The Drawer Monster Ate My Ad

The dreaded drawer monster is on the rampage...

If you use offline marketing like direct mail, flyers or some other kind of physical ad, do you know what happens to it?

I deal with a lot of small businesses selling locally on a small budget. They send out mailers or they get in a Val-Pak or some other ad that gets delivered to their target market.

I am amazed how some of these business owners show happiness in saying "we are still getting calls from our ad from 8 months ago".

My first question is always- "how many calls did you get when you delivered the ad?". Whenever we create ads and have them delivered there absolutley needs to be accoutability. More so if there is a small advertising budget.

People that call months after an ad is put out are incidentals, not response that can be counted. Direct response devices like direct mail are to do what? CREATE A DIRECT RESPONSE! That response tells you what you need to do for your advertising so you can get on track, fast.

If you mail 2000 postcards and get 5 responses you know exactly what you have. Those 5 customers may have been worth it depending on what you are selling and the lifetime value of the customer.

Ideally you want at least a 1%. Let's face it, if you can get 20 new customers out of an ad you got 5 from in a previous attempt, wouldn't you do it?

There is only one way to get that percentage higher, immediate and trackable results. The faster you get the results the quicker you can asses your marketing.

Here are a few things you can do that make tracking easy:

• Deadline- Every ad must have an offer with a deadline (I like 2 weeks from delivery)
• Use a code if you have several ads. i.e Call now and use "summer slowdown" for special
• Write/type the results! Too many of you take mental notes on results. Almost always 100% wrong

I can't tell you how many times a business will mail an ad and get a rush of calls from their Google ads. The business owner assumed that the mailing was the source. I have had this happen several times to me.

We are resistant to find out the real results sometimes. I know it sounds counter intuitive but we do not want to know the real results (unless they are great).

Why do you think small companies put out terrible ads over and over? You have seen the ads, you see them all the time.

Nothing will help your business grow faster than marketing smartly. Instant results are your best friend. Instant results help you to make more money. Instant results help you demolish your competition.

These results are your future

Go get some

Paul

Onslaught Marketing

Contact me today if you need some help on your marketing

You Don't Know Your Competition, Do You?

I bet you look at Google ads, websites, yellow pages, direct mail and any other ad your direct competition has out. I bet you think that is your main competition, and you would be wrong.

Sure, your competition is like products or services for people actively looking, but not those not looking.

When you utilize direct response vehicles such as mail, space ads (on and offline), flyers or whatever... your competition is massive.

Now you are competing with everything from a new car to a new pair of shoes. When these people get your offer they were not sitting there thinking about it, they were thinking about something else. Something they want.

You have the incredible task of blasting through those other wants and replace it with your product or service. You literally need to scramble their thinking.

Most of my clients (and it is safe to say almost all business owners) never go beyond getting their product or service in front of people. Most think that people seeing their name over and over creates customers down the road... which is horse dung.

I know Budweiser very well, yet I never drink it. I know Ford very well but never owned one in 40 years. Why is that? If Ford and Bud can't get me to buy spending billions on ads how is your teeny ad going to convince me?

To eliminate the ego ads and redirect your ads from comparing yourself to similar products or services, you should be more worried about Nine West.

In this economy people do think more than they used to. Most control their splurges. You need to make your offer very appealing from a point of view they can relate with.

To illustrate the point I found this massively successful ad (it has not been beaten in more than 25 years!). It shows a different angle on how ads can be created. It is an ad that brings people into the the thing being sold.

When creating ads keep it in mind. Here is a snippet of the very successful ad for a newsletter about offshore real estate-

You look out your window, past the gardener, who is pruning
the lemon, cherry and fig trees...amidst the splendor of
gardenias, hibiscus and hollyhocks.

The sky is clear blue. The sea is deeper blue, sparkling with
sunlight.

A gentle breeze comes drifting in from the ocean, clean and
refreshing, as your maid brings you breakfast in bed.

Go get some

Paul

Direct Mail Gone Wrong

I do a lot with offline advertising. Most of my clients get customers through direct mail, fliers or space ads.

I have noticed that most of my clients are a little over confident in their direct mail. Some figure that if they send out massive amounts that even a small return would be profitable.

Then there was Mike in Minneapolis

Mike runs a service business and he has done pretty well. He has a good relationship with his customers and his service is top notch.

Mike decided to upgrade his usual mailers (postcards mailed bulk) to a sales letter mailed to specific demographics. Mike decided to create the letter himself. Mikes only experience with writing ads has been his postcards (which averaged .5% return).

Mike went big. He put all of his chips on the table and looked the dealer in the eye and said; "hit me".

He mailed 10,000 letters at a cost of $30,000 (notice I said cost). Two weeks after sending out the letters he got 1 phone call. That was the last call.

I have in my years rolled the dice and got burned. I have never been scorched like Mike but I had second degree burns.

Mike thought that because his postcards got around .5% that if he did close to that he should make $60,000 after costs. He made zero. The one call he got had to cancel for some reason.

Mike should have done what almost no small business does- TEST! If Mike mails out a 100 letters and gets no calls something is wrong. So now he finds out for $300 rather than $30,000.

I believe that before sending out any mass ads, you should test it first. Even postcards or fliers. It is not only the cost of the piece you need to keep in mind, it is the money you are losing that you could have had if the ad was better.

Your service or product may sound great, but your offer may be crap. Maybe your offer is great but you poorly described the benefits of your service. Maybe you mailed a great piece to the wrong people. I promise you that you do not know without testing.

Direct mail is a wonderful form of advertising (my favorite), but it can eat you alive if not handled with care.

Go get some

Paul

Are You a Sinner? Part 2

Thou Shalt Not Think He Will Be Remembered

A LOT of small businesses think their company name will be imprinted on the readers brain if seen over and over.

Name all of the ads you seen yesterday. Hmm, that is tough. Name the ones for a service or a product that interested you.... Come up with any?

There is a strong theory that we see 2000 ads a day. When we mix in those ads with our daily life almost all is forgotten. Back a few years ago with the beer commercials and their many funny, cute and expensive ads could not get separation from the other beers. Most people when polled could not name the right beer for the ad. Millions and millions of dollars wasted.

Institutional ads (getting your name out their) suck. Small businesses try like hell to create these meaningless ads to look bigger. Meanwhile the bigger companies are trying to look smaller by being more personal.

Do you want to know how you can be remembered? Turn the reader into a customer. Your company slogan, song or logo are not reasons to buy from you.

Your ads are to create sales, not recognition. Have you tried to deposit false recognition in your bank? It's worthless.

You want to create a buzz. Get people talking so you don't need to. Create ads that solve peoples problems and you will destroy competitors. If you all just do the same thing than it is winner by attrition, last man standing or a coin toss.

Screw that, I play to win. Don't you want to win? Damned straight you do.

I have kicked my competitors asses many times with actionable ads.

If you really want to be remembered for something; you must do something to be remembered for. 'Here we are" is not one of them.

Go get some

Paul

Are You a Sinner? Part 1

Thou Shalt Not Try to Sell a Half Eaton Sandwich

Solutionless Advertising: Any ad including Web page, direct mail, fliers, space ads, PPC phrases- any ad needs to address a problem.

You may be saying to yourself- "duh, I know that". Do you? Do you talk about your commitment to quality and customer service in your ads? Do you talk about years in business? Do you talk about why you are better than everyone else?

What problem did you address? You did not advertise a solution, you advertised YOU. I don’t give a squirt if you have great customer service as I would need to be a customer first. How would that entice anyone? Has anyone ever called and said "I seen your ad about high quality and how much you love your customers, SIGN ME UP!".

I will guess 0

This happens both with people selling online as much as offline.

If I try to sell an ebook and talk about me through the whole sales page and end with BUY THIS NOW! What happens? click and goodbye (normally the click happens way before buy now). Many onliners need to learn the rules of direct response as much as the offline companies.

That smells good, who’s barbecuing?

You have likely heard the old advertising phrase "sell the sizzle, not the steak". People don’t usually arbitrarely buy stuff without some reason. There is an exception and that is in retail. There is a reason why items are placed in certain areas. There is a reason why tabloids litter the checkout line. Did you notice the easy to grab candy and gum for the kids to hound you about?

Every minute you are in that line the chances of grabbing something you had no intention of buying increases 10 fold.

That does not work when selling a service or a product outside of retail. I can easily look past your postcard and long winded boring Web page. If you add some sizzle buy addressing a problem I have or did not know I had and have a solution, that’s gold.

Your ONLY goal in an ad is to turn that need into a want. People will pass on stuff they need all the time, but they buy what they want. You do not need to be a master copywriter or ad wizard. You need to be a problem solver and state it that way.

People do not need or want YOU. They may need and want what you can do for THEM

You don’t want to miss Sin #2. Bookmark my blog or follow me on Twitter and I will alert you when a new post is up.

Go get some

Paul