Posts in category Web Traffic Generation
Print Advertising… The Forgotten Direct Sales Income Generator
Over the years, the Internet has become the primary means of trying to sell products, services, or information for many marketers and businesses. However, as popular as the Internet is, it still may not be the most profitable way to advertise or sell.
In our modern day of high-speed technology, many seem to forget that the tried and true method of direct sales marketing through print advertising can still prove to be the most profitable way to go.
Why is this you say? It’s because basic human nature has not changed, nor have human buying triggers. Having something tangible in hand that can be touched is still trusted more than words or images thrown up on a computer screen. In spite of the Internet’s capability of reaching out to multi-millions of email addresses or viewers in a matter of minutes… a printed circular or flyer in hand still holds more credibility.
Think about it. When you get a printed circular or flyer that you can hold in your hand… you tend to look at it as something real that is produced by a real person whom you can identify with. You don’t generally look at it as some unknown face or entity hiding behind a computer screen trying to scam you.
It seems illogical that so many marketers and businesses are unaware of, or have forgotten this old proven method of advertising and selling. Printed forms of advertising and direct sale pieces have stood the test of time, and have proven itself over and over again against everything that has come and gone.
Here’s something else to think about. Most people go online looking for information, not sales offers. So the chance of them running across your online offer is slim to none. However, when a printed direct sales offer is physically placed in the hands of people, they will put forth the effort to seek out the source of the offer. It doesn’t matter if it’s right up the street from them or online… the printed direct sales piece established a certain form of credibility.
With direct sales, you don’t have to worry about getting traffic to a web site, search engine optimization, black hat, white hat, or any of the other online techniques you see touted. People coming online to your web site after reading your printed direct sales piece are generally looking to buy the product or service offered.
The World Wide Web, or Internet should wisely be used in combination with direct sales as an extension of your advertising and sales efforts… not as your primary medium. More people who are ready to buy will find you through direct sales than they would just surfing the internet to see what’s available amid the billions of web pages.
A printed advertising or direct sales piece is really much easier to produce than a web site… wouldn’t you agree? All it has to do is make people aware of what is available, the cost, and where to get it. If the offer is located in a physical building, then give the address and times of operation. If it is located online, the give the web site addresses. It’s just that simple.
Most internet exclusive advertisers will likely see their sales efforts pay off in a much greater way by combining print advertising and direct sales with their online methods. Once a printed direct sales piece establishes credibility, a web site would only need to highlight benefits and give access to the offer.
Now that you realize the benefits and advantages… do yourself and your business a favor, and make print advertising direct sales an important part of your financial well being.
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Keith Nickel Langevin has been in publishing and printing for over 20 years and can almost always save you time, money and headache with your printing needs. Call TOLL FREE 1-888-850-3777 and ask for Keith for fast friendly service.
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Media Training 201 — Formatting Your Press Release
Once you know the basics involved in writing a Press Release, you’ll find it’s a pretty
simple process to put one together. In fact, if you conform to “industry standards” and
include the information that reporters and editors are expecting to find, your press
release stands a very good chance of actually being used.
Here are the formatting rules you need to follow:
Use mixed case. NEVER SUBMIT A PRESS RELEASE IN ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS.
As you can see, it’s much more difficult to read that way.
Always follow the rules of grammar and style. Errors in grammar and style affect your
credibility. Excessive errors will cause your press release to be rejected.
Don’t use HTML. When sending your press release to online Media, do not embed HTML or
other markup languages in it. Including such formatting will negatively impact the
readability of your press release.
Use more than one paragraph. If you can say everything in only a few sentences, then
chances are you do not have a newsworthy story. (*Note: You may hear that your press
release should “never” be more than one page long. I have found that a press release
should be as long as it takes to tell your story. If that means one and a-half or two
pages, then that’s how long it should be. Do your best to keep it short and sweet, but
don’t take out important information just to make it fit on one page.)
Include a summary paragraph for online submissions. Some online news services request that
you include a one-page summary of your press release. This is because some distribution
points only receive your headline, summary and a link to your press release. If you are
submitting to online services, not including the summary paragraph may reduce the
effectiveness of your press release. This is not usually necessary with print, television
or radio media.
Write your press release on a word processor instead of composing it online. When you’ve
finished writing it, print it out, and proofread it. Rewrite, edit, and proofread again,
until you’ve got it exactly how you want it, and there are no mistakes. Because most
people have a harder time proofreading their own writing, ask someone you trust to
proofread it for you.
Do not include your e-mail address in the body of your release — especially when
submitting your press release online, or publishing your press release on your Website or
in your blog. You can include your email address in the contact information if you wish,
but if it goes online, be prepared to be spammed, since it’s going into public domain.
Most online media services will have a place for your email address in the submission
process, for your protection, and most of your local media will prefer a telephone number
to contact you with.
Here is a basic template you can use when writing your Press Release:
Starting at the top of the page, on your company letterhead, write the words “PRESS
RELEASE” in all capital letters, centered and bolded.
Hit the enter-bar twice, so you go down two lines. On the left hand side of the page,
write the date you want the information to be released, or if it’s “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”
write that, again in all CAPS and bolded. On the same line, but to the far right, write
the words “CONTACT INFORMATION” again, bolded and in capital letters. Go down to the next
line, and list the contact person and their phone number.
It’s always a good idea to have two contact people whenever possible and two phone numbers
for each of them — for example, the office number and cell phone numbers. You can also
put your email address here.
Hit the enter-bar twice again, and type in your headline next. (It needs to be centered
and bolded, but not necessarily in all CAPS). Your headline needs to be short, snappy and
relevant. You want it to grab the reader’s attention.
Go down two spaces again. The body of your press release should be double spaced, and
typed in an easy to read 12 in font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Leave lots of
white space in your press release — use at least one to two inch margins around your
page.
The first paragraph of your press release needs to provide the reader with enough basic
information to make them keep reading. It should answer the “W” questions — who, what,
when, and where and why. Because you’ve only got a few sentences, make every word count.
The second paragraph of your press release will answer the “so what” question. It needs to
explain who is going to be interested in this information, and why they should care about
it. The second paragraph is an ideal place to include a quote, or a touchie-feely “Kodak”
moment, to add human interest to your story.
The third (and often final) paragraph of your press release should answer any other
questions the reporter or journalist might still have about your story. Here is where you
can include information about your company, or any technical stuff.
Make your press release long enough to say what you need to say. If it goes beyond one
page, then centered under the last line on the first page, write the word “MORE” in all
caps and bold it.
Then on the second page, on the top right hand side of the page, write “Page 2″ and on the
line under that, write the title of your press release again.
Continue where you left off. When your press release is finished, put these symbols
centered under the last line “###” (without the quotation marks.) This lets the reader
know that you’re done.
That’s all there is to it. Although the information you provide will be different each
time you write a press release, the basic format will always stay the same. Now you’ve
got enough information to be able to write your first press release. So, “write” on and
good luck!
55 Hot Tips For Boosting Your Direct Marketing-Part I
Direct Marketing has to be the most exciting area of marketing. The results of a winning mailing are truly thrilling. Few things can compare with opening your mailbox to find a flood of emails or envelopes filled with orders and checks made out to you! And if you can increase the response to your offer by just a fraction of a percent, you can turn a slight profit into windfall profits.
So one of the key questions marketers always ask is, “How do I increase the response to my mailings?” In this first part of a two part article, you’ll learn 25 of the 55 excellent techniques for making sure your mailings pull a stronger response.
Not all of these techniques will work for every mailing you create. The key is to review the techniques whenever you’re planning a mailing. Pick the ones that apply to your situation and put them to work. Your bank account will be glad you did!
1. Carefully target your audience.
Sales volume can be directly connected to your ability to accurately identify your most likely customers. If necessary, create different versions of your package tailored to each specifically targeted audience.
2. Solve your customer’s most irritating problems.
Most customers don’t buy products, but they do buy solutions to problems that plague them. If your product solves a critical problem, pull out all stops to let your customers know.
3. Help your customers achieve significant goals.
This is the complement of the prior point. If you can clearly show that your product or service will make your customer’s lives easier or better, your sales volume should shoot straight up.
4. Focus on your customer’s needs, not your product.
Customers have limited interest in your product or company. But they have unlimited interest in their needs, solutions to their problems, and making their lives better. Concentrate on fulfilling their needs through the use of your product or service.
5. ALWAYS stress benefits.
Always concentrate on how your product will benefit your customers-both logically and emotionally. Hit the right hot buttons and your sales will skyrocket.
6. Repeat your key benefits in the beginning, middle, and end of your email, letter or brochure.
Tell your readers once, tell them again, and then tell them one more time. Remember, people buy benefits, not products.
7. Use the “4 to 1″ rule.
Your sales copy should contain four “you’s” to every one “I.” Customers want to hear about their number one priority-themselves. One of the best ways to convey that you understand your customer’s needs is to use plenty of “you” language.
8. Use a stop-them-in-their-tracks headline or first sentence.
Some letters and emails benefit from a headline while others don’t. Either the headline or first sentence must be very powerful in order to convince your prospects that your letter is worth reading.
9. Use sub-headings liberally.
Subheads help break up long blocks of copy. They also act as a “hot point” outline to pull the reader through the key ideas of your email or ad.
10. Seize the reader’s attention immediately.
Don’t waster space building up to your blockbuster points. Start with them. You have only a paragraph or two to convince your prospects to keep reading your letter. Give them what they need to make sure they continue.
11. Flatter your reader.
These days people are much more sophisticated when it comes to advertising. They know that you got their name from a mailing list. You can turn this fact to your advantage by using this kind of copy.
12. Share some “inside” information.
Direct mail offers a perfect opportunity to appeal to a person’s need to feel special. An ideal way to do this is to share some exclusive information. Make it clear that this offer is being made only to them.
13. Issue a personal letter from the President.
People like to deal with the person in charge. Using this type of personal message builds confidence.
14. Never end a sentence at the bottom of a page in a sales letter.
Always use a broken sentence to carry your reader forward onto the next page of your letter or email.
15. Feature the offer.
Everyone loves a good deal. Your job is to design an irresistible offer and make it a key focal point of your letter or email. A strong offer can often be the extra incentive that will convert your “maybes” to real live orders.
16. Give something away for FREE.
Free samples, trials, demonstrations, consultations, or information are all exceptional ways of getting customers to give your product or service a hands-on try. Sometimes that is all it takes to close the sale.
17. Run a contest.
Give away a free enrollment in your seminar, a free subscription to your newsletter, or anything else that appeals to your buyers.
18. Use a special “before the price increases” offer.
If you plan to raise your prices, make your regular customers a special offer at the old price for a limited time.
19. Repeat your offer.
An irresistible offer can overcome customers reluctance. State it at least twice in your email or letter, and again on your order form.
20. Make a time-limited offer.
Offer a special deal for a limited period of time. And do just that-legally you can’t continue a time-limited offer indefinitely.
21. Base your offer on a limited supply.
A close-out of your inventory can create strong demand. A limited supply offer can be used to designate exclusivity and prestige.
22. Offer a special deal to the first 100 people who order.
Or the first 25, 50, 250 and so on. But remember, the key here is to keep it to a meaningful limit as an incentive for customers to act quickly.
23. Make a charter offer.
This approach is ideal for new products, subscriptions,and service agreements. If your product isn’t new, consider starting a membership club and offering charter members special benefits.
24. Make a “last chance” offer.
Last chance at this price, inventory close-outs, and last chance before a model change can all be used to successfully win more orders.
25. “Buy 1 get 1 FREE” always outpulls “2 for the price of 1.”
Although the savings are precisely the same, the first format sounds like the customer is getting a better bargain.
As mentioned in the beginning, not all of these techniques will work for every mailing you create. The key is to review the techniques whenever you’re planning a mailing. Pick the ones that apply to your situation and put them to work.
In part two you’ll learn about boosting the pulling power of your mailings.
In the meantime you have plenty of ideas to apply in your marketing. So go to work and try them out!