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Hi-tech (email, social media, websites) versus the Postcard?

Now that we have an offer that nobody can resist (the message), the next problem is how to deliver the message in a manner that will ensure that it is read by the right person? How to tell them “what’s in it for them” – try a relatively inexpensive method of simply sending a postcard through the mail.

In the right circumstances, the simple postcard can be more effective than email and much more than with other forms of direct mail.

Consider this: a very major problem is to ensure that the person you are sending this to actually receives your offer. Today’s emails are riddled with spam, if it is from an unknown person or organization – you delete or open such email?

If normal mail, same problem, often it comes from an unknown source, or it looks like advertising mail or either it is not opened and just thrown away or the receptionist and/or secretary opens your mail – and listens to her boss’s instructions and throws the advertising leaflets in the rubbish bin – and the boss never has a chance to see it.

So why are postcards any different? A postcard does not need to be opened; it can be seen immediately, by anyone in the vicinity; it should have an eye-catching photo on one side and a very simple, but powerful offer on both sides that can be seen in an instant.

The offer must have a deadline (to encourage action) a contact name phone/email and if necessary, an email address with a direct link to the page explaining the offer in more details, if required.

Furthermore, you should remember that postcards are “volume” game and if you get a 2 percent response rate – that’s great! You also should never judge a campaign on the basis of a one shot mailing send the same ‘postcard’ 3- 4 times, then decided on your next move.

Consider using ‘postcard’ marketing under the following 3 conditions:

1. When you are selling low cost products looking for cheap leads

2. When you are looking for a first class direct mail which will arrive to your prospect customer in a day or two. The bounced mail will be returned to you so that you can keep update your in-house list.

3. When your offer has a very short deadline.

4. When it is least expected – relevant to the type of product or service you are selling and or the actual offer.

Create your postcard as simply as possible. Postcards are for short messages and lead generation. Don’t try to explain everything in such a limited space. It’s impossible to close the sale in a two-sided postcard. Simple, bold headlines, short and clear message with a given deadline definitely work well.

A postcard is a low cost sales tool and can be maximized by personalization. Address your individual client, send them a birthday wish and offer, or even give offer according to their interest and economic situation.

If you are struggling to get something read by your prospect customers, try out your postcard marketing and you’ll find it incredibly effective.

As always, I welcome your comments and am available for further discussion on making your business grow - http://www.asiamarketing.biz/

ferdi@asiamarketing.biz

How to structure an offer too good to refuse?

This week we will talk about the content of your advertisement. Apart from your headline, what will make people respond to your advertisement and why should they buy from you? One important ingredient is to make your customer a great offer. An offer that’s too good to refuse. How do you think of an offer that’s too good to refuse?

Think like you customer, put yourself in their position and ask yourself (as the potential customer) the following questions:

1. What’s in it for me?
A common mistake made by most advertisers is that they spend a lot of time telling their customers how wonderful their product is. If you were a customer, what would you want to know? How about: “What’s in it for me”? If I was a potential customer I would want to know what you can offer me that’s good for me. So when you focus on the customer and think like them, answer “what’s in it for me” point of view from their side and make that the focal point of your offer.

2. Where is the value in your offer?
Everyone is looking for a good price, but you do not need to be the cheapest in price. The price of your offer should be structured to reflect value – not just another discount. Think about repeat sales, i.e. maintain the original price, but add a free item for every three (3) you sell at the same time; or think about adding a premium item to your offer, normally premiums or sample sizes are given by the producer, manufacturer at no cost to you, the retailer. Both ways let you retain your original pricing while at the same time creating real value for your offer.

3. What is your reason for making this offer, is it believable?
We have all seen closing down “sales” that never seem to end. In Hong Kong there are “closing down” sales for Middle Eastern rugs, that have been closing down for the past 10-15 years along Hollywood Road. Does anyone believe them, I don’t think so.
Make sure your offer has a reason for being. People are not stupid and just as they want a good story to why your product or service is better then anyone else’s – they also want a good story as to why you are making an offer at all. And the better the offer, the better the reason for making the offer in the first place should be. Customers want to hear why you are making the offer for them. Once they believe in your story, they will respond and buy from you.

4. Do I really need what you are offering?
Even if you have a great product/service, you have a great headline, you’ve gathered your testimonials and you think you have a great story – there is still have one big hurdle to overcome. I don’t need your product/service, maybe it’s the wrong time, it’s a non-essential product, I’ve just bought one. I don’t know you and your product/service. Why should I consider your offer?

As the advertiser you not only need to have all the right ingredients we have mentioned, you also need to find a way to take the risks out of your offer. If your potential customer can see he has nothing to lose by trying your offer, no financial loss – then the chances of a sale will increase dramatically.
We call it “risk reversal”. Take the risk out of your offer by offering guarantees, full refunds, goods exchange.. it has to be seen as having nothing to lose! Some shortsighted business owners may be unwilling to take the risk – but if they don’t, why should the customer?

Will some people try to take advantage to their own benefit? No doubt. But think of it this way, if you gain an additional 10% business increase by taking the risk factor out of your business, what does it matter if it costs you an extra 1% to do so? And that doesn’t even count for repeat business that will come out of it.

So for your next campaign, look at what type of offer your can create and ask yourself the above 4 questions – and create an offer your customer will not be able to refuse, at no risk to him/her.

As always, I welcome your comments and am available for further discussion on making your business grow - http://www.asiamarketing.biz/

ferdi@asiamarketing.biz

Benefit from proven centuries old advertising strategy that still works today!

These past weeks I have been talking about advertising as I found that many business owners, marketers, have found their advertising campaigns do not work and have blamed the media, channel or platform they used. In reality I think if your advertising is not working – you should look to yourself above all else,

To try and help, this week I am going to talk about a very basic, but more effective way of advertising, that has worked over the centuries – word of mouth promotion of a business.

Using today’s technology, from email marketing to ever-growing social media you can really leverage the use of ‘testimonials’ for just about any advertising purposes, either as the main message or in support of another offer.

A ‘testimonial’ is a comment/statement, not from a friend, but from an actual user of your product or service. How do you get a ‘testimonial’ - you have to ask. That seems to be part of the problem as many people find it embarrassing to ask.

The best time to ask for a ‘testimonial’ is at the time your customer has actually purchased something from you. If they are happy with their purchase and everything is working well, they will not mind.

Present them with a written form that they can fill in easily at the point of purchase or alternatively, to demonstrate your ‘after sales service’ and your good intentions. Wait two weeks and sent every customer who has purchased something from you two weeks prior – a short note stating that you hope they are happy and satisfied with their purchase and ask them to complete a pre-written testimonial form, sort of like a multiple choice questionnaire. Even better, offer a small gift, premium item or a discount off their next purchase from you.

What your customers say about you and your products will create instant credibility and trust much more than just an advertisement in your local newspaper. Don’t be afraid of using multiple ‘testimonials’ - and how you use them is limited only by your imagination, For example, one very clever way of using them is by recording them and then integrating them into your phone call holding system. So when people call you and are put on hold, they will hear your testimonials .. but make sure they are not too long and that you have a number of them – not do keep repeating same one all the time.

Consider creative ways to increase trust and make a better connection with your target audience. Build your testimonial pool and grow your business through word-of-mouth promotions that create instant credibility.

As always, I welcome your comments and am available for further discussion on making your business grow - http://www.asiamarketing.biz/

ferdi@asiamarketing.biz

Advertising is all about telling your story

Last week we talked about how to make your headline work better for you, this week let’s look at some of the basics of making an advertisement – how to tell a story to that your client believes in and that will persuade him sufficiently to buy your product/service.

Advertising is all about telling a story, your story. However, many stories are written badly or told so poorly that the marketing message is hidden or even absent. You have to be able to tell the story in a way that connects with the people.

Think of some basic questions you customers might ask and answer them. Customers want to hear why you are giving the offer to them – everybody knows there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ J.

Answer the question: “what’s in it for me?”.

Once they believe in your story, they will respond and buy from you.

We always heard of terms like “multimedia” or “transmedia”, and how the media is continually increasing and fast changing. To maximize the usage of this changeable media age, we need to make the story deep and wide. It has to work across multiple channels, networks and platforms.

Which means that at the same time, your story has to have depth and emotion, to resonate with your customers and compel them to act in the way you want.

For example, the visa card world currency TV commercial is making big use of social media such as YouTube. They use the idea of the video clip and the guy who is popular, with the result that they have attracted over 60,000 viewers on YouTube. So when it appears on TV, there is already a connection and an instant reminder of the story.

Another example is the “Expedition 206” campaign of Coca-Cola. Three young people are sent to 206 countries where coke products can be found. You can check their journey update on their website, facebook, flickr, YouTube and twitter. On twitter, fans can give ideas on how the journey should progress. A great example how to use integrated media to tell your story – as long as it is a good story!

If you can manage to tell your story, then move to next level and build your own environment, not just a story. Think about what kind of world you can build around your brand story. For example, a brand of male skin products could create a website or forum, encouraging male talk about experience of giving thoughtless gift choices for the women in their lives, forget special anniversary date etc. This creates a men’s world, also known as bonding – bonding discusses common problems and solutions i.e. your products.

You have a story and so does everyone else. But that’s not enough to make you successful. Aim for more active participation from your audience, they need to feel they are part of the ‘story’. If they remain passive there is no reason for them to act.

Tell a good story and they will participate and react to your communication in a wide range of forms, making it not just “your story” anymore – but an accepted fact.

As always, I welcome your comments and am available for further discussion on making your business grow - http://www.asiamarketing.biz/

ferdi@asiamarketing.biz

How to guarantee the effectiveness of your Advertising

I’ve often hear people talking about how ads are not working, no matter they use newspapers, or magazines, radio or TV. It might be sales letters or even google or yahoo ads.

The truth is: they can all work. Depending on whether you have chosen the right media for your focused, target audience; some of them may work better than others but for the majority you have only yourself to blame of they don’t work. Those who blame the media for the lack of results need to look at the structure and content of their advertisement before assessing the effectiveness of their advertising.

The biggest mistake in creating an advertisement, which almost every one of you make, sometimes repeatedly, is in the headline. The ‘Headline’ is an essential part of any advertisement. When you create a headline you need to think about how it can attract your reader’s attention, why they should read the rest of it and what makes them respond your advertisement.

You can see dozen of worthless headline like “Crazy Sale”, “Season Clearance”, when you walk down the street. Instead of such a headline, think of how to create more curiosity, a promise learning something they don’t know. For example, “Discover the hotel (do not include the name) that other hotels do not want you to know about.” This will create fun and curiosity and get the prospect to read the rest of the advertisement and combined with a good offer, persuade them to take positive action, at the time they are reading the advertisement.

I’ll talk about your “offer” another time, but for now take some time to really think about your headline – how can you make it work better for you? One tip I can give you is to look at your product, then look for answers to the questions: how, why, what, when, where and most importantly (learn to think like the buyer) what’s in it for me?

Somewhere, in the answer to all of those questions, is a great headline! And it’s up to you to find it.

Death and its relevance to Marketing

This week’s blog was about to become another blog on strategic marketing, advice on how to improve your business, improve your bottom line etc., but one of my morning emails changed all that.

It was from a good friend of mine – Dr Christine Ridal - to advise that a mutual aquaintance had died – and in her memory she wrote this article below. Apart from any connotations of reincarnation, the other facts in this story have all been scientifically proven. Think about it.

How does it relate to a blog on strategic marketing? One of the basics and oft repeated idioms is that when looking to attract new customers you should look at what benefits, you, your products/services can bring to that person? What’s in it for him/her?

In reading Dr Christine Ridal’s story you will come to realize that “meaningful objectives” do work better for you in every way – and any monetary rewards become an automatic consequence of working towards “meaningful objectives”. Try it and see the results for yourself.

"Death isn’t a subject we often think or talk about. However, death is an integral part of life. All organisms have parts that are evolving and renewing, and parts that are dying and decaying simultaneously; we are living and dying at the same time. You may be feeling perfectly healthy as you read this article, but millions of cells in your body are dying right now. Your body is made up of cells, and cells are made up of atoms, which in turn are made up of electrons, protons and neutrons. These subatomic particles, moving about at amazing speed, are zooming in and out of existence.

Simultaneously, these atoms or molecules vibrate, dance and reconfigure continuously. The same goes for our cells that break down incessantly, only to regenerate: 98% of atoms in your body are replaced annually. The stomach lining partly packs up whenever we eat food and rebuilds itself about every five days; the skin, nails and hair cells are dying all the time and are made afresh every month. These individual cells die and renew frequently so the whole (your body) can live on. Similarly, we are a part of a bigger whole (the universe), and we die and renew to keep the bigger whole alive.

The universe is totally fluid and there is no fixed solidity anywhere. Everything and every organism is constantly transforming. When you eat an apple, its essence doesn’t disappear, its nutritious elements just get transformed into energy inside your body.

An adult was once a child, and the child once a fertilized egg. Through all these forms, of an egg, child and adult, the only constant is the underlying consciousness. All external appearances are impermanent. The only thing eternal is the formless consciousness that manifests in different forms from time to time.

We tend to strongly identify with our physical form – our body, mind and senses. We fail to recognize that the physical form is not solid matter, even though it appears so. It is essentially made up of fluid energy – the same energy that runs the universe. This energy (or consciousness) is unborn and undying and irrespective of whether we are dead or alive in human form, we remain this consciousness.

While we may die in the physical plane, our essence or consciousness never dies. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience. As we become familiar with this thought, it gives us a perspective on the purpose of our existence. As we see the ephemeral nature of all our sensual experiences, we start to become less identified with our physical self. We realize the illusionary nature of our pursuits for titles, power, money and external objects.

The purpose of reflecting on death is not to fear it, but to live in the awareness of the fragility of our existence. Reflecting on death guides us towards focusing on how we want to dedicate our lives towards more meaningful objectives. Only when we begin to know about death do we actually start living and can appreciate life’s beauty.

Often this wisdom about death only dawns on us as we approach death through old age or illness. We realize the impermanence of our egotistic pursuits and acquisitions. As death draws near the attachment to possessions and form begins to fade. That’s when people become more compassionate and focused on serving others. If only we could start to live this way when we are young and healthy, then we could create a meaningful life for ourselves.

If you had just 24 hours to live what would you do? "