Dec 06

Do ads fail because of the wrong medium, product, price or timing? One of the above … all of the above or … none of the above…?

Our greatest gift is our attention and our greatest commodity is our time; we are just plain busy; we have a lot to do. What if the mass of advertisers vying for consumers’ attention times the velocity of targeted messages does nothing more than fatigue consumers in pure unmitigated overload? What if ads fail simply because they were ignored?

I like ads. I like ads in magazines, movie trailers and clearly some TV commercials are the pinnacle of creativity and wit. I like when a visually pleasing display ad is presented exactly when I was wondering about that topic. But for the most part, we are pummeled with advertisements at the speed of light, which in a vacuum is exactly 299,792,458 meters per second.

OK, I do not have a verifiable fact that 300,000,000 ads per second are targeted to consumers via pop ups, displays, banners, video, direct mail, TV, radio, texts, phones, billboards, signage etc., but doesn’t that feel about right? With the advertising industry quarterly results down significantly again in Q2 ‘09, are you ignoring less ads? As a consumer, I do not feel a dent except in direct mail (a blessing!); I am just as fatigued with advertising overload as I was in 2007. As a business owner pushing my message to my target markets, I am just as weary.

Advertisers would like massive changes as well: ‘Annoy me and detain me from my online quest’ is not the brand awareness experience advertisers’ desire for their prospects. Businesses live everyday what Harvard and Stanford recently reported: advertising extends brand awareness but does not address perceived quality.

Businesses can’t break through the noise of too many advertisers saying the same thing: years experience, great service, etc. (true or not). Reputable businesses are frustrated because they are just another card in the mail, ad in the paper, radio spot, internet search or yellow page listing. There’s no ad police, anyone can say anything and does. Newspapers seek what every business owner seeks: consistent growing revenue base, competitive advantages, happy customers who see results and repeat business.

For millions of businesses quality breaks them away from the pack allowing them to differentiate their products and services. Millions of businesses paid for advertising to generate qualified leads, not just brand awareness, and expectations were simply not met. When the economy dropped they could no longer justify the investment and so began the fallout.

Advertising is broken.

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Dec 06

Sometimes when Lawyers are searching for advertising techniques then tend to forget about or shy away from the internet.  Newspaper advertising for lawyers is a basic way to market your services to the general public in your area, but remember that when most people are searching for a lawyer they will search online first!  So it is extremely important for you as a lawyer to be sure to incorporate online marketing techniques in your advertising campaigns.  Here are some great tips to effectively promote your legal services online without falling into the trap of blatant self-promotion.

Top 4 Online Marketing Techniques for Lawyers:

1.  Remember, it’s not just about you.  It’s great to write about what you know as an expert in your field in a subtle, humble way.  Online marketing for lawyers is more about contributing helpful information than just gaining publicity.

2.  Keep it short.  When people are searching the internet, they tend to have a short attention span and really just want a quick answer to their questions.  So when marketing your legal services online, as with newspaper advertising for lawyers, you will need to get your point across quickly.  Use outlines and lists to be detailed and concise in your presentation.

3.  Update content regularly.  With advertising for lawyers online, it will be difficult to maintain a regular audience if you update your content infrequently, but you also don’t need to have multiple posts within the same day.  Instead, aim to have a regular flow of info about twice a week or so.  If you are also using social networking sites to market online, plan to do the same with those at about three posts per week.

4.  Be yourself.  When marketing online, be sure to maintain your own personality.  Be interesting, but be yourself.  The amount of information available online increases all the time, so in order to be noticed and found by the search engines, you need to have regularly updated and interesting content.  Your information should help to brand who you are as a lawyer and help to distinguish yourself and set yourself apart with your talents, abilities and legal services.

While newspaper advertising for lawyers is one way you may choose to market your legal services, you must not forget to harness the power of the world wide web as well in your marketing campaigns.  Online marketing for lawyers is hugely important for branding yourself and gaining a presence on the web, a vital necessity for anyone in any industry these days!

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Dec 06

Many do not realise it, but when it comes to the business world, you cannot achieve the goals you are looking to achieve by just word of mouth. In order to have success in your business, you will need to turn to advertising. You see, there are many advertising techniques that you can use in order to get the word out. We are a Graphic Design Agency and if we just went by word of mouth, we would not be as successful. As we write this article, we would like to share some advice with you. The advice we are giving you is advice that we personally use in order to grow our business wider, so pay close attention to what we are going to tell you.

Just because you are a business does not mean that you have to fork out money to run a television commercial. Although, running a television commercial is preferred and if you can afford it, we highly recommend it as it can catch many individuals attention. Commercials are known for being big time sellers and is a very important part of television advertising. Therefore, the most famous type of advertising is definitely done on the television.

Another important form is print advertising. By posting your ad in a newspaper, leaflet, pamphlet, magazine or visiting cards, you will definitely be spreading the information around. In our opinion, we believe that this is a must for every business that is looking to succeed out there.

Another means of advertisements would be outdoor advertising. You will find that this method is very helpful as it is effective. What are the elements of having advertisements outdoors? Well, that would consist of hoardings, banners and signs.

Another great method that we have seen many individuals doing is airport advertising. This is very important as customers have a tendency to do their shopping in airports when they are going on holiday. You should make the right investment when you are doing airport advertisements.

Another form of advertising that we just cannot leave out is done on the Internet. In fact, we believe advertisements done on the Internet is a definite must and are different from any other form of advertisements. Why? Well, when you advertise through the Internet, you will only be speaking with the group that is interested in your business (as long as you make it that way). Through Internet ads, you will be able to reach out to a wide range of people. Today, it seems that nearly everyone is surfing the Internet, so it is definitely something that you should not pass up.

There are some other methods that we have not told you about, but we made sure we covered the most important forms of advertisements.

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Dec 06

The true facts about having a career in advertising, breaking past the myths.

Myth Number One: Anyone who has a career in advertising must be unethical and it is a dishonorable career choice.

Truth: The advertising field is a well respected career choice. Sadly, there are those that will also surmise that if you are trying to sell them something than you are actually trying to deceive them in some way or another.

The truth is that advertisers must abide by a strict list of specific parameters that ensure against deception. The last thing that an advertising firm would want to do is tarnish a client’s standing by misrepresenting them or their product.

Myth Number Two: Anyone in the advertising field is rich.

Truth: It is a fact that there is a lot of money that can be made in advertising as a career, but only a few people actually earn those six figure incomes. A lot of people start at the bottom and some will even choose to intern without a salary or earning just minimum wage in order to break into the industry.

Advertising is not that different from any other career choice. You must pay your dues in order to move up in the field. How well you do in the field is strictly up to you and as with anything else, you will get out of it what you put in.

Myth Number Three: It is very difficult to break into the field of advertising:

Truth: If you are serious about getting into a career in advertising, the jobs are out there. You certainly won’t get that corner office on your fist time out, but if you are willing to work hard there are many great opportunities in the field.

Myth Number Four: A career in advertising is just another name for public relations.

Truth: While they do go hand-in-hand, they are not the same profession. You can use the skills you master in Public Relations but just because you have a career in advertising doesn’t make you a PR specialist. The focus is different for each career.

Myth Number Five: A career in advertising is fun and always glamorous.

Truth: Don’t let TV shows, like Madmen and others that glamorize the career cloud your judgment. It is not always a day at the beach. Remember, it is a job and it requires hard work. The hours are long and often require weekend work. You may work on a campaign for weeks only to have the client trash it or change their minds completely.

Myth Number Six: All of your creative ideas will be put into use:

Truth: Creativity is a wonderful thing, but it has its place. Clients often have a specific idea in mind and as a professional advertiser you must always follow the client’s wishes. Don’t get your feelings hurt if your ideas are not put into practice. In general, advertisers work as a team.

There will always be a need for advertising and with hard work, you can break into the field and have a very productive and prosperous career in advertising.

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Dec 06

“Look, mom! There’s 3 Steps To Cost Effective Internet Advertising!”

Oh brother, give me a break. While the statement above is meant to be a joke in disguise it really isn’t. My meaning is this, you go to any article on this site and other places and most of the info is basically recycled content.

Why do I say this? It could be found in forums and blogs and even other articles. Finally, if you have had enough of all this “junk” and out to seek the real meat and bones of cost effective Internet advertising then read on.

Let me show you the real proven steps to cost effective Internet advertising top marketers use. Again and again.

Step #1: Bulk Advertising (Its Not What You Think!)

Firstly, the most cost effective Internet advertising is always paid advertising. Believe me, when I mentioned saving costs it doesn’t mean doing advertising for free.

The most qualified buyers come to you when you pay for an audience who have the money to spend. Moving on, besides just doing paid advertising you need to source out bulk advertising offers.

Just do a search on Google or Yahoo and type advertising offers you’ll see tons of websites come up. It could take awhile to filter the good ones from the bad but its worth it. Always buy in bulk for the best deals.

Step #2: Sourcing Out Your Brokers

Sometimes you may even be able to hire a helping hand to dig out great advertising deals on various websites. Sure, it may cost you a little but its worth it because you could spend more time preparing your advertising campaigns.

All the tasks like getting the budget range, ad traffic targeting , ad volume, period of ad display will be handled by your friendly broker. They may even be able to offer you a personal discount too!

Why? Let me explain. Brokers do this stuff for a living and they have great connections with other ad companies. Just jump on the train.

Once a deal is secured they place a really big order and passes these “group advertisement” savings to people like you and me. Good to know.

Step #3: Putting The Pieces Together

Your only reason for knowing how to save cost is really to maximize profits, right? So, the next thing you’d want to do is to ensure that your marketing system is ready to communicate to visitors well.

Cost effective Internet advertising basically is getting the message through to your prospects. You achieve this with the least amount of effort or cost as possible.

Then, some of your marketing colleagues or prepare to invest about $170 – $270 for a good copywriter to critique your sales page or your email messages. It’s definitely much better than paying someone $3000 for a simple sales copy.

In closing, making sure your campaign is ready to launch is often the most important part of cost effective Internet advertising. Paying good value for money advertising will work when you have all the components in place to maximize your marketing profits.

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Dec 06

The rules of the game have changed.

In fact the rules have changed a lot – in YOUR favor!

What is the game? What are the old rules and what are the new rules? Keep on reading. You’ll be glad you did!

As a web designer, my job is – very simplified – to create and post information in its various forms on the internet.

A very basic yet profound definition of the internet is: A worldwide communications network. There are other – more technical – definitions but the term “worldwide communications network” is the most practical for its intents and purposes.

As a business owner or a marketing professional you have goods or services and need to communicate that fact to the world – or the portion of the world that would have an interest in what you have to offer (your target audience).

You may have guessed it by now. The name of the game is: Advertising – also known as “the business of drawing public attention to goods and services” or “the public promotion of some product or service”.

The old rules of the game state:

There is no such thing as free advertising.
Only big corporations can afford big advertising campaigns.
The more people you reach, the more expensive the advertising.I could probably go on but let’s leave it at those 3 rules to keep things simple. It is important to understand that for the mainstream media these rules are pretty much still in effect and that most decision makers in organizations are so conditioned to this set of rules that they automatically transfer them to any and all types of media – including the worldwide communications network!

However a good number of fairly young organizations apply a new set of rules – some with tremendous success. The new rules of the game simply state:

On the worldwide web.

advertising can be free.
…anyone can afford advertising campaigns because they are either free or very inexpensive.
…you can potentially reach as many or more people than with the mainstream media.

It seems that the younger generation has it easier to understand and play the game by the new set of rules because they don’t have to overcome the obstacle of unlearning the old set of rules.

Few people seem to grasp the fact that something that comes for free or for next to nothing can have a great value. Perhaps another drawback is that playing the game has become so incredibly easy that some people don’t take it seriously. Here is a short list of how to play the game:

Have plenty of relevant and frequently updated content on your website. This will not only help your search engine rankings but will also increase your credibility and exposure within your target audience.
Post relevant content on blogs. Vertical and horizontal online content generates traffic. It’s as simple as that.
Write press releases and submit them to online and mainstream media outlets. On the internet, you are the publisher! You are no longer depending on the media, hoping they’ll pick up your press releases.
Create and post audio – or even better – video content. People love web video! There are plenty of video sharing sites out there which host, index and share your video for free. Take advantage of it. “Air” your own TV style commercial – absolutely free!
Run email campaigns. A great way to directly contact your target audience with announcements, promotions and special offers. Unlike traditional direct mail campaigns, this doesn’t cost you any postage AND your email managing system lets you track the success of your campaign (number of email opens, click through rate etc.).
Write and submit articles and/or e-books on your subject. Share (and automatically promote) your expertise! Search engines are constantly crawling the web for content. Make yourself available so your potential customers can find you.
Make all of the above interesting from your target audience’s point of view. You already know your target audience. What are their needs and wants? Where do they hang out? What appeals to them? These considerations will largely determine your writing style, use of keywords and the look and feel of any visuals. Have fun!

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Dec 06

In my last article, we left off at Radio Commandment number 4 Thou Shalt Pick The Right Music Bed

If you’re going to produce a radio spot that has the most bang for the buck, you have to make sure that every word “sits” comfortably on the music bed (background music). You can record the announcer first and try to match the music, but it’s a lot smoother when you pick the right music from the get-go.

What I typically do is run a few different tracks as I read the spot over in my head. What I’m looking for is a music bed that flows and a matching cadence in the read.

I want to make sure that if I’m pitching a limited time colossal sale that the music is exciting with a strong beat and essential music “posts” (where certain words get pushed by a musical punch or stop).

When I find the sound that I’m looking for, I then begin to re-write the spot making sure that I take advantage of the various musical modulations, punches and “holes” (silence) where each key word is as impactful as possible.

Believe me, when a well written spot is married to a great music bed, the fireworks happen and listeners not only hear it – they feel it!

That being said, let me state that some of the best commercials I’ve ever been a part of, have had no music bed at all!

In these cases, the power came entirely from the announcer who was able to take every cherry-picked word and make it his own.

The best “cold voice” (spots without music) radio commercials were the ones that had the least amount of words, the greatest amount of meaning and the strongest emotion.

Now you might think that male announcers dominate the airwaves and you may be right. But there are female voices that do incredible work.

Which brings me to Radio Commandment number 5. Thou Shalt Pick The Right Talent For Your Radio Commercial

While great copywriting may be the key to a successful radio campaign, it is the announcer, who opens the door!

There are many great sounding announcers in the marketplace, but sadly few, who understand the importance of verbal foreplay. The innate ability to roll passionate words around effortlessly, bumping and grinding each syllable into a heated and euphoric grab for your attention – and money.

It is these wordweavers who you should seek out.

How do you find these voices? A good place to start is on the internet. Just key in “voice over talent” and you’ll find plenty of demos to audition. How will you know who’s good? Simply listen. If they move you – take their name, email and find out what they are offering. In some cases, you may be fortunate to find someone who is also an accomplished copywriter.

A question I often get asked is whether a male announcer is better than a female announcer.

I think alot depends on what you are selling. For example, I’d be hard-pressed to use a male voice if I’m selling menstrual pads. I’d also find it less convincing if a female voice were selling shop tools.

Interestingly, I think women can get away with selling more products than men- however, I believe men seem to have a more commanding and convincing presence.

Which brings me to Radio Commandment number 6 Thou Shalt Believe In Your Product

Nothing irks me more than radio spots that hammer away at listeners with zero conviction. Spot after spot of useless unconvincing dribble to buy this, call here, shop there and the most redundant and pathetic of them all…quality, service & price!

Is there any business out there that isn’t about quality, service & price? DUH. Well…hmm, maybe banks. Let’s face it. Everybody in their right mind wants the best quality and service at the lowest imaginable price. Enough already!

The fact of the matter is, that your radio spot should evoke those sentiments without having to spell it out.

Remember – it is a classy spot that says quality for you.

Relating how you make sure to always do a little bit more for a customer, says you’re into service.

And letting your listener know the difference between the regular price and the sale price while throwing in some added-value offer certainly says there won’t be any objections to the prices.

In other words, you can’t sound believable if you’re echoing the same redundant information as everybody else. Believability happens when truth prevails.

You can sell $2. t-shirts and pretend they’re great, or you could say something like “…and we’re stuck here with these posh, really high-end 100% baby-soft cotton t-shirts that have these, like, minor flaws because of some imperfect dye run that no one would really notice anyway, and heh, for $2. you absolutely can’t go wrong, so come by before you feel sorry….that you didn’t…”- blah blah…

The matter of fact, conversational & up front tone, brings you into the announcer’s “I’m your friend, listen to me – I’m offering you advice” space. And it works.

It is believable. It is real. It is reliable & convincing.

And that means you’ve just gained another excited customer.

This brings me to Radio Commandment number 7 Thou Shalt Use Radio To Make Friends & Build Trust

Creating a relationship with your listener is a long term commitment and important for sales today & tomorrow. But making friends on radio will take more than a serious up front spot. Spots can and should at times, be humorous. As long as there is a sense of imparting truth.

In fact, humour is a wonderful tool because it entertains and radio is in the entertainment business. Yes, I know that talk radio is very serious and not entertaining, but that is what is only on the surface.

But getting back to using humor. It’s a great way to grab someone’s attention, win someone over and invariably, make a friend and a potential customer. But it can also work against you.

In fact, the most successful award-winning radio commercials that have used humor have left many people scratching their heads trying to remember the advertiser. A case of “that was so funny that I didn’t get what product they were selling.”

What went wrong? Simple. The product name was not intrinsically linked to the punch line or plot line.

The least you ever want a listener to walk away with, is the product name or company name and have it relate to the good feeling that they’re feeling. One day that listener may need to decide between your product or service and another. The one they’ll go for is the one that will “feel good” to them and is offered with the feeling of a trusted friend.

People definitely have a relationship with the radio station of their preference. It starts with the morning announcers who talk to you in your very private bathroom as you dry up from a shower or shave & strutt naked to the morning music.

They tell you all kinds of information over breakfast. Some even gets in and gets stored in your subconscious. And they guide you safely through traffic to your morning destination. The alert you to impending storms, washouts and the like.

This happens every working day & even weekends – 365 DAYS A YEAR! Is it a wonder that over time, radio is the best media key to unlock a listener’s inhibitions and build up a place of trust in their lives?

Talk about trust. Listeners are not the only ones you want to win over.

In my next article, I’ll discuss Radio Commandment number 8.

Thou Shalt Use Radio To Build Strong Business Alliances.

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Dec 05

Do you sometimes feel like you’re on the road to nowhere trying to decipher online advertising opportunities? Well, you’re not alone. With all of the social media marketing, banner ads, article sites, ad words, blogs, podcasts, gaming, etc. it can be quite a daunting task to sort through the maze of available online advertising opportunities. So, here is some information to help you get started in this fascinating online world.

Definition of Online Advertising

What exactly is online advertising? Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, rich media ads, social network ads, online classified advertising, advertising networks, and e-mail marketing, including e-newsletters.

With all of these choices which ones should your company dive into? Well, if you’re a novice in the online world, perhaps you should start small and send e-announcements to your customer database. This is a good way to stay in touch with your existing customers. If you want to enlarge your circle of prospects, then it’s very easy to offer an e-newsletter with an opt-in subscription. If you don’t have the staff in-house to accomplish this there are several companies that can help you develop your e-mail template. They also will maintain your database of subscribers and provide you a report of new and opted-out subscribers. They even provide you the HTML code so that you can place a sign-up box on your website.

Competitive Advantage of Online Advertising vs. Traditional Print Advertising

Unlike print advertising where your prospects have to wait for the magazine or journal to hit the streets before they see your ad, online advertising is instantaneous. So, it is a good way to promote special seminars that your company may be sponsoring, highlight a new product launch, or even provide personnel announcements. It is also much easier to track who is clicking on your ad. However, be wary because you really want to count clickthroughs rather than just clicks. You also pay for CPM (Cost per Thousand) rather than a frequency rate for a particular sized ad like you do in print advertising.

Interactive ad expenditures are forecast to increase dramatically in 2010. Whether you are comfortable or not with online advertising, you will definitely need to budget some of your marketing dollars for this type of media. Social media marketing is still in the development stage. No one is really quite sure how to make money using these tools. Right now it is a good way to get prospects to follow your company and to direct them to your website.

Does Online Advertising Work?

Some of you may be skeptics but online advertising does work. Statistics show that 77% of Internet users employ search engines more frequently than any other online advertising media. 84% of Internet users are online four or more hours per day. 55% of Internet users are more likely to purchase online after seeing a search listing. Only 9% are more likely to purchase after seeing banner ads. But that doesn’t mean that banner advertising is dead. Instead of using a static banner, try integrating rich media such as video or gaming to the mix. For an attention-grabber, some companies get viewers to interact with their banner ads. Promoting some sort of contest or game does the trick. In fact, in-game advertising is expected to see a 9% growth in 2009 and up to 28% growth in 2010. In-game advertising is a good way to engage the visitor.

Another form of online advertising is known as contextual advertising. These are graphical or text-only ads that correspond to keywords of an Internet search. They can also correspond to the content of the page on which the ad is shown. For example, if you type in a search for “flowers” you might get an advertisement for a florist’s website. A newer technique involves embedding keyword hyperlinks throughout an article, which is sponsored by an advertiser. When the user follows the links, they are sent to the sponsor’s website.

There are many ways to advertise online. So, take the plunge and get started with this new and exciting media.

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Dec 05

What will the advertising executives think of next? Many small businesses will try new forms of advertising because the Yellow Pages doesn’t work. In fact one of the most interesting new ways to advertise is to buy a space above urinals and it was proven that that works five times better than yellow page ads.

And if you have the stomach for it we have been told that advertising on the back of toilet paper and bars and restaurants works great and one industry survey said it works 10 times better than yellow page ads. Yes, advertising on the back of toilet paper can be very profitable and when someone is stuck in that stall and they have nothing to do they will actually read the toilet paper of course what they do with it next we will not discuss. But suffice it to say anything that works 10 times better than yellow page ads makes sense to me and it makes dollars for my company.

I would encourage all businesses to advertise on the back of their toilet paper and on the toilet paper at the most popular bars and restaurants. I would advise did they take their advertising dollars that they were going to stand on the yellow page advertising and put down towards the custom toilet paper ads. Let’s face it folks you wanna get the most bang for your buck and when it comes to advertising there’s no sense in throwing your advertising budget down the toilet, so play it smart. Dump the yellow page ads and start flushing yourself in the profits. Please consider this in 2006.

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Dec 05

What Determines A Popular Advertising Slogan?

Firstly, let us study a little closer to this question as above before we dive into the details. The answer to the above is simply to be able to grab the readers or prospects attention in 3 seconds to read on.

Notice that the whole purpose is to help the prospect to be intrigued enough to read on the rest of the sales letter. If you can grasp this then we are already 50% there.

Step 1: Appeal To Only One

The most common mistake for most businesses in their attempts to write advertising headlines is to write about themselves or to many. You must remember that each prospect reads a sentence to themselves.

So, you could do better by thinking that you are communicating only to one person in your mind. Keep this steadfast in your thoughts as you begin to craft your headline. It will give a more appealing feel to it in terms of a ‘personal touch’.

Step 2: Triggering Pain Or Pleasure

There are two extreme ways to draw attention in your headline and that is by either emphasizing towards your prospects pain or pleasure. Simple copy writing will do you much good so remember this is a powerful tool.

You’re not going to manipulate them psychologically, just enough to stop them dead in their tracks. A strike to the heart or feeling will more than conquer their minds in the next choice they make.

Step 3: Copy The Masters

Not literally that but what I mean is you can observe some other popular advertising slogans that has been used over and over again. You can learn this all over the place for no cost.

Watch the headlines in your local classified ads in your newspaper of magazine center pullouts. You will be sure to find some common patterns in the words for advertising.

Getting It All Down

Once you have determined more than a few popular advertising slogans of choice then its time to test them. Now, don’t get me wrong although you can certainly depend on some master headlines sometimes its best to keep testing till you reach your sales target with just your advertising slogans.

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