A Little Applause Please 

for GOIN’ POSTAL

Moving off the beaten path for this post, I’m going (goin’) to comment on a GOOGLE Alert response phone call I received today from GOIN’ POSTAL General Manager James Hall, who oversees 300 franchise operations across the U.S.

First, GM Hall was contacting me to let me know the circumstances involved with my blog post critique last night of one of their signs. http://bit.ly/bZrolF.

I reported that an old franchise sign which emphasized “Your Friendly Neighborhood Shipping Center” as a branding theme line, had been replaced with a new one which emphasized “Our Friendly Neighborhood Shipping Center.”

The single letter difference between “Your” and “Our” is a big one! 

The old sign/new sign references I made suggested that GOIN’ POSTAL had apparently elected to take the spotlight off their customers and put it on themselves.  

While Mr. Hall acknowledged that my observations were undoubtedly correct –and noted that the thrust of my comments about what I had observed were indeed ones he “totally agreed with”–  he convinced me that the company had, in fact, not in any way abandoned its customer-centric business focus.

It turns out that the sign I saw was, Mr. Hall said, “…our typo error. All of our locations use Your.”

Last night’s blog post also pointed out that the old sign included three major corporate logos which were not on the new sign. I raised the question if GOIN’ POSTAL felt it saw no value in being partnered up with the big boys? Mr. Hall owned up quickly that the logos should not have been on the original sign to begin with because they were not legally permitted to be used.

Presumably, this is the issue that prompted a new sign to begin with.

At any rate, General Manager Hall was both the perfect gentleman and the perfect example of leadership diplomacy policy. http://bit.ly/aaNS9u.

He took the time and trouble to respond quickly and professionally. His attitude was conscientious and considerate. He expressed appreciation for bringing the issue to public attention. He owned up to the error. He explained how and why it occurred. He offered assurance that the sign would be promptly corrected. http://bit.ly/ds34iq

What more could anyone ask? A little applause, please, for GOIN’ POSTAL for being a good example of how to deal with a “bad press” issue. James Hall, you’re a credit to your company! 

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

A stupid sign is a sign 

of a stupid business.

With thinner wallets being a sign of the times, and a business with no sign being a sign of no business, there is something to be said for what other kinds of signs seem to signify. Dirty and dingy may work for a hog farm, but not a restaurant. Slick and expensive might lead you into a bank lobby, but not a nonprofit charity center.

I recently saw a sign for an orthodontist that had broken uprights for over a year. It was big-time crooked. It was big-time duct-taped.

Hmmm, not so sure about my kids going there for braces on their teeth.

Not to be outdone, a few miles up the road, another broken sign, but this one was sistered up with scrap wood which was nailed to the broken section

…for a spine surgeon.  No thanks.

Even with all things being equal in terms of sign construction, illumination, materials and craftsmanship, it’s still just the frame for the message. So what’s the message? Right! Now you’re on target. Like a website or an ad, it’s the WORDS that sell.

Your Sign Checklist. Does it:

• Attract Attention?

• Create Interest?

• Stimulate Desire?

•  Bring About Action?

• Deliver Satisfaction?

However it may do these things, it must do all of these things to be a great sign. 

For some, the message is clever. I saw this great sleuth-outfitted cartoon character on a truck today. The Sherlock-Holmes-plaid-hat-and-coat-looking guy held stuff like a magnifying glass, handsaw, marker, blueprint, and might have had a tape measure in his teeth…Take a guess???????

A genius business name:

COUNTER INTELLIGENCE

Custom Kitchen Counter Installations.

For others, stupidity rules. A smart red, white, and blue sign GOIN’ POSTAL – Your Neighborhood Shipping Center (sporting small logos for Fed Ex, UPS, and USPS to the right of the name) was leaning against the building, having just been replaced by the same red, white, and blue color sign, but THIS one in bigger letters said GOIN’ POSTAL – Our Neighborhood Shipping Center (with no logos).

They took over the neighborhood? It used to be Your Neighborhood, you the customer. Now it’s Our Neighborhood, we the franchise. From customer-centric to self-centric (Oh sure, that’s a different way to sell these days).

To top it off, must be that the big-name logos had no value to justify keeping attached to them!

If you’re going to upgrade or repaint or revise or re-word your sign, don’t wing it! It is more important than you might think. Your sign is your business 24/7. It must communicate the exact right message in the exact right way. There’s no room for error.

This is not a task to leave up to the sign company; they are all about frames and appearances; they know nothing of words. When you want a true medical evaluation of your eyes, you go to an ophthalmologist (a medical doctor), not an optician who is all about frames and appearances.

Get yourself a professional marketing writer to come up with the exact right words. You’ll have to live with them for a long time. Get them right, right from the get go.

The best signs you ever saw never came from any sign business. Guaranteed. They came from professional marketing know-how and experience. How can you be sure? Because they work! 

Does yours?   

302.933.0116    Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

It’s supposed to be

7 words or less, but

look what just 3 can do!

Take this 125-SECONDS business creativity stimulation test!

When you set out on the path to developing a branding line, slogan, themeline –whatever you want to call it– marketing experts suggest targeting seven words or less. Sounds easy until you realize they also prescribe that the seven words tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending . . . oh, yeah, and by the way, be persuasive! Yikes!

Well, in case you’re not word-challenged enough (and willing to admit it) that you decide the best route is to find yourself one of those marketers of few words to create your verbal image, here’s a simple creativity stimulation exercise:

Allow yourself five seconds of what I call “Freefall Thinking” for each of the following 25 three-word sets.

(Yes, I know that’s a whole 125 seconds out of your life, but what the hey, you’re an entrepreneur who takes reasonable risks, right? So go for it! You might surprise yourself!).

Be aware that each three-word set could be a book title — so don’t dwell on any one of them. Breeze through the list as you scribble notes to yourself, but do make a mental note of appreciation for how MUCH each three-word set can conjure up in your imagination. 

Jot down (yes, on a real, live piece of paper) the first thing about your business that comes into your mind as you read each line. No you will not be required to pass these papers in; you can stick ’em in your pocket for 21 days though, and rest assured that your notes will make  you think of something VERY exciting!

Ready. Set. Read and Jot!

• Get it done!

• Girls are smarter.

• World Wide Web.

• Not Enough Time.

• Walk this way!

• You have cancer.

• New and Improved!

• Work. Work. Work.

• It’s A Boy!

• This won’t hurt.

• Take it away!

• Make it count!

• I Love You.

• Tow-Away Zone.

• One More Round.

• Up in smoke.

• I Pledge Allegience.

• Take a vacation!

• Dog Day Afternoon.

• Wine. Women. Song.

• Around the world.

• I don’t care! 

• Aw, come on!

• Health and happiness.

• Benefits, not features!

And the winner is . . . you.

There is no scoring here. Oh, I know that’s a terrible thing for you to have put yourself through and not have some way to rate your performance. The point is that you know how hard or easy this 3-word expression association test is for you.

And you know better than anyone whether you need just a little fine-tune coaching, or to dump the whole task in a competent lap and walk away because it’s too time-consuming, or that you get it and you’ve got it, and you’ll do it yourself!

If you really do this exercise, you will:  

A) Produce some awesome idea that will have major impact on your business, and maybe even your life! (No joke about the 21 days!)

B) Prove to yourself that you really DO have a way with words and should start attacking that 7-word themeline on your own or  

C) Underscore that you are a disaster with words and creative verbal expression and it might be a very good time to start shopping around for one of those marketing wordsmith wizards.

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

A Time To Yield To Experts.

There’s light at the end of the half-full glass, and no end in sight at the half-empty one! And you thought you were in a tunnel? Maybe you are. Maybe the glass is sitting empty on the shelf, or maybe it’s so full, it’s spilling over the top. Maybe that tunnel is one-way.

Confused yet?

How sure are you that your branding and marketing messages are not equally confusing to your customers and prospects? If what you are saying to your target market about your business is not transparently clear, you lose. Period.

Many entrepreneurs mistakenly believe they’re great marketers because they have a great idea. They think they can write great slogans because they’ve spent years getting back pats from warm, fuzzy, encouraging friends and family.

The problem with this is that support like that unwittingly lends credibility to the incredulous, and the entrepreneurs involved take the tacit approvals as further encouragement to pursue their hair-brained schemes and lunatic ventures. It fuels their ego fires.

And, yes, some of those ideas truly are gems–diamonds in the rough–and family and friend nurturing can lead to ill-founded yet awe-inspiring optimism that ultimately anchors many successful new businesses. 

BUT, if you’re confused about how to best express your business thoughts in a captivating manner, imagine how confused those you seek to captivate might be?

The vast majority of small business marketing messages are misdirected, convoluted, not memorable and overly braggadocio.You know the ones who thump their chests . . . 

“We’re the best, the greatest, the finest and most quality-conscious, the most economical, the most customer service conscious, the oldest, the largest, the most traditional, the most modern, the most forward-thinking. We’re the good ole boys. Our family business tradition goes back to the Ice Age (Stone Age?). We’ve been on the Internet since 1999. We support our community. We back up our promises. We guarantee our work. Count on us. We do it all!”  

WHOOP-EE for you, but sooo what? Nobody cares!! 

Being a positive, optimistic, and exceptional  business leader means recognizing that the customer IS always right WITHOUT– short of physical threats or violence--EXCEPTION. Successful businesses literally REVOLVE AROUND the customer.

Successful entrepreneurs are those who fully grasp and understand the need to nurture everyone (customers AND employees AND suppliers) around them in addition to their product and service ideas.

SUCCESSFUL Entrepreneuring…

• The successful business entrepreneur functions from a position of strength, but recognizes her or his limitations and takes steps to shore up those areas with other’s strengths. 

• The successful business entrepreneur sees people (as well as his or her idea) as the business’s most important asset.

• She or he makes a conscious effort to be positive, optimistic, straightforward, appreciative, and motivational in EVERY single encounter with EVERY person EVERY day. . . exercising authenticity, giving full attention, respect, empathy, and providing solution direction guidance. 

• This means understanding that being genuine 24/7 is not necessarily an easy behavior, but that behavior is a choice. 

Delivering confusing messages to a target market can be worse than delivering no message at all. People will not easily or quickly forget marketing message mistakes. So marketing is just one more place to recruit and rely on professional skills.

An experienced outsider will almost always do a better job of clarifying direction and eliminating marketing message confusion than the business creator.

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

She Tweets Me,

She Tweets Me Not,

She Tweets Me,

She Tweets Me Not,

She Tweets Me…

Howcum all we 30 million small business owners only ever hear about using Twitter and Facebook comes to us in useless abstract terms?

Do we really care about all the bundles of tech apps and clever little increase-your-overnight-income opps? And how credible are the sources that bombard us with such meaningless, time-wasting minutia? Is there really a business owner anywhere on the planet who actually buys into the daily onslaught of claims being foisted on us by self-anointed “social media experts”?

Surely those online businesses that promise 27,943 new followers a day or 16 million new fans a year can’t be serious? Why is it that mixed in with these thousands of clowns, there is only a handful of resources that truly teach the only information that’s really needed in order to be successful with social media marketing messages?

When was the last time you saw a

good run-down of things to avoid,

when trying to market your business

on Twitter and Facebook?

What’s acceptable as social media business content is far different than what you might put on your website, or in an email blast or a news release or a traditional ad or commercial. More importantly, it is far different than the “socializing” climate that most Twitter and Facebook users indulge in.

I have seen countless scores of respectable businesses stumbling through trying to manage Facebook content (text/words/copy/photos) that is tasteless, vulgar, trashy and often filled with curse words posted by disgruntled employees or vendors, and even by young adult children of the business owner or manager.

Marketing your business on Facebook requires persistent (often constant) ongoing attention and maintenance to ensure that others who don’t share your sense of business decorum are not invading your site with negative associations while you sleep.

Business users of Twitter are not as subjected to outside influence because Twitter is an outbound media vehicle, where people can –like ships in the night– respond to your passing business message with their own passing message but they can’t invade your business message space with negative input.

Facebook, on the other hand, is an inbound media vehicle that allows outsiders to post virtually anything they choose whenever they choose, and it ends up plastered right there next to your carefully constructed heartfelt business message, serving to undermine your business credibility until it can be spotted and removed.

What this distills down to is that business marketing applications in social media can be very effective when they are carefully planned and monitored daily. Yes, daily.

You may think you’re above all that, and are 

capable of simply “winging it.” Think again.

You can’t let other Twitter users provoke you into a debate (or even a one-time comment) about politics or religion unless these subject areas are part of your business foundation.

Don’t believe me? Try it once; your “Followers” will drop like flies. Business-focused Twitter users appreciate business-focused and/or motivational messages, but if those same people do not like your politics, or posts you might make about other taboo subjects (racial profiling, sexism, abortion, anything that’s highly-charged), they will cut you out of their contact base in an instant.

Like joining a game or contest that’s already in progress, enter slowly and politely until you have a clear reading on the unwritten rules. Then plan accordingly and be prepared to stay on top of it every day.

Oh, and please always remember to say “Please”

and especially “Thank you.” Thank you! 

 931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What you target

for your business

may not be healthy!

Think of it this way: You really want a bacon-wrapped sausage smothered in melted cheese on a slice of buttered white bread with side orders of scrapple and syrup, chili cheese fries , Buffalo wings and onion rings with ranch dressing, finished off with deep-fried cream-filled chocolate cookies and a glass of buttermilk . . .

Uh, if that description makes your mouth water and you decide to head out to some nearby junk-food drive-in, make it one that’s very close to the Arizona, Indiana or Pennsylvania Heart Institutes, or the Mayo Clinic, and be sure your health insurance is paid up! “C’mon, Hal,” you say, “nobody is that dumb who would eat like that.” I have 2-words for you: Observe People!

Not only does stupidity find it’s way to the dinner table (or car-hop tray…yes, there are still car-hops!), but it’s also often used as an excuse for not knowing better because the excuse-giver is too preoccupied being a workaholic to worry about stuff like tumors, and fat, and stents, and clots, and cancer. But being smart doesn’t mean being worried. Worry only achieves stress.

Why all of this banter? Because many small business owners and entrepreneurs who do take care of themselves and who at least make an effort to eat and sleep right, fail miserably when it comes to sizing up what’s best for their businesses. Some who do a nice job of being realistic enough to recognize their own mortality seem to think their businesses are invincible.

“Whaddaya mean this is a bad time for a bank loan? Can’t you see that this idea of mine will revolutionize the whole wind-shield wiper blade industry?”

“These services my family and I have been providing have worked like a charm for a hundred small businesses. Now it’s time to go get those corporate giants with the bailout money. Business is business, right? Just because they’re bigger doesn’t mean they can’t benefit as well.”

I spoke recently with restaurant chef/ owner partners who decided to be able to outdo the competition and market “farm to table” freshness, they would get up at 4 am every day and drive around to nearby farms themselves to hand-pick what they would cook for each meal. Considering they weren’t getting to bed until midnight, you can imagine the rest of that story. . .

                                                                     

If any of these examples causes you to think: So what’s wrong with those ideas?, you should maybe consider going back to the opening paragraph and head on out for one of those tasty meals. If you think these are all nut case examples, you should probably join the guy in the last sentence.

If it’s time for you to get with it, and adopt a more realistic attitude toward your business pursuits, then do it! It’s a choice. Behavior is a choice. You need to “stick to your knitting” when business times get tough. Rushing into anything is not generally a productive way to cope with an economy as catastrophic as this.

Use the time and energy instead to plan for when things get better (hopefully after November) and to make the most of what you have right now. Give customers more for their money and bite the bullet. Give employees increased responsibility and recognition instead of pay raises. Give suppliers consolidated orders you put together with other businesses to get better rates and discounts.

Switch your marketing emphasis from high-priced media buys to free social media and news release opportunities and find people who can help you make those work. Dress up and upgrade your website instead of trying to expand or add locations. Stay tuned into your industry, profession and markets on a day-to-day basis. Outsource tasks that take time and attention away from selling. 

 www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What keeps small business

owners awake at night?

With appreciation for the inspiration for this post to Meredith Bell info@2020insight.net (publisher of a great free weekly self-development newsletter titled GOLDEN EGGS), based on yesterday’s conversation with Meredith about what keeps CEO’s awake at night.

As recently as three years ago this past May, a respectable study identified worrying about the caliber and extent of employee skills to get the jobs done that needed to be done (I’m paraphrasing here) as the number one reason that CEOs were unable to sleep at night.

But the economic impact on business was nowhere near as catastrophic at that time, and consumers were nowhere near as rambunctious.

Today’s business owners and managers are losing sleep over the inability of their business’s marketing efforts to keep up with the break-neck speed of change in the consumer marketplace (and slightly slower-to-respond industrial and professional service marketplaces). Wasn’t it just yesterday that $137 Kindle electronic readers were $400?

Without belaboring what’s prompted all the consumer scrambling for better greener quality with better warranty coverage at lower prices and faster delivery with improved customer service –because everyone is acutely aware of the maddening pace of information access and exchange– suffice it to say that marketing tools, methods, approaches, and people must rise to the occasion.

The place to start is at the point of word creation. If the words you use to market your business don’t work, nothing else can work.

If the words you’re using aren’t doing the job, it doesn’t matter how dramatic your graphic designs are, how friendly your website is, what fantastic salespeople you have, how terrific your operations are, how low your overhead is, how many awards you’ve won, or how spectacularly your products and services perform.

It doesn’t matter.

What does matter are the words you use to get your prospects and customers to be aware of and buy into all of those assets of yours.

Business owners need to be evaluating their market performance daily, not quarterly or monthly, or even weekly.

In this centrifuge of market activity — unless you enjoy being thrown up against a high-speed spinning back wall, anything less than some form of daily analysis will not leave you enough time to adjust today what did or didn’t happen yesterday.

This doesn’t mean you need to get yourself caught up in some kind of delirium and start behaving like The Mad Hatter. It means you need to keep a sharper eye on the changes that are taking place, even as you read this, and be prepared to make adjustments if and when and as they become necessary . . . not a month later. 

Except for branding themes and policies, marketing words can be changed in a day! If your words are not doing what you need them to be doing this morning, change them tonight.

It’s true that one word is worth a thousand pictures. Not convinced? Consider how many images your mind can produce when you see or hear any of the following words:

• AMERICA
• TODDLER
• GORGEOUS
• STRESS
• FREE
• HAPPY
• HOME
• NOW
• HEALTHY
• NEW
• LOVE
• WATERFRONT
• BIRTHDAY
• PUPPY   

 www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Do your business messages 

reach out and grab? 

Do they win meaningless awards?

Or do they just lurk quietly in the

shadows, sucking their thumbs?

Time and again , the slick-talking, 3-piece-suit, hot-shot marketing and ad agency “experts” came swooping and swaggering down into small town America from big city America, and stuck it to star-struck, bedazzled small business owners who learned the hard way that all that’s written doesn’t sell!”

                                                                    

Do your business sales messages sell? Have you been blaming the economy, the competition, the weather and your spouse for lousy words that simply don’t cut it?

Do the words and images your business uses to sell your products and services reach out and grab your ideal prospects and turn them into loyal customers? Or do they stand timidly in the shadows of your business entrance, with their thumbs stuck in their mouths, muttering quietly to themselves about how great your company is?

If your words aren’t getting the job done, you have a copywriting catastrophe, and you are paying dearly for it!

If the words you are using to market, promote, publicize and advertise your business are not attracting attention, creating interest, stimulating desire, prompting action, and promoting satisfaction, you have a copywriting catastrophe. And you are paying dearly for it with more money, time, and effort than your business can afford.

First, you have to ask yourself if the person or entity who’s creating and producing your business messages has the right kind of skill, experience, and attitude to put you front and center on the competitive stage you most want to dominate — your neighborhood, your community, your state, region, industry, profession, nation, planet, or cyberspace.

Next, you need to outline or bulletpoint your goal issues. Be specific, flexible, realistic, and have a deadline.

Then go shopping. But battle-hardened advice would suggest that you avoid flashy Las Vegas-style or upscale “boutique” organizations that ooze out of high rent districts in favor of down-home, in-the-trenches wordsmiths with lots of business background (but not necessarily in your specific industry or business specialty), lots of diverse success stories, and a clear positive attitude.

You want a person or team that is more interested in making sales for you than in winning awards for her/him/themselves. You want a person or team that sees the long-term promise of a relationship with your business and is willing to put a meaningful chunk of fee compensation on a performance incentive basis. A bonus for demonstrated results puts a fire under most butts.

Great copywriting will do more than win sales. It can ignite innovative thinking and create revenue streams. It can reassure existing customers while bringing new ones to your door. It can motivate employees and suppliers alike. The right words can renew. revitalize and pump up entrepreneurial spirits. But, sorry, they can’t make your coffee for you. Cream and sugar?

# # #

302.933.0116    Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

  ~~~The TXTMSG

Line in the Sand~~~

Are you really sure you understand your target market?

Are you still selling what you’ve always sold the same ways you’ve always sold? Are you using the same best sets of words in the same tone of voice? Still giving the same premiums and discounts and “special” offers, the same warranties and reassurances? Still emphasizing the same benefits and features?

If your answer to any of these questions is leaning even just a little bit toward yes, odds are you have either gotten lazy, have not been keeping up with the times, have not been sizing up your target market the right way, or you’ve been spending too much time in Disneyland.

Let’s eliminate the first and last choices and assume you are being conscientious, but have maybe lost touch with some of what’s going on in your customer (buyer) and consumer (user) markets (which of course are sometimes one in the same and sometimes different). Consider this:

They seemingly cannot

                                       

function for more than

                                    

a  couple of minutes

                                 

without looking to see

                                  

if they are receiving a

                                      

text message.”

                       — Fred Hertrich, Professor of political science, Middlesex (NJ) County College,   describing one of the prevailing winds in today’s college student population – to underscore: 1) the frustration of many teachers trying to deal with rooms full of distracted people and 2) the necessity of today’s faculties to communicate with students electronically.  

(East Brunswick, NJ, Home News Tribune, 8/21/10)

Has the prospective customer or consumer you seek most to influence crossed the line of electronic literacy? “But,” you say. “I’m not selling electronics!” Perhaps, but you are selling to people who are either electronics-literate or not.

Computer savviness is no longer the guide (unless you’re selling to nursing home residents) because everyone knows something about computers. The place where the line is drawn in the sand is:

THE TXTMSG LINE

Most older-than-45 people can and do use cell phones, check websites, visit blogs, send emails, search Bing and Google, and purchase online. Most know how to use WORD and many use Twitter and Facebook. But very few of these folks text message because they grew up in a different world.

Older Americans learned that “correct” and “proper” communication depends on neat handwriting and that spelling, punctuation, and grammar are paramount ingredients. Lax email messaging is about as far as these folks will comfortably stray. Texting is to them like “Emails Gone Wild!” and too “teeny-bopper” cult-like to be able to relate to.

Well, that may not mean anything to you, unless you’re targeting 20-somethings or 60-somethings, who clearly will not respond positively to the same old kinds of messages delivered in the same old ways. It’s not a bad idea to periodically step back and reassess what you’re saying to whom, and how you’re saying it.

Think of it as a

GR8 NU WAY 2 C HOW UR MAKIN UR PT.

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Nine “Do Not” lessons

learned from 30+ years 

of sales-winning advertising

I know, accenting the negative isn’t always the best thing, but if you know what NOT to do, it’s a lot easier to figure out what you can and should do. I don’t pretend to know what you can and should do, but I sure can tell you what I’ve found out that doesn’t work (and throw in a few hints about stuff I know that works better!).

Here’s the scoop:

1. Do NOT advertise that you have integrity, or even about what wonderful integrity-inspiring things you or your business have done. When you conduct business at all levels with a high-trust approach and attitude, you will gain or boost a reputation for integrity that speaks for itself!

2. (…and this is really #1): Here is the single most difficult marketing, advertising, sales and PR challenge to face for all businesses everywhere (yes, you did indeed read that right: “all businesses everywhere”)– ready for this? — Do NOT promote how great you are to the rest of the world. Nobody cares. Well, maybe your mother cares, but nobody else does.

3. Do NOT get too cutesy. Readability must come before cleverness in font (lettering) use and treatments (Italics, boldfacing, spacing, underlining, shadowing, using a horseshoe for the letter “U” or crossed swords for “X” or an egg for “O”…etc.). And don’t trust a designer to worry about readability; most have no training or experience in how to design with and around text, especially branding lines.

4. Do NOT emphasize product and service features. Nobody buys features. People buy benefits. Make sure your marketing, advertising, sales, promotion and PR efforts focus on benefits — on answering the question, what’s in it for me?

5. Do NOT buy into fancy dog and pony presentations that stress how the work a creative service provider individual or organization or group or team can do for you will put you head and shoulders above the rest of your industry or profession. Get rid of creative service providers who seem more interested in winning awards for themselves than in making sales for you. Use performance incentives.

6. Do NOT ever accept a media rate that’s printed on a “rate card” or “rate sheet.” Think of it as the asking price for a house just put on the market this morning. Media people who aren’t willing to work with your budget aren’t worth your time and consideration. There are always other ways to market your business.

7. Do NOT try to hand-off advertising/marketing/PR responsibilities to someone who works with you because they articulate well or can write a mean email. And don’t try to do it yourself unless it’s what you specialize in. Remember that there are two success keys involved: writing skill and psychology expertise. Persuading customer and prospect brains is what it’s all about. 

8. Do NOT communicate too little or too much. Ask prospects and customers what they think the right amount of information is. Have someone who’s experienced at it run a focus group for you to get these answers, and to test alternative marketing approaches. 7 target market representatives for an hour works for this purpose. Give each a $20-$25 value reward for their participation.

9. Do NOT “settle” for ads, commercials, websites, landing pages, blogs, brochures, news releases, or social media executions or strategies that don’t feel right! If you don’t feel sure about something, remember it’s your business. Your gut instinct is your best decision maker.   

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!