Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 29 July 19, 1999

In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Writing Killer Internet Ads Like the Pros in the Year 2000 by Bob Silber

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) TIME SAVING TIP

6) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: Reducing Goal Conflict by William N Hodges

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

Today's feature article discusses the importance of great ad copy. The truth is, without a great headline and compelling copy, our ads (and our advertising money) are wasted. Go through the steps below and test yourself to make sure you're completing the process. If you're getting stuck for good "action" words for your headlines, the Internet Marketing Warriors' site has a great list of "keywords" that are guaranteed to explode your response rates...http://www.privatesites.com/warriors.cgi?LR2286

Writing Killer Internet Ads Like the Pros in the Year 2000 Copyright 1999 Marketing Magic Online by Bob Silber http://www.webhello.com/marketing All Rights Reserved.

The sole purpose of any marketing communication is to get the reader to take action. Whether it is to request additional information, visit your web site, or to send in an order. Before you write one word you must be clearly focused on this goal.

As you write each sentence and paragraph evaluate it. Ask yourself whether what you are writing will compel your reader to act.

Resist the temptation to tell the reader how great you or your company are. That is not your purpose. Stay focused and evaluate your objective every step of the way.

THE SECRET- LEARN FROM THE PROS FOR FREE:

All of us are subjected to a continuing barrage of ads throughout our day. Ads on the radio, the television, magazines, newspapers, billboards, signs and the Internet. The majority of those ads you skip right over. Your mind's subconscious just ignores it.

Occasionally one catches our eye and we read it. When that happens you have struck gold. If it is in the traditional print media, cut the ad out. If it is on the Internet print a copy. Save it for later study.

When you have time analyze it. What elements of the ad did you find interesting enough to make you take the time to read it? Make notes and use it as an aid in creating your own ads.

Now, here is what really should get you excited. Of the small percentage of the ads that catch your eye, on the internet, there is an even rarer commodity among them. That is when you find an ad that makes you want to spend your hard earned money on more information. When you are tempted to dig into your pocket you should jump up and down with joy. You have just found an extraordinary and precious gem.

Take that ad or presentation and study it over and over. Perform an autopsy. Pick it apart. Analyze it. Turn it inside out. Find out what makes it tick. These ads are priceless learning experiences.

What elements of the ad did you find compelling enough to make you want to take your money and part with it? What particular wording grabbed you? What part of the presentation was irresistible to you? Make notes of your analysis and use similar methods for your own presentation.

THE HEADLINE:

The wording of your ad and subsequent presentation is the most important single factor in determining the success of the inquiries you receive.

It's what you say and how you say it that determines whether your ads work or not. It pays to give a great deal of time, thought and research to the actual wording of the headline as well at the ad copy.

The decision as to the type of wording is the key to more sales. Headlines must have dynamic, powerful, grabbing power. The headline has to get the reader to look at your ad and then make the reader curious enough to read further. Sub-headlines are also very important, especially in your subsequent presentation, where the ad copy is long.

THE CONTENT- BENEFITS & FEATURES:

Know who you are trying to reach and what that customer wants. How can they benefit by what you have to offer.

Features of the product or service, such as how fast you deliver something, what color it is, or how it can be assembled are less important to the buyer than the benefits to them of having the product.

The benefit of sitting on your new outdoor lounge chair, in your yard, on a beautiful evening, enjoying the nice breeze and a cool beverage are far more important than the fact that this product comes in different colors, and is delivered in two weeks.

That is why the automobile manufacturers spend millions of dollars on commercials showing their beautiful car cruising around a beautiful area, driven by a beautiful model. There is no presentation on the features such as gas mileage or color.

Of course, there are many ways in which you can turn features into benefits by wording them as such.

THE CLOSING:

Marketers know you must direct the person to act now. Even where the prospect decides he needs what you are offering, most people by nature will not act on the offer immediately, unless you give them a reason to do it now. Urge them to act now. Provide them with a reason to act immediately. You have seen the phrases used to overcome this inherent procrastination trait.

"This is a limited offer."

"This offer good only if you act in the next five days."

"Act now and receive these bonuses and free gifts."

"If you are one of the first ten people to order..."

Make the offer and ask for the order. Give a compelling reason why the prospect should act, now.

TESTIMONIALS:

Testimonials for your product or service are important once you get the prospects to the presentation. We all have a fear of making a mistake. Seeing the responses of satisfied customers puts our minds at ease and helps eliminate the fear that may be standing in the way of responding to the presentation.

GUARANTEE:

If at all possible offer a guarantee. Remove the risk from ordering and your sales will increase dramatically. Marketers find that there is a low return to sales ratio. The increase in sales that flows from a money back guarantee more than makes up for the few returns, with a good product.

FOLLOW-UP:

One of the most important aspects in closing the sale is the follow-up email. Many people who are interested in a product or service don't buy right away. The follow-up contacts will increase sales dramatically. You should have a series of follow-up email presentations that can be sent at various intervals to the initial inquiries.

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Article by Robert Silber, owner of Marketing Magic Online. Marketing Magic Online is a web site providing free articles and content for online marketing and promotion. Their free newsletter is dedicated to your online success with tips, ideas & resources to increase your online profits. Visit or subscribe at http://www.webhello.com/marketing/welcom14.htm

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"Go With The Flow"

Where do you do most of your waiting?

Do you get tied up in the same traffic jam every day? Do you find yourself looking for things online and waiting forever for them to download? Do you have the same delays with the same person all the time?

Change your schedule to allow for these. Download at different times. Take a different route to the office, or change your schedule to miss that traffic jam. Put the tardy person on notice.

I worked with a fellow who scheduled a regular 4:00 meeting with the same group every Thursday. Every Thursday I heard one of those people ask him the same question: "What time is our 4:00 meeting today?" The answer was never 4:00!

While the others in the group were sitting around waiting and complaining, he was getting things done. You can't change traffic patterns or control how other people handle things. You CAN control how you choose to deal with them.

Watch for the predictable delays. Schedule around them.

Reprinted from TalkBiz News. To subscribe (It's free), send any email to mailto:Newsletter@TalkBiz.com

REDUCING GOAL CONFLICT Copyright 1998 William N Hodges, used by permission.

Dreaming gives us goals, but effort and organization allow us to reach them. It is sad that so many people drift through life with only the first half of the goal process completed. They have a dream!

To change a dream into a reality, we must first compare this particular dream with others that we might have. In fact, there are at least five areas of our lives we should compare our dream to, to see if it is in conflict with dreams in progress. Actually, the minute we put effort into achieving our dreams, it becomes a goal. So our first step in conversion will be to make the appropriate comparisons.

We must look at the areas of our lives where we should have goals and where they may come into conflict. These are occupation, finance, education, social, family, and religion/moral philosophy.

For instance, if my new dream-which is on its way to becoming a goal-to increase my income by 30 percent requires me to be gone three weekends out of a month, it will conflict with some previously set goals. It will conflict, in the family area, with my goal to spend weekends with my family. It might even conflict with a goal in the religious area to attend church on a regular basis, and a goal in the social area to play golf on Saturday. To STRETCH a point, it might also prevent me from attending weekend classes at the university and derail my educational goal of earning a PHD. One tiny change and four major areas of goal setting in my life could be disrupted.

The best way to get started is to commit your goals to writing. Once you have written all of your goals down, sort them into categories. To do this, take six sheets of paper and label them with the six areas discussed above. Look at each goal and determine in which category to place it. Now look carefully and note whether any of the goals are in conflict.

Goal setting for one person is bad enough but, when we add additional people to the matrix, we increase the complexity of the process. If you are doing this with a spouse or business partner, compare your list with theirs. In fact, the best thing is to combine the lists to see if they are at all compatible. Remember, after the marriage is not the time to find out that your family list has a goal of six children, and she has written and highlighted in red "no children" on hers-especially since she is the one who would have them.

It is not a difficult process to write down, categorize, and then compare your goal list for conflicts, but it is a very important one. Many a marriage or business partnership would have profited from doing this exercise before saying, "I do." The process helps us to see the resources required to achieve our goals and where those resources will have to come from. It is at that point that we can make the value judgments necessary to press on or change course.

Goal setting is not always easy but it is always necessary. Why not start today?

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Bill Hodges is nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and columnist. If you enjoyed this article, you will enjoy his book Within Your Reach which contains 60 such articles on positive thinking available either in print or a three cassette audio tape. If ordering from your local bookstore, .reference ISBN #0-9622717-0-5, or you may order directly by sending your check for $4.95 USCurrency plus ($1.30 USA $3.00 Other)for the printed book or $20.00 plus ($3.00 USA $6.00 other) for shipping to Hodges Seminars International, P O Box 22 Fairborn OH 45324. Or order by Visa or Mastercharge at his Web site http://www.BillHodges.com

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