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Make Your Marketing Pop!

There are 5 major components to good advertising copy: (The order of these is essential
to success)

• Command Attention
• Showcase Benefits of Products/Services
• Prove the Benefits
• Persuade People to Embrace the Benefits
• Call to Action

Advertising is sales in print. So, you need to think about the unique benefits your
products/services offer and showcase that in a persuasive way. You need to emphasize
results, not features.

Let’s take a minute to talk about each of these components:

1. Command Attention: This is usually accomplished with the headline. You need
   an attention-getter that makes people want to know more about your
   products/services. The best headlines give a vivid portrayal of the benefits or
   show how a problem can be avoided with your products/services. The headline
   is the advertisement for the advertisement.
2. Showcase Benefits: You have to showcase the benefits of your products and
   services and, more importantly, show how they will solve or prevent a problem.
   They need to know what’s in it for them. Include useful, factual and clear
   information to show precisely what the benefits are and how they are going to
   help the customer.
3. Offer Proof: This is where you prove what the advertisement is offering. You
   need to establish you have a method to deliver. Consider information that
   establishes credibility and past performance.
4. Persuade: You need to add compelling reasons for your potential customers to
   purchase your products/services. Use a hard sell approach and create scarcity.
   This will enact your potential customers to feel like they have to act now. Which
   leads into the last component.
5. Call to Action: You need to compel your potential customers to DO something.
   They need to check out your site, sign up for your newsletter, purchase your
   products, contact you about services…something. Offer a freebie-a booklet,
   sample, product, bonus, demo, consult, limited time price…the list goes on.
   There are lots of ways to get potential customers excited about ordering and
   help them feel like they are getting an amazing deal.

Good advertisements include all of these components and are not complete without
any of them. You can sit down and think through any one of these components, then
figure out how to best place them together for the most effectiveness. We can help you
with this too. Try our GUIDED TOUR to learn how to put together great advertisements
from some of the best in the business.

Lessons I Learned from Paris Hilton

Today we’ll talk about shameless self-promotion. That’s right, I said it! Shameless! After all, we are learning from Paris Hilton here.

It’s all about self-promotion! Self-promotion comes in many forms and you can use different tactics to get your name out there. Look at politicians! Talk about self-promotion and in some not so discreet ways, at that. But, seriously, consider some of the major superstars we all know. Madonna, Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Bill Clinton, just to name a few.

We all self promote. Did you raise your hand in class to show the teacher you knew the answer? Of course! That’s self-promotion. This is the kind of self-promotion we are talking about. With dignity, class and the knowledge to back it up. If you self-promote only to prove you don’t really know what you’re talking about, you’re going to lose business.

Natural self-promoters are the former and I want to tell you about the three major traits they have and use to build themselves and their businesses.

1. The first is position. You need to position yourself around people who can make a difference in your life. You need to do this frequently. You need to wake up every morning and ask yourself “Who can I meet today who will make a difference in my success?” In fact, go a step further, write it in big, bold letters and tape it on your bathroom mirror.

Also consider:

Who can help me meet my goals?

Is it a prospective customer/client? A colleague with contacts? An association with key members who may become prospects?

Don’t settle into interacting with the people who are the easiest to access. You need to reach outside your comfort zone and there you will find a wealth of new connections that will bring you great success.

2. Now, let’s talk about Style. No, this doesn’t mean you need an Armani suit to bring in more business (though, let’s be honest-it wouldn’t hurt) J What this really means is how are you different from your competitors and others in your industry. What makes you memorable with customers?

If you are meeting a lot of people and they don’t remember you once you leave the room, you have a serious problem! This means you have an opportunity to present yourself in a more memorable way.

There are lots of little subtle changes you can make. Reassess your:

• Business cards
• Company message
• Your picture
• Your wording

Maybe even, your hairstyle (of course, now we’re back to the expensive suit, but it really works!)

You get the idea. There are lots of little ways you can work on making your image and business more successful. Also, consider how you sound on the phone and how you greet people at meetings or other events. Think about your 30-sec elevator speech.

3. The third trait of natural promoters is repetition. You can’t say it once and leave it at that. Successful self-promoters say it as many times as they need until they get a response. Would you remember a commercial for Coca-Cola if you only saw it once, no! You see it over and over and eventually you head out to the store.

You, also, have to make multiple impressions on those you are networking with in order to build brand awareness. Repetition is in direct connection with positioning. Once you find people to network with, reach out and find hundreds more who can help in your success as well.