Four Marketing Myths That Steal Sales
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Archive for the 'Advertising' Category
Cutting down on AdWords expense
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007Just wanted to take a minute and share an excellent blog article I stumbled on today. While the content deals directly with AdWords optimization and testing, there are some excellent lessons to be learn’t about site optimization and creating content that is targetted to your audience.
Its the old adage “Content is King” yet again.
10 Ways to increase Adwords Quality Score by Dave Davis.
You can find everythign on e-bay…
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007I was just searching online for some information on the movie “8 heads in a duffel bag”, after hearing part of the score on an internet radio station.
I couldn’t resist taking a screen shot of the ebay ad that showed up when I Googled the movie.
You can see other ones I’ve found on an older article I wrote on online advertising.
Marketing Online? Read This
Monday, February 26th, 2007Just browsing one of my favourite blog writers. They linked to a study that was completed that I just had to pass on.
Over 200 people were shown various pages, and an eye tracking device was used to track how they looked at the page. We’ve speculated about this for a long time, and only now have finally have some easy to understand reasons to work with.
How the human eye actually reads your website
10 Common advertising mistakes and how to avoid them
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006When starting out online, or even in business in general. There comes a point where we have to start designing our own advertising copy and writing or designing in order to bring in the sales. Some people are naturals at this, however most of us need some instruction, a few hard knocks and some further lessons until we truly grasp whats required.Today, I’d like to feature some content from an article that John Obono wrote. He has covered what I beleive are 10 good things to double check before you send out an ad. Yet another great lesson from anothers class of hard knocks…
You’re ready to launch that new product or promotion, & you’re really counting on a piece of advertising copy to come through for you.
You’re looking for stellar results! And, you’re determined to do everything in your power to get them. Which means surveys, thorough testing, and ongoing refinement of your ad copy.
Hold the phone! When you’ve got your draft, run it through this 10-point inspection…
Cover off these basics, and you can be sure you’re off to a running start.1 - Do You Have A Compelling Headline?Does it generate curiosity or envy? Does it promise a benefit that will compel someone with an interest in what you’re selling to keep reading. Remember, your headline is the ad for the ad.When I am being paid to write direct response ad copy, or a sales letter, or have a very important sales objective of my own, I normally write 25 headlines before I begin the body of the piece.
Then I’ll pick half a dozen that I think will work & test them. The best of the rest, I use as sub headings throughout the piece to propel readership, and draw skimmers & skippers back into the copy as they move down the page.
2 - Are Your Headlines Pleasing To The Eye?
I most often find that headlines work best when they are centered on the page, & present a balanced appearance in terms of the shape they create. Encasing them in quotation marks also serves to grab more attention.
Long top headlines tend to reduce readership, but if they help qualify more effectively they can improve sales! Try them, but look for ways to modularize the text using punctuation & spacing so your readers don’t suffocate trying to read them. Sometimes a long top headline is better presented as two or even three separate headlines.
3 - Is Your Opening Provocative & Arresting?
Does it trip the reader, interrupting the internal turbulence of the day? Each line of your ad copy must serve to “sell” the reader on continued reading, especially at the beginning.
You are looking to build enough momentum & interest to convey the points necessary to generate a greater desire for the product than it’s price. Generally speaking, the higher the cost of the product, the more words required.
4 - Are You FAB Balanced?
You must focus on painting a picture of your prospects future life, as a result of their purchase. Does your copy promise emotional benefits? Does it pledge the realization of positive feelings, or the relief of negative ones?
Does it show how these outcomes are achieved with concise descriptions of the features & advantages that will deliver them? Your ad copy must strike a balance between emotion & logic if it is to be effect.
5 - Are You Creating Excitement & Enthusiasm?
Demonstrate your personal belief in what you are selling. Will your message quicken the readers pulse? Is it upbeat, positive, & full of inspired energy? Is there a sense of WOW?
6 - Is Your Body Copy Highly Readable?
Remember simple is best. Keep sentences short. Use a plain 10-point to 12-point font. Paragraphs no more than a few lines. Words that are comfortable & specific to the audience you are targeting. Inject subheads to break up text. Highlight important points.
7 - Do You Have High YOU density?
Remember to you use the words YOU & YOUR to the hilt. Your reader is auto translating to ME & MINE.
8 - Are you speaking intimately?
Can you get a strong sense of personality when you review your letter after being away from it for a while? Visualize yourself, or the character you are personifying, writing a personal letter to your perfect prospect. Never write to a crowd.
9 - Are you inspiring the readers imagination?
You must trigger mental images with your writing. The mind has difficulty distinguishing between vividly painted word pictures, & reality. Daydreams enchant, & emotions flow in their wake.
When you have emotion, you have desire. When you have desire, you have suggestibility. When you have suggestibility, you can direct action. Your levers are allegory (storytelling), metaphor, similes, verbs, adjectives, & specificity.
10 - Do you offer proof?
Specific testimonials & convincing guarantees worked into your ad copy are essential.
11 - Are you deceiving yourself?
I can’t help but add one more tip to the list John has put together. Simply put - ask a friend. By now, you know your whole advertisement word for word. The blinders are on, and subjectivity has left the building. Simply asking a friend to review what your about to send out with the above 10 guidelines can help you see the glaring errors you glazed over.
Now - Publish that Ad!
Thats all for today folks,
- Ed
Why Your Ad Just Isn’t Working (and why I’m making fun of it)
Monday, November 27th, 2006Advertising Screw Up’s
Have you ever done an advertising campaign to have it simply flop? Not a single reply, maybe even a negative response or two?
Sometimes in our haste to get the cheapest ad, or be the first to have an ad in place, we forget to look at some of the important points in ad placement and relevance.
Lesson One: The Where and With lesson
It’s an honest mistake, not taking the time to check where you ad is going to be displayed, and who else is being displayed on the same page. If you’re going neck to neck with your top competitor, is that going to make you shine or put you down? It’s not very unlikely people are going to contact both of you (unless it’s the yellow pages). So make sure you’re not next to your worst enemy unless your ad is ready to put them to shame.
Brilliant isn’t it?
It’s such an easy mistake to make, and if someone had just taken a minute to ask what else was being advertised, this image wouldn’t be making its rounds on the ‘net.
Tip: Never Assume
Lesson Two: The What
In the age of online advertising where it only takes a few minutes to fire up an AdWords campaign with Google using thousands of different ads targeted at niche markets and search engine results. Make sure you do due diligence before setting it live.
The first time I saw this, a friend sent me a Google search for “cavador”. Top of the list was an E-Bay ad promising a wide selection of human remains and cavador’s for sale. New and used!
‘Slightly Stained’
Tip: Don’t be an idiot, read it over, then click
Lesson Three: Know your market
Due diligence can save a lot of grief when you are working with a market or potential audience that you can’t personally relate to 100%.
One of the more famous mistranslations had Coors, an American brewer losing its edge in Spain when their hip phrase “Turn It Loose” came out as “Get Diarrhea”.