Gotta quick analogy for you today…
Your company’s marketing message should work the same way as trying to convince your husband to let you go on a “girls out” weekend.
(Guys… the same principle holds true for you, too)
Let’s say your 3 closest girlfriends in the whole wide world are planning a “girls only” weekend away for fun, pampering, and pedicures, and want you to go, too.
Will your husband Continue reading
A critical component of any advertising or marketing message is a powerful “call to action” or offer.
This is where you clearly tell your prospect exactly what you want them to do next and how to do it.
Sadly, many sales letters and ads I see either have one that’s really wimpy, one that’s difficult to see or confusing, or don’t have one at all.
Here’s an example of a good call to action you could see at the end of a sales letter, web page, or postcard:
Call 111-123-4567 before April 28 to get a free copy of our report revealing the 7 biggest mistakes most advertisers make!
Now…here’s a wimpy one:
If you have a chance, please call us.
See the difference…
Usually you include them at the end of your sales message, but not always. And there should be one in ANY sales materials you use such as:
By including a strong call to action that’s simple in your marketing and advertising, you could increase response rates by 20-30%, maybe more.
Prospects need to know what to do next, but if it’s not obvious, or too complicated – they’re not gonna do anything and you just wasted an opportunity.
To get more information about writing a strong call to action, about this post, marketing advice, or about my direct response copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.
To your marketing success!
Merrill Clark
Website and Marketing Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services
www.crestviewmarketing.com
Visit www.webcontentNH.com for Website design & copy or online marketing strategies.
Is your business running into hard times?
The current economic picture is indeed bleak, but there is one positive step you can take right now to keep your company open for business.
Just imagine how it would be to see your business not only survive, but thrive, while others are going under at an alarming pace.
Would you do it?
It’s simple really…
Most companies want to be everything to everyone. Their focus is too broad, not letting themselves be the “expert” at any one thing, but just okay at a lot of things.
And the problem with that is it’s not cost effective to market and advertise to many different markets.
Businesses need to re-evaluate their core competencies and who their most profitable customers are.
Once you’ve decided on the profitable products, services, and customers, then market the heck out of them with some powerful ads, postcards, website copy, and other lead generation strategies.
By specializing, you become the go-to company in the area for those products, and will increase your market share, so when the economy turns around, you’ll have a leg up on your competition.
To get more information about this post, marketing advice, or about my sales copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.
Merrill Clark
Website and Marketing Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services
visit www.webcontentNH.com for Website design & copy
Aim your marketing and advertising directly at only the people that could become your customer – and assuming your message, timing, and choice of media is right, the results will speak for themselves.
Today, my wife showed me an oversized postcard she got at the office she works for.
She brought it home and asked me to look at it and tell her why they would send one to her, knowing full well her type of company would never think of using this particular service.
It was a great question, and it also proves a valuable marketing point.
In this case, it was a parking lot striping company and they sent their postcard (a poorly written one, at that) to an accounting office in a huge office building, obviously that didn’t have the least bit to do with maintaining the office building or grounds.
I told her how unfortunately, many companies waste significant amounts of money marketing to the wrong people. They do mass mailings without filtering the lists of prospects to get the best results.
What they should have done is sent the postcard to the owner of the building, not the tenants.
The moral of this story is this:
When businesses send out marketing materials to generate leads or sales, make sure the list you send it to is approporiate for your products or services.
The overall list size will be much smaller, but your overall costs will be less and your response rates will be much higher.
The best chance of a successful marketing campaign follows this basic formula:
You need to send the right message to the right people, at the right time, using the right media.
If you follow this proven rule, your campaigns will be much more successful than a mailing blitz.
To get more information about this post, marketing advice, or about my sales copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.
Merrill Clark
Website and Marketing Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services
When you invest your time and money in various marketing effors in order to grow your business, there’s a certain point where you expect to see a payoff with new leads and customers.
But what can be the cause when smart and solid marketing techniques don’t seem to be working?
I’m only going to talk about one of the many possibilities, and unfortunately, it’s one I saw in action recently at a small local retailer, which shall go nameless.
I received a sale flyer in the mail advertising something I desparately needed. So I took a drive to their store. As I walked in and took a look around, I noticed a couple of workers stocking isles and a cashier talking on her cell phone.
Then, I walked up to the cashier to ask where to find this particular item. As she continued talking on her cell phone, I stood patiently, waiting for her to even acknowledge me. Obviously, she was more interested in the call than in helping me.
After a couple of minutes, she looked at me like I had 3 heads. How dare I interrupt her call! I asked my question and all she managed to grunt was “go ask one of those guys”.
I have to admit; I wasn’t too happy. After asking one of the other guys, he just pointed me to an aisle.
Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back. I asked if they could check stock of a certain color I didn’t see on the shelves, and he had the nerve to say “I’m kind of busy now, but I’ll check in a few minutes.
Just plain disrespectful (and stupid)! So much for the “customer coming first” and “signing their paychecks”.
This particular store’s marketing and advertising methods aren’t perfect, but they do a lot of things right such as using compelling headlines and copy in their ads, and good follow up after a sale.
This particular store’s marketing and advertising methods aren’t perfect, but they do a lot of things right such as using compelling headlines and copy in their ads, and good follow up after a sale.
Obviously, the owner (who spends the advertising money) wasn’t there to witness this complete sabotage of his business, or else there would be 3 people looking for new jobs.
The moral of the story is this:
If you are spending good time and money on bring customers to you, DON’T screw it up after they get there by hiring incompetent, unhelpful employees that just dont give a damn about YOUR customers or business!
Train them to provide excellent customer service or fire their sorry butts! Expect nothing less than excellence.
After all, it’s not there money.
To get more information about this post, marketing advice, or about my sales copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.
Merrill Clark
Website and Marketing Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services
