Guide to Advertising Your Small Business
Hey business owner. For the next couple of months I will be practically giving away books to help you grow your business. Yes, for ONE lonesome dollar (ex shipping) you can get access to proven strategies which I use with clients, and in my own business, with great result. Some of the titles I’ll be sharing with you include Instant Advertising, Instant Profit, and Instant Team Building.
Special Offer: Guide to advertising your small business
Instant Advertising Book
The end of financial year is a great time (and for some, the only time) to reflect on how the business is tracking. Profit, loss, debt, advertising, strategy – everything comes under the microscope as you plan your way forward.
So this month I want you to have Instant Advertising – the smart guide to advertising your small business on budget in the 2012/13 financial year. Yes, this book isn’t about spending huge amounts on advertising, it’s about doing things smarter. Author, Brad Sugars, put it like this…
“Instant Advertising shows entrepreneurs how to avoid this and other pitfalls, and how to design advertisements that will increase sales and visibility.”
So take advantage of this awesome title – I know I have!
View book
What you’ll find inside
10 Key Concepts (and then, some)
- The truth is, the very best ads work because of the strategy behind them
- People will not read them unless you promise to give them something
- Strategy – means a plan, what you want people to do and how you’re going to get them to do it
- Who do you want to do What and How are you going to encourage them to take that action now?
- It is all about getting people to read your ad, and then take action
- It is about communicating with them in the fastest, clearest possible way
- Unique Selling Proposition…or USP – it is truly unique, exciting to your target market, something that will get people talking and something that can’t be easily copied, or if it can be copied it will be an obvious rip off on the part of the offending business.
- Advertising is all about making sales
Keep something up your sleeve, for when a prospect calls or comes
- You can use these extras to get them over the line
- Start testing with a headline and a small ad
- Advertising is not an investment it is a promotion – must be tested
- Institutional advertising – you don’t really make an offer, there is no call to action
- Direct response is when you place your ad looking for a direct response for people to call now as a result
- Referral strategies – a way of introducing new customers to your business, for a low acquisition cost
- Ask the client to give you a referral
- Your offer – give them a good reason
- It is a good idea if before you start writing your ads or your direct mail campaigns you actually sit down and work out what you are hoping to achieve. When you are clear on this you can start writing the campaign and only then can you start writing your ads.
- It is essential that you work out your costs up front p.68
- By far the most import component is the target – the person whom the ad is aimed at
- The offer is 5 times more effective than actual wording of the ad.
- Just sit down and work out what it is about that product that makes it special. Why is it that people want to buy it.
- Understanding the target is 10 time more important than the copy, and that the offer is 5 time more important than the copy – then that is the ratio to the time you should spend on creating the ad.
- When people see a guarantee, it gives them a definite reason to deal with you – they can be certain that they will get exactly what they are after
- The number on reason why ads fail is this – the don’t have an offer
- one good reason people deal with you is the quality of your offer
- Your offer has to make people sit up and take notice
- Put a time limit on it – you have to inspire urgency
- 3 weeks or so for big money
- Offer limited quantities and bet yet specific number
- An offer gives them a reason to buy from you and to do it now
- The guarantee the higher the response will be
- A better image can bring you increases in sales revenue, better customers and allow you to charge higher prices
- Be specific
- The reader should see the benefit immediately in continuing on through your ad – the headline draw them in, the first couple of paragraphs then explain the benefit while continuing on further into you ad
- Curisoity
Book: Cash, Customers, and Ads that Sell (2000)