A is for Advertising

Many entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’;t know about sales and marketing. This often has dire consequences for the bottom line. Good sales copy is an example of something that most business owners know nothing about. Dan Kennedy, aka the Millionaire Maker calls creating great sales copy, “writing your own check”.

Basically it is a salesman on paper that keeps working and working without the need for profit sharing or vacation days. There is nothing particularly special or unique about good advertising copy, except that it works. The fact is that most businesses never make use of the power of good advertising copy in any form.

Failure to make use of the power of good advertising copy and it is noticeable in lost profits. Just so it is clear, there is no set “format” for a sales letter to work to create customers. No reason to worry. Take the attitude that even bad copy is close to your goal because there are very specific things you can do to make it good, fast.

To get started: Go to the nearest library and pick up a pile of magazines from the popular genres. The areas you are most interested in are sports, fitness, health, fashion, and entertainment. Pick a specific category within the genre and then a more general one. In the area of health and fitness, pick up Men’s Health and then more specifically one dealing only with getting bulky through weightlifting. Read through them and focus on the ads.

The sales letters are often full or half page. They sometimes can be half page. Many times they offer a free written or audio material when you get in touch with them. You’ll notice that the sales letter focuses heavily on the service or product offered and not at all on the company name. It is an unfortunate false perception that the big corporations are masters of advertising. In reality, most have not clue about how to draft or use a good sales letter.

Trust me, you’ll know really good sales copy right away. It is interesting to read and makes you interested in the product or service being sold. Put a book placeholder and go get two or three past issues. If you see the same or very similar ad in those back issues, the ad is very likely a successful ad.

What the big companies do is promote a brand with entertaining ads with dancing lizards or whatever. Before you begin to think that sort of thing is real world advertising, remember that advertising must be readily measurable. Did it work or didn’t it. Often, these companies can’t measure the return on the millions spent. This is not for you. You have to get the benefit of your product to the average potential customer right now.

So strategy #2 is have a way of conveying a benefit to your customer that is unique in your market. Right up front you want to answer the question: “Why should I be doing business with you v. my other choices for the same product or service?” Bluntly, what can you do for me , and it better be unique and more beneficial than the what the other guy can do for me.

It has been written many times over about the power that a simple USP (unique selling proposition) can have for a business. Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s pizza took a fledgling pizza joint in a college town (he lived in the back room at the beginning) by carving out special turf in the brutal market of pizza with: “Fresh Hot Pizza delivered in 30 Minutes or Less, Guaranteed”.

A billion dollar empire ensued. With that USP, and the guts to try to back it up on a mass scale, Domino’s eventually had the big boys racing to catch up.

So you might be wondering where Rule #1 is?

It is the headline. The headline is the first thing that captures the reader’s attention. It is vital. How to put together a good headline is a great topic for future discussions.

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