Advertising and Marketing

Printed material is just as important today as it was before the Internet. With sp*a*m getting out of hand, it’s a wise choice to rev up, update or create printed material, ads, catalogs, direct mail, press releases, letters, templates and the like.

You will notice that I didn’t add brochures to this list. Brochures are not a good investment for a first piece. When someone asks for a brochure and you don’t have one, this doesn’t mean you ignore their request. Worse scenario, you may run wildly around using up a large portion of your year’s marketing budget completing one.

If you move or update your materials frequently, it isn’t wise to spend thousands of dollars on new material. Here are a few alternatives. You can use a professionally created folding business card as a main document. Another option to expensive letterhead is to print your own in a two-pass process. Use a color printer in the first pass for your logo and use a black and white pass through for the content. Use Kinko’s if you don’t have a color printer (http://www.kinkos.com). At Kinko’s you can send them a file via Internet, have them print the color portion on high quality paper.

Mailing out a marketing piece weeks after your first contact is too late. When opportunity knocks, be ready. Timing is everything. If you don’t, the extra time allows them to solve the issue on their own, or change its priority.

It is always preferable to have a serious phone discussion even before an in-person meeting. If they don’t show up for the call, it is easier to recoup your time, and it indicates they aren’t ready to buy. All you need to do is follow-up lightly to remind them to contact you when the time is right. Send them a newsletter, template letter, or flyer and not expensive material. People generally toss items they receive on the first punch. Save the best for a time when the punch is more effective. Multi-follow-ups show them that you aren’t a fly-by-night going-to-fad-in-the- next-few-months provider.

Giving too much information early in the marketing process overwhelms customers and jeopardizes the sale. It makes them nervous about you. This is, of course, if you are selling services or products worth more than whatever your market considers discretionary.

Instead, create a call to action to get them to visit your web site periodically, send them an “I’m still here for you when you are ready” note, or a printed copy of your latest newsletter or ezine.

Selling a product? Send an oversized post card or direct mail piece. The direct mail piece needs to use an “I’m- following-up” language and not a “you-never-met-us-yet” dialogue.

Have template letters, Word or Act, ready to go with a few clicks. Design them so the first or second paragraphs are easy to add a personalized follow-up dialogue.

When you drive along the same route and one day you spot something that seems new, only later discover it’s been there all along you are pleasantly surprised. For even when we seem fully awake, many things pass our radar. .

In marketing, it is the same experience. We don’t see something that’s been there until something happens and wakes us up. The seven-times rule, a proven marketing principle, is the “you have demonstrated credibility” and “I now see you” model. The seven-time rule applies whether the main marketing draw is a web site, networking, direct mail, or a combination. People who don’t like to sell stop after the first or second punch.

Printed materials do indicate credibility and quality counts in most cases. If you post your brochures at your State’s visitor’s center, you will see that they stand next to many similar ones. What stands out are the one-half page black and white flyers or the like. In this situation, the plain black and whites get the attention of many. It is important to know how, when, and where your materials are going to be viewed and be represented.

For mailings, this doesn’t mean send the best stuff first and let it do the sale for you. No, no, no. Printed material seldom makes the sale. It’s just another contact point. First punches are either tossed or buried in some stack.

If your price is under $100, send them to your web site. Over, send them material for added credibility. This also depends on the target market value of your price. If your market considers $500 a drop in the bucket then credibility perception changes.

Interview past purchasers. Find out when did they first take notice and how many before they took action. Was it when they received a certain number of contacts? Always. When did the need make it a priority. Create a list of the triggers and look for those signs in future contacts. Model your follow-up program accordingly.

In several studies, 92% of the purchase makers cited that letterhead, envelopes and business cards where the major factors in how they rated creditability.

Credibility can be lost if your material includes careless mistakes or omits vital information. In the buyer’s perspective, all the answers need to lead on how they can feel confident about your service or product and how it solves their need.

One of my services is printed material and web site analysis. After reviewing 294 brochures, I found 81.5% of the information dancing around solutions instead of commitment to direct and clear solutions. Non-commitment is the biggest sales destroyers. Don’t send them material about X when they inquired about Y. If it doesn’t answer Y, it’s tossed. And you have 30 seconds to 3 minutes to complete their question. Long sales letters demonstrate commitment in receiver’s minds because of the thought and care it took to create and address their challenge.

Also, don’t send Y, with the “I think we need to offer this because we’ve received a few inquires lately even if it’s off our path” feeling. If you are unable to fit in the time to write a letter explaining how and why you can provide Y, then pass it up. This may be a “good” opportunity but not be the “great” opportunity you truly want to attract.

If, on the other hand, their issue isn’t clearly understood or known, then you’re asking the horse to jump the fence without knowing how height. It’s a wasted effort and you can lame the horse. Don’t mail it with an “if it works, okay, if it doesn’t oh well” energy. This gives the impression that you weren’t listening. A big strike against you. Usually one too big to overcome.

For service businesses, it is best to complete your first contact verbally and follow-up with printed material once or twice, then verbally, then twice, etc. Give prospects the 1-2-3 punches if you have the answer. Be honest if you don’t provide what they are seeking. Don’t adjust and accommodate because sales are down for the month. This is a disservice to your customer and your business. This will diminish assets later. Share the wealth; earn a life-long customer, and new collaborator with your referral.

Catherine Franz is a Marketing & Writing Coach, niches, product development, Internet marketing, nonfiction writing and training. Additional Articles: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Tags: Catherine Franz, direct mail, Marketing, publishing printed material

©2004 Jeffrey Dobkin

Sixty dollars doesn’t go a long way in buying advertising space. But if
you spend it creatively, you can get over ten times that value in
newspaper or magazine lineage. And it’s easy if you know how. Here’s
how.

You’re familiar with press releases, right? A press release is a single
page of information about your product or service that is sent to a
magazine or a newspaper. If selected to be published, it’s printed as a
short story and appears as if the magazine or newspaper wrote it. There
is no charge for having your press release published by a magazine or
newspaper.

So stick around – find out how you can have your press release
published (and your chances are pretty good) even if you can’t write
worth a hockey puck.

There are certain criteria for having your press release published, no
matter who writes it. First, it can’t sound like an ad for your product or
service. Nope, no adjectives. If it sounds like an ad, it’ll be tossed out.
While most editors will make minor corrections so a press release will fit
their editorial style, few to none will rewrite your release just to get it in.
Editors get their choice of press releases every day, and the ones that
catch their eye for publishing are the ones closest to their exact needs –
requiring the least amount of editing and rewriting. Most editors know a
good thing when they see it.

Second, your press release must conform to the standard layout style of
press releases. This tells the editor that you know what you’re doing in
media relations and shows your everyday business practices follow suit.
So when your release is published, editors will be comfortable with the
knowledge their readers will get good literature and – if they order – a
good product. They can assume their readers will deal with a
professional company on a professional level. If your press release
lands on their desk with lots of typos and misspellings, it’ll land in the
trash next.

Correct layout style means a big header stating “Press Release” at the
top, followed by a contact name and phone number so editors can call
for more information. Next it needs a kill date after which the press
release shouldn’t run. If there is no kill date, state “No kill date” so it
doesn’t look like you forgot it. Also, don’t forget to include a 5″ x 7″
black-and-white photo for increased interest, better readership, and
more credibility.

The headline of your release is centered and in bold. Write your
headline with care; it’s this line that will make or break your release. If
it’s a great headline, people will read it and the rest of the release. If
it’s a poor headline, people will read it – and the other articles in the
magazine. It’s your choice. My recommendation? The Jeff Dobkin 100
to 1 rule: Write 100 headlines, then go back and pick your very best one.

The body of the release follows. Double space, allowing an editor to
easily make corrections between the lines. Leave room around the
margins, too. Make it look easy to read, even if it isn’t. Use short,
descriptive sentences without fluff or excess verbiage. Use a pyramid
style of writing – the most important parts in the first paragraph or two –
because editors know to cut from the bottom.

Terse, concise writing just like a reporter from a newspaper would write
works best. Holy smokes! Did I just say “just like a reporter from a
newspaper would write”? What an idea!

How’s this: suppose you aren’t a strong writer, or you’re too busy with
other activities to write your own release. What do you do? Call the
local newspaper and ask to speak with a reporter. Now, I don’t know
about your area, but newspaper reporters here in Philadelphia don’t
usually make all the money they’d like. When you get a reporter on the
phone, ask if they know of any reporters who’d like an additional easy
writing assignment and would consider writing a press release – for pay.
Chances are better than good that the same reporter you’re speaking
with will go for the chance at easy money. If not, they’ll recommend an
associate on staff.

Go over your product information with the reporter, and add enough of a
benefit summary so they can write a quality release. Ask them to
recommend several different angles and what they think their very best
pitch would be. Then ask what their hourly rate is (usually about $20/
hour). Your release should take about two to three hours of writing time,
if that – and should cost around $60.

Now for the best part. Your reporter can submit your release to the
editor for you. Think about it. The paper’s own reporter writes a press
release – in the newspaper’s exact style of writing – and then hands it to
the editor with his own personal recommendation. Nice package.

So without writing a stitch, you get the release written then handed over
to the editor on a silver platter by a trusted staff member. Your chances
of getting it published are you guessed it. When it’s printed, you just
received $1,000 worth of advertising for $60. As promised.

###

Jeffrey Dobkin, www.dobkin.com author of the incredible 400-page marketing book, How To Market A Product for Under $500 ($29.95), He
is also a speaker, and a direct mail copywriter. To order books or speak
with Mr. Dobkin personally call 610/642-1000. Fax 610/642-6832.
Satisfaction Always Guaranteed.

Tags: Direct Marketing, Free Press, Marketing, PR

Search Engine Marketing is very important if you want your online business to succeed. It is all about good quality high value (unique is best) content, it is what the search engines want, as it is what the searchers are looking for. This is just a quick list from the top of my head but is enough to keep you busy.

Articles: this is the most powerful way for 2006 and beyond to generate good quality one-way in bound links. Submit them to article directories and submission services, do a search on your favourite search engine for article submission services or article directories to find relevant ones for your industry. Note it is a good idea to use relevant keywords and phrases in your articles but only if they make sense.

Press Releases: another sure fire way to generate quality links from authority sites. Press releases are much more powerful that advertising as they are objective. Again if you are not familiar with writing press releases do a search in your favourite search engine for information on how to write a good press release, for example type in ‘tips for writing a good press release’. Then do a search for good press release submission services PRWeb.com is a very popular service

Add regular fresh content to the site: Your search engine marketing will only succeed if you do this – you could reuse the articles used for submissions etc But this would probably not be the best method. Although a good idea would be to write a series of articles, use a few of them or a shortened version or an abstract (still with good quality unique content of course) for submission to the directories. Make sure you tell the readers that further articles and information can be found on your website, enticing them to visit your site to read the rest of the articles.

Make a point to add fresh content to your site on a regular basis. For example if you are in the Overseas property industry you should add new properties, buyers guides, area guides, country guides, case studies, customer testimonials, resources (i.e. weather, travel info, car hire etc these can be affiliate links to generate additional streams of income).

Set yourself up a Blog and make regular posts to ping the search engines every time you add fresh content to your site, this will alert the search engine spiders, who will come crawling to review and index your new pages. Again if you don’t know much about Blogs, use your favourite search engine to find out how to set one up. Wordpress.com is a popular service.

Joint ventures: i.e. you email your database in return for an email to another company’s database. You know your industry; you should know who to tap up for a joint venture. Don’t simply view similar websites as competitors, this is short sighted; instead view them as opportunities and colleagues. You can swap links, exchange content (publish each other articles), email each others databases etc use your imagination, get creative, there is enough traffic for most websites to succeed. As long as your website adds value and offers good quality unique content you will succeed.

Hooks: you can offer your visitors something of value in return for them signing up to your newsletter. For example, again if you are an overseas property company Free Brochures, Buyers guide, legal or tax information

Competitions: use incentive based viral marketing i.e. enter your site visitors into a competition for every friend or colleague they tell about your site or who they get to register for your mailing list.

Optimise your web pages and articles: as this article is talking about using fresh content for your search engine marketing strategy I thought it best show you how to create an optimised page, for those of you that don’t know how.

In my experience I have found that it is important to optimise each webpage for a maximum of two phrases only.

Title

Title = phrase one | phrase two

Meta keywords

Also try to keep your Meta keywords limited to a few, use the same two phrases first as in your title although you can bulk it out with another phrase, like so;

Meta Keywords: phrase one, phrase two, phrase three

Meta Description

The Meta description must also start with your keywords but be descriptive at the same time, like so;

Meta Description: Phrase one, information for about phrase two from your company / website name

Alt tags

First 3 images on the page should contain the phrases but also describe the picture/image, like so;

Alt 1: phrase one company name logo
Alt 2: phrase two picture
Alt3: phrase one photos

Headers

It is also very important to have header tags with the keyphrase in, like so;

Start the page copy with a header tag

< H >Phrase one< /H >

Copy

The first 50 words must also contain the two phrases.

Copy

Then use another header with a phrase

phrase two

copy

< h >phrase one< h >

etc

It is recommended to have between 500 – 1300 words on the page with a keyphrase weight of 2 – 5%

The key phrases should be strategically placed in an hour glass shape in the copy, i.e. a few at the top a couple in the middle and a few at the bottom.

But don’t over do it, make the copy read naturally with all the words in context.

It is also recommended to have the keyphrases in bold and italic somewhere on the page as this tells the search engines that they are important, I usually put them in the footer like so.

Phrase one | phrase two

Links

Last but not least it is recommended to have your key phases in hyper links i.e. linking text

For example you can have anchor links to the different header tags on the page for navigation or run of site link at the bottom of the page that contain the keyphrases of the page they are linking to.

And there you have it, a quick guide on how to optimise a webpage.

Use these web page optimisation techniques for all pages, articles, and fresh content you add to your site and you can’t go wrong, you are giving the search engines what they want, easy to understand content rich pages, regularly updated.

In return the search engines will give you what you want good-targeted traffic that will convert into enquiries.

Follow this search engine marketing guide, build solid content and good links and your search engine marketing campaign should be a success. if you liked this article and want to learn more visit loudmouse.biz

Luke Fitzsimmons has been working online for 5 years and is a search engine marketing and optimisation professional. Luke currently runs the Overseas Property Webshow http://www.overseaspropertywebshow.com and looks after the internet marketing campaigns of the webshow client’s micro sites, including SEM, SEO, PPC, and email marketing. Luke’s personal site is a Search Engine Marketing Guide http://www.loudmouse.biz

Tags: internet marketing, Search Engine Marketing, search engine optimisation, sem, seo