Advertisement Ideas: What Is Your Advertising Strategy?
This is always the first question I ask a client? You would be surprised how many people tell me I don’t have one or I don’t have a budget for advertising. I am always surprised by this because without advertising how are you going to grow your business. It all comes to the concept of investing in yourself and building your brand. I run across many small businesses as I host an Internet TV Show, The Anything Bucket, which airs on www.wrpbitv.com on Tuesday at 6:30 PM and I offer them a chance to be interviewed by me. I offer a free segment and a chance to purchase the clip so they can use it in their marketing and advertising programs. I am always amazed by those who do not invest in purchasing the clip. I ask them what type of advertising they are doing and they stumble to answer and then confess that they really don’t do any advertising. I then explain to them how important it is to be out in front of your target audience daily and that you must have an effective strategy.
I learned many advertising strategies when I was a member of The Jaycees as we were constantly looking for new members, working to retain existing members, and garner support for our community projects. I was often mystified by how many people who did not know about the organization because we had welcome signs on the signs entering the community, had several articles in the community newspapers, and spoke at city council meetings. I stated on several occasions that if we are to attract new members and retain existing members we must have a solid advertising strategy so that when we walk into a business they will have heard of us. This is when I devised my three-foot rule, which I still use today. The 3 foot rule is where if someone is with in 3 feet of you, you engage them and gain their interest. I recently used this principle at a local Starbucks and the women I approached told me she was very impressed that I came over to exchange business cards. Think about it if you carry your business cards wherever you go and begin to ask people about themselves and hand out your card the positive effect it could have on your business. It comes down to the fact that some will, some will not, so what, some waiting, next. Not everyone will want to listen to you but those that do can be converted into customers or advocates for you. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: What Is Your Advertising Strategy?
Advertisement Ideas: Forget The Salesman Approach!!!
When discussing sales people I often hear they are pushy, full of themselves, and will say anything to make the sale. This perception has led to many people programming themselves to say I am not interested from the first interaction. Sales is an integral part of any business be it a sole proprietorship or a large corporation a brick and mortar business or a home based business and mastering sales is a key to success. I have found that over the years it is important to overcome the perception of being a salesman because of the misconceived notion that sales people are sleazy and out for themselves. The best way to avoid being perceived in a negative way is to forget the salesman approach and become more interested in the people you are interacting with.
The first thing you are instructed to do in sales is to make cold calls. I believe this is the wrong approach as you can see from the chart that most people are not receptive to cold calls. Cold calls can be a part of the process, however there is an art to the cold call. In my 20 plus years of experience in the for profit and non-profit sectors I have found that when cold calling it is best to simply do your research and find out who the decision maker is, this can be easily done by google searches or using sources like The Hoover’s Guide To American Businesses. Many times know who to ask for will get you past the gate-keeper. I also suggest you get the gate keepers name and make friends with him or her so next time you call they will put you through. After you get to the decision maker do not begin your pitch right away tell them that you chose to contact them as you are looking to assist businesses like theirs and would like to set up an appointment to show them what you are offering. The appointment can be done via phone or in person if they are local. The key is to begin a relationship as we all know people will do business with those they know, like, and trust. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Forget The Salesman Approach!!!
Jonathan JDOGG Lederman uses a video to express a marketing tip while also promoting his blogs.
Advertisement Ideas: How to Use Video Testimonials
This is an example of a testimonial that was done by someone I worked with helping her to receive media coverage. Since the taping of this testimonial, Barbara has used my services on several occasions and each time makes the comment “When I have enough money I want to hire you full-time. You may be asking well you have a video testimonial how is it helping your business? It is helping my business as I am able to post it on my youtube channel www.youtube.com/jdogglederman, I am able to share on Facebook, www.facebook.com/jdogglederman, and at twitter, @jdogglederman. When you have video testimonials you can use them to build your credibility. One way is to use them effectively when doing a presentation at an event and you want people to sign-up for a workshop or to hire you for one on one projects. You can use the testimonials at a trade show by having an endless loop of 4-6 to show visitors to your booth. When you have a testimonial you can use it to build people’s trust. Remember people do business with people they know, like, and trust. People will hear and see what people are saying and be compelled to hire you for your services.
A few keys to remember are:
1: Make the video seem scriptless.
2: Make it seem that the person is genuine and coming from the heart
3: Use the video effectively by annotating it with your web site or phone number- The above still needs to be edited.
4: Share the testimonial whenever and wherever possible