Phenomenal Direct Advertising

Direct advertising is when you place an advertisement to reach your end user client. Phenomenal direct advertising is when you generate your perfect niche prospect. A phenomenal direct advertising system consistently duplicates results.

Although direct advertising can bring you phenomenal results in some industries if it is done right, this is not the area to “wing it.” Direct adverting usually isn’t cheap, and I’ve seen too many business owners literally go broke paying for ads that never had a prayer of working!

Here are some guidelines to help you have more success in any advertising you do…

1. What results do you want? Anytime you are using paid advertising, be sure to understand what return on investment (ROI) is that you are looking for. In other words, when you invest $1 in advertising, how many do you need to get in return? Many times you won’t know this until testing the ad, which is the reason I do mostly relationship marketing. Direct advertising can be costly. On the other hand, I have used paid ad- vertising for my companies that have generated huge returns.

2. Who is your target audience? The second thing to think about when advertising is who your audience is. At any given time, you may be placing advertising to reach:

• A Suspect (someone who fits the demographic of your perfect niche market).

• A Prospect (someone who has already expressed interest, but has not become a customer yet).

• A Customer or Client (someone who has purchased before). In this case you want
  to generate repeat business, sell additional products and services, or to compel the customer or client to move to a higher-level membership, or something of that nature.

  Each of these audiences requires a different approach because of your permission level. The more they want to hear from you, and anticipate hearing from you, the higher the “permission” level.

Permission Marketing is a powerful concept (from the book Permission Marketing by Seth Godin) every marketer needs to understand to be more effective. You may need to have a process of moving suspects to prospects before they become a customer. For example, a suspect becomes a prospect by agreeing to get on your list and get more information. Your Free Trial Offer is a great example of moving people from suspect to prospect. Then you’ll have a process of moving them from prospect to customer, then customer to client. You might have different names, like guest or member instead of customer or client, but you get the idea.

A customer is different from a client. An advocate or raving fan is someone who has moved beyond client status. You market to them differently.

3. What do you want them to do? When you are placing an ad or presenting a message to an audience, think about what action you want them to take as a result of the message. Start with the end in mind. Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to opt-in for something? Do you want them to visit a website? If you are speaking to a group, do you want them to come up to you afterward? Do you want them to fill out a form? Do you want them to buy something? If so, what? This is your call to action. We’ll talk about that in a moment.

4. What message do you want to deliver? What message is going to get them to take the action you want them to take?

How to Create a Phenomenal Marketing Message

There are plenty of books and resources on writing copy, so I won’t attempt to teach you everything you need to know about copywriting—or marketing, for that matter.

Plus, one book won’t do the job, no matter how in-depth it is. The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert copywriter to be successful in marketing your business, but understanding how to structure a message will help you in all areas of your marketing, whether it is addressing a group of referral sources or creating a brochure. But it is vital to the success of any direct advertising you do.

Three Vital Components of Creating Phenomenal Marketing Copy

1. A Phenomenal Headline

Your headline is the first thing someone sees or hears in your ad. It would be the main heading in a print ad, or the first words spoken in an audio message. In a video or TV ad, it could be either or both. It has been said that the headline constitutes 80 percent of your ad’s effectiveness. After all, if it doesn’t even get noticed, what’s it really worth?

Here are some tips to create a dynamic headline:

• The headline should draw your readers in. The headline should get their attention so they will be intrigued to read more. Some have called the headline “the ad for the ad.”

• The headline should say as much as possible. In other words, the headline should give as much information as possible about the message that follows. Obviously you are limited, but keep crafting the headline until it says the precise thing that you want readers to know as if that’s all you could tell them. Long headlines are a good way to accomplish this.

• Mention benefits. Readers are interested in what you can do for them. What is the benefit to them? Write what the service does, rather than what it is. Put benefits in your headline.

• Get emotional. Use emotionally charged words rather than technical- or feature-based words. See the following list of the thirteen most powerful words in advertising.

• Target only your audience. The more you can prequalify your prospects in advertising, the fewer unqualified calls you will generate. Use copy that will appeal to your target market only.

• Don’t use tired clichés. Don’t use worn-out, meaningless phrases. Clichés don’t work, and they don’t really mean anything significant.

Headline samples:

• Avoid Uneducated, Uninformed, and Sometimes Downright Unscrupulous <Insert Your Industry Type>!

• Avoid Uneducated, Uninformed, and Sometimes Downright Unscrupulous <Insert Your Industry Type>! Instead, Get the Most Outstanding Service Experience Ever!

• Avoid Uneducated, Uninformed, and Sometimes Downright Unscrupulous <Insert Your Industry Type>!

• How To Select A Professional <Insert Your Indus- try Type>

• Don’t choose a <Insert Your Industry Type> until you read this important information…

• 5 Reasons You’ll Love Our Service

• 7 Reasons to Call (Company Name) Before

  Calling Any Other Company

• 3 Reasons…

• 5 Reasons…

• 7 Reasons…

• 10 Reasons…

• 5 Ways to…

• How to Protect Yourself Against…

• Top 10 Reasons to… (do whatever you do) Now!

  2. Phenomenal Body Copy

  Your body copy is the core message that makes your case. Here are some principles for creating this part of your message:

• Engage the audience. Remember who you are speaking to (suspect, prospect, or customer/client), and make your content relevant and specific to them. If it’s a live audience, get them to answer questions, raise their hands, stand up, or do something that engages them. In an ad, use personal, everyday conversation. Possibly the most powerful word you can use in advertising is “you.” And if you can merge their actual name, it’s even better! This is why you see marketers use your name in the subject line of an e-mail.

• Get emotional. Customers always buy on emotion. They justify with logic. Emotion motivates, not information. Their response is based on how they feel. Charge the copy with emotion, not just dry information.

• Benefits. Be sure to communicate in terms of what your product or service does for them, not just what it is. What are the benefits to them?

• Lots of content is okay. You may have learned or assumed that it is not good to put too much information in an ad. In advertising, the more you tell, the more you sell (it’s just the opposite in sales). Those who are interested in what you are offering want more information. And you don’t want to leave something out that may motivate them to act. Remember, we aren’t talking about face-to- face here. When face-to-face, you want to limit the amount of information you give and ask questions.

• Build the experience. Much of the copywriting you may do will be for newsletters, articles, and things of that nature. You have the opportunity to build on your UEPTM (Unique Experience PropositionTM).

• Use testimonials and endorsements. Real words from real clients and endorsements from highly influential people is some of the best copy you can use. I work with the Ziglar, Inc. which is the most trusted name in the training industry. I have a video of myself with Dr. John C. Maxwell, the world’s number one leadership expert. In the video, he validates me as a leader. These are both examples that build credibility.

• Use the Thirteen Most Powerful Words in Advertising. The following words are said to be the most effective words in advertising. It’s easy to see why.

1. Discover (This word is experiential in nature.)

2. Easy (Everyone wants easy today.)

3. Guarantee (No one wants to be stuck with

   something they’re unhappy with.)

4. Health (Everyone wants to be healthy.)

5. Love (There’s an emotional word for you.)

6. Money (This is important to everyone.)

7. New (You see this one used by Madison Avenue constantly!)

8. Proven (This word demonstrates they aren’t going to be the guinea pig!)

9. Results (This creates social proof, which is very important.)

10. Safety (What’s the opposite of safe? Danger!)

11. Save (Everyone is interested in saving time, money, or energy.)

12. You (This is the most powerful word in advertising, according to my good friend and marketing consultant David Frey.)

13. FREE (People say there’s no free lunch, but watch them line up for free stuff!)

■ Create a sense of urgency. To motivate your audience to action, you must create a sense of urgency. This may be through using an expiration date for an offer, a limited supply, or simply the loss factor that occurs by not taking action.

■ For example, if you want to start saving money now, “get this product before the offer expires on…” In this simple example, the benefit is saving money (and depending on how much space you have in your advertising piece, you want to go deeper with the benefits of saving money). The sense of urgency comes in when you realize you are paying too much now. When? Now. And of course you must act before the expiration date. There are many ways to create a sense of urgency. I recommend that you understand how to do that in your message.

3. A Phenomenal Call to Action

Many sales messages and presentations fall short because there is no call to action. What do you want them to do? Call a phone number? Fill out a form? Make a specific change in their lives? Make sure you tell them exactly what to do and how to do it. Example: Go to this website right now and get your FREE CD!