Grow Your Small Business With Smart Marketing

Abused Great Dane Teaches Me a Lesson

2009-09-13T14:59:00.002-05:00

This weekend me and my wife had the unique experience of adopting a 4 year old Great Dane named Reuben (we call him Roo).

As you can see he is a magnificent animal. Sadly he had a hard life. He had a life that makes most of our problems look like a winning lottery ticket.

He was saved from a place where the dog is not considered a part of the family. He was nothing more than a burden.

Roo has abandonment issues because he found his home as being locked in a garage. Alone in the dark without very much contact, and that contact not being much better.

This horrid human being decided to crop Roo’s ears, himself. Looks like with a scissors as they are different shaped and have ridges like little stairways going down them.

He arrived at the rescue extremely underweight and showing signs of abuse with fresh wounds on his snout. He had a tumor a little bigger than a softball on his chest. The tumor was outside the ribcage so it was VERY obvious.

He is a loving animal but is aggressive with strangers at first. Danes are not known to be like this so it shows what his life must have been like.

Now he follows us everywhere and plays with our other 2 dogs. Well, he plays with our other Dane as the smaller dog is not interested in getting stepped on.

Roo is an amazing dog. At times as I stare in his eyes I can feel the pain he has been through. Both physically and mentally. Part of me wants to cry and the other part wants to beat the crap out of someone.

As I sit here with my daily issues, I only need to look over at my giant friend and know this is nothing. I just imagine what a day must have been like in his 4 years there. His only break from solitude was pain.

As you wake up tomorrow and think about all your problems, remember Roo and what cards he was dealt. Then get off your ass and do what he could not.

Go get some

Paul

Scarcity: Are You Scaring Them into Buying?

2009-09-10T10:18:00.002-05:00

For Whom The Bell Tolls

"I like this offer. I could really use that right now. I will bookmark this page and come back to it later…"

Do you ever think about that? Do you know how often that happens in all forms of advertising? Think about how you handle interesting product or service offers.

How many times have you ended up with 50 expired grocery store coupons in the junk drawer? (aka Drawer Monster). How many times have you got a flyer or postcard for a local service and filed it somewhere to call later?

How many times do you stumble across something online and click away even though you are interested?

Far too many businesses pussyfoot around closing the sale

So many of us worry about the graphics or the presentation that we overlook an immediate reason for them to not wait another second. How do we avoid the bookmark or the drawer?

Scare them!

You have seen the deadlines on ads, normally buried and unnoticable. Sometimes they are bold but uninteresting. If the deadline does not get their attention or the freebie for acting sucks, you’re sunk.

A believable deadline is something that makes the offer the most important part of the ad. Think about the stuff you wanted before and shelved it to come back to later. I bet there are MANY of these.

Life is happening. Not only do we have a nationwide crisis we also have our own personal crisis every day. I am astounded that we think that people will be dreaming about our offer. Most have forgotton it totally 10 minutes after it is out of sight.

Again, look at your own past behavior.

Get them to act now

Time- Put a real date the offer ends and make sure they see it
Dates are good, but quantity is effective also- "Only 47 ebooks will be given out", "We will only be able to offer this service to 25 people due to time constraints, act now"
Tell them what they will lose if not acting by that date. Give a dollar value to each item

Make the deadline sound authentic by giving a reason, not just a date. Why are you only giving out 47 ebooks? Maybe you are keeping the saturation low so more money can be made with a bigger market. If you offer a service, this is easy. Could you handle 1000 calls and give them immediate service? Not likely.

It may also be very possible that even 50 calls at once would be a lot to deal with. State that! It makes sense on the other end.

You can do this with any product or service, just make it bold and believable.

Go get some

Paul

Email Marketing vs Direct Mail

2009-09-02T17:05:00.001-05:00

Are you thinking about adding or switching to a heavy dose of online email campaigns?

Likely you are trying to "keep up with the times" and at least flirting with email marketing. For those of you who don’t know my background- I LOVE DIRECT MAIL!

Direct mail is on the decline due to costs and environmentally conscious consumers. Let’s not fool ourselves, direct mail is getting the brush off more so because of $. It is far cheaper to rent/buy a list and sign up with an email service like iContact and start blasting out your offers.

I am all for smart email marketing, but there is nothing harder if you are not contacting people who know and want to hear from you.

Direct mail has a far greater chance of reaching the target (if done right) than email. It is not likely to piss them off either. I have opted out of a lot of people I admires email lists because I get sooo much crap. I got something in my mail box from Dan Kennedy (dankennedy.com- marketing genius) a few weeks ago and I was so happy. I read it and acted upon it. They sent me an email and I ignored it.

The USPS is reporting that 12 billion pieces of mail were delivered this fiscal year. Meanwhile 210 billion emails were sent yesterday!

With email all we have is a tiny line of text to get them to open it. With direct mail getting them to look is fairly easy. If we cut down or cut out direct mail and utilize only the cheap email campaigns, does that make us more or less money?

Last time I checked an unopened email is worth nothing. They don’t even get exposed to anything

There is no doubt that extreme caution needs to be taken while doing email campaigns. It will be a very short time before you become labeled as SPAM. Next thing you know that is the only folder your emails show up.

Nobody reads SPAM.

Build a relationship or peak interest using direct mail. Keep in mind how much less mail is going out these days. Create a good letter with a good offer and lead them to you. Once you got them it is up to you to keep them.

Go get some

Paul

The Drawer Monster Ate My Ad

2009-08-28T07:36:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-08-23T08:45:00.012-05:00

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

2009-08-20T05:59:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-18T17:14:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-07T08:29:00.002-05:00

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

Seek and Destroy- The Secret to Your Success

2009-07-25T07:52:00.005-05:00

If you are like me you likely have problems seeing your service or product in a big picture way. You likely see what you do or sell to be just that.

You need to seek and destroy the obstacles blocking you from seeing the truth about what you sell. How do you do that?

You have likely heard the 'know thy customer' adage. You know, find out all you can about your customers so you can not only communicate your offerings better, you can find out what else they might want. Trust me they want to buy more stuff, you need to find out what. How should you start?

You can start out by creating the stupidly terrifying and mega easy questionnaire. Most of us fear asking for answers. Half of it is that we feel we are imposing and the other half is we will get answers, some may give us a boo-boo on our ego.

Let me ask you this; let's say you just bought my ebook and I sent you a questionnaire with questions on how I can help to bring you more customers. Would that piss you off?

If you just cleaned a persons carpet and you sent them a little survey or directed them to a website to help them in the future, would they mind? heck no

Developing the right survey

I will give you an example of a survey but you must be made clear on a few things first. People lie. They may fib a bit on their income or on their true feeling about your thingy. To diffuse this it is wise to do blind surveys so they will be more likely to answer it. Don't ask for their names or any other identifying information.

Make a survey through an online service like surveymonkey or have them fill out self mailer cards if you deal face to face.

You are after only one thing, the truth

Questionnaire example:

Thank you for trying ________________. It means a lot to us to make sure you
got everything you wanted from our ____________

If you would please take 3 or 4 minutes to answer these questions it would help us to serve
you better in the future. Thank you very much.

This is an anonymous survey so no name or email is needed

Please tell me the main reason you purchased our (service/product)

_______________________________________________

Please rate on a scale of 1-5 (five being best) why you made the purchase

__ The offer was too good to refuse

__ What was said in the ad

__ Our company name or reputation (or if you are online, your personal name)

__ Timing- You have been thinking about it for a while and there we were

How did you find out about us/me?

__________________________

On a scale of 1-5 how would you rate your experience with us/me?

___

What is it you liked best?

______________________________

What could be improved?

______________________________

Would you tell your friends or family about us/me?

_______________________________

Will you buy from us/me again? If not please explain why

_______________________________

Did you consider buying from someone else before us/me?

____

If so, who was it?

________________________________

Why did you choose my/our product or service over them?

_____________________________

What is your household income?

__ $30,000-50,000

__ $51,000-70,000

__ $71,000-100,000

__ $100,000+

How old are you?

___

Are you single or married?

____

Do you have children?

____

What magazines, newspapers or social websites do you enjoy?

__________________________

Do you use Twitter?

__

Final question: Do you feel like your purchase was money well spent?

__

Thank you very much for your time and please feel free to contact me
personally with any questions or comments.

Bob Crabtree
XYZ Inc
333-444-3333
bob@XYZ.com

The reason for doing a survey is reasons that can turn your business into a very
successful business. No matter who writes your ads nobody can create a successful
ad without knowing really well who you are dealing with. If you keep sending out
ads or creating sales pages that speak to everyone you will not make it.

Next week we take this a step further. Because all of the answers will not be the same
you will need to segment your list into categories of customers.

This will help you a lot with selling more and wasting less on advertising.

Until then, go get some

Paul

Feeling Business Pressure? Stay Strong, Be Smart

2009-07-12T10:31:00.001-05:00

I know you are feeling the pressure from running your own business. Everyone is.

In these uncertain times it is important to stay focused. Your business success or failure does not depend on your next ad (I hope), it depends on your plan.

What is your plan for the future?

I have a very motivated train of thought. It is very hard for me to stay focused on one thing. I find that nothing has helped me more than planning. I don't mean a business plan or a 10 year forcast, I mean a daily plan.

Look at your situation right now. What are the things you are lacking to get your business running smoothly? It could be getting your marketing in order to making sure your taxes are in order.

You need to first write down what you need to do. We all procrastinate and that level depends on how we internalize the issue. The more you have built up the matter in your mind dictates on when and if it ever gets done.

Instead of waking up and going through the day doing things you don't mind doing, creat an itinary for the day. You may be running your business for 10 hours but you need to spend some time working on your business.

After you look at what needs to be done, start scheduling those things on your daily schedule. If you need to get your website optimized you sit and complete that task. I am not saying that you need to learn SEO or how to create a website. You figure out how you will take care of the issue and have a completion date.

You may do work on it yourself or you may research who can do it for you. Get the time or costs calculated and schedule that in your planner.

The important thing is to DO IT!

When I write out my schedule it looks something like this:

Tuesday

6am-7am : Create postcard for Joe

8am-10:30am: Work on my website

You get the idea. If I do not write these down for some reason it all becomes optional. I am not kidding, I will pick what I want to do instead of what I have to do.

For some reason when I have it scheduled I see it as a task to be completed and it has less 'think time'. I don't really build up a lot of bs emotions like I do when I just go through the day doing whatever.

Guess what else, use this to get things done for YOU. Maybe you want to learn a new language or get better at something... SCHEDULE THAT TIME TOO!

I absolutely promise you that you will get more done doing this. This is SO valuable to your future. You will make more money and waste less of your life.

Owning your own business is toughest because it takes massive discipline. We don't usually hold our time accountable, we're the boss.

You absolutely need to teach yourself this technique. All the marketing in the world will not help you if everything else is half-assed.

You had the balls to start a business now use your brains to grow it.

Go get some

Paul

Vampires: Your Ads Are Sucking the Life Outta Me

2009-07-03T08:05:00.005-05:00

You likely own a business. You likely do your own advertising. You are likely driving me nuts with your crap ads. What is a crap ad you ask?

A crap ad is a sales letter, postcard, website, flyer, banner towed around by a plane or any other device shoved in my face without meaning.

You spend money to bother me and all I get to see is crap.

Do you know why you bug me? Because you don't spit out anything I care about. I have posted in my blogs many times about not generalizing and realizing what your service is not what I want to buy, the result is.

Do you listen? Why do I still get business owners who read this still sending me scratchy toilet paper? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

(deep breath) It's okay, you can still change your blasted ways quite easily. I will take you by the hand and walk you through a basic concept.

Let's say I hire you to do whatever it is you do. You show up and do it very well. Now tell me what the customer is seeing/thinking/feeling after you're gone.

Have you ever really thought about what happens once you are out of the picture? There is no doubt you focus on things like doing a great job or having integrity and pride with what you left behind... that is not what they are feeling. They likely are not thinking about you at all if you did well.

They are in the moment. They are enjoying the fact that their carpets don't smell like dog. They feel more comfortable financially after meeting with an adviser. They love that their lawn is plush and greener than their neighbors.

They are not thinking about you, but that is good. What they will do is connect that plethora of positive emotion to what you did for them. Those are what you use in your ads. Take the focus completely off of your company.

I am not saying don't mention any specifics about your company but you need to get them emotionally involved with your ad first. Get them to want to know who you are.

When your ad shows up NOBODY wants it. They were not getting ready to contact someone offering your service on the way to the mailbox. Simply announcing you and your service will waste massive amounts of possible revenue over time.

You know the processes of your business very well and that is why you normally focus your ads on that. Nobody cares at first about how you do whatever you do, they care about what they get from what you do.

You need to convey that IMMEDIATELY. 80% of people read the top of an ad without reading the rest. If that headline, caption or image does not connect, they are gone.

If you are not quite sure how people feel about what you do, find out! ASK THEM. I know it is a strange concept but if we don't take in new information we don't learn.

Simply ask your customer/client what they liked about your service. Try to get as many as possible and then start creating your ads using those insights as the theme.

Keep in mind if you are using images; make sure they convey the same emotional connection as the rest of the ad. If you do a home service don't plaster a picture of a home as that is meaningless. If they feel it is meaningless what happens? Yep, they're gone.

Once you start to know your customers this process becomes easy and you make more money.

Here is a final mental image I wish to leave you with-

You are asleep in your coffin in cold dark cellar. You wake to hear creaking boards but know that no one dare challenge you. The creaking stops and total silence once again puts you at peace.

WHOOSH! the casket flings open to see me standing over you. You mutter "Paul Van Helsing!" and I yell "TO HELL WITH YOU IRRITATING DEVIL! I'LL FINALLY BE RID OF YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Before you can react my stake centers over your heart, with a massive smash of my mallet I drive it into you.

Go get some

Paul

Your Ads Are Losing You Money!

2009-06-21T10:59:00.000-05:00

I think there is an overwhelming dangerous way of attributing success or failure to our advertising attempts.

Most of us take in account what the ad costs. Most of us measure that against the end result. which is profit after cost.

Almost nobody sees the big picture

While we can call an ad successful if it makes money (or creates more customers at break even), we may be missing out on $1000’s. Let me explain-

Let’s say you do a very affordable ad in the form of a flyer. Maybe you spend a couple hundred bucks and write the ad and create the visuals. Now you distribute those and make a couple thousand dollars.

Now unless the cost of the product or manpower is very high, or your pricepoint is too low you should make a nice little profit.

Rarely do people think about what might have been. What if your same ad was written and presented very well and doubled the response?

Maybe you generate $4000 in sales without spending much more if anymore money.

What is written in your presentation is sink or swim, do or die. Your product or service will not sell nearly as much if presented as just a product or service. You could sell to those that happen to be in need, but far more are in need of their money.

Words need to fill your ad that invoke emotions. I see more ads focused on a price point or coupon more than what they are really tring to sell.

Far too many times people say to me “I sell lawn care dude, not message therapy”. That is where you lose big money! You communicate to yourself it is just _________. Who wants “just”?

By not digging into what people will feel once having their carpets cleaned or their house painted leaves a lot of money on the table.

When your ad finds it’s way to a consumer, they most likely do not want to see it (unless they found it by searching for it). If I am not thinking about getting my windows cleaned and an ad arrives that says-

Spit Shine Window Cleaning- Minneapolis’s #1 Choice

That ad is dead immediatley to those not already in a buying state for that service. It will go unread straight to the trash, no matter how great the offer. Most do not realize the importance of the first few lines and most lose out on LOTS of money and new customers.

There are a million ways to make the beginning of your ad more enticing without mentioning what you are selling. The key is hitting a button to get them to read more-

What Are People Saying About Your Home?

You do not need to go into a negative tirade about how bad something looks, in fact you don’t want to say that at all. You want them to think about it.

This headline could work for any home service. Since we are hitting a nerve with people and their pride and insecurity we have begun their journey into the rest of the ad.

I would likely use a curiosity type of first sentence-

“When looking around your greatest investment, do you notice this?”

Not positive or negative, be interesting. Most will wonder what you are getting at and keep reading. I would finish the paragraph with talking about the problems of have dirty windows/carpets, a brown lawn or paint color that is dating their home. They already notice this stuff, but sometimes mentally block it out.

Your goal in an ad is to create interest in what you are selling- nothing more. If you start to get into explaining out the features in a benefit driven manner, you will maintain their interest.

“With our Deep Clean Method we are able to extract dirt and bacteria festering in your carpets”

Most would simply say- “Truck mounted unit for deep cleaning”

Notice a difference? Now if I happen to get a flyer and I am not thinking about getting my carpets cleaned, which version do you think would make me stop and think?

How many of those people are you missing with every ad?

Here is the beauty of working harder and smarter on the ad (or hiring someone to do it right). You will get all of the customers your normal ads would get PLUS all the customers you are not getting.

In this economy I don’t know how anyone can afford to do it differently.

Go get some!

Paul

Don't Be the Best, Be Different

2009-06-09T17:40:00.002-05:00

Here it is on a cloudy and cool Tuesday afternoon. This is the time of day I like to go through emails and work on some of the million things I need to do online.

Every now and then people send me a flyer, postcard or some kind of ad for my opinion. With these I also collect local business ads to examine. (it's kind of a fetish)

When I see the ads sent to me or the ads I collect I notice one common theme, generalized facts. Most small businesses do their own marketing which includes writing the ads. The problem with that is obviously we as the business owner know about what we are selling. We sometimes state things that are obvious to us but a riddle to those not involved.

When we fall in love with our business and lack any real sales skills we can get tunnel vision.

Since most ads in the postcard or flyer format look the same, the consumers stop paying attention; then the ad "fails". Usually when the ad fails we create an ad filled with more useless generalities with a better coupon.

What are useless generalities? Let's take this postcard in front of me- here is their focus as these are the words they used:

Experienced, Dependable, Professional and Detailed. This card is for window cleaning but it really does not matter.

Likely all of you use some variation of the words above. Now tell me what those mean to me, the consumer. I suppose you would say "well it is obvious". I will tell you it looks like all the rest and I would barely glance at it on the way to the trash.

When ads show up and have the exact same formula we stop paying attention. We have fell to sleep 10,000 times before reading this crap.

What you need to do is take a hard look at what it is you are selling and answer one simple question- why. These words- Experienced, Dependable, Professional and Detailed along with best, quality and affordable are meaningless drivel. You said everything that everyone else says.

So why should I pick up the phone and call? Don't tell me, you are counting on the offer/coupon to win the battle. It likely escaped you that people will not read your offer. They see those all the time also.

You may be thinking that most companies in your business basically do things the same way, and you're right. Maybe you are emulating a successful competitor hoping some of that gold will land in your pan.

You will likely help your competition by spreading the same basic message. In order to carve out your niche you need to focus on that niche. Instead of "anyone can use this" you need to boil it down so you can speak to your ideal reader.

I don't care if you are cleaning carpets or own a restaurant, you need to pinpoint whom you want to do business with. Maybe it is young families. Maybe it is seniors. There is no way to advertise to them both effectively.

It can also be said that wealthy people think and buy differently than the middle class. There is no way you can advertise effectively to both. A person that can justify purchasing a $80,000 car does not think the same as the person with the $25,000 Chevy.

If you want to get and keep your ideal customers attention you need to figure out what it is about what you have they want. A great way to get ideas is to ask your great current customers what they like most about what you provide them.

Let's take a carpet cleaner that uses biodegradable products. Let's say his ideal customers are young up and coming families. To simply state he uses green products is not enough. He needs to push that he uses green products. I will show you an example of how an ad might start-

Does Your Home Have Healthy Carpets?

...find out 5 reasons why getting your carpets cleaned can make it worse

With this as my hook I would surely add a picture of a baby sleeping with his face on the carpet. Paint that mental image and provoke emotion. It is very rare you see ads that stop you in your tracks, right? This would jolt a mother who glanced at the ad- guaranteed.

What you don't want to do is deviate from the theme by getting general. You pushed a button now you need to build up a concern they did not have 5 minutes ago. You then need to follow up that concern with a solution to that concern.

Take some of the features and make them a little more interesting and bullet them- (don't go from a headline into the bullets. In this case I would explain 5 things most carpet cleaning companies do/use they should know about)

Here are some of your benefits when we take care of your home:

EPA approved products (100% safe for your children and pets)
Truck mounted unit (for a deep down clean and faster drying)
No worries (Insured to $1 million for your protection)
Accountability (your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed)

Notice all the "your" in the copy. Keep them involved by not generalizing

There are many, many companies in all different businesses using the "green" angle. I bet you have not seen one doing it right which means it can be exploited. There is no doubt things in your business you are overlooking.

I can do this type of ad for any business. The way I approach it is really take a good look at everything the company does and uses. This is really hard for the owner of a company. You must really step back and see it all.

Go get some

Paul

Where Did Everybody Go?

2009-06-07T06:28:00.004-05:00

Today's topic- lost customers.

You have them, you may not realize it but you have money floating around in the abyss looking for a home. Guess what, it does not care where it goes.

If you look at your customer list right now how many people have not bought from you in a year? All too many times I have business owners say "I keep in touch with my customers; they love me!". Then I have them look through their list and 30% from last year has not been heard from.

Here is something you need to know; people can be indifferent. That means that even though they liked your service they really do not care. You have these customers, believe me you do. (look at the list)

Some of the customers for whatever reason may have been underwhelmed with your service. I know, you're the greatest. Let's come back to reality. People are different, some people may find you funny an cute while others find you're sarcastic and you have bad breath.

There is no "one size fits all" situation. There is something you can do to get back the hard earned customers waiting to be snatched up by competitors. Simply mail them something addressing the fact you have not seen them in a while.

Sometimes it helps to show concern. You can say "If there is anything we can do better to serve you please let us know". Give them a special that is not advertised as a "comeback special".

You may think, nah they'll be back... someday.

I wrote a postcard for someone for the spring. It was to all the people on his list that have not been heard from in a year. It was a light hearted theme that included a little kid as a detective searching for this person. I cannot divulge the wording but it was from "Agent Cody". This pretend detective was speaking to them with all sorts of detective speak.

So out these of these "lost customers" we found $60,000. Sixty grand that may not have ever comeback, who knows. We did not sit and wait. The response was immediate and in an uncertain economy, very welcomed.

With these postcards or letters feel free to get creative if you feel uncomfortable. It is natural to feel a little edgy because deep down you know they might not be scheduling because of dissatisfaction. Just buckle down and go for it

Go get some

Paul

All the Windows in Your Home Cleaned- $50

2009-05-29T05:46:00.000-05:00

Have you ever looked through craigslist at "companies" screaming how they are cheaper than everyone. How they will beat any price. I'll tell you what, I see legitimate companies having a fire sale every now and then too.

This trend is nothing new and has been around forever. When we don't realize the value of what we are selling we can only look at how to cheapen it.

I have never really seen the "we'll beat anyone's price" work well in this business. Sure there are people out there looking to get their windows cleaned on the cheap, there are also Priests molesting children.

To try and win over a market of people that are void of finding true value and look for cheapest price; is business suicide. We are not selling products made in a third world country, we are selling our time and expertise.

Do you want a bunch of under-priced customers? How would you feel about your service after time? You must not be thinking it is worth very much which will lead to problems.

Most times we hit slow periods because of poor advertising. Some like to blame the seasons or economics or the planets alignment... maybe the ads suck. Maybe you are not putting out enough. I run a business cleaning windows in Minnesota and somehow got a 4% response on a flyer in January. Don't give me "it's winter". You just need more effort.

Most hate advertising as they associate it with ads that got no return. You will have flyers and postcards that stink. Insurance companies spend millions on campaigns that bomb, do you see them stopping? Do you see them going broke?

Start adding true value to your service instead of sucking it out. You can't possibly get away with "cheapest price, best quality". That does not exist and everyone knows it.

Raise your standards, build value, raise awareness and raise your price.

Go get some

Paul

Don't Make Me Cut You

2009-05-26T06:16:00.000-05:00

When it comes to advertising most businesses have their head up their ass. I had my head so far up mine I noticed I needed two cavities filled.

What happens is we do not realize that we need to create an interest in our service. We actually think the service sells itself. After all everyone gets dirty windows, dirty carpets and dirty houses right?

Most are lucky if they create ads that have prospects say "that looks like a good service". The problem is that is where it usually stops.

What you want people to say is "wow, I have to have that!"

There is a big difference between "looks good" and "gotta have it". We forget we are salesman and need to push our prospects, more so with a service that can cost them hundreds of dollars.

If I told you how many business owners come to me with "people say my flyer looked great"...

Both people? I truly believe that these guys will feel a little disheartened if they quadrupled their response but had less back slapping for their flyer. Advertising's sole purpose is to make money. If you feel you need a reach around for your creative abilities, join an art class.

Most flyers, postcards or any ad usually mimics a business card. It is more like a "here we are, buy some!". We know the quality of our service. Maybe we know/think we are much better than the competition. We feel if we raise the flag they will salute...

All of your flyers and postcards are your sales force, not business cards. Business owners always tell me "too many words in an ad turns people off". Horse droppings!

Too many or too little meaningless words kill an ad.

If you were going door to door to sell your service would you read off 12 words? Good salesman cut the crap and overwhelm people with benefit driven sales speak. Your ads need to be conversational in order to keep interest. It is vital to remember that if you keep spiking their interest you will garner more psychological presence. (which repeated exposure can ignite branding)

**A little side note about branding- Most think that branding is due to repeated exposure to a company name. We all sort information and file it away for quick reference. In these files we add meaningful content to associate with the company name. If you think that a business card style ad is pounding your brand into people, you're wrong. They may file the name but what would they tie to your name? You need to make sure you are the company that can help them_______**

The other guys are just plastering their name everywhere while you are working the prospect from the inside. It is far, FAR more profitable to give people good reasons to use your service.

Don't follow inline with your competitors; use smart and well planned tactics.

Start separating yourself right now! Go to your biggest competitors websites and write down what makes you different or, redefine something ordinary to sound extraordinary. Emphasize something meaningful that everyone does but does not talk about.

If you are just another window cleaning company, you are nothing.

Go get some

Paul

So Many Money Making Scams.

2009-05-23T05:44:00.000-05:00

Over the past year I have got a lot of business owners asking me about products or services out there by other marketers. Usually they mention the other guys name. Most times I have not heard of the other person/product so I need to look into it.

As with most industries there are a lot of "make $1000 a week" products in the window cleaning niche. I have had people send me stuff they bought from these con men and I am beside myself. I have seen products that really don't go beyond "make a good flyer", or "design nice looking postcards"... are you kidding?

I have participated in marketing that has generated over $500,000 over the past year and a half. Telling people to go make a pretty flyer is like telling someone who is hungry to go eat. Sure you can make a flyer and get business. What these products don't talk about is actual success or accountability.

I have seen examples of terrible flyers and postcards in these products. I have contacted them to ask how these did and they would not tell me! (I was contacting them as a window cleaner, not Onslaught)

If you have a flyer that kicks butt and you slap it in a product you sell for $100, shouldn't the results of their experience be included? Most of these slack-asses Photoshop up a few flyers just for their product. Most of these ads have never been tried! So you are buying nothing. You are just as well looking at junk mail, at least there is some science behind why it looks and is written the way it is.... and it is FREE!

Guess what else, I have participated in ads that have tanked. There is no magic wand and nobody can produce great ads constantly. The key is in your target market. Once you figure out what your desired customer wants, you give it to them. What works for me in Minnesota may not work in Alabama.

The one piece of advice I give is to research the product developer. Has this person been successful in marketing? If he has/had a successful window cleaning business that does not mean anything. It could mean a great market with poor competition. I have a small company but helped others make over $500,000 in sales.

You want to make more money, don't allow that to blind you when looking for help. Also, look outside of your industry as that is where breakthroughs occur. If you just copy what similar companies are doing you just become a clone.

Until you find the help you need, DO SOMETHING! Create a flyer or postcard. Get your website optimized, both for SEO and for consumers visiting it. Being ranked #1 will not do you any good if your landing page is uninformative or hard to navigate.

Always keep track of your results!

Go get some

Paul

Star Trek, X-Men and Window Cleaning?...

2009-05-11T05:43:00.000-05:00

Hype, there is nothing quite like it. It is a superstition that hype is evil and that is obviously a crock of sh-t.

Star Trek and X-Men have been pretty hyped up. Luckily these movies are good so they live up to the hype (however X-Men let me down a little). These movies will continue to generate massive amounts of money on screen and in DVD.

In the case of these blockbusters the hype was a planned and thought out endeavor. Hype usually starts at the source. Sure we have a rare instance like The Blaire Witch Project, but that is not very often. The Blaire Witch Project generated hype from the audience (customers). Star Trek and X-Men started from millions of dollars, then by the audience.

What does this have to do with you? Likely you do not have or do not want to spend a relative version of millions of dollars on advertising. For some of you $500 is like a million dollars.

You are likely focused on postcards, flyers and web presence. You do have the ability to utilize your own subsidized version of hype- Testimonials

Just like The Blaire Witch Project where they had next to no advertising dollars, you can create some hype from what customers you have. A bad movie with big advertising will have one good weekend and be dead by bad hype the next.

Let's say you have 10 testimonials on your website telling how great you are. People read these and feel very secure hiring you, it is subconscious. Then you show up and leave streaks, water on the floor and you were gassy. What do you think happens then? A spark over a haystack that's what. Enough sparks and the haystack is ablaze... along with your rep.

I have seen angry customers start blogs about bad service! How would you like to find a blog about your company and you can't do a thing about it? I have seen people rant on craigslist MANY times about bad service.

The key is to have continuity with your service. Find what works and do it exactly the same for every customer. Mcdonalds became the juggernaut they are from continuity.

Now let's say your company does a great job all the time. It is possible you will not get many testimonials even if the customers are happy. You need to ask for them. Whether it be in an email after the service (for me this works incredibly), or sending them a response card.

Response cards will not work as well, so if you happen to have their email I advise that.

Testimonials a lot of the time get screwed up. Companies love to not use the full name of the customer. They feel the customer will get pissed. Why do you think they gave you a testimonial, to tuck under your pillow? Use their first and last name or do nothing at all.

Right now I have testimonials on EVERYTHING. I have 5 on my flyers, 5 or 6 on my site... I put them everywhere I can. I have received enough comments about "I seen what others said about you're service..."

Testimonials are free. All you need to do is supply a great service and then ASK for their hype. Never and I mean never stop asking for more. Ideally you want a variety of comments. You do not want them all to sound the same.

I have testimonials where people commented on how I put things back after moving them. I have people that commented on how careful and clean I was. I like to mix up the testimonials to cover as much ground as possible.

Likely you will get testimonials that have multiple accolades, I like to whittle them down if they hit on something I do not have yet:

"Thanks for the great job! My windows are so shiny they look like brand new. I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"

The first 2 sentences will be on many of my testimonials so they are useless, but I do not have that last comment so this is how I would shrink it down-

"Thanks for the great job! I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"

If you have a lot of "thanks for the great job" type of openers, I do this-

".... I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back!"

Of course all have the first and last name attached.

Long testimonials are not your friend if you have too many. Do not have 5 huge blocks of text that say the same thing as it may cause boredom. You could cause a disconnect with them and they subconsciously lose interest and leave.

I always hear about how everyone loves word of mouth advertising, I do too! The problem is that it is uncontrollable and even if we do a great job it may not happen. Be proactive and take what you have and spread it around rather then wait and see.

Those who wait end up old with regrets wishing they did more...

Go get some

Paul

Marketing Hoopla

2009-05-07T05:21:00.000-05:00

You love you some you and your reasoning skills may be paralyzed

It is naturally inherent to be in love with our business. For us to start our own company is a big deal and there is a sense of pride that comes with that.

There is nothing wrong with our passionate love affair with our business, but it can be used against us. There are thousands of advertisers out there looking to offer us their addictive crack like candy. They feed on our drive to create an image... whether the image helps or not. They feed our ego.

How many times have we all heard the famed "get your name out there", or "get in front of people". That is what ego crazed businesses and advertisers love to say.

While it is vital to get in front of the right people, it is a little more complex than to slap your ad across a baseball jersey for little league team. Do you know what your logo on a jersey does? Makes you feel good. It is a very poor way to market your company and I will explain why. Surely you will think that parents will go find a pen and paper to jot down your number... sure they will.

As discussed in an earlier blog I talked about advertising and marketing being different from each other. Advertising for most companies is usually terrible. Since they use that heavily as marketing and they waste more than they gain. Most ads leech off of the profits but are usually lost in a marketing mix that is not being accounted for.

Most times we have 5 to 20 different types of marketing devices in play, rarely do most small companies keep solid records. Add denial too because we do love seeing our names.

A name on a jersey, a sign, a vehicle, a postcard or whatever means nothing to no one (but us). There are literally tens of thousands of names being shown to us daily. Awareness and image advertising is something a small business should avoid like the plague. (or I guess the Swine Flu these days...)

Your name is not a marketing device unless it's selling-

4 Rooms Cleaned for $98 Inc

While we could sit here and try to figure out descriptive names, let's worry about our current name.

I really get freaked out when I hear "well, it is only $500 to...."

Only $500!? How many "it's only" ads do we have? If you guys want to throw money away please send me an email to get my mailing address.

Ads should have a singular purpose- to make a sale. That is it. No bs image building or awareness goals. If your ads have a purpose that hits a nerve with people, guess what? You build awareness and make money. If your ads have meaning you will create an image.

Take a look at this and let me know what gets your attention more:

Onslaught Marketing
763-444-5555

Double Your Customer Base in 1 year- GUARANTEED!
Call now: 763-444-5555

Of course you adjust your ad to whatever you find out is important to your best prospects. There is NO universal solution. You can't appeal to everyone who has windows or carpets. Quality leads are what you want, nothing else.

Am I saying that you should not have your name on trucks, shirts, ads? hell no. But your name is the least important part. What you can do for the reader is all important. Why should they remember or write down your name and number, just because?

I use emotional triggers all the time. My highly praised and hugely successful ebook is proof of that (see my ad here). I walk the talk and I do this on all of my ads for window cleaning as well.

Most "marketing experts" are full of crap. Most write books and have blogs and have no home runs of their own. They have no data backing the latest article they read and manipulate to make themselves sound smart.

Nothing is more important than facts. Facts hurt as our beloved ego ads would need to be cut or redone to work. We start to fall out of love with ads that do not have our name blazing acrossed it. Most will sacrifice converting sales just to feel better.

Put your name out there, just make sure you attach meaning to it.

Go get some

Paul

The Curse of the Crappy Flyer

2009-05-02T06:39:00.000-05:00

If you are like majority of service businesses you have made your share of flyers. Flyers are a wonderful vehicle for inexpensively getting your message out there.

I am not sure if we just like to copy what we see others doing or if it is genetic, but most flyers have the same layout.

Company name
Possibly a worthless tag line (i.e. we don't cut corners, we clean them)
A long list of services (to make the ad confusing)
Maybe the habitual and horrid 10% off
Name again and phone number

Rarely and I mean rarely does anyone give a reason to use their service. The reason is usually 10% off. It is important to realize how non motivating that is. It is VERY important to realize that because there is no price to base the percentage on it becomes worthless.

Percentage off is really a retail ploy. It is very easy to pick up a shirt at Macy's look at the price and take 50% off. It is all right there. You either think it is worth it or not. Now your flyer does not give them the comparison. Just 10% off.

Let's go back to Macy's for a minute. You pick up a shirt on a 30% off rack and the tag is missing, what do you do? Put it back and move on. Sure there is a select few interested enough to bring it to the cashier to figure it out but 100 others picked it up and set it down.

The point is there was interest and it was squashed. Most people will not run to the phone to try and find out how much 10% off would be for them. You will get some, but what about the other 100?

Now if you say "Take $20 off!" people understand that. If you add something like free screen cleaning make sure you put a value to it:

FREE Screen Cleaning ($50 value)

Be sure to give value to whatever upgrade or service you are throwing in the deal. If you do not give it value you cannot expect them to.

Never start out a flyer with your company name. View your flier as a magazine on a rack at the grocery store. You are next to People, Vogue, National Enquirer, Time. How do you get the attention of the steady stream of people scanning the covers?

Most magazines are impulse buys which means they do not have a strong relationship with their readers. People see something on the cover that made them toss it in their cart. Some of these magazines pay over $100,000 for copywriters to come up with headlines that stop people in their tracks.

They do not pay them that much because it does not work.

You are selling the invisible. You are selling something that does not have real value. You need to give it value and the more value you give it the more people will want it.

Your company name at the top will destroy a huge part of the readership. You may get calls but you would have got those calls PLUS many others if done right. Sometimes you need to keep in mind how many prospects you are losing as well as how many you got.

I have seen flyers build million dollar service companies. Flyers can be the most lucrative and cost efficient forms of advertising you do, take it seriously.

Your flyer layout should look like this:

Headline
Reason
Offer (to include deadline)
Restate reason (optional, but adds power)
name/CALL NOW!/number

I get bombarded by people wanting me to look over their flyer. Sometimes I find myself saying "didn't you show me this already?" No they did not, it just looks like the 100 others I looked at.

Keep in mind all these people are not having me look over their flyer because it was working.

Don't be afraid to have some personality in your ads. Everyone tries so hard to be professional they make their company cold and disconnected. Flyers can be fun to play around with and a great way to experiment inexpensively.

Have fun with it

Paul

CNN Can Kiss My A....

2009-04-22T05:55:00.000-05:00

Nobody is spending money? Obama's check writing has everyone freaked out?

Judging by my busiest spring in years I find these "facts" to be a crock of sh-t. When owning a business it is very important to focus on what is happening within your customer base. Your current customers not only let you know how you are doing, they let you know how external factors are effecting them... like fear propaganda being peddled by the news.

I own a window cleaning business and window cleaning is definitely a service people living with fear will sacrifice. Guess what? No fear

I wish I could sit here and tell you that my cutting edge and brilliant marketing is harvesting fields of customers. The fact is I have not even been able to advertise beyond my minor ads. The only thing I have used so far is my website (which is ranked #1 in my best keywords) and oddly, craigslist.

I have booked MASSIVE amounts of work off a site where people go to find a bargain. A site filled with "companies" screaming WE ARE THE CHEAPEST!

My heavy advertising starts next week with 5000 fliers going out every week. I will likely be booked for the month of May in a week if things keep going like it is.

For those of you on a shoestring budget there are things you can do to bring in customers for nothing or near nothing.

Optimize your website using SEO (if you don't have one, GET ONE!)
Write a good ad for craigslist and replace it everyday
Call your current customers to sell them more

Most people think craigslist sucks and that is where all the bottom feeders hang out. If I told you I booked almost $2000 worth of work in one week ($1875 to be exact) would that change your mind?

The key to success against your competition rests on a few factors;

You need a website (it not only legitimizes your company, it takes them away from craigslist)

You need to have a wordy ad on cragslist. I know everyone thinks that people do not like to read a lot of wording and everyone would be wrong. Do you see 2 sentence books or newspapers selling well? People love to read something interesting.

I am going to place an example of my red hot ad here. I ask that you do not reproduce it word for word and it is protected by copyright.

I really go out of my way to legitimize my business as people get a little guarded to hiring someone that will be in their home. Remember I made almost $2000 in 1 week with this so it is a proven winner. Do not allow your judgment to cloud reality.

April 21st, 2009

Dear Homeowner,

You can finally be rid of those hazy dirty windows. Your window cleaning options with us come in 2 easy to understand packages. You get to choose the exact type of
service you need. We know after many years that one size does not fit all.

Along with these excellent window washing options you also have our satisfaction guarantee-

Try it Before You Buy it Guarantee

That's right, we don't want your money until you love your new look. Just like going to the department store to get some fancy duds, you try it on and buy it if you like how it looks.

After we are done transforming your dull dirty windows into clean vibrant windows, you can take a look around and make sure you like what you see.

You get more than what you pay for with our service, every time- Guaranteed!

Why choose us?:

* Expertise- More than 100,000 windows cleaned
* Protection- Feel safe knowing we are insured to 1 million dollars
* Choice- We offer you great options
* Price- We are a family owned business and we make sure our prices are family friendly
* We love pets!- If you have pets you can be assured we are very careful and kind to them
* No risk- You have a 100% satisfaction guarantee

We helped help thousands of Minnesota homeowners just like you easily solve the eyesore of dirty windows. You have 3 convenient ways to get a no obligation, totally FREE quote.

You can call Paul- 763-458-4400
You can simply text us your address- 763-458-4400
You can reply to this posting (we do not list our email here anymore because of massive SPAM)

You will have a quote within 24 hours

If you get your FREE quote before April 25th and accept that quote, you can take $20 off a interior and exterior window cleaning. You
must get a window cleaning quote by April 25th.

Please feel free to check out our website for more information. Deciding on who you want walking around in your home should be carefully considered.

We service Minneapolis and ALL surrounding suburbs.

A Pane in the Glass Window Cleaning
1107 Monroe St
Minneapolis, MN
763-458-4400

Please visit our website- www.apaneintheglasswindowcleaning.com

© Copyright 2009 A Pane in the Glass Window Cleaning

Go get some

Paul

Need some help with your marketing?
onslaughtmarketing@yahoo.com

The Most Successful Sales Letter of all Time

2009-03-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

Dear Reader:

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both—as young college graduates are—were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion.

They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there.

But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

What Made The Difference

Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t.

The difference lies in what each person knows and how he or she makes use of that knowledge.

And that is why I am writing to you and to people like you about The Wall Street Journal. For that is the whole purpose of The Journal: to give its readers knowledge—knowledge that they can use in business.

A Publication Unlike Any Other

You see, The Wall Street Journal is a unique publication. It’s the country’s only national business daily. Each business day, it is put together by the world’s largest staff of business-news experts.

Each business day, The Journal’s pages include a broad range of information of interest and significance to business-minded people, no matter where it comes from. Not just stocks and finance, but anything and everything in the whole, fast-moving world of business. . .The Wall Street Journal gives you all the business news you need—when you need it.

Knowledge Is Power

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Knowledge. Useful knowledge. And its application.

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© 1994 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This letter is estimated to have brought in $1 billion in sales. When writing a sales letter (or any ad) you should look at extremely successful letters/ads.

Notice how personal the letters tone is. Also notice how it starts with a story. That is gold! (to the tune of one billion bucks)

Go get some

Paul

Advertisers are not Marketers

2009-03-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

As I sit here working on my next project (see it here) I am reminded of the difference between advertising and marketing.

Most people lump them both together and we as marketers HATE that. Advertisers only sell one thing- ads. The only person they know how to sell to is desperate businesses.

Advertising is something that must be measurable or it can become a cancer to your bank account. Most advertisers rarely have real numbers of what to expect with your ad. The one number they do know is how much to charge you.

It is vital to never let anyone involved with design or an ad agency to plan your marketing. Designers and ad agencies are where you go when you have the wording and design idea that is conducive to your target market.

Don't allow some creative yo-ho take your ad and crash it into the ground. They can be very persuasive as they show you some killer graphics surrounding your business name. They use this as a aphrodisiac and play on your ego.

When you see Super Bowl commercials and get done laughing do you go to the store and buy that product or switch your car insurance? Not likely. Guess what, GEICO has no idea if the ad for the Super Bowl works either because there is no direct response measures in place.

Do you see how that could kill your business?

You want people to see your ad and call, not build up some long bullsh-t link with them. It is an utter illusion that we need to expose our company a thousand times to get people to call. I don't care to get them to memorize my name if I have them as customers.

When you watch tv notice what direct response marketing is (what you want to be doing) and brand recognition (like owls and air freshener).

Those commercials that are telling you to buy Nutri-System now push you to the phone. How many phone calls do you think GEICO got after the Super Bowl? How many Sham-wows do you think sells every time the commercial airs? LOTS!

Yellow Page reps are terrible also. They will literally tell you to do what the guys in the big ads are doing. "well if it is working for them"... who said it's working? Who says I want to be another spoke in the wheel. I want to out gun my competition not look like a big page of sameness.

Almost nobody uses direct response methods in their yellow page ads. Most use the business card style generic ad. If you add a freebie to your YP ad along with the right wording you could easily get the jump on the bigger companies.

Whenever you find yourself discussing wording for your postcard, flier or space ad with the person making/selling it... STOP! They know nothing about you, your target market or how to sell your service. Pretty pictures and a great logo will get you nothing (but a good stroking of your ego)

Contact somebody with a little know how with direct marketing before you hand over the keys to the car. If the advertiser is wrong they still get paid. If they are wrong you're screwed.

Advertising is a part of marketing, not the other way around.

Go get some

Paul

Exposing the Ad

2009-03-23T05:53:00.000-05:00

The Fewer the Words the Better!

You say that people will not read lots of words and postcards cut through by being basic? Boy, I’ve got news for you… you’re way wrong! You would be hard pressed to find me a postcard that had a better response than a letter. I can find you MANY 16 page letters that outsold the 8 page version which outsold the 4 page version which outsold the 2 page version… get my drift? I am talking about companies that generated millions and millions off more words. I am talking about sales that would not have happened with 50 words on a card.

Do you think that your service is just too basic to go on for a page or more? I could write a 5 page letter on thumbtacks. Don’t focus on the "we clean______" ,"I cut grass", "we install_____".

You don’t write about what you do, you write about what it does.
It is not the amount of words that turn them off, it is what you are saying that turns them off. People love a good book. They love magazine articles, they LOVE stories. People are always looking for interesting news. What do people say to each other all the time? ―what’s new?
Ever notice that every 6 months you see- New and Improved Tide, New Nutri-system, New ways to make $1000 a week sitting on the couch, etc…

Most fail in their attempt to add more words because they run out of things to say about themselves. Most of you create ads focused on themselves. Let's face it, you love you some you.

When you write about you it does not take long before you run out of things to say. You likely slap your name at the top of your ad followed by a "we're #1 in Philadelphia" or "Angie's List Award winner" or you may toss in a worthless tag line like "we don't cut corners, we clean them"

When we view our company we get excited to think of ourselves as being the best. I get aroused thinking I am the best marketer in the service industry, YEAH BABY! but alas, am I truly the best marketer in the industry. If I state I am the best marketer, how would you feel about that?

You would likely roll your eyes

We need to realize that most all ads look the same within the service industry. If you really want to stand out it is quite simple, say something meaningful. How do you do that?

Take a look at some of your ads and your website landing page (home page). How many times to refer to you or your company. Count the times you say I, we, us, our, my, and company name.

People really want very little information about you. Either they need your service or you create the need (which take words), they do not see your credentials or hype and get talked into it. I had a interesting chat with a business owner who told me that ad content does not matter, either they need your service or they don't....

I find that interesting, it is a good thing people in this country do not impulse buy, right? Every time we go to the store we get only what we went there for, right?

In an earlier post I discussed what can be learned from infomercials. The biggest lesson to be learned is that they create a need you did not know you had and sell you something you had no intention on buying 5 minutes before you landed on that channel.

They flat out convinced you in a half hour. You say that you don't buy off infomercials and your target prospects don't fall for that stuff? You are a sucker and so are they. If you don't believe me than tell me why you go to the grocery store and end up with a fleet of items they strategically place to influence your purchase.

Now find me any example of how glorifying yourself works.

How can you make ads that can create a need instantly? Hit on their triggers-

People connect words to images, not the letters that derive them. For example if I say "money" you do not think of the letters m-o-n-e-y, you think of green dollars or your bank balance. Your mind visualizes everything. Now imagine what the vision is when someone reads about how you are #1 or your award. They don't envision anything that is relative to them and your ad blends back into the 2000-3000 ads they see that day.

To grab attention you need to know what created your past customers to call you. Why did they want/need their carpets or windows cleaned? Was it a special occasion, did their carpets smell, was it because they do not have time to do it themselves? Once you get an idea of reasons they bought you can exploit that.

A Home With Dirty Windows is Like a Nice Smile With Yellow Teeth

Humidity, Pets and Carpet Can Make Your Home the Talk of the Town

You may have noticed I have created mental imagery here. Now you may not get those people whose windows are clean or those that do not have pets?... so what. You can't appeal to everyone but you can lock down a part of the market by being precise.

Let's face it, almost everyone has carpets and everyone has windows. You will never appeal to most of them no matter what because their triggers are different. You want to narrow your search to those most attracted to your offering.

Now as you get in to the rest of the ad you should discuss why your service can help them. You want reasons derived from benefits and not your perceptions. You most likely speak in a features manner right now that is introverted-

"We offer the highest quality at the lowest price"

That seems like an awesome statement doesn't it? So awesome in fact that every service and product has latched onto it turning it into meaningless drivel. Do you really give the highest quality at the lowest price? How do you know? How will they know, because you say so?

Now let's remove ourselves from the statement and define it-

Great value!- Most 3 bedroom homes are under $150 and every homeowner is protected by a 100% satisfaction guarantee

You are likely aware of what customers pay in that area. Average it out and use that if the price is fair. Quality is elusive, guarantee satisfaction and quality becomes a non-issue. Keep in mind EVERY company promises high quality, back it up .

A Guarantee is a POWERFUL feature and scares the hell out of most business owners for no reason. Let's say you are looking for a used truck. You are looking for a red 2005 Ford F150. You find 2 of them each at different dealerships. Let's say they both cost the same price and are in the same condition, similar millage.

The only real difference is that one of them has a warranty and the other is "as is", which one will you buy? No brainer, right? What if the one with the warranty is $100 more, would you pay it for the security? Likely. What if it is $500 more, would you still pay it? Likely you would take it or at least think hard about it.

Now imagine the homeowner that has a kung fu grip on her checkbook. She looks at 2 ads for window cleaning and one has a guarantee and the other says nothing about it. Even if the ads were identical she would lean towards the guarantee. We are all trained with "buyer beware" because of personal experience and word of mouth. We all hear the horror stories.

Subconciously just seeing guarantee drops a certain amount of defensiveness,

Do you see where the guarantee transformed from a feature to a benefit? Do you see how "lowest price" can be communicated in a different way to allow the person reading the ad to draw their own conclusion. We just help guide them and they are less resistant. We are trained to resist ads otherwise we would make 3000 purchases a day. Yet the infomercial and the grocery store can still talk us into it.

You can cause people to impulse buy a service. I have done it a thousand times and will do it thousands more.

Find your features and turn them into benefits-

Get a set of 3x5 index cards and on each card write down a feature of your service. Keep in mind a benefit is not a feature. A feature is: window cleaning, house cleaning, screens cleaned, we use The Sudser 3000, we work Saturdays, We have 10 years experience, guarantee... etc

You will sit with your cards and scribble maybe 5-10 before you get frustrated and give up- DON’T! You can likely get at least 25 features from your service. (these can be
guarantees, soap, processes, customer service, specially trained employees) Stop and take a breather and get back at it!

After you get 15-20 written down I want you to go back and explain each benefit customers get from them. How do they feel, how does it do, what does it smell like, etc. Get as detailed as possible, you can edit it down later. What does the Sudser 3000 do for them? Go deep on this.

Sometimes this helps- go look at a different service, maybe one you use like lawn care, or a product like tooth paste. Take your cards and start writing down what YOU like about it. Why do you like it and what keeps you buying more. What could they do to make the product even better. Taking your company out of the picture will open you up to seeing this more clearly. Take your new found insight and now apply it to your offering- as an outsider.

Pick the strongest 2 or 3 things you think your customers care about most. Check out your competition and see if they are leveraging those benefits. If you have one they are not using and it is something that really resonates with your current customers… RUN WITH IT! Be careful not to dump it after a couple weeks because you had some bad ads. You will need to make sure the rest of the ad, the offer and the market are solid also.

Go get some

Paul

"How to Make $1000 a Day Cleaning Windows"

2009-03-05T11:14:00.000-06:00

Headlines....

Surely the headline above got your attention. You are likely in the window cleaning business and would likely be interested in making a grand a day.

Most of us do not pull off very good headlines, in fact most just put the company name at the top of an ad. To say that is a costly mistake is a severe understatement.

You could literally be eliminating thousands upon thousands of dollars because you did not use bait to catch fish. You instead just cast out and reel in catching only those that happen to get in the way.

Even the ones you hooked are fighting to get off the line.

Whether you are writing a sales letter, postcard, flier or space ad you had better be doing all in your power to get people to read it. Your name does not inspire interest, trust me.

You don' believe me? You say people will remember your name and that's important? When they remember your name, what is it exactly they will remember? What will that cause them to do, call you someday? Not likely.

Let's use the above headline as an example. Let's say you received a flier and in big letters across the top it said-

ONSLAUGHT Marketing

I am uninspired, how do you feel? I do love seeing my name and love that everyone will see it... as it is going to the trash can. Let's look at our other option-

"How to Make $1000 a Day Cleaning Windows"

If you are a window cleaner or thinking about starting a company, would this not get you to take a gander at what the rest of the ad says? I would also imagine you do not have an aversion to making $1000 a day. Even if you thought it was probably bs you would read it just to make sure.

Would you read it? You bet your telescopic pole you would

This exact same thing can be done to homeowners or businesses. The key is to know why your customers actually hire you. You do this by asking questions like "what made you decide to hire someone to do this?". I know you are thinking "because my windows are dirty" and you would be wrong. You need to know why their windows are dirty. Why is it they have not either cleaned them or hired anyone until now. Is it a fear of heights, lack of time, aggravating results, they don't want to chip a nail?

What will surprise you is that many will hit on the same reason. If 65% of the answers were "I hate heights" you now know that is a key element that needs to be added to all of your marketing.

You will always maintain the generic, obvious use of your service, but when you hit a persons triggers they will react-

"How to Avoid Life Threatening Injuries While Spring Cleaning"

You do not need to mention what you do in a headline. In fact I advise against it. You want to pull them in first by hitting a trigger. I used pain here, people have natural aversion to pain and will avoid it at all costs.

Sometimes testing 2 different headlines is the best way to go.

To test a headline you will need to know what ad they are calling from. This is easy if you are splitting the ads geographically, but if you are using both in the same area you will need to have a code for them to tell you or have on a coupon. Just put something like GG1 on the bottom corner and ask them what is in the bottom corner.

The winner is what you run with until you create another headline to test against that.

It is important to not stray too far away from the benefit of your headline. Keep the rest of the ad moving in the same direction.

Here is some food for thought; just a decade ago we used to see around 500 ads per month, today we average 500 ads every 4 hours! The human mind is amazing isn't it. Do you know how we get through the day without our heads exploding? We totally discard all we see that is not of interest.

You likely seen thousands of ads yesterday, how many do you remember? Better yet how many got you to "order now" or to "call now". The ones that hit your triggers are the ones you get off your butt to call.

We will discuss how to continue through an ad next week. The headline alone will not get the phone to ring.

Go get some

Paul

Onslaught Gets Personal

2009-02-27T17:42:00.000-06:00

Hello all,

This week I am going to get off topic a little because sometimes you just need to stop and take a look around.

I just finished a re-write of my hit marketing workbook Survival of the Fittest, and I am working on another project that is real time consuming also.

Add to that daily marketing tasks for clients and myself (yep, I still run my window cleaning company). So I need to market Onslaught and window cleaning, help people with projects, read and keep up to date, research... that was just today!

Then there is this blog and forums I participate on.... where is me time? Where is family time?

Why do you want to make more money? These days it's to pay bills, what a passion killer. What are your personal goals right now? Name 3 out load. How did you feel calling out your goals? Did it get the fire burning or was it like calling for the cat?

So many of us drown in the daily minutia. Hopes and dreams become "not another Monday". The smiles fall from our face, but most importantly the flame inside is dim.

I sit and think about results all day- Mailing results, flier results, website results. What about Paul results? How is Paul right now? I'll tell you how I feel, I feel like I live in a vacuum. I feel every time something gets me stoked, something else sucks it right out of me.

So when I sat here working on my vast array of projects, I had a revelation. I am going to focus on the people I work with as well as help them grow their business. I will not only focus on excellent marketing tactics and strategies, I will focus on people and their personal goals.

Sometimes our business needs to take the back seat so we can see where we are heading. I am tired of working for empty promises and flat-lined dreams.

So as I see this mountain of work all around me. As the phone never stops ringing. As the emails keep coming, for once in a long time I feel excitement. Like being 12 years old and going to Disney Land. When is the last time you felt that type of excitement, pure and clean.

Be sure to write a down list of your personal goals, in fact take time to do it right now. If you do not mind I would like to share some of mine.

Take my family to Rome for a week
Build a complex on my land for homeless/mistreated pets and find them homes
Buy a Mercedes sports car (I am still debating which one :)
Get to my final rank in my mixed martial arts school (about 3 years of hard work)
A cruise for me and my wife
Get buff ( I want muscles!.. my wife does too lol)
Participate in a marketing seminar, live on stage

These are not just passing thoughts anymore because I wrote them down and I told you. These are goals that I will be working hard for. So when I am burning the midnight oil and I am fried, I will look at my list and know that because of what I am doing right now, Rome is just around the corner.

My focus now is finding ways to create more "me time". I will cut down on all this stuff I do because it is literally never ending. Everything I am involved in is a living changing thing. Everything is hands on and needs to be handled daily... that is coming to an end soon.

My real business goal is to create enough income to outsource as much as possible. Put others in charge of tasks (especially low profit areas). I am 40 now and I will wake up tomorrow and be 60. I don't think I will be satisfied looking back at a million hours sitting behind a keyboard while 20 years has gone by.

If you really want to step up, leave a comment with your personal goals for us to see. Start empowering yourself right now.

Have a great weekend

Paul

Learn From Infomercials

2009-02-17T05:45:00.000-06:00

If you watch a lot of TV you will see many channels with infomercials. If you don't see those you certainly see the mini versions. (like the "Snuggie" or the "Clapper" commercials).

Most of you may not realize what the difference is in these type of commercials over other products advertised. The difference is one is a direct response commercial and the other is brand awareness.

Your companies sole focus should be on direct response and not brand awareness in your ads. Do you know what builds brand awareness? people buying your service. Your goal is to entice as many people as possible to sign up. I don't care how much money your competition is throwing at display ads, a fleet of painted vehicles or whatever. You can beat them and profit more than they do.

It is VERY costly to try and go the branding way and it is not a measurable marketing system. You will have no idea why people call or when they will call. It could take years to establish your presence and many thousands of dollars... plus you need to do it right or it wont work anyway.

If you build it they wont come without a good reason.

Do you know why infomercials work so well (and believe me they do). First they slam you with wonderful benefits of the product. They show you people enjoying/using the product (that is a psychology tactic) and after all of that they give you some great free gifts if you run and CALL NOW!

If you sit and watch infomercials with a pen and paper and write down what catches your interest, do that to your ads. The best direct response marketers in the world are hired to make these commercials. You can glean a lot from them.

Look for infomercials that are on all the time (that means they are killing it and making amazing $). Scribble down notes from what you see at the very beginning (that is when they pull out their hooks to grab viewers) to the free gift at the end. Those hooks and "limited" freebies are what you need for your ads. Notice how the commercial builds momentum totally reeling in interested prospects, then they hit them with the offer.

You can use this exact method in your advertising, more so if you are still putting your company name at the top of the ad. The sooner you realize it is about them and not you the faster, easier and cheaper you will notice a real brand awareness.

Most of you will not do this. Most of you will flounder with your current efforts.

Success is not given, it is earned

Go get some!

Paul

Window Cleaners Take Heed

2009-02-10T14:28:00.000-06:00

Yikes, I am a day behind on my post... damn I hate that.

Anyhow today's topic will be focused on the residential window cleaners of the world.

This is going to be a super sized edition today as I want to cover two areas of cash flow. One being continuity and the other being lost opportunities.

First we will start with creating forced continuity. Forced continuity is someone signing up for service on a predetermined schedule (i.e. get their windows cleaned every x months). I find WAY too many businesses overlook this for whatever reason.

You should begin implementing some things immediately:

Create something you can leave at EVERY job. You want to make a sales page that discusses the service options (i.e. in and out cleaning or exterior only). I would leave a place on the page to hand write a price for each service for their home. Of course the price needs to be right, full price will fail. There needs to be a perceived good deal here-

Only $79 for all exterior windows cleaned inside and out

Choice on scheduling- every 2, 3, 4, 6, etc.. months. I would offer deeper discounts for more frequency-

Take $10 off if you sign up for bi-monthly cleanings!

Be sure to remind them why your service is so great for them. Also tell them about how great it will be to have care free clean windows all year long.

For those of you thinking this is not worth it, you should re-think that. I average $300 more per customer I have signed up per year. That is $300 I would not have. That is work in the winter or "off" months. That could mean thousands it total gross revenue per year and spending nothing on advertising it.

Do you know what else you get? A monster force field around your customer! They are not going anywhere, ever. (unless you screw it up). To say this is a HUGE missed opportunity for you is an understatement. If you have multiple services try this on any of them or all of them.

Lost Opportunity #1

In this time of economic peril, we need to make sure we are covering all of our bases. When you advertise your window cleaning do you ever advertise a budget friendly version? Do you have a super sized version? Why not? One size fits all?... not likely.

Most companies have just straight up window cleaning. No grand version, no simple version. You may be saying to yourself that "we are not going to cut the superior quality or extras like screen cleaning or sill cleaning". No? what if there is people wanting to give you money for just that. Keep in mind they read your "budget" package and they are all for it. They know that it does not come with the bells and whistles and want to sign up now because of that.

What if you don't have this choice, do you think they will just pay more? What if $200 is too much but $150 schedules the job? It will take less time because you have less to do, so throwing money out the window because of some weird sense of pride is not smart.

Now the opposite is also true. You need some high end choices too. I mean you use the great soap that leaves lasting shine, you power scrub tracks/sills, you hand clean screens, you clean their bathroom mirrors, whatever. I call this my All Inclusive Package. You know when they call on this they are expecting to pay more and expecting amazing results. You give it and they give you a fat check. Everyone is happy, but more importantly you just earned more money with zero extra advertising and got a customer you may not have otherwise got.

Did I mention you also separate yourself from your competitors?

Lost Opportunity #2

If you happen to advertise a special price like- Up to 20 windows cleaned inside and out only $175

Do you have an out only price? I make a killing doing this because it is far easier to get those that will not pay $175 to pay $79-$99. I can't tell you how many people say "I do my own windows, I just don't want to do the outs". You may allow your weird pride to barf up a "but their interior windows will still look like crap"... so? They know why and they will just get to work on cleaning their own inside windows (likely to have you do it next time). YOU do not reflect a bad impression.

The lost money we could be talking about is 10s of thousands of dollars per year. It cost NOTHING more to advertise these things. Your customer list will explode in size in one year. Referrals will be everywhere (if you do good work and are not a schmuck)

Now go get some!

Paul

p.s. I still operate my window cleaning company in Minneapolis

The Wal-Mart Effect is Making People Crazy...

2009-02-02T10:15:00.000-06:00

I am going to address an issue I have been seeing getting taken out of context. It seems a lot of of small business owners are looking to go the way of Wal-Mart and go "lowest price".

Before you end up on craigslist selling your service for $25 an hour, you better realize that will not save your business. In fact it will likely kill it.

Most of us who give homeowners a service like window cleaning, house cleaning or carpet cleaning don't usually service Wal-Mart folks. I can tell you right now I would be surprised if any of my customers shop at the discount juggernaut. Go sit on the bench by the door and count how many of your type of customers walk through. I could sit there all day and not see one.

People are saying "but Wal-Mart's sales are steady while Target's sales have dropped". Yep, that is true. The misleading part is that Wal-Mart is not taking Target's customers, Target's customers are just buying less in these uncertain times. There is also FAR more low income shoppers that have to have cheapest price to live.

We want to target consumers with disposable income. Sure they may be holding their money a little tighter, but that is okay. Just stay patient and keep your price elastic.

How do you not become a bottom feeder?

Instead of cutting prices, offer limited specials.

The Financial Aid Deal

While our country is working out the economic crisis,
we are offering you the best price we can.

For a very limited time you can get 20 windows cleaned
inside and out for only $179 (normally $199)

Expires May 15th, don't forget- Call now!

If you do not give a reason and deadline you risk not being able to raise prices back up. If your competitors come down in price, now the entire industry standard drops. Quality will fall, customer service will fall. The only thing that will increase is frustration and hatred for your business.

Another thing you can do instead of lowering price is add on a freebie. Build value into the offer rather than decrease dollar amount.

The Stimulus Package

Sign up today for a full interior and exterior
window cleaning and receive gutter cleaning for FREE!

This $79 service is your FREE if you call now!

Offer expires May 15th, call now

Of course these are just made up prices and service add ons. Look into your business and see what kind of add on service or product you can give away to maintain your price. Don't focus on what the freebie is costing you. When your phone stops ringing you will not be selling much of either, you might as well sell one for full price now and sell as many as possible.

By doing this you really do not lower the price of the freebies regular price or your main service price. Once the market bounces back you are golden.... and your competition has to figure out how to raise their prices back up without losing all their customers.

Until next week

Go get some!

Paul

When "out of the box" Means Just That

2009-01-26T05:49:00.000-06:00

First off, welcome to my first blog!

Every week you come back you will have a brand new idea to try. I will scour the world to find tried and true (no bs theories) marketing, advertising and customer retention strategies.

Some will seem like an innovation and some will be revelation that has been right under your nose. Come back every week (sign up so you get alerted of a new post) and discover an idea that may put you over the top.

Genie in a bottle

Here is a very interesting direct mail campaign aimed at a very cherry picked target list.

Some company in the computer electronics field tried a very nifty tactic. They bought a couple cases of bottles, created a sales letter, rolled it up and shoved it in the bottle. Then they mailed it to the prospect like that!

You must be thinking that is too crazy, maybe kinda dumb. I guess it was a bad idea since they only got a 98% response!!!

Maybe they were "lucky", maybe the Gods felt sorry for them that day. Well, the Gods were in a real good mood with this mortgage business too. They sent out bottles to a cold list of 50 Realtors and had 34 calls!!

Do you see ways an idea like this could work for you? Did you think that the mortgage and computer industry would bite on such a weird approach? If they bit anyone can bite.

I would try something like this with high end residential prospects, property management companies. I would try it to any prospect that would yield a good profit margin. Maybe even try it with a company you would like to partner up with.

You need to put together a 1 page, 2 sided sales letter (take your time on it). You want personallity AND facts/reasons about who you are and why they need you. Make an offer at the end. Tie a piece of ribbon around the letter (make sure the letter is wound tight so it comes out)

I guarantee you this, you will have their total attention; so use it wisely.

The key to my blogs is to crack open your skull and allow you to see marketing like you never seen it before.

Go get some!

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