The other day I was talking to the business owner of a medium sized Florists – she has shops in three separate locations – and she was saying how disheartened she was by the results she was getting with her advertising…

She also said how very disappointed she was with her existing marketing agency because their current advertising was actually generating LESS response than before… despite assurances from the agency to the contrary.

She told me how she had always used advertising to generate business, and while it was sometimes a bit hit and miss, she did feel that this time she was actually taking some pretty major steps back.

She was clearly more than a little worried by it all, so I offered to take a look at her ads for her, to see if there was anything I could suggest that might help. You could almost see the weight lift from her shoulders. She thanked me and said she would post me copies of the last few ads she had been using.

Sure enough, the following day, a large A4 envelope arrived in the post, which was stuffed full of copies of the adverts she had been using (looked more like the full 8 years worth rather than just the last “few”), but I could see the problem almost straight away…

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Just last week I was having a conversation with a colleague of one of my clients about the use of adverts in his marketing… He was convinced that adverts didn’t work for his business.

He told me he was trying to sell IT Support services to local businesses, but it didn’t matter what he tried, he wasn’t even getting one call.

When I delved a bit deeper, it did appear that he was targeting publications which got him in front of the right sort of business he was looking for, but he was not managing to attract any attention.

When I looked at some examples of his ads, it was clear that the problem was that he was using the wrong TYPE of ad.

You see, there are actually four ‘purposes’ of an advert – each one needs to be approached in a slightly different way – and it all depends on what you are trying to achieve.

According to direct response copywriting expert Bob Bly, the four “missions” of an ad are: Read More »

During a discussion with one of my clients about different areas of marketing and how they affect a business, it was apparent that he was getting more than a little confused.

A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me the following article which I thought explained things quite clearly.

I thought I’d share it with you…

The 10 areas of Marketing Development Explained:

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and say, ‘I am very rich. Marry me!’
That’s DIRECT MARKETING.

2. You are at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl.
One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, ‘He’s very rich. Marry him!’
That’s ADVERTISING.

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and get her telephone number.
The next day, you call her and say, ‘Hi, I am very rich. Marry me!’
That’s TELEMARKETING.

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I don’t know about you, but on the rare occasions I have a few spare moments to surf the net, I sometimes find myself drifting to YouTube.

Now, ok, there IS a lot of rubbish out there, but I recently came across a company who have used Social Marketing to successfully grow their business.

Let me tell you their story…

Not so long ago, Blendtec was a little-known company that manufactured blenders – their consumer grade blenders cost around $400, so not the cheapest on the market.

Things started to change for them when George Wright joined the company in 2006 as Director of Marketing. The catalyst happened one afternoon, not long after he had started working for there. On the day in question George came across Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson testing the new bearings for the blender – by blending a 2×4 inch piece of wood!

While this was going on, the rest of the company’s employees went on with their work unphased. Apparently the practice of “extreme blending” was a regular occurrence at the factory, as Tom was keen to make sure Blendtec blenders were the best.

Now George, being the smart marketer that he is, recognised the potential to turn this into a marketing story which would make Blendtec stand out from their competitors, both in market visibility and in proving the quality of the Blendtec Blenders.

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Advertising may or may not be a part of your marketing arsenal, but whether you believe advertising works for your business or not, there are certain times when you should consider using adverts as part of your marketing mix.

Traditionally, the main reasons to advertise are:

1. To increase awareness of your business and the knowledge of your products or services
2. To highlight why customers should buy from you rather than your competitors
3. To create a favourable emotional reaction to your product or service
4. To remind people to buy from you
5. To stimulate impulse purchases

All well and good, but don’t forget that you must remain focused on getting a specific response.

The following are examples of when advertising would be a good choice…

• When you have no other method of reaching your prospect
• When your budget permits
• When awareness of the existence of your company is essential before you approach your prospect directly
• When you can reach the most prospects who can and will buy what you offer cost-effectively
• When your prospects are reachable by one or more different media
• When most of your competitors advertise
• When most of your competitors don’t advertise
• When your target prospects are the mass-market consumer
• When you are increasing the range of products or services you offer
• When you are moving into a new market

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