Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Secrets of High Money Classified Ads

When used effectively, classified ads can be one of the quickest and most inexpensive ways to increase your sales. A well written classified ad can generate thousands in sales, yet could cost you pennies to write and run.

Most people don't appreciate the power of well written classified ads. They think classified ads are for selling cars, or finding jobs, and not for expanding a business. While it's true a classified ad is a good way to achieve the above, it is also true that classified ads can be used to launch and expand multi million pound businesses.

Many businesses rely exclusively on these low cost ads to generate a substantial amount of their annual turn over. The reason is simple. Once you have discovered how to harness the power of these classified ads, you really won't need to run expensive display ads at all.

Note that the key point about classified ads is that they are most effective when used as lead generators, and not to sell from. In these ads you are not trying to convince someone to spend money with you. You are trying to identify a potential customer by having that customer contact you as a result of the ad. Once potential customers have identified themselves, you can then follow up with your direct mail offer for the product or service you are selling.

Writing an effective classified ad is one of the most exacting forms of copywriting. In twenty words or less you have to grab the customer's attention, and excite them enough to prompt them into calling you for more information. You can't rely on eye catching illustrations or professional layouts to catch the reader's attention. It's all in what you say.

Here's how you write a good classified ad that works:

1. First you need to define what you want the ad to accomplish. Do you want the customer to read the ad and smile? Or do you want them to read your ad and call you immediately? Obviously the answer is the latter of the two.

2. Next decide what type of person is most likely to purchase your product or service. This is called creating a customer profile. Ask yourself questions like: Are they a man or a woman? Are they young or old? Are they rich or poor? Ask yourself as many questions as possible to help create a profile for your potential customers. If you struggle to identify who you are going to sell your product or service to, then it is almost impossible to write an ad that will grab their attention.

3. With the most likely customer profile developed in step two above, you should make a list of all the "hot buttons", those words, ideas, and concepts that are most likely to grab the immediate attention of anyone in the group of customers you have identified. These hot buttons might be simple phrases like "work at home", "financial freedom", "lose weight overnight", "exciting job opportunity", or "immediate loans".

4. Using the list of hot buttons you came up with in step three above, you should see how you can integrate them into a twenty word or less ad that accomplishes what you defined in step one. When writing your ad, the most important words are the first three, and must be selected with great purpose. They should call out to your potential customers.

5. If your goal is to get the reader to identify themselves to you as a potential customer, you should offer free additional information about your product or service. This way you get the customer to call you and give you their name and address, so you can send them something in the post. You would normally do this by saying, "for a free information pack please call (your number here).

6. After your ad is written to your satisfaction, you should search out a number of highly targeted newspapers and magazines that your customers might read. Then you find the ones with the least amount of classified ads in, and run your test ads there. Always avoid general interest publications. The ad price rates are too expensive in them and the response too small, go for specialist publications.

7. Before the ads appear you need to develop your ad response pack. This is the free information that people who see your ads will be calling about. It is this response pack that will generate the sale. Having a good response pack is critical to the success of your classified ad project.

8. When your ads appear, you should keep a track of the total number of enquiries for each ad, and from which publications they came from. This lets you know which ad works best, and which publication pulls the most interest. You can then use this information when you roll out the ad on a wider scale.


One final point to remember, the success of a classified ad is determined by the sales that are generated by the follow-up effort (the response information pack), not by the lead generating ad itself. It is important that you spend much time and effort considering the content to be included in your response pack, but that is another topic.


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The Art Of Fear Free Advertising

Is fear of failure an issue when you commit valuable money in advertising?

Well how about if I showed you a way to remove this fear and you know that you would be able to spend money advertising KNOWING you would get a return?

Is that a valuable lesson?

Course it is!

So, how do you do it?

The answer is testing!

It's simple really.. Instead of sending out 1000 sales letters for example. Send out 500. In these 500 have 5 different headlines so 5 x 100 = 500

Why?

Well what we are trying to establish here is what headline or sales offer pulls best. Once we know which one works then we do a mass mailing, but not before then!

You see I have seen so many companies waste hundreds even thousands of pounds on non result direct mail... all because they didn't test!

So save yourself time and money by testing EVERTHING you do.

If it's an advert in the local press, sign up for 5 small inserts over 5 weeks rather than 1 big page as a one off. This will be cheaper but will also allow you to test different offers.


About The Author

Mark Vurnum is a leader in small business marketing. Regulary putting on marketing seminars, his 13 proven steps seminar has allowed businesses to grow 50% in a matter of weeks. www.smartmarketingconsultants.co.uk


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Womentisements

The unnecessary and extensive use of female models in advertisements is common not only in America & Europe, but also in Pakistan and rest of the world. Women are used to sell everything from cars to cigarettes. These advertisements use attractive women posing in ways. This type of advertisements initially started in the West to sell special women products, alcohol and adult entertainments. Gradually this trend spreaded to other markets & products and unfortunately it has been adopted by our market also.

The reality is that peoples of nearly all age group are influenced by advertisements and advertisers know this reality. After presenting an attractive model, the advertisers pose that their product/service can fulfill any need and can cure any problem or difficulty faced by the viewer.

There are two things to be noticed about women's appearance in commercials. First, in many advertisements women are used irrelevantly and these advertisements include products which are purely for men. Second, if presence of a woman is necessary in certain advertisements then advertisements focus mainly on beauty and body features of the model, and less on the product.

This practice has been carried out by various giant companies across the globe. One of the classic examples is the presence of a woman in the advertisement of Gillette Mach-3.1 Another example in the advertisement of FORD in which woman's body is compared with car's body.

Other examples are advertisements of JVC camera and Toyota Lexus. In both advertisements they have shown partial nudity, while presence of women was not fairly justified.

After watching these advertisements one thinks that what are they trying to sell, and what feelings they are trying to create.

In Pakistan a very prominent example was a billboard advertisement of a motorcycle company. The advertisement showed a motorcycle and an attractive women resting with it. There was model number, features and name of the company on the board but surprisingly there was no male model in the whole advertisement. In our culture we don't see even a single woman riding a bike.

Another recent example is of a series of billboards & newspaper advertisements of a local home appliances manufacturing company. The company has its advertisements for microwave ovens, window AC, split AC, floor standing AC and refrigerators etc. Advertisements show only woman models with the subject appliance.

One is surprised to find no men in AC advertisements specially floor standing models that are usually used in offices. Chiefly the buying decision of these products has to be taken by a man who is the runner of the whole family. Same types of advertisements have been produced by other AC manufacturers.

A local ISP company carries the picture of woman on their internet hour's card, and even a 10 rupee card bears the same. According to a rough approximation the percentage of female internet users in our country is about 30%. So what about the remaining 70% male users? The advertisement does not reflect the high percentage users and just trying to pull the customer.

Another relevant example is of a mattress company advertisement. The advertisement show a luxurious room with a female model, cool dressed, lying on a bed. The object of interest for peoples is the girl not the foam because they simply can't move their eyes from a living thing to a non-living thing. The point here is that mattresses are for the use of both genders, not only for the women.

We have seen a lot of advertisements of shops, available in under constructing shopping centers. Female models are used in such advertisements & billboards who invite people to buy those shops. Logically there is no reason of showing women models in such advertisements because shop buying & selling is mainly men's business. A giant cellular company has associated female models with one of its service and shows attractive female models wearing tight sleeveless T-shirts in their billboard, electronic, print & visual advertisements. The company totally ignores the fact that in our country male mobile users are much more than female mobile users.

Advertisers can not justify the unnecessary use of woman's body for selling their products. These ubiquitous images encourage us to think of woman as a commodity. Advertising is an effective and persuasive marketing tool which creates an entire cultural worldview, shaping our attitudes and beliefs. The advertisements portray females as tall, extra smart & extra beautiful. They give emphasis to the physical attractiveness of woman's body. Advertisers use models & supermodels. Many times photographs are airbrushed or otherwise altered to remove any lines, bumps or lumps to reach perfection.

The negative effects of advertising on women viewers fall into a number of problems. The most common effect is continuous increase in the number of women who diet & thus being involved in eating disorders. Across the world millions of women & girls who are unable to reach this standard of beauty, feel a sense of shame and failure. The average girl sees hundreds of advertisements per day and by the time she enters the age of adolescence she has received millions of commercial messages, most of them pointing towards the same direction that is to be ideal. A poll conducted in 1996 by the international ad agency Saatchi proves that advertisements made women fear being unattractive or old.2 Seventy five percent of the "normal" weight women in America think they are overweight and almost half of American women are on a diet on any given day. While 5-10 million women are struggling with serious eating disorders.3

Conditions are not much different in the major cities of our country. I conducted a survey in a local college. Data was collected from 50 female respondents with age range from 14-22years. Following conclusions were drawn:

? Half of the respondents told that advertisements stay in their mind not because of words but because of images.

? 76% of the girls are influenced by advertisements to buy products.

? 73& of the respondents are attracted by female models & 50% of the girls want to be like models.

? 60% of the respondents are not satisfied with their weight & 71% of them are somehow involved in dieting.

? In response to a question that what steps they can take to be like models. Almost 60% of the girls told that they can diet & improve figure for this purpose.

It seems that if consciously they do not strive to be models, but subconsciously these idealistic looks shape their views.

Today's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female and a young woman between the age of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel. Exposure to idealized body images lowers women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness.

Advertisers purposely present unrealistically thin & beautiful bodies in order to create an unattainable desire that is ultimately related to their products, so their customer never disappears. It is only used to play with men's emotion, to try and encourage them to buy the products because this supposedly will get the girl.

An old example is of Brylcream advertisement. In this commercial a poor man is seen going to work everyday with messy hair, sitting lonely on the train ride (sure sign of a loser). As soon as he adds Brylcream to his hairs, suddenly two gorgeous babes are hanging all over him.

Same type of advertisement of a famous drink was seen on our local media.

Many of these advertisements promote violence against women. The results have been seen in American society with more women injured from being battered by men than by all rapes.

An advertisement of After Shave Lotion starts with a man learning Karate in a centre. The voice in the background tells that it is essential to learn Karate when using our lotion because as you will apply lotion, its smell will turn all women mad & they will just attack you. Afterwards in advertisement they show that when man applies the lotion, 3 women try to capture him and he replies them by kicking them off.

Another very serious problem is the fact that advertisements almost always portray women as sex object in order to increase to appeal of their product. This significantly affects the way women think about themselves, particularly young women, because it is during the adolescent stage of life that young people develop their sense of self identity. This send the underlying message to women and girls that the only important thing about them is the way they look, causing many women to believe that their self-worth is dependant upon attention from men.

In response to a question that does a woman's value depend on her face or on her overall features and looks, about 98% of the respondent girls of my survey told that it depends on overall features & looks. And 77% of the girls were not fully satisfied with their personality and looks.

The commodification of women undoubtedly contributes to the high incidents of rape and physical assault in nearly all cultures around the world. These types of advertisements have also changed the thought process of men. Now a woman's value is determined by the way she looks. The impractical ideal in the minds of men lives only in the advertisements and not in the real world. This attitude is harming the women. All the credit goes to advertiser & then to media.

It is the reality that advertisers are not there to meet our social needs but are there to make sales and deal with big money. Corporations, whether big or small, can do anything to make a sale. This is a gift to society from Capitalism. Advertisements sell not only products, but also promises, life-style, images, hopes & dreams. But what kind of promises, images, life-style & dreams are they? This is the matter of question.

Conditions can not get better until & unless corporations realize that there are certain "Marketing Ethics" that have to be followed. Whether it is America or Pakistan, governments will have to look seriously into the matter. We ourselves will have to change our concept of ideal woman. We need to concentrate more on the product & services than on the projected bodies. Women will have to identify the red line between advertisement's world & the real world. Unless these improvements come into effect we will continue to suffer.



================================================================

REFERENCES

- Video available at:
http://www.marketingtoolbox.com/cases/gillette/index.htm 1

- Peacock, M. (1998). "Sex, Housework & Ads." Women's Wire web site.
Available at: http://womenswire.com/forums/image/D1022/ 2

- Body Image and Advertising. 2000. Issue Briefs. Studio City, Calif.: Mediascope Press.
Available at: http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/bia.htm 3

- "Facts on Body and Image," compiled by Jean Holzgang. Just Think Foundation web site.
Available at: http://www.justthink.org/bipfact.html 4

- Olds, T. (1999). "Barbie figure 'life-threatening'." The Body Culture Conference. VicHealth
and Body Image & Health Inc 5

- Limpinnian, D. The Portrayal of Men and Women in TV Ads.
Available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mcswww/Students/del0001.html

- Moore, J. Women and Advertising. Available at:
http://www.socialistalternative.org/justice29/13.html

- Kilbourne, J. Still killing Us Softly. Available at:
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/KillingUsSo



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What Makes Advertising Successful?

MANY INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS COME INTO PLAY MAKING A SUCCESSFUL AD:

1. PERSUASIVE SELLING COPY.
The wording is the single most important element in determining a successful ad. What counts most is what you say and how you say it.

2. PLACEMENT IN APPROPRIATE PUBLICATION.

This might seem obvious, but it is often neglected. If the right people don't see your ad, they can't respond.

3. SPACE/PRICE IN PROPORTION.
You simply can't sell high priced merchandise from a small classified or one inch ad space. These should be considered as a low cost means of building a mailing list by asking readers to write for more information. If you expect to sell directly from an ad, the size of the ad will have to increase in proportion to the selling price. Two or three inches of space for items selling for 42 to $5... half or full page for items selling for more than $5 up to $20. When the price goes above $20 it is usually best to run inquiry ads and follow up with a printed sales presentation. There are exceptions, but this is a fairly safe rule to follow.

4. TESTING ALL THE ELEMENTS.
Unlike institutional advertising (toothpaste, cars, soap, etc.) which must rely on extensive market research, analysis, surveys and a lot of psychology to achieve success, mail order selling has a built-in "watchdog" to guard against waste and loss, and to help assure that every dollar spent will produce a profit...or at least tell you why it didn't, so you won't make the same mistake twice. This method (unique to mail order) is called KEYING. By inserting a number or letter (or combination) into every ad you run, you can tell which ad works in which publication and in which issues it works best. More sophisticated forms of this testing technique can be carried thru by trying a new headline, a different testimonials,guarantees, etc. The testing technique know no limits, but there is also danger in becoming test-happy. To use the testing principle effectively, be certain that the results will justify the time and expense of making the test. If it merely means adding to your paperwork without adding profit or reducing cost,it isn't worth it.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
This article may be reproduced freely on the Internet as long as the resource box remains intact.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
DeAnna is the publisher of the ezine, Prospecting and Presents.
Subscribers get one free ad per week.
Subscribe today by visiting http://www.pnewsletter.com
To thank the publishers/webmasters that use my article, I offer
one free solo ad. Simply fill out the contact form on my contact
page listing the url it was used on or sending me a copy of the
ezine it was used in. Once I confirm the location of the article,
then we can make arrangements for the solo ad.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$






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Turn Your Ad Copy into a Goldmine!

Today, more than ever, it is crucial that your ad copy explodes the reader's curiosity. Are you interested in simple yet powerful ways to improve your ad copy so your readers will rush to action? Invoking a reader's call to action can be communicated in various effective ways. Great ad copy is more than simply plain conversation; it takes special style. The words must be ordered in such a way that they unlock the reader's mind and walk right in.

Think about your ad copy for a moment. Does it inspire and thrust you into a blind rush to action? If not, take a giant step into increased profits today by enhancing your ad copy with the following tips.

CALL TO ACTION

To some, this might seem like an obvious step in crafting great ad copy. However, it is left out time and time again. Readers need to be told what you want them to do. Consider the following two examples:

Ad One: We guarantee you will lose up to 50 pounds safely with our new diet pill!

Ad Two: Take our new diet pill today and lose up to 50 pounds safely-guaranteed!

You probably noticed that Ad Two has a stronger pull to action. Ad One represents a common advertising line seen today. There is no call to action in this line. It hopes you will come to the conclusion that you need to take their pill. Ad Two is not only telling you the same information but also commanding that you take the pill and do so now.

WEAK PURSUASION

Weak persuasion attempts in your ad copy will completely destroy any chance for action you had. Many times ad copy can make calls to action that are too subtle. When this happens, the whole attempt is out the window. Let's take a peak at a couple examples:

Ad Copy One:

Our new patented technology will assist you in promoting your website to its fullest potential. Order your copy of XYZ today!

Ad Copy Two:

Our new patented technology will assist you in promoting your website to its fullest potential. You'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Order your copy of XYZ right now!

Ad Copy One, while having a call to action, has a somewhat weak closing. It left the door wide open for the reader to ponder the action, which normally means no closure. Ad Copy Two adds a power line before the closing attempt that gives the reader the feeling of doing too much work and the thought that this tool is a requirement. Additionally, I changed "today" with "right now" to strengthen the added line. Let us look at some other persuading calls to the reader.

You'll receive all these benefits:
You'll be glad you did.
Supply is limited.
Your gift/donation/etc is tax-deductible.
We know you'll agree that ?
You simply can't lose.
Don't wait another minute.
Reserve your copy today.
There are many more but this should give you an idea on how to make stronger persuading suggestions to your readers.

SINGLE WORDS

Perhaps the best way to improve your ad copy is by replacing simple common words with more descriptive ones. It is important that your ad copy reads well so don't just rapid fire in alternative words. Following are some common examples of words you might use and some excellent replacements.

Word: Good

Example: Our product is good.

Replacements Include:

Highest quality
The greatest
Outstanding
Top-of-the-line
Top-notch
Sets the standard
The best in the business
Superior
Our product is top-of-the-line.

Phrase: Saves Money, Value Priced, etc.

Example: Our product is cheap.

Replacements Include:

Tremendous savings
Pays for itself
Inexpensive
Thrifty
Low cost
Your money's worth
Economical
Affordable
Cost-efficient
Our product pays for itself.

Word: Money Making

Example: Our product will make you money.

Replacements Include:

Make money the easy way.
Double your earnings.
Keeps on selling.
Money in the bank.
The opportunity of a lifetime.
High Yields
Make a bundle.
Generates overnight profits.
With our product you will make money the easy way.

With a little crafting you can turn ordinary ad copy into a goldmine. Read through your ad copy many times to find the holes. Every word written down or spoken to a potential customer must make a statement. Competition on the business gridiron is brutal and you simply can not afford to drop the ball when it comes to ad copy. For more helpful tips, please visit Internet Business Entrepreneur.


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Three Keys to Crafting Successful Print Ads

Want to create print ads that get results? Below are three keys to get you started.

1. Write for the eye. Print ads are visual. Therefore, craft ads with the eye in mind.

Eyes are kind of picky, though. So, here's a checklist of what eyes like and don't like:

* A catchy headline that encourages them read more.

* Art, such as photos, illustrations, clip art, shapes, etc. Eyes like art. When you create the ad, create words AND the visual at the same time. Words and visuals should work together.

* Designed in an interesting, intriguing, attention-getting manner. Eyes like that. Remember, graphic designers are your friends. If you don't have training in graphic design, I strongly urge you to hire a graphic designer to create your ad. The results will be well worth it.

* White space (blank space in the ad). Eyes like white space. Eyes don't like print ads stuffed with words and/or art. Those ads look way too difficult to read and comprehend. So eyes will skip over those ads and find other open, clean ads to look at. (And if they do, you might as well have never bought the ad in the first place.)

2. Write for the busy eye. Nobody is reading a newspaper because they want to see your ad. (Okay, your mother is the exception.) People are reading the paper because they want information. Reading your ad is an afterthought. So, they aren't going to spend a whole heck of a lot of time on it.

A common mistake is asking print ads to do too much. To be successful, print ads must:

* Capture the attention of your potential customers,
* Encourage those potential customers to remember what you want them to do,
* Then persuade them to actually do it.

That's a lot to ask for one little print ad.

Print ads should have one message and one message only. The more "extras" about your business you start throwing into the ad, the more convoluted the ad is going to become, and the less likely your potential customers will act upon your ad.

Now at this point you may be thinking "Okay. We need one message. That message should be to get my potential customers to buy something, hire my services, donate money, become a volunteer, etc. Right?"

Well?

For one thing, that's a pretty big leap for your potential customers. Getting potential customers to buy without first developing a relationship with them is, again, asking an awful lot for one little print ad. You might be better off inviting potential customers to take one small step in the buying process. For instance, stopping in the store for a free gift, logging on to your Web site to enter a contest, putting their names on your mailing list, trying a demo version of your product, etc. Let them get to know you.

3. Keep your target market in mind. Your message should be focused on your customers' needs, not your own. Getting customers to buy your products and services is YOUR need. How your products or services solve your customers' problems is THEIR needs. See the difference?

That's why so many retail stores have sales. They're effective because they're solving a need (saving customers money). But saving money is not the only need. There are many others.

You should also think about ways to add value without bargaining on price (this position can backfire). Contests, free gifts, free reports, free food -- stuff like that. Think outside the box. And use that value as a way to set yourself apart.

Creativity Exercises -- Learn by example

One of the best ways to learn how to craft successful print ads is to study what's out there.

Get out a newspaper or a magazine and open it. See where your eyes go. What ads attract your eyes? What ads drive them away?

Which ads have headlines that intrigue you? Graphics that capture your attention? Copy that encourages you to find out more? Why?

Now look at ads that do nothing for you. Why don't you like them? Are they too cluttered? Too difficult to understand? Have a headline that makes you yawn?

Sometimes you can learn as much, if not more, from bad examples as you can from good ones.

Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com. Copyright 2004 Michele Pariza Wacek.


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Monday, February 05, 2007

RELATED ARTICLES ADVERTISING

Constructing Business AdvertisementsWhat many may consider the most important part of advertising is writing an effective ad. The information provided in a classified ad may be the deciding factor if it is successful or a, "bomb". In addition, there are three important angles to consider when writing business advertisements.

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The Long Haul AdS'

Advertising For The Long Haul and Not the Short Term Gains

New Age Media Concepts issues its first article of many that will focus on the advertising and marketing industry. "If a young man tells his date she's intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he's saying the right things to the right person and that's marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is -- that's advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is -- that's public relations." By S.H. Simmons.

Welcome to New Age Media Concepts, Inc. where we understand your needs and how to maximize your marketing dollar. Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives. People have their own unique perceptions of the world based on their belief system.

The most innovative ideas, the greatest products, or a superior service succeed only when you market within the context of people's perceptions. This is true from something as simple as the pet rock craze of the 1970s to the marketing muscle of Wall Street and the Internet boom of the 1990s. Context can be many things, singly or simultaneously.

To name a few, you may market to your customers within the context of their wants, needs, problems solved, or situation improved. Current and potential advertisers need to be aware of many other contexts, such as social and economic trends or governmental regulations. People don't just "buy" a product or a service. They "buy" the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves. People just don?t ?buy? a laundry detergent, they buy the perceived notion of what that laundry detergent brand says it can accomplish for them.

Otherwise every brand in the supermarket will be a no-frills. This is not to say that if a product fails to meet the customers? expectations that product will be successful in the long haul. No amount of advertising and marketing will help a failed product succeed in that scenario. To have a successful campaign a product or service must understand that they need to start out with something a consumer needs, wants, or improves their situation and that product or service actually does help the consumer for the long haul.

The New York Times said it best in a recent article, ?Companies can?t Buy Love with Bargains? Building brand loyalty is more than just hyping the consumer into buying a product, it?s gaining their trust and the trust of their family both today and for years to come. One example of great brand building is H.J. Heinz, (NYSE: HNZ) they have been around for decades and they gained the loyalty and trust of the consumer spanning generations, now that is great brand building.

Anyone could hype a brand for short term gains but that doesn?t accomplish the goals of the advertiser or the consumer. It looks good initially but what happens when the product isn?t flying off the shelves any longer and the consumers have lost trust in the product or the company?. Of course you need new and innovative ways to get your message to the consumer but this message has to be geared to building consumer loyalty and not just hype. Even the largest companies make this mistake and pay for it with decreased sales and profit margins. So whether a consumer is buying a car from Ford (NYSE: F) , a can of beer from Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD) or software from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), the advertiser needs to cater to the needs of the consumer.

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Advertising Information


Why Most Advertisements Stink!
Question: What do you think the most important part of any ad is?

Wheres Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms?
We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place. The first discovery of gold was at Sutter's Mill by James W. Marshall in 1948, Mr. Sutter's mill contractor and builder. This discovery sprang thousands upon thousands of ambitious individuals to get rich which we refer to as the "Gold Rush."

Juice - Scam of the Decade or Opportunity of the Century
If you are an ardent web surfer and MLMer like I am, then I am sure you would have seen the sales pitch "Give away free broadband and earn £27 GBP each time".

What?s the Score?
You may be aware that in a basketball game the assistant coaches keep an almost unending list of personal statistics for each player. Rebounds, assists, points, minutes played, etc.

How To Write More Powerful Brochures, Leaflets, And Catalogues
Probably the most interesting thing about brochures and leaflets is that they're seldom read in what we've come to know as the right order - as you would read a book. Rather in the same way that many people read magazines in dentists' waiting rooms, they will flick through brochures and leaflets and stop to take a longer look at bits that grab their attention.

Localized Advertising ? Door-to-Door Ad Distribution on the Fly!
Have you ever had to distribute door-hanger advertisements for your business?

Understanding Internet Banner Advertising
Banner advertising is an effective way of getting your advertising message seen on the Internet. Banner ads should not be your only online form of advertising, but they are an essential part of your online advertising mix.

In Advertising Bigger isn?t Always Better
If you have been following the recent advertising news you will notice that more and more major advertisers are looking to smaller ad agencies to handle their campaigns.

Marketing Lessons I Learned in Chicago this Week...
I was in the fine city of Chicago this week to speak at a marketing conference. And I learned some interesting things:

How Well Do Postcards Work?
How Well Do Postcards Work?Before we get into the "how well" part of this question, let's look at how to measure the success of a postcard mailing. APPROACH #1: Revenue Return RateIf you use this approach, you decide that each dollar spent on your campaign should bring back, say, $10. Or $100. The amount is up to you. APPROACH #2: Cost as a Percentage of Sales With this approach, you benchmark the cost of your campaign as a percentage of sales generated. In other words, if you think that your campaign cost should be 5% of sales and your campaign cost is $500, then your campaign should produce $10,000 in sales. Your cards will work well if they meet or exceed the standards you have set, whether it's Approach #1 or Approach #2.

How To Tame The Buying Beast Inside Your Customer
What if you can understand and control your customer?s mind? What if you can influence, persuade and motivate your customers to buy from you? Well, I?m not talking about a magic trick or lay down a lesson of motivation. It?s about understanding the different reactions made by the human mind in various situations. I?m going to briefly discuss 3 key aspects of psychological secrets that you can apply in your promotion efforts for a certain increase in customer response. They are,

Is there anything new under the sun? Heres how to find out if your bright idea is unique.
?There?s nothing new under the sun? is probably the one phrase no inventor wants to hear, seldom believes, and is always trying to prove wrong.

Three Keys to Crafting Successful Print Ads
Want to create print ads that get results? Below are three keys to get you started.

What Colors Make Your Services Most Attractive?
This information is based on the principles of Laws of Attraction, Law of Allowing and Law of Deliberate Creation. And the Universal Laws of Energy (like attract likes) proven by Quantum Physics.
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