisfied with the “status quo” then that’s okay too. Just don’t expect to have customers beat down your doors for work. At least the better customers will not!

All call centers are not created equal. Whether your team is based on support, sales, or something else, you can cut costs and be more efficient with a cloud-based system. Keeping customers happy should be rule number one for all business owners, because poor customer service or poor support won’t bode well for anyone. Cloud-based support systems have all the tools you need to answer and route calls, create queues, and it even runs reports to see how your team is performing. How’s that for a silver lining?

Call center phone systems provide the needed tools that your team uses to keep your customers thrilled with your company. If your Customer Support team is the heart of your Customer Support operation, your call center phone system is the backbone. In this article, we will give you the key issues related to picking and implementing call center phone systems.

Call Center Phone Systems

Small businesses thrive or die based on how well they support their customers. In many cases that means providing phone support to help your customers get more out of your product. Also, you solve problems they may have encountered. While your standard phone system (either PBX or VoIP based) may give you the basics for that phone support, taking advantage of optimized call center phone systems can help you do it cheaper and provide higher levels of customer care.

Key Considerations of Call Center Phone Systems

Call Queues and Distribution

The more calls that come into your Customer Support team, the more likely you’re going to need to triage those calls. Your team needs to get the right calls to the people who are best able to handle the call. Also, you will want to minimize the wait time.

Good call center phone systems provide a queuing mechanism, so the first caller is taken by the first available agent. Calls can be routed according to rules you specify. For instance, your Customer Support team might be segmented by geography, so a given call should be forwarded directly to a particular agent based on the area code shown on caller ID. However, with the mobility of cell phones, this method isn’t perfect but will work the majority of the time, eliminating multiple waits for your customers.

Agent Status

A standard phone system knows when somebody is on the line. Call center phone systems determine whether a call should go to a given extension based on other factors, such as whether an agent is on break. An agent indicates that he is not available to take calls and a supervisor can see how many agents are currently available. They can rearrange the number of agents to take customer calls.

Key Metrics and Reports

The best way to improve your operation is to know what’s going on. In a call center, like in other areas, that means having metrics you can use to evaluate the situation. Call center phone systems have the ability to create reports around these metrics and can help your call center in several ways, including the best times to staff your call center and which agents are doing things better than others.

You should be able to analyze call volume, length of calls, staff’s resolution methods, and how the metrics change from agent to agent. This gives you good decision-making data and helps you start conversations with your agents. You can find out what makes the good agents good and help the poor performing agents get better. The reports provide justification in case you need to take action related to employees or contractors.

Call Monitoring and Barge-In

Sophisticated call centers have full-time supervisors or second tier support people. If this is your company, you will want your leadership to be able to monitor calls silently or even be able to barge-in when needed. Call center phone systems provide these capabilities. They give you more qualitative data than the metrics you typically see in reports. Also, they provide typical agents with help when they encounter rude customers or more difficult support situations. On many call center phone systems these features are an extra cost.

Connectivity is Key

If you use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, you will likely link your CRM system and your call center phone system. This will make it easier for you to mine your customers and prospects to better support callers. Call center phone systems allow you to integrate with your CRM system, whether it is a cloud-based CRM (i.e. Salesforce.com, Zoho, or Sugar) or a system that you operate in-house (i.e. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Act!, or Microsoft Outlook).

The integration types differ. You might want your agents to click-to-dial outbound calls directly from your CRM or you might want your CRM system to pop-up a window with customer data every time a call comes in from that customer.

Don’t Forget the Basics

Call center phone systems offer many features you will want for your call center that are similar to those of your general company phone system.

You will want an interactive voice response (IVR) capability, known to many as auto-attendants or voice prompt system. Your callers can properly direct their calls without having to reach somebody on your staff. Many companies use robust IVR systems to provide automated answers to callers. This often means the callers get more prompt responses than waiting for an agent. The company can reduce the number of agents required at a given time.

If you don’t staff your call center 24/7, you will probably have your callers greeted by a different message(s) when it’s not open, so they will know how long to wait until it opens or when they should call back.

Most call center phone systems that record calls will also provide a message to tell callers they are being recorded. The ability to record calls will help you in your training efforts and in handling some caller situations.

Choosing Your Call Center Phone System

The actual call center phone system you need will depend on which of the functions mentioned above are appropriate for your particular business and methodologies. It may also be based, in part, whether your call center is for sales, support, or both.

Cloud-Based Call Center Phone Systems

We have selected Nextiva as the Best Cloud-Based Call Center Phone System based on the wide variety of call center functions the company provides with its service. Other cloud-based call center phone systems that can be used in customer support centers include RingCentral, ShoreTel Sky, and VocalCom.

Nextiva Call Center

  • Provides key tools including queuing & call routing
  • Allows reports to run your center and evaluate your team
  • Interfaces with CRM and MS-Outlook

May 3, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , 0 Read more >

Marketing A Misunderstood Product

Marketing A Misunderstood ProductMarketing A Misunderstood Product
What do you do if your business, product or service is something hardly anyone is aware of or understands? Or worse yet, if it is something they are afraid of or want to avoid?

My answer is three-fold.

First, focus on the SOLUTION you are providing

What is the primary problem your prospects have that you can solve? Do they have pain you can relieve? Do they have an ailment or affliction you can cure? In these cases, you are not selling your “scary” or “misunderstood” product or service, you are selling pain relief or healing.

It is imperative you look at what you are selling from your prospects’ perspective and talk about it terms of a solution for them.

Second, understand your competitive advantage

You must understand how what you sell stacks up against the other options your prospects have. Is it superior? Do the effects last longer? Is it safer? Is it cheaper? The list of questions could go on forever.

In the end, you must be able to clearly communicate to your prospects how you can help them in a way no one or nothing else can. This makes your “scary” or “misunderstood” product or service the only logical alternative for them and will help to overcome any obstacles or fear they may have. It simply becomes THE best solution for the problem the have.

Third, undertake an educational marketing effort

Through your web site, a newsletter or ezine, special reports, tele-seminars and presentations, or other free information products and services, you have an excellent opportunity to educate your prospects about your product or service and to dispel any fears or misconceptions they may have.

You may even want to enlist testimonials from satisfied clients. People very often believe what others say about your business more than what you say. If you don’t yet have clients to gather testimonials from, treat some friends or colleagues to your product or service and ask them to provide you with testimonials in exchange. It’s a great way to get your business off to a great start!

April 30, 2014 Today's Business, , , 0 Read more >

Developing Your Business with Network Marketing

Developing Your Business with Network Marketing
A Networkmarketing Builder? Yes, I will outline now step by step how you and your downline can use a “Networkmarketing Builder”, to create excitement and explode your easy home business, fast. Consider for a moment, the perfect automated recruiting and training system, that will work for you promoting any Network Marketing business or Ordinary Business.

A”Networkmarketing Builder” is a user friendly software for your PC that makes it simple and automatic for any network marketing business(es) you’re involved in.

You need a completely automated duplicable system anyone can use…

* A free E-mail Marketing Course that you can download from here: http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com/EMS.pdf (This file is in PDF format (Acrobat Reader). Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com
* A Free Networkmarketing Newsletter that you can obtain here: http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com
* A Networkmarketing Builder

Let me first explain exactly why a “Networkmarketing Builder” is the perfect tool for you and your downline to build your business fast. Then I’ll get right to the strategies for success using less time and effort. I’ll insure you’re maximizing your efforts using the “complete” system for your PC while saving you valuable time. Time you need to “get away,” knowing your PC is hard at work for you. Spend this “time” with family, friends and for yourself.

Let me tell you the “Secret of Networkmarketing Success”:

“The fortune is in the follow up!”

Did you know that you can automate the “Key” aspect of successful Network Marketing Online and GROW YOUR NETWORK, STARTING TODAY!

A “Networkmarketing Builder” can insure your success, as well as your organization, by providing the tool that will automate the “Secret of Networkmarketing Success”:

YOUR FOLLOW UP!

**Plus, you can provide this tool to your organization that will generate excitement, growth and cash! Not only for sales made through your own “Networkmarketing Builder” Web Store as a reseller, but cash from ALL orders your Associates and contacts make as well.**
**All while you and your downline are exploding your organization!**

And there’s a brand new Web based version of “The Networkmarketing Builder” called “The Online Networkmarketing Builder”. If you would rather manage your contact base and automated marketing from a Web based interface, and not use PC based software, click here: http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com/hts/postmasterol.html

More about “The Networkmarketing Builder”…

A “Networkmarketing Builder” can help you manage your contact database and keep in touch with automatic, personal and consistent follow up, because was originally designed specifically for the Network Marketing Industry.

The biggest problem we see in the Network Marketing Industry is people just don’t have enough TIME each day to build their business. So, they soon get frustrated and quit or move on to the next opportunity promising wealth and freedom, only to find out they have the same problem.

Not enough TIME to build their business!

There are a few keys to the beginning of a successful Network Marketing business.

* First, above ALL else, you must get started right away. Procrastinating this step will nearly insure failure.

* Second, realize people DO procrastinate and put decisions off. The first few times you contact a prospect the timing just might not be right. You simply MUST follow up and keep in touch consistently. This will insure when they’re ready you get in touch with them. Don’t miss the opportunity to recruit a player that decided to go with another company because he or she hasn’t heard from you.

This is where the problem comes in. People don’t have the time to follow up with prospects and their downline near enough to be REALLY successful. You must make it easy for a new member to get started and duplicate your system!

E-mail and the Web are the answers! It costs you about $20 a month to send as much mail as you want; And $300 a year to host an entire web site The cost of phone calls and the postal service can be hundreds of dollars a month. Now, I would never recommend to forget the phone, fax, voice mail or snail mail. These are all part of building any successful business online and off-line and simply must be used.

* The third is a good consistent supply of pre-qualified leads for you and your downline.

This is a Networker’s dream come true! Because you can do it all with less than 15 minutes a day!

* Copy your sales and training follow ups into “The Networkmarketing Builder”
* Import your prospects and downline members
* Then “The Networkmarketing Builder” does the rest for you, following up and keeping in touch for as long and as often as you want.

INFORMING, SELLING, EDUCATING AND TRAINING AUTOMATICALLY

Imagine an automated system that delivers information to your potential customers and then follows up with them automatically over a preset number of days, weeks, and months. An automated system that nudges, inquires, follows up, reminds and answers questions for each and every contact in due course, over and over…

Having an automated system to send e-mail communication and follow up to your potential and existing customers will save you time and money. Maximize your marketing efforts, stay organized, and make more MONEY in less time.

Systematic follow up will insure all your prospects are walked step by step through your opportunity and your product line. They will receive the whole story a little bit at a time taking them by the hand right to the sign up. Keep telling them about the features and benefits you and your network marketing company can offer them until the time is right for them to join or you strike a chord.

What if you could AUTOMATICALLY…

* Help train and motivate your downline members?
* Follow up and keep in touch with your prospect ?
* Contact your customer to remind them of their reorder cycles?
* Get new recruits started off fast and started off right?
* Import your coop leads and begin to further qualify immediately?
* Make one file of your prospecting letters to send to your members so they can import it into “The Networkmarketing Builder” to begin building their business immediately?

Sounds great, but where will you get the sales letters to follow up with?

This is a fair question. But there are many resources to depend on. This is one reason you decided on network marketing in the first place right? The support of a company and your organization!

* Contact your upline (often the letters you need are ready)
* Find all your old sales letters and applicable outgoing mail
* Work together with your upline and downline to assemble a series
* Be sure to share your series with your members
* Subscribe to our free Easy Home Business Newsletter, going to the following web address: http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com/index.html

“The fortune is in the Follow up”

You can use a “Networkmarketing Builder” to expand your organization, then resell it to your downline creating excitement and results right away. Encourage them to resell it to their new recruits as well and earn second level commissions.

Another important benefit is you can send new members one file to import into their “Networkmarketing Builder” that includes prospecting and training message series for your Networkmarketing all ready to go! This way, your Associates can simply plug new and old prospects or import leads directly into their “Networkmarketing Builder”. Then they automatically start sending sound consistent follow up in a timely manner. This will boost their sponsoring efforts and build excitement immediately!!

This is a powerful Networkmarketing tool. When a NEW Networkmarketing member joins, you can mail them a file to import into their new “Networkmarketing Builder” program that contains tons of sales letters, follow ups, training and more. They can customize them; then import their own contacts and new prospects into the “Networkmarketing Builder”, and start sending messages that sell the plan and your products. They can now keep in close contact with all their prospects and organization, automatically!

If you have an existing organization that’s even better, you have a built in prospect list and reseller force. Since it will be in their best interest, and yours, this is a win-win situation! Tell them how a “Networkmarketing Builder” can help build their business and organization while saving valuable time and money.

Even beginners can simply plug people into the “Networkmarketing Builder” and let their computer do the lion’s share of the work following up.

This would be perfect for your network marketing business!

Do you see the power with your own personal “Networkmarketing Builder” for your networking business and Associates?

Another very successful strategy is to coop your lead generation and put a system in place to divide up your leads into files and send them to your associates. Using the “Networkmarketing Builder” and participating in your coop lead generation system your downline has access to the perfect downline building system. They import their leads and start building their business right away.

The Industry is growing faster than any other time in our history but competition is fierce….

YOU NEED TO LAYOUT A SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE RECRUITING SYSTEM THE AVERAGE PERSON CAN GET RESULTS WITH. COMBINING A LEAD GENERATION SYSTEM WITH THE POWER OF THE “Networkmarketing Builder” IS THE SOLUTION NO MATTER WHAT NETWORK MARKETING COMPANIES YOU REPRESENT!

Imagine providing the marketing tool that almost guarantees your new and existing Networkmarketing recruit’s success. You can help them automate their follow up and lead management. This insures you and your downline are doing a TON of work, in just minutes a day.

They can import yours or the company’s pre selected messages right into the “Networkmarketing Builder” to grow their new business and yours. The “Networkmarketing Builder” automatically gets your new partner started off right and started off fast!

Don’t forget you earn commission on every order your downline and customers sell as well. The power of duplication at your fingertips. Your new recruits just plug their new and old prospects into their software and off they go sponsoring faster than ever.
Not only can it follow up with hundreds, even thousands of your prospects in a few minutes per day, but you can also …

<1> Send a training series over 12 months or more keeping your downline informed and motivated
<2>Advertise and mail a free “Networkmarketing training series.” Of course your information covers the benefits of your products and opportunity all right in the same series.
<3> Mail a “getting started fast” training series to all your new recruits.

Let’s review how much time you’re spending on your mail communication. Use minutes or hours in each blank.

1) Keeping customers posted on specials and new products per day_________
2) Following up with prospects requesting more information per day_________
3) Keeping track of your contacts and e-mail communication per day_________
4) Introducing a new product to your contact database per day_________
5) Motivating and training your employees and associates per day_________
6) Educating your customers and prospects per day_________

Total hours spent per day on these activities? >>>__________
Your cost ($$$$) ? _________

A “Networkmarketing Builder” affords you the opportunity to do much of this communication in minutes, not hours.

WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER!

 

April 28, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , 0 Read more >

Planning a Publicity Campaign with Bang

Planning a Publicity Campaign with Bang

Famous is as famous does and the famous get known through publicity. Yes, that’s right, fame doesn’t discover you, you create it through strategic campaigning. What’s more, the techniques for increasing your exposure are not as difficult to attain as you might think. A great publicity campaign starts with courage, then planning, and lastly, it succeeds through persistence. If you’re not sure why you should seek fame, consider fortune because the two go hand in hand.

Fame will bring your business into the forefront of your target audience faster than any advertising campaign can hope to do. It solidifies you as an expert and creates a deep, abiding confidence in the consumer. It makes you a shining star with infinite possibilities. So what are the steps you ask? Well paste a gold star to your forehead and let’s get started.

1. Press Releases:
Increase awareness through a press release. Yes, I know, press releases have become quite the popular little tool around cyberspace with releases being blasted hither and there, but are they working? Probably not. Blasting your press release will bring blasted little results. Instead, thoughtfully put together a very dynamic one-page press release and target publications that would be most interested in you and your business. Don’t drone out the details; make that press release sing your praises. Then send it to a real live editor and follow up with a phone call. In other words, let the press release be the invitation to your follow up phone call. Begin making connections with the media. Be polite, be excited, and be patient.

2. Create A Press Kit:
A Press kit is basically an exaggerated press release turned into a package. It’s more complex, tells more about you and your company, and is all pulled together into a nice neat folder. Of all the questions I receive, first is, what is a press kit? Simply, it is a folder of information about you or your business. It should contain:

A. An Introduction Letter
B. One or Two Press Releases
C. A Fact Sheet
(This contains the facts about you or your business.)
D. Bio Sheet
(Which is a biography of you and your accomplishments.)
E. Copies of Published Articles
F. Company Literature
G. A Business Card

Send your press kit when an editor, publisher, or producer wants to know more about you.

3. Newsletters Offline.
Don’t forget that a whole world exists offline. Locate newsletters or smaller print publications offline and submit articles. This can be a very dynamic way to increase your exposure as well as add to your press kit. You can locate newsletters in your subject area by visiting the local university library reference section. Ask for a directory of trade newsletters and do your research. Once you have been published, it’s easier to step up to the larger publications. Fame starts small and then snowballs onto itself.

4. Speak Up!
Yep, that’s right. Start giving speeches on your area of expertise. Start locally at civic clubs and local educational programs. Then find the local talk radio shows and make your case to the producer. It’s surprising how many talk radio shows are actively looking for new speakers. Once you have achieved Talk Radio, the opportunities will start coming to you.

5. Publicity Pitches:
Put together several dynamic article ideas. Just the ideas, not the actual article. This is called a Publicity Pitch. Take those ideas and then pitch them to editors of targeted publications. This can work very well as it saves Editors time and puts the outline right into their hands. As a past Editor I know how well this works. Editors love ideas, especially ideas that are completely outlined and correct for their readership. This means don’t send pet article ideas to cooking magazines. Send pet articles ideas to pet publications. Seems like a no brainer, huh? But you’d be amazed at what editors see that don’t apply to their own publication.

Fame comes from planning and persistence. It has its rejections, but if you can learn not to take it personally, it will eventually work. Remember, once you start, keep going. Once you stop, you have to start all over.

April 22, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , 0 Read more >

7 Marketing Tips for Your Small Business

7 Marketing Tips for Your Small Business

Here are 7 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help any small business find customers and generate sales quickly.

1. Don’t Advertise Like a Big Business

Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. A small business can’t afford to do that. Instead, design your advertising to produce sales …now. One way to accomplish this is to always include an offer in your advertising – and an easy way for prospective customers to respond to it.

2. Offer a Cheaper Version

Some prospective customers are not willing to pay the asking price for your product or service. Others are more interested in paying a low price than in getting the best quality. You can avoid losing sales to many of these customers by offering a smaller or stripped down version of your product or service at a lower price.

3. Offer a Premium Version

Not all customers are looking for a cheap price. Many are willing to pay a higher price to get a premium product or service. You can boost your average size sale and your total revenue by offering a more comprehensive product or service …or by combining several products or services in a special premium package offer for a higher price.

4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods

Look for some unconventional marketing methods your competitors are overlooking. You may discover some highly profitable ways to generate sales and avoid competition. For example, print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your website or generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

5. Trim Your Ads

Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost. You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a better response than their longer versions.

6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses

Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This usually produces a large number of sales for a very low cost.

7. Take Advantage of Your Customers

Your customers already know and trust you. It’s easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Take advantage of this by creating some sp

April 13, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Read more >

In A Small Business, You Must Be Single Minded

In A Small Business, You Must Be Single Minded
You’ve read about the importance of being courageous, rebellious and imaginative. These are all vital ingredients in an effective advertising campaign. However, they must be tempered with the most important ingredient of all—strategy.

As long as the advertising industry has been in existence there has been debate about whether advertising is art or commerce. Quite frankly, this kind of divisive argument is a waste of time and has only helped to diminish what little respect the industry has earned through the years. Besides, the answer is simple. Advertising is the art of commerce.

It can’t be pure art because pure art won’t engage the consumer on behalf of the brand. Art can certainly get people’s attention, but it rarely causes them to take action. If the consumer is not actively engaged, the brand won’t grow. If the brand doesn’t grow, the company won’t profit. And if the company ceases to make a profit, it dies and takes its brand with it.

On the other hand, advertising can’t be mere commerce because capitalism, in and of itself, is not pretty. It doesn’t make people sit up and take notice. Pure commerce deals with the exchange of money for goods and services. How boring is that. Besides, you don’t want to encourage simple commerce. You want to promote branded commerce. That is what makes strategy so important.

Let’s be clear. We’re talking advertising strategy. Advertising is not marketing. Marketing involves several disciplines including product, pricing, packaging, distribution, customers and promotions (which encompasses public relations, advertising, point-of-sale, direct marketing, e-marketing, etc.).

If your ad agency can’t tell the difference between marketing and advertising strategy, run like hell. You’re liable to waste a lot of money. Now some agencies do understand the balance between the broader marketing picture and the narrow, targeted advertising scope. If they are capable and comfortable operating in both realms, they will be a very valuable partner to you.

The importance of a strong ad strategy can’t be stressed enough. Creating ads without strategy is like throwing a ping pong ball at a speeding car in a wind storm. There is little chance you will hit your target.

With a sound advertising strategy, however, even a company with a limited budget can compete against deep-pocketed competitors. Such is the power of the single idea that remains constant over time. This, my friend, is the essence of long-term branding.

You must start by knowing to whom you are speaking and to whom you should be speaking. What are their hot buttons? What kinds of things are they paying attention to (art)? What would make them want your product or service (commerce)? What kind of life do they lead? What are some of their daily hassles? Can your product or service help with any?

The key, of course, is to begin thinking about your customers and potential customers. Focus on their needs instead of your own. By offering solutions to their needs, you will fulfill your own profit needs. It doesn’t work the other way around. Trust me.

Only after you know your audience, should you start thinking about how to communicate with them. Because only then will you know how and where to reach them.•

This article introduced the fourth of twelve steps. Challenge yourself, your staff and your advertising agency to revolutionize your ad program. If you missed a previous step, contact the author for a complimentary copy. And, remember, every revolution begins with just one step.

April 5, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , 1 Read more >

In Business: Be Courageous, Be Imaginative, and Be Rebellious

In Business: Be Courageous, Be Imaginative, and Be Rebellious
For such a simple statement, this is one of the hardest things for people to do. It goes back to that damn survival instinct each of us is born with. If an animal draws attention to itself in the wild, it might soon find itself the main course of a larger animal’s next meal. That fear of being chewed up and spit out has survived all our millions of years of evolution and is alive and well in today’s business environment.

Fight or flight is another instinct many of us haven’t yet learned to manipulate. It’s easier to run away from a new idea than it is to stay and fight for it. With today’s leadership-by-committee mentality and intense public scrutiny, the easiest solution is unfortunately the most popular. Companies today often miss the forest through the trees. They tend to concentrate so much on short-term profit that they fail to make investments or take advantages of opportunities that promise long-term profit simply because they require a short-term loss.

It may also be argued that fighting for a new idea—whether that means pushing for the development of a new product, staving off competitors or supporting a slumping brand rather than letting it die—is usually undesirable because of such costs.

Certainly that might be true in the short term, but in the long run, giving up too soon my actually cost your company far more in lost revenues, public outrage or shrinking market share. It requires a different way of thinking. Advertising and promoting your business is an investment in your business’ future. Investments are not mere costs. They come with a benefit.

Let’s get one thing straight from the very beginning. No company ever dominated its industry by operating with a philosophy of fear. And, ultimately, no company can survive if it doesn’t learn to conquer its fear and take chances, make changes.

It is the ability to see past any short-term problems to the bigger, long-term picture that has fueled the meteoric rise of the world’s most successful companies. Nobody knew what Apple was before its history making 1985 Super Bowl commercial.

Apple paid to run that commercial only once, but it ran again hundreds of times around the country and the world during local and national news broadcasts. Stories about Apple and its commercial were front-page news for weeks.

When it comes to advertising, you might wonder what kinds of changes are needed. After all, it’s just advertising. If your ads look like your competitors’ ads, if your messages are strikingly similar, if you talk to yourself instead of your customers, if you worry more about your logo being large enough than the message being attention-getting enough, you need to change.

Now this is just the first step, so we won’t get into any more detail here. The object of this step is to let you know that you need to screw up your courage and prepare to make some changes in your advertising that will have a profound effect on your bottom line.

Fear is the greatest motivator. However, instead of motivating people to act, it usually causes people to freeze or retreat. It takes courage to make the kinds of changes that are needed to survive in today’s crowded, complicated and competitive business environment.

Conquer your fear. Be courageous.•

This article introduced the first of Jeff Berney’s “Twelve Steps to Creating Breakthrough Advertising Campaigns: A creative philosophy to help companies recover from years of playing it safe.” Challenge yourself, your staff and your advertising agency to make a revolutionary transformation of your advertising program. And, remember, even the largest revolution begins with just one step—the first.

What’s the easiest way to kill a great ad campaign before it even begins? Take it too seriously. Advertising is not rocket science. You shouldn’t need a degree in the physical sciences to create or understand an ad.

And you should never, ever, under any circumstances, kill an ad because it is not literal enough. On the contrary, if you find your ads are too literal, you should destroy them all and start fresh.

Are Volkswagens flawed pieces of junk? No, but an ad with the headline “Lemon” gets your attention, doesn’t it? It makes you want to read the story, which goes on to explain how the particular car shown in the ad would never be driven because VW cares so much it weeds out the lemons so you never get a bad car. Think what an opportunity would have been missed if the folks at Volkswagen had taken that headline too literally.

Think about it from this angle. Why do people read an ad or watch a commercial? The majority do so because they find them entertaining and informative. If your ads are all information and no entertainment, you’ve wasted your budget.

This is not to say that an ad should be created purely for entertainment purposes. Again, a great ad is both entertaining and informative. The entertainment value should be derived from a feature of your product or brand. In other words, what you’re selling should be the star of the show. Sounds simple enough, but it is often hard to strike the right balance. That’s what makes advertising so fun.

How much information does your audience really need? What kind of story will they find entertaining? These are questions that should be asked and answered early on so that when you finally are presented with an ad or a campaign, you can judge the work according to these preordained guidelines.

A good campaign will reach your target audience and talk to them on a personal level. This has a valuable effect on your sales and reputation. A great advertising campaign will do more than that. It will create a buzz outside of your target audience.

Apple Computer’s “1984” commercial ran only once. But it is still one of the most talked about commercials because it was rebroadcast on every major news show and written about in every major newspaper for weeks and months. And none of this cost Apple anything more than a single TV buy.

It’s worth noting that Apple’s Super Bowl commercial helped make the company a household name and created unbelievable demand for the new Macintosh computer-yet the ad never showed the product or explained any details about it.

BMW’s Mini Cooper was one of the first cars to be introduced in the United States with no TV advertising. Blasphemy! Instead, they bolted the Minis to the roofs of SUVs and drove them around major cities. They created tongue-in-cheek billboards, interactive print ads and great guerrilla promotions. Most importantly, they created a waiting list of customers who couldn’t wait to get a Mini.

Companies that think bigger become bigger. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle. If you just think like a local operation, you might miss the opportunity to expand regionally, nationally, or even internationally. Your advertising campaign should reflect the direction of your company—even if you’re not yet there.

Challenge yourself and your agency to think bigger.•

This article introduced the third of twelve steps. Challenge yourself, your staff and your advertising agency to revolutionize your ad program. If you missed a previous step, contact the author for a complimentary copy. And, remember, every revolution begins with just one step.

In order to get consumers (whether they are retail or service customers or business-to-business audiences) to notice an advertising message, many companies resort to loudness and one-upmanship. Neither of these tactics works in the long run.

If your competition is talking loudly and you decide to yell louder, what do you think they will do? Yep. They’ll start to scream. Nobody wins a shouting match when it comes to advertising. And usually you’ll find you even lose a few customers in the process because they can’t stand the noise.

It’s the same with one-upmanship. If you have to compete on more and better coupons or more and better discounts, giveaways or incentives unrelated to your core product, your revenue per sale decreases as well as your number of sales.

Customers see these types of games as gimmicky, fake and disingenuous; and they leave. The ones who do stay now view you and your competitors as commodities with no difference except your price. That is a dangerous place for a company to find itself.

The answer to clutter is not more clutter; it’s finding who wants to hear you and speaking to them. So how do you compete if you can’t out shout or out discount your competition? You get rebellious and radical with your advertising.

Do those words scare you? That’s okay. Remember, you’re being courageous now. You can handle it. Besides, rebellious and radical aren’t dirty words. They will help you draw attention away from your competition without resorting to screaming and insulting your customers.

It’s not about being outrageous just to get attention; it’s about being remarkable. An advertising campaign with a strong rebellious strategy is, by its very nature, different from anything your audience will find from your competitors’ marketing efforts. It’s unexpected. It’s surprising. It’s effective.

There are two keys to creating a successfully rebellious advertising campaign. The first is the big idea. This idea comes from a strategy that is derived directly from your customers and their relationship with your brand. You arrive at this idea through a discipline called account planning. We’ll get into the details of both the big idea and account planning in later articles.

The second key to a successfully rebellious advertising campaign is attention. You can’t gain attention if you don’t learn to identify and then steer clear of the norm. It doesn’t matter how great your product or service is or how large your potential market, if your target audience doesn’t pay attention to your message, your ad budget has been wasted.

Think about these two keys while you flip through the newspaper or a magazine. Ponder them while you watch TV. You should notice something almost immediately. Most ads today don’t seem to be based on any big idea. Many are so boring that you flip right past them without noticing them. Others get your attention but the ads don’t have much to do with the product so you quickly forget the brand the ad was supposed to sell you. What an opportunity for your brand!

Now, there is a caveat to being rebellious. Your ads should never be different just for difference sake. The difference should be derived from your brand’s uniqueness.•

This article introduced the second of twelve steps. Challenge yourself, your staff and your ad agency to revolutionize your advertising program. If you missed the first step, contact the author for a complimentary copy. And, remember, every revolution begins with just one step.

April 5, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , 1 Read more >