Let’s Get Back To Some Marketing Basics

Dear Savvy Biz Owner,

You know, I got to thinking about stuff the other day and a big ol light clicked on in my head. 

With all of the fancy marketing media choices available these days the most successful marketers have one thing in common—they all understand and are fully grounded in the basics. Consider this Marketing 101, if you like.

Likewise when your business starts sputtering, profits begin to vanish, and ads stop working sometimes business owners are star-struck with that ‘bright shiny new marketing object.’ They forget the basics.

So, let’s take a quick refresher course and get back to some good old proven marketing basics. By the way, oftentimes the most devastating business problems can quickly be solved by a great piece of copy to boost sales, setting up new deals, or bringing in new customers.

If you are not savvy about direct response marketing I urge you to study up on the fundamentals or align yourself with a qualified direct response copywriter who is grounded in the basics.

Ok, let’s get started. 

Check your marketing materials. Do they follow the rules of good basic direct response advertising?Most businesses are clueless about good advertising. The majority of folks still think the Madison Avenue way of advertising is how you bring in sales. Well, it’s not. Check your ads, sales letters, landing pages and make sure they have headlines, tell a complete story explaining the features and benefits of your product or service, contains lots of “you” copy, testimonials, an actual sales pitch along with a call to action.

I’m here to harp at you and drill this point home, but if your ads cover the basics of direct response . . . sales and profits will increase dramatically. Even a poorly written direct response ad will always outperform a “Madison Avenue” style ad. Period!

Heck, just asking for the sale will oftentimes multiply results. 

Back End profits. If you don’t have a back end for every sale, then you’re missing out on some of the easiest money you’ll ever earn. Back end sales are like “would you like some fries to go with that burger?” 

As you could imagine getting that new customer always takes the most expense. Once you’ve won that customer and he’s pulled out his wallet and handed over his money, he’ll most likely continue to give you money if you offer him something else. The beauty of this is that he’s already listening to you so you don’t have to spend anymore ad dollars to get his attention. Just offer him something else and see you’re bottom line go blacker.

Testing. One of the golden rules in direct response advertising is test. Most biz folks can’t really pin down what’s the best appeal, offers or price of their products or services are. The answer is to test. Test one price against a higher price. Test one offer against another. Test one appeal against another. Also if you’re relying on just one ad—even if it’s pulling orders or leads like gangbusters then you’re setting yourself up for failure my friend. You should be testing different versions of the control ad alongside of your existing ad. Every ad eventually dies out and stops pulling. 

JV Deals. Another overlooked win-win opportunity is joint ventures to reach additional groups of prospects. This is a very economical way to grow your business because you save the cost of advertising. Here’s the way it works. Approach other marketers that have similar products or services but that you don’t compete with directly and offer a deal for them to sell your stuff to their list for a 50-50 split. Get an endorsement from the list owner. This approach works like a well-oiled machine because he is respected and trusted by his list. 

Build Your List. Speaking of lists, you should be building your own in-house mailing lists. These are the names of prospects and customers who have already raised their hands or opened their wallets and expressed their interest in your company. Periodically mail to your lists and ask them to spend more money with you. Like my mentor John Carlton says, “Going to your own house list is like shooting fish in a barrel.” Nuff said.

Know What Your Customers Really Want. Sounds kinda silly, right? After all, you been in business for a while. You’re bringing in big bucks—you know what your customers want, right? But sometimes if you write your own advertising (or have clueless Mad-Ave type advertising agencies write your ads) you create a pitch that appeals to you and not your customer. Don’t guess what you think they want. Find out and know what they really want then create a pitch based on what they truly want. What keeps them up at night in worry? What are they angry about? What do they read? What do they eat? As the old proverb suggests “Walk a mile in their moccasins.” This will make writing your ads much easier and profitable.

Your Customer’s Lifetime Value. Do you know what your customers’ lifetime value is worth? You may be surprised to find out . . . and you should find out. The only way to know exactly what your customer’s value is over the long haul is by tracking sales, and keeping customers lists. This is also where having a good back end can seriously boost your bottom line immediately and over time.

What’s Your USP? In case you’re scratching your head and thinking, “what the heck is USP?” Very simply USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition.  It’s the answer to “why should I do business with YOUR company rather than ABC Company. They key here is unique . . . are you better, cheaper, faster, offer a better deal or better warranty, or whatever. You are different in some measurable way

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Write Like You Talk. This one trips up most business owners. They are scared to death to speak like they talk. Let’s face it Madison Avenue has screwed up our heads with their meaningless slogans, singing ads and cutesy ads . . . so we think “those ads gotta work.” 

I’m here to tell ya, they don’t! The very same principles you’re top salespeople use in good old fashion eyeball-to-eyeball salesmanship work in print advertising as well. The best copy is written in everyday ‘you and me sitting here’ language. You don’t toy with cute stuff or fancy stuff—you talk straight at your prospect. You’re clear and to the point just like you were actually there in your prospect’s office eyeball to eyeball.

Ok. There you have it. This may seem too basic if you’re an experienced marketer but it’s the basics that’s all too often overlooked and violated in business. Use this article as a guideline to keep yourself on track and fix troubled advertising.  . . And to boost up sales when things start to slump.

Warmly,

Emette E. Massey

P.S. Want a FREE copy of our special illustrated edition Scientific Advertising? Ok! Just email me at eemassey@yahoo.com. Be sure to put Gimme SA in the subject line. And I’ll zip it out to you within 24 hours.  

How To Master Your Public Relations Reality

Dear Friend,

Happy Labor Day!

And to celebrate, I’m laboring away cooking up some ribs, veggies over the hot coals on the grill and cool brews by my side. It’s all good!

Hey, speaking of delectable grill treats, you want some icing to go with your cake? Whelp . . . almighty then . . . grab a cold one and follow me to the PR factory and let’s see what we can spin up, OK?

Before we dig in, however, let me clear up a few myths about using public relations in your marketing mix.

A popular myth is that “any ink is good ink.” Yeah right. I really hate to burst your bubble, but sorry Jo Jo, just getting your name out there or your ‘big break’ is NOT always an advantage that over-shadows negative stories. Bad press can kill your otherwise good image. Not to mention it’s irreversible.

Another common myth is that publicity is easy and free. Hold on there bucko . . . it seems as though PR is free . . . and it’s easy. Yeah, most of us use computers. But that doesn’t mean you should take your PC to the next door neighbor to fix the damn thing when it breaks. 

Smart business owners hire full time PR professionals or invest the time to study up on the subject before jumping in.

On the other hand you need to hire an expensive PR firm. This may not be an option for you if you’re just starting out. You do have other options—lots of them. We’ll explore a few in this article.

There’s more myths I could bust, but heck it’s Labor Day and I don’t really feel like it. Besides, there’s some cool stuff I want to dish out for ya so you can master your PR like a pro.

Ready? OK.

Starting a PR campaign doesn’t have to be expensive or overly complicated. In fact you can get started with a simple press release. And I’ll explain how to put together a simple but effective press release that’s sure to get picked up by your local editor.

Side Note. As with any targeted market effort, decide upfront who you are targeting. You’ll have plenty of media to go after. So a little skull sweat in defining your target market beforehand goes a long way. Then you’ll know exactly what publications to approach. Also spend some time getting to know the publication, what type of articles are published, style, etc. 

Step one is to understand that editors want and need your PR materials. These guys work under the gun of a tight deadline each and every day . . . talk about ‘Labor Day’ stress—there you go. They cannot possibly all the news by themselves.

Another great piece of advice is to understand editors are bombarded with PR materials. With this in mind, you will be constantly be facing a lot of competition at any given time. 

So, what gives?

The goal is simple: Become a reliable source of information the editor can use. This is easiest done by following the rules of content and format. Do this and you’ll be a hero—it makes the editor’s job easier and you’ll get free press more often. It’s what we call a “win-win” situation.

How to get your press release published? I was hoping you’d ask.

First you need a hook. You know something that gains the editor’s attention. And one of the best ways to do this is by putting news in your press release. 

Maybe your company has developed a new product or added a new service—this would certainly qualify as news. 

Since I’m a writer, it’s fairly easy for me to come up with newsworthy items. My basic strategy is to come up with free reports dealing with marketing, sales, or advertising. 

I have found editors find these reports useful to their readers and I am able to get free coverage. There is no reason you couldn’t do the same. I cannot think of a single industry that couldn’t come up with a “new report benefits readers of target media.” Put on your thinking apparatus and see what you can come up with. 

Hey, why don’t I give you an example . . .

Several years ago I wrote a book about real estate investing. My basic marketing strategy included publicity.  I devised a “mini course” various reports all taken from the book and offered to give them away to readers of publications I targeted. This worked very well. I received write-ups from nearly every editor I targeted. 

Another hook is to provide advice. Here again you could write a short booklet, preferably something related to your business, and offer this to your target market. Send your releases to editors of local newspapers plus send them to magazines your prospects are most likely to read. A trip to the library will help you locate target publications.

It’s worth mentioning again that editors respond well to these types of press releases. Again, it is a win-win situation for both you and the editor. 

Here are a few headlines to give you booklet ideas:

• Free yourself from clutter—20 No-Brainer Ideas That Organize You Fast!

• 7 Ways To Increase Your Advertising Response

• Free Report For Direct Marketers Presents 12 New Ways To Collect Old Bills

• New Magalog Offers Small Business Owners Tips For Better Marketing

The beauty of this type of publicity is you position yourself as an expert in the field. We will more about this later.

The last hook I’ll discuss is human interest. It’s fair to say these are not the only appeals you can use to hook the editor; rather these I talk about in this report demonstrate the greatest appeal.

If you doubt the power of the human-interest appeal just consider magazines such as People or take a good look in your daily newspaper. You’ll find numerous articles about people who have overcome huge personal obstacles. Whether these people have overcome illness, poverty, invented something to help save the world or whatever, we all love to read these stories. 

The reason these stories are so often read is they are about regular, everyday people like you and me. Sure we like to read about celebrities but the stories about locals doing something spectacular are even more appealing. Along these same lines are individuals that do good deeds or take up a good cause.

Here’s a Press Release Example You Can Use

This comes from a few years back when I published a magalog offering various, books and manuals of which I published and resources I sold from other suppliers. The magalog was designed to promote my own products and services plus offer timely articles that would benefit my market. In case you are not familiar with a magalog, it’s basically a combination magazine and catalog rolled together

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To publicize my new magalog I developed a list of local and regional newspapers to test the waters. My media reception went over very well. But unfortunately I received very few requests for the guide so I decided to stop publishing it. 

Despite my lack of success in generating leads, the media apparently thought my press release was newsworthy. This doesn’t mean you couldn’t adapt this press release you’re your own use.

Here is the release:

Contact: Emette Massey, 828-270-9438

For Immediate Release

NEW MAGALOG REVEALS FIVE REASONS YOUR ADVERTISING DOSEN’T PAY

A new magalog called Entrepreneur’s Opportunity Press, published by independent copywriter and small business consultant Emette Massey, reveals 5 reasons most small business advertising doesn’t pay.

The magalog is published for entrepreneurs, small business owners, advertising manager and individual wanting to start a business.

“Many small businesses spend thousands of dollars each year on advertising that produces poor or no results,” says Massey. “Money is always a concern and cash flow is important. You shouldn’t have to lose money on advertising. Many small business owners can’t afford the luxury of having a full time advertising firm handling their advertising, so they are forced to do it themselves. I designed Entrepreneur’s Opportunity Press to provide business owner and managers with an affordable alternative.”

A few of the reasons your ads do not pay included in the magalog are:

• Your copy in not specific. Provide as much detail as possible. The old saying “the more you tell, the more you sell” rings true.
• Your offer is not right. The basic key is to test, test, and test. You should be testing all components of your ad.
• Your copy is deadly dull. You will not bore your prospects into buying. Make your copy interesting. Tell your story in a news fashion.
• Your copy contains too many big words. Do not use jargon of any kind in your copy.
• You talk about features but not about benefits. Benefits sell. Your prospects want to know how your product or service will solve their problems.

Says Massey, “By using the tips outlined in this new magalog, business owners can increase their ad response from 25—100 percent, without changing their theme or message. The business owner will also appreciate the many other helpful resources inside EOP.” 

To receive a free copy of EOP, send your name and address to: Emette Massey, Dept. 24, 5633 Charlie Little Road, Granite Falls, NC 28630.

Emette Massey is a freelance copywriter specializing in direct response and business-to-business advertising.

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A few items to note.

First, notice that this press release follows the proven industry standard style.  It’s properly formatted and is one page long, and should be double spaced (although our example is not double spaced). Remember Editors are very busy folks—so a one or two page release is ample. 

The basic parts to a traditionally accepted format press release are the header, headline and body copy.

As you can see in the above example, the header information is located at the top of the release. The header should include the contact information including name and phone number. Obviously you’d put in the contact’s name and phone. 

The release is written in a newsy, journalistic style of who, what, when, where and how. Remember you are not writing an ad. If your release sounds too much like an ad or requires rewriting then the editor trashes it . . . quickly!

You’ll also notice there is a headline at the top of the page. Write a brief, catchy headline describing your product (or service). Put your biggest benefit and the name of your product in the headline. For example: “New book helps real estate investors sell more property.” Or  “New car care product keeps windshields clear in bad weather.” You get the idea.

Body copy should be crisp keeping with the facts. The biggest, most important facts are presented first, then explained and the second biggest facts and so on. 

At the end of the body copy put your company name, address and phone number. Traditionally the press release will end with the number sign typed three times (###). This is standard format and editors will appreciate this courtesy. If you release goes beyond one page type “MORE” at the bottom right so editors will know to look for another page.

I hope this article whets your appetite on how you can use PR to help get the good word out about your biz. Use these basic guidelines to get more free press. Keep in mind this article just scrapes the surface on using the media to promote your products and services. 

Warmly,

Emette Massey

Copywriter/Consultant

P.S. Want more info about using Power PR to more your goods and services? I’m in the process of putting together a complete ‘how-to’ guide called Power PR. If you want to be on the early bird list and be notified when it’s ready email me at eemassey@yahoo.com Put the words “Power PR” in the subject line and I’ll put you on the list.