A is for Advertising

Targeted Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, rather, it is the focused and individualised nature of inexpensive Targeted Marketing which makes it worth considering.  If your marketing isn’t targeted then your ROI is probably low and you are unloading way too many marketing dollars per client acquirement. Is it time to vamp your Marketing Plan to make it more targeted and cost efficient (i.e. a lot more profitable)?

So what is targeted Marketing? Here are some examples:

• Email:  Opt In
• Online Boards and Groups
• Free Offline & Online Ads
• Increase response rates with Toll Free Numbers
• Newsletters
• 900 Numbers
• Inexpensive Regional Magazine Editions:  great credibility builder!
• Newspapers offering low-cost targeted geographic zones and neighborhoods.
• TV Ads are much cheaper and targeted now.
• Home Shopping Networks can be highly targeted and great to publicise around.
• Cell phone text messaging:  Opt In only!
• Video booklet:  the paper brochure is a harder sell now days.  stimulate your Business, Products and Services alive with Video and/or Audio.
• Look at targeted media like airplanes, airports, taxis, buses, checkout counters, restrooms, banks, etc.
• Marketing contents on a Telephone “Hold” Session. 
• Use low cost special effects to appear to have a bigger look on TV advertising.

Targeted Marketing Methods

Canvassing / Cold Calling:  I am not a huge fan of Canvassing or Cold Calling but it can be effective / required in the early stages of your business, especially when money is stringent.  You can enhance your method by: 

• Putting out flyers / mailings prior to initiating contact 
• Go to Networking Events (i.e. Chamber of Commerce or a Professional Network Group) as a Guest of a member for free and make it count.
• Be direct; look people in the eye; and most crucially, offer value.  Never waffle to respectfully ask for the sale.
• Free Demonstration, a Sample or leaving a Product behind for free use can be very effective, if your product is highly effective and can sell itself.
• Try to quickly qualify the prospect and always ask for a Referral regardless if a sale was made.
• Look for ways to reference another mutual relationship to warm up a cold prospect
• Make the prospective customer feel important
• Educate your prospects; empower them and they will buy from you
• Identify your unique benefits and advantages, giving the prospect a great grounds to buy
• Do your homework prior to contact and tailor your exhibit for a specific prospect
• bring up your current customers, show testimonials and talk all but your past successes.
• Show pride in your product / service offering
• Know the prospect will buy from you and always try to close at different points in your presentation
• If the sale isn’t consummated, ask why.  Use the answers to tailor your presentation, rework your product / service offering or alter your pricing / credit structure
• The presentation should be brief and engage the prospect along the way

If you follow the above pointers, Canvassing can be very effective and inexpensive.  However, it demands a lot of time, discipline and consistency.

Business Cards:  Use both sides of your card, and it should sell something, offer something and point to your website for a special offer.  It is a Sales Tool – use it as such!

Letters:  Personalized letters are a thing of the past, but an art form which is worth using today.  Why?  Simple:  no one else is and you will appear unique.  The letter should solve a prospective customer’s problem or point to a website presentation that does.  Use online or offline questionnaires to capture valuable information which you can use to sell the prospect – it sets up your sale.  Here are some great tips:

• Follow up the first letter with a second letter and then a phone call.  All this should be done in 10 days time.  Follow up letters and calls should offer new information.
• Always ask for the sale!  oftentimes, the third time is the appeal.
• Include personal references, people you know in common and testimonials in your letters.
• Combine a letter with a Questionnaire, which asks a prospect to provide an Opt In Email address.  Send all further communications via email for cost effectiveness and immediate yet convenient to the prospect contact.  Remember, an email can be a Newsletter, Audio or Video Recording, a Power Point Presentation – the sky is the limit!
• Remember:  Confidence, Quality, Selection and Price.  Address all four in your contact; a sale is eminent, provided the prospect is qualified.
• Letters are an easy, cost-effective way to stay in contact with customers whether you make a sale or not.
• Personalize it:  Address to a particular person, hand sign it and write a personal P.S. by hand.  You can even follow a sales letter with a hand written note in a second mailing before or afterward a follow up phone call.  This can be very effective!
• Your letters should not ask the prospect to respond.  Rather, it will tell the prospect when you will call to set up an appointment and/or answer questions leading to a sale.  Either way, on the phone call, Always ask for the sale.
• Stick with just a short letter.  No other enclosures.  You have a better chance to be read.  You can always email (save postage) a brochure once you have retained the interest.
• If the prospect cannot wait for your follow up phone call, have a website address with an exclusive offer that points to a well crafted Sales Web Page.
• Sign your name in Blue color, along with the P.S.  The reviewer will read the P.S. first so put some thought into it.
• State your offering’s benefits to the specific prospect without really saying what it is.  This will drive the prospect to check out your Sales web page.
• Include a short Customer Testimonial with the Customer’s contact info.  Let your current Customers do the selling for you!
• The numbers:  Mass Mailings are deemed successful with a 1-2% Response Rate.  If a personal letter is done right, a 10-20% sales rate (not Response Rate!) can be achieved!
  • If you do Mass Mailings, a Personal Letter as stage 2 to your responses can be highly effective as well!
• On your Online Sales Page always give the prospect the opportunity to Opt In their email address so you can automatically send them Newsletters, Articles, Special Offers, Bona fides and the such.
• How to get a sales agreement  Simple:  Eliminate all risks of doing business with you and make sure the prospect understands the benefits and value of your offering.  Pair that with passion and straight forward ethics and you will close again and again.  You will have to ask for the sale at a minimum of three times on average; so ask!
• Partner up with other ethically sound business people to pair your offering and make a truly unique offering and/or tap the partner’s customer base.  An experienced partner can add a lot of credibility to your offering.
• Ask for Referrals from the beginning, whether or not the prospect buys from you.  If they don’t, make sure you offer them an Opt In so you can continue to stay in front of them with Specials, Newsletter, Company News and Events, Articles and the such.
• If targeting businesses, ALWAYS send you letter to the President and then follow up with a phone call after you sent a hand written note two days later.  Two things will happen, you have his/her attention, and your initial call will be routed to the right decision maker in the company.
• Remember, letters are all about psychology so keep the emotional sale in mind when preparing the letter.

Note:  A lot of these methods and strategies described under “Letters” can be applied to many different marketing tools – use them!

Telemarketing:  I’m not a big fan of cold calling even though I built my inital companies using it. However, a professionally designed executed telemarketing campaign linked to a mailing of some sort, whether a letter, brochure or leaflet, can be very effective. In bound telemarketing can be great if done right. Here is the bottom line: 51% actually listen to the telemarketer when called, so it can be a very worthwhile strategy to adopt.  Here are some keys toward running a successful telemarketing campaign:

• Research the prospect:  know the important things about your prospect and how they pertain to your business.
• Link your telemarketing with a personalized letter so your call is a follow up from an potential source, verses a pure cold call.
• I hate scripts.  Your telemarketing should come naturally and lead to pre-planned destinations and decisions (i.e. more info, website link, a free analysis, newsletter or article, or a sale).
• Know your hot-button words, such as, “profitability, increase profits, take down costs and expenses, increase cash flow, money and time savings, competitive advantage and edge, market share” and so forth.
• Remember, an Objection is a quicker way to a yes.  Address an Objection adequately; you are one objection closer to the sale (typically 3 objection average per sale).
• Keep it simple:  Contact, Warm Up, Present, Answer Questions / Address Objections and Close (try to close twice before your final close).
• Ask the prospect questions and clearly understand his or her issues / problems so you can provide a solution.
• When you close and ask for the sale, always state the benefits prior.
• A close doesn’t have to be a sale.  It could be you ask for the sale and the prospect isn’t convinced.  Do not ruin your sales opportunity by trying over and over for a final close.  Rather, set up an Appointment and send follow up information and a Sales Webpage link.  Stay in front of the prospect (I am assuming this is a well qualified prospect).
• Keep a Special Offer in your back pocket and only use it if you think the prospect is more motivated by price than your value added benefits.
• The hard numbers:
  • 100 calls to close a sale
  • 5 minutes average per call = @ 8 hours for a sale
  • 5 sales = @ 40 hours of time
  • The average call dealing when one business telemarkets to another is @ $550, which means telemarketing can be quite profitable
• You can for sure increase the before mentioned odds / percentages to the better by developing and implementing a warm-up campaign that involves a personal letter, other type of mailing, email, etc.  Warming up the prospect really pays off for the follow on Telemarketing.

Fliers / Circulars / Brochures:   Circulars and fliers contain a short, concentrated, targeted, single message. It is a specialty piece while a brochure is much more detailed and longer in length. These marketing mediums are not effective unless used in a well thought out and targeted fashion.  Here are some tips to draw clarity on what I mean:

• Fliers and Circulars: 
  • If you need to distribute a large volume, in conjunction (as a follow on) with a Mass Mailing, use Circulars.
  • Gets Instant action if implemented correctly.
  • Clear Offer
  • Urgency
  • Straight to the Point
  • Instruct Prospect what to do Next
  • Clearly Ties in to a Previously Established Identity
  • Content is very important, as well as, Process.
  • Factual / Explain
  • Inform
  • Sell
  • Help a Prospect visualize your Content with a Picture
  • Use Headlines & Bullet Points
  • List the greatest benefits for the particular audience
  • Test out your Brochure with a Circular / Flier for cost effective Test Marketing
  • Use Action Words
  • Learn Desktop publishing and produce your own materials at a fraction of the price.  Get a Graphic Design Student intern to create your Artwork for a small fee.
  • Color and Gloss are expensive.  If you aren’t selling a luxury, premium product, consider colored ink and colored stock to bring your piece to life.  However, if you self produce, I prefer Gloss and Colored Pictures – it is worth the added cost but mitigated when self produced.
  • ROI:  One Sale / one job should handily pay for your entire creation and distribution costs, otherwise, reconsider your campaign.

• Brochures:  Brochures can be more expensive, are more detailed and larger pieces which can instill credibility and confidence in the prospect. The brochure has more finesse and has a more elaborate sales process. For mailings I like the circular. For exact location placement, a flyer is great. Brochures on the other hand are great for in-house use, to give an existing customer a referral section to fill out, and is perfect to use in your online marketing combinaed with your website. I like all my referral services to have a good stock of my brochures and always check to make sure they are replenished often. If don’t make a particular sale, alsways send your brochures to that prospect and ask the prospect to give them out, offering a referral fee for any closed sales. This also gives you more face time with the prospect, giving you the opportunity to make them a customer down the road. 
  • The best use of brochures in my view is online and as a PDF product, as well as, a Video and/or Power Point product.
  • Color is good.  It increases your retention rate by over 50% and affects the buying attitude by 40%.
  • A brochure that costs a $1 to produce can have 8 pages, so use them wisely.  Tell a story, build credibility, make it personal and keep a professional, clean look.
  • If you have products that change rapidly, consider using a pocket brochure for product update inserts.  Great for price lists too!
  • Customer testimonials are a must.
  • Have the brochure point to specific web sales pages for more information.
  • Call for Action in your brochure.  Direct the prospect.
  • A low cost way of producing a brochure is having a magazine, which you advertise in or publish in, produce the ads / story as a brochure for you.
  • A great combination if money is a premium (it always is with a small business, isn’t it?) is to run small print ads in many publications which point to a FREE Brochure, which could be an Online Brochure.  Give people a reason to request the FREE Brochure.
  • You can personalize a Brochure Request by including a handwritten sticky note on it (this can be done digitally as well).
  • Be sure to follow up with the Brochure Requester within five days.
  • Brochures should only go to interested prospects.  Circulars can be more mass market.  Brochures should bring you a closing rate of about 30%.
  • An Online Brochure can have links to Video, Power Point and Audio Presentations.  These really increase your chances to make a sale.

Classified Ads: These types of ads can be low cost, cover a specific region or even neighborhood or take you national and international.  For a targeted audience, concentrate on Magazines.  An important stat:  60% of Americans read a magazine entirely but from back to front.  So, your ad has a good chance of being read.

• Consider Classified Network for targeted, multimedia ads at a great price.
• Use a short Headline in all CAPS.
• Only use abbreviations people will understand.
• Personalize it
• Direct the reader to a Web Sales Page
• Consider putting your phone number
• Read the other ads in your advertising section and write an ad that contrasts
• A great way to sell a Book, offer a FREE E-book or Article
• Use Facts in the AD
• Create momentum and call the reader to Act
• Accentuate benefits
• Classified Ads are short and sweet but you need quality of message.  Start with a bigger AD and cut it down to the lines you need for the small Ad.  You need very tight copy.  Study competitors Ads to spark ideas and angles.
• I am not a fan of online classifieds.  I think they get lost on the websites which they are displayed.  For this reason, I recommend Print.  If you find a Classified Online Forum or Service or Directory you like, the downside is you have to resubmit the Ad daily to keep visibility.
• Offer something FREE!

Gift Certificates:   Wow, never ceases to amaze me how overlooked gift certificates are in businesses. Be sure to have them and promote them well, especially on your website. Differeciate your certificates for different holidays and be sure to place a link in your email signature highlighting your different gift certificate offerings. This is an excellent forum to brand your business name effectively.

Signs:  Signage can be quite expensive so pick a business location which requires minimum outdoor signage exposure.  Indoor or Sidewalk Signage is much less expensive and can be quite effective.  Be sure to keep your signs consistent with your logo, meme, advertising message and branding.  Consistency in identity and image across the board in all the media types you are employing is paramount to converting a Prospect to a Customer.

• Keep the sign short, concise and use persuasive, action words.  Have a visible, identifiable logo.
• Sidewalk signs should be configured to stop the pedestrian, for that person to pause.  Then a sign and/or merchandise in the window has a chance of pulling that prospect in to your business.  Better yet, put your best priced merchandise outside your door.  It can cause an impulse buy and/or create an invitation to visit your business.
• Promote Cross Selling Opportunities
• Use Brochures, Biz Cards, Gift Certificate and Coupon Displays with your signage.  At the very least, a non-buying prospect can leave with something, if not a Gift Certificate.  This creates great viral based, inexpensive advertising.
• Remember, Ads can become a sign – just blow it up!
• Use point of purchase signs to get the instant gratification sale.
• Check out your competition and see what they successfully use.

Free Bulletin Boards:  Depends on your type of business.  For instance, if you deliver pizza to a college, then Bulletin Boards can be your best advertising.  Bulletin Boards are very time consuming as you need to check the board and reexamine your offering at least twice per week.  Hire a part time student to manage your Bulletin Boards so you can spend your time more wisely.

• Everywhere has a Bulletin Board.  Try to choose those that are well maintained (so you remain visible) and have the right prospect traffic.
• You can use your Circulars to post on the Bulletin Boards.  Always have precut strips or peel offs for prospects to take your information with them.

Yellow Pages:  One question:  Why?  Print Yellow Pages are expensive, and in the Internet world, hold much less influence and utility.  If you feel that you must advertise in the Yellow Pages, put tracking devices on the Ad so you can measure its effectiveness.  Moreover, one Ad may not do it as people may search in more than one category to find you.

• Is the answer online Yellow Pages?  No!  Consider Google Local with Google Maps verses using the online Yellow Pages.
• The largest Ad wins in Print Advertising.  So, instead of paying the extra bucks for one large Ad on a page put two smaller ones to prevent being overshadowed by a large ad
• Color pays.  Spend the extra bucks for it.
• Offer something for FREE
• Make your AD personal – address that person looking at your Ad

Use the Power of Desktop Publishing:  Learn to use graphic design software and design your own logo, brochures, circulars, ads, business cards for a fraction of the cost.  Take a class on the software you will be using so you can create professional looking materials.  Then you can always hire a pro to clean up your designs.  There is no need to spend thousands of dollars on your designs using a graphic designer – you can use a pro when you are successful and the cash flow is there.

About the Writer

This article is written by Frank Goley, business consultant and business planner for ABC Business Consulting. Frank is an expert in writing, developing and implementing business plans, business turnaround plans, business funding plans, marketing plans, strategic plans and web marketing plans. Frank offers comprehensive business consulting, business coaching, business turnaround consulting, and web seo, web development and web marketing consulting to small and medium size companies.. Frank is author of the business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 40 published articles on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies blog.