Advertising Secrets Your Momma Tried To Tell You About! But You Didn’t Listen . . .

Howdy Friend,

Boy the lessons I learned as a young’n. And I might add, most of these lessons were quite painful. My Mom wasn’t afraid of grabbing any sort of *learnin’ stick* she could lay hands on and properly connecting it to ramdom parts of my body.

Here’s a good example . . .

A Sunday family tradition was going to my Grandparents after church and eating lunch with them. This was always a treat as my Grandmother prided herself in cooking up a delectable meal that included all of trimmings . . . homemade yeast rolls, fried chicken, garden fresh veggies and lovingly handmade dessert.

Well, this Sunday was no exception. I guess I was about 12 years old at the time. As usual my family arrived at the old home place right on time. Everyone’s belly growling out loud and we’re eager to get some awesome food in our bodies.

So, out of the car I jump racing to get inside the house. I said something sassy (not really sure what it was) but Mom thought it was a “bad word” aka curse word and proceeded to slap the *potty* right out of my mouth. I mean this slap left an impressive hand imprint that lasted what seemed to be eternity.

I scurry in the house embarrassed, hurt and still hungry hoping my grand parents didn’t see what was going on or me. Oh, it was ugly to say the least!

You probably wondering what this has do with advertising? Well . . . actually everything.

Profitable advertising in its most basic form is a marketing triangle:

1. Right Message
2. Right Market
3. Right Media

Common sense, right? Right! Or is it? You’d be amazed at how many businesses go about it all wrong! And pay the price by leaving lots of moola on the table.

The above example is exactly how not to do it. I delivered the wrong message (or a confusing message) to the wrong market (my message wasn’t meant to be heard by my Mom) using the wrong media (mouthing off inappropriately). And guess what? I failed the test. Yeah, and I got 

slapped . . . and slapped hard!

Of course you won’t get slapped literally by the marketplace (well, actually if you violate Google’s rule, you will get slapped) and yes it’s painful not in bodily harm but in lost revenues! 

So, how do you avoid getting slapped? Easy . . .

Start with your market first. If you’ve been in business for a while, this will be your current customers. If you’re just starting out this could be your prospects.

Find out what these people want and craft your marketing message with their wants, their needs and their unique problems in mind. In others words talk directly to your prospects and customers. Take in account what these needs and wants are and offer a solid solution that will fix those problems. Make them an irresistible offer and you'll be on solid ground.

Learn all you can about your existing customers what their pains are, what they read and watch on TV, their buying habits. Then position your company uniquely. This separates you from the competition.

By identifying your market place you’ve nearly got the first two items in the marketing triangle taken care of. Just make sure you are crafting direct response advertising messages. This is polar opposite of brand or institutional type advertising. This is what most big companies do and it wasteful and just plain dumb. So please, please do not copy their advertising (unless you like dumping lots and lots of money into a bottomless pit).

As far as media is concerned there is really no good or bad media. It just depends on it’s used for and the way it is used. And these days there’s no short supply on where you can spend your advertising dollars . . . websites, newspapers, val-pak, post cards, direct mail, magazines, baseball caps and other imprinted specialty items . . . you name it and it’s available. Just keep in mind there are no “magic bullets” here. Match your media to your market and you'll be on the right track.

So there you go . . . just remember your market first, choose your words wisely and pick your marketing media that fits your style and budget.

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. Want more results from your advertising efforts? I can help! Why not give me a call? I’ll be glad to answer any questions, share a few ideas that will help grow your business! Call me at 828-313-0694. Or if you prefer send me an email at eemassey@yahoo.com There’s no cost or obligation at all!