Vague does not work in plumbing ads or any other advertising.

Since he is so much in the news of late, let us use JOE THE PLUMBER to build an example and show the difference between vague selling pointS that rarely get noticed or acted upon and a tangible message that gets attention and is likely to spur action.

Joe decides that his main unique selling point is quick service. After all, no one wants to wait around all day for a plumber (or any trades person) to show up.

Like most small business owners, Joe needs his advertising to generate immediate business. He puts together an ad that reads something like this:

Call Joe the Plumber for Speedy Service
*Trenchless sewer lines
*Water heaters
*Hydro Jetting
*Sewer Inspections by Video
*Drain Cleaning
*Preventative Maintenance
*Free Estimates
222-0000
24 hours – 7 days a week

Joe dresses up the ad with a clever line art graphic that portrays a plumber on the run with a monkey wrench in his right hand.

Is this ad typical? You bet it is. Is this ad effective? No, because it is VAGUE! There is no concrete reason for you to believe that Joe will live up to YOUR expectation of SPEEDY.

The ad that Joe proposes to run does not have to be larger. It does not have to be in color. It certainly should not run more than once!

In short, the ad Joe proposes is pretty much a waste of money. It is because VAGUE is never effective. VAGUE equals FUZZY which means that this ad reads, sounds and looks pretty much like every other plumbing ad.

The words fail to differentiate the services Joe offers from the dozens of other companies touting the exact same thing. SPEEDY probably means something different to Joe than it does to his customers.

What happens when we attach a dollar amount to SPEEDY? Not an amount that will break the bank but one large enough to put some teeth into the message of speedy service.

How about $50! Fifty bucks is a nice round number that makes clear that Joe takes SPEEDY seriously and certainly large enough to get the attention of someone needing the services Joe offers.

Our new headline reads On time or I will pay you $50!

Customers want Joe to show up when he says he will show up (or before). If Joe says 5 p.m. it better be by 5 p.m. or sooner. If not, you pocket fifty bucks!

That wording puts some teeth into ON TIME. We have now made it clear what Joe means by SPEEDY and ON TIME.

If you compare the words in the first ad with those in the revision, you have a good example of the difference between a broad selling point and a concrete message.

The first ad implies speedy but leaves the real definition up to the reader or listener. The revision spells it out and makes it crystal clear. Small changes. Huge difference in perception.

Making the words in your advertising mean something (to your audience) is definitely not brain surgery but it also is not easy to do. You need to think about the message you are trying to convey. You need to become your prospect. You need to role play in your mind.

Share your message with a friend or family member and ask them to tell you what they think it means. If they cannot or if their interpretation does not match up with yours, chances are your words are too vague to be effective.

Go back to the drawing board and put some meat on the bone.

Bob Schumacher books and articles give entrepreneurs a clear coffee-shop English perspective on how to steer their business or profession into the top 20% who achieve 80% of the business and profits. Visit http://www.RedMeatMarketing.com for a complete directory of his articles and books.

People do not pay attention to advertising. They only pay attention to whatever interests them. If someone perceives a benefit in your advertisement, you might connect with them . . . get them to act. No benefit, no action. Seems simple. The facts say otherwise.

The reality most often missed in advertising is the fact that people buy benefits (what is in it for them), rarely features (what it is or does). Grab any publication in reach and take a quick look at the advertisements: chock full of features and almost devoid of benefits. Some examples:

*People do not buy patio heaters. They buy the opportunity to bring the comforts of the indoors to their outdoor patios.

*People do not buy wine racks. People buy the conversion of their storage space into an onsite wine cellar.

*Generation Y does not buy mobile telephones. They buy 1,000 tunes in their pocket.

Why is this concept seemingly so difficult? Advertising benefits must be complicated because virtually every ad you see has so few, if any. Most small businesses have proved that they can identify features (who you are, what you do, what it is, what it does, etc.) Fair enough! You can start there.

List every feature you can think of about your product or service in the first of two columns on a single sheet. Now answer SO WHAT? for every feature you list. The SO WHAT? is a benefit!

Narrow your list to two or three. Promote those two or three. Advertise the same two or three again. Then again. Tell your target audience what is in it for them to do business with you.

Remember to motivate your audience to DO SOMETHING: come in for a demonstration, call for an appointment, fill in a coupon, write for additional information, ask for you or your product by name, take a test drive . . . something specific. Tell people exactly what you want them to do. Never assume they will do what you think is obvious. Tell them! Do not just suggest. Tell! Order! Command!

Knock yourself out to make sure your message is aimed at the people you want to do business with. Take careful aim and then remember that no one consciously will pay any attention to your ad. You live, breathe and eat your business. The people you deal with do not. No doubt you know what you are talking about. Be sure your desired audience gets the message.

If you manage to stimulate interest with a benefit headline, do not blow it by listing only features and prices in the copy that follows. Headlines attract attention, copy closes the sale . . . or least initiates the action. Always sell the sizzle . . . never the steak!

An effective ad is one that gets results. Steer clear of creating ads that come off more interesting than the content IN the ads. We have all seen or heard advertisements that we remember but for the life of us, we cannot recall what the featured product or service was.

If you want to entertain people, that is your call, but never forget that the sole purpose of small business ads is to persuade people to take some kind of action . . . preferably with or from you . . . hopefully today . . . certainly soon.

Once you have a rough or a finished version of your advertisement, show it to ten people and ask them to tell you what they think the main point is. If one person misunderstands, that means 10 percent of your target audience will misunderstand.

If your media rep says that you should expect your ad to be seen or heard by 500 people, 50 of them will miss the main point. That is unacceptable. Scrap it and start again.

Bob Schumacher pens books and articles that guide entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to steer their business or profession into the top 20% who achieve 80% of the business and profits. Visit http://www.RedMeatMarketing.com and order your complimentary advertising book.

In our world of ever-changing technology, we are constantly bombarded by names like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and TIVO. Our nation is one of consistently evolving electronics and in the rush to move forward, some get left behind. One such trailing entity is the advertising industry. The increasing inclusion of TIVO and DVR’s in American households is causing some consternation among marketing executives. Companies like Ace Marketing & Promotions may have the solution to the advertising industry’s current conundrum.

One problem companies have is the inability to continue advertising their products or services through traditional means, such as television and radio. Digital recording devices allow home consumers to skip past commercials, which, as you can imagine, creates a problem for those who advertise through those same commercials. A similar issue took root with radio several years ago as more and more stations were made available. Now, listeners only have to press a button to move on to another station, sans advertisement.

Technology companies like Ace Marketing & Promotions (AMKT), a Valley Stream, New York publicly traded company has developed amazing systems that can answer some of these rising concerns. For example, the Blue Bite proximity marketing system utilizes Bluetooth and wireless technology to market directly to consumer’s phones, laptops, and PDAs. The system works with over 950 mobile devices, from virtually every manufacturer, which guarantees the largest possible audience. It supports all of the most popular models, including the Apple iPhone, the Blackberry Pearl, and the Palm Treo.

Systems like Blue Bite allows information to be sent whether it be images, video, and audio, directly to a consumer’s electronic device that comes within the range of the broadcasting unit. Because it is transmitted via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and not over a wireless telephone network, it is completely free to the consumer. These types of marketing systems are FCC compliant and not considered spam advertising. They will simply receive a text, video, or audio message with the client’s advertisement or marketing offer.

Just imagine going to a concert and your favorite band or artist tells you how much they appreciate you, their fan, and that you will be receiving something special from them on your mobile phone. Seconds later, you receive a message describing how to download a free wallpaper or song from your favorite band. Maybe you’re walking down the street in New York’s Time Square and you notice a billboard for a new television show. Seconds later, your cell phone receives a message letting you know that there is a free 15-second preview of that show available to watch on your mobile device. The direct marketing potential is seemingly limitless.

The system that Ace Marketing & Promotions has already completed successful marketing campaigns for several major entities, such as the Canada Tourism Commission, BBC, CW, and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Shows and movies have included The Bourne Conspiracy, Gossip Girl, Life is Wild, and Robin Hood.

One of the greatest things about this technology is that the world has only begun to see the potential of it. The number of possible venues would seem to be limitless. Shopping malls, movie theatres, airports, museums, subways, and sporting events are just a few of the target locations that are perfectly poised to fully utilize the capabilities of this type of marketing system.

Rodney Marvel is the Director of Operations for e-media Direct, a full-service investor relations firm located in Winter Park, FL. He has worked with about 100 publicly-traded companies on various projects.
http://e-mediareport.com/site/
http://e-mediadirect.com

The key to any successful business is its customers, after all without customers no business can survive. If your company is struggling to attract new, or maintain existing customers, you are probably in tricky financial times, with high stress levels and low motivation, which starts compounding the problems. The answer is simple, keep your customers happy and they will return, and typically, bring their stakeholders.

There are many ways to keep customers happy, some are short term solutions – a quick fix, but some can build strong, prosperous bonds that benefit both parties for years. The easiest way to stay in your customers’ minds is simply communication. Staying in contact with clients, even occasional contact with one time only clients, demonstrates your company is not just selling a product to as many people as possible without a second thought. Additionally it creates a more approachable view of your company and services, as well as hopefully reminding them of successful previous transactions with a view to possible future transactions.

Every business, big or small, communicates with customers in different ways, flyers, emails, letters etc. however few businesses are as technologically up to date as their customers. Text messaging has been around for many years, but really only took off in the last decade, however it is probably not one of the first communication method that springs to mind. SMS messaging is a perfect platform for communicating with customers, it is quick, cheap and can spread the word to as many willing customers as you can get!

The advantages of SMS communication is clear, for instance imagine you bought a product you really enjoy, be it a gadget, service, piece of art or whatever and you then received a text to let you know the next version is now available from the same shop. It would definitely leave a good impression in my mind and a call to action to get the new product.

If you’re customers did agree to receive promotional text messages just from your company but then unfortunately decided they would not like to receive further messages, they can easily opt out without feeling pressured or hassled.

Many business, no matter how technically advanced their products or services are, could benefit by communicating with customers via SMS. It is a polite and effective way of providing that extra bit of customer service that is a proven winning formula to successful businesses!

John Mce is an SMS expert writing on behalf of PageOne. Find out more about SMS customer communication to see how it could improve your business. PageOne offer complete SMS packages, for any business wanting to send bulk SMS.

The key to any successful business is its customers, after all without customers no business can survive. If your company is struggling to attract new, or maintain existing customers, you are probably in tricky financial times, with high stress levels and low motivation, which starts compounding the problems. The answer is simple, keep your customers happy and they will return, and typically, bring their stakeholders.

There are many ways to keep customers happy, some are short term solutions – a quick fix, but some can build strong, prosperous bonds that benefit both parties for years. The easiest way to stay in your customers’ minds is simply communication. Staying in contact with clients, even occasional contact with one time only clients, demonstrates your company is not just selling a product to as many people as possible without a second thought. Additionally it creates a more approachable view of your company and services, as well as hopefully reminding them of successful previous transactions with a view to possible future transactions.

Every business, big or small, communicates with customers in different ways, flyers, emails, letters etc. however few businesses are as technologically up to date as their customers. Text messaging has been around for many years, but really only took off in the last decade, however it is probably not one of the first communication method that springs to mind. SMS messaging is a perfect platform for communicating with customers, it is quick, cheap and can spread the word to as many willing customers as you can get!

The advantages of SMS communication is clear, for instance imagine you bought a product you really enjoy, be it a gadget, service, piece of art or whatever and you then received a text to let you know the next version is now available from the same shop. It would definitely leave a good impression in my mind and a call to action to get the new product.

If you’re customers did agree to receive promotional text messages just from your company but then unfortunately decided they would not like to receive further messages, they can easily opt out without feeling pressured or hassled.

Many business, no matter how technically advanced their products or services are, could benefit by communicating with customers via SMS. It is a polite and effective way of providing that extra bit of customer service that is a proven winning formula to successful businesses!

John Mce is an SMS expert writing on behalf of PageOne. Find out more about SMS customer communication to see how it could improve your business. PageOne offer complete SMS packages, for any business wanting to send bulk SMS.

The key to any successful business is its customers, after all without customers no business can survive. If your company is struggling to attract new, or maintain existing customers, you are probably in tricky financial times, with high stress levels and low motivation, which starts compounding the problems. The answer is simple, keep your customers happy and they will return, and typically, bring their stakeholders.

There are many ways to keep customers happy, some are short term solutions – a quick fix, but some can build strong, prosperous bonds that benefit both parties for years. The easiest way to stay in your customers’ minds is simply communication. Staying in contact with clients, even occasional contact with one time only clients, demonstrates your company is not just selling a product to as many people as possible without a second thought. Additionally it creates a more approachable view of your company and services, as well as hopefully reminding them of successful previous transactions with a view to possible future transactions.

Every business, big or small, communicates with customers in different ways, flyers, emails, letters etc. however few businesses are as technologically up to date as their customers. Text messaging has been around for many years, but really only took off in the last decade, however it is probably not one of the first communication method that springs to mind. SMS messaging is a perfect platform for communicating with customers, it is quick, cheap and can spread the word to as many willing customers as you can get!

The advantages of SMS communication is clear, for instance imagine you bought a product you really enjoy, be it a gadget, service, piece of art or whatever and you then received a text to let you know the next version is now available from the same shop. It would definitely leave a good impression in my mind and a call to action to get the new product.

If you’re customers did agree to receive promotional text messages just from your company but then unfortunately decided they would not like to receive further messages, they can easily opt out without feeling pressured or hassled.

Many business, no matter how technically advanced their products or services are, could benefit by communicating with customers via SMS. It is a polite and effective way of providing that extra bit of customer service that is a proven winning formula to successful businesses!

John Mce is an SMS expert writing on behalf of PageOne. Find out more about SMS customer communication to see how it could improve your business. PageOne offer complete SMS packages, for any business wanting to send bulk SMS.