Posted by:
Daniel Levis
August 6, 2008
Issue #475
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Despite all the doom and gloom we’re hearing these days about corporate bankruptcies … recession … collapsing currencies … skyrocketing fuel costs and inflation … and the wholesale slashing and burning of thousands of jobs in America today … not everyone is feeling the crunch.
More kitchen-table millionaires are emerging from the carnage than at any other period in history …
For those who understand the true nature of the gut-wrenching change our world is struggling through … there has never been a better time to enter the entrepreneurial fray with both guns blazing.
A whole new, Internet-enabled way of doing business is emerging … while the old-guard, industrial-age way of doing business is cracking at the seams.
You see it happening all around you. And nowhere is it more apparent than at the customer touch points of commerce … where consumers are rebelling against the old guard in ever increasing numbers.
Sales and profits at such companies will be pummeled into oblivion. Many will simply cease to exist as their customers go running to a whole new breed of business that beats to an entirely different drummer.
One of the driving forces behind this consumer revolt is the fact that the world has become astonishingly more competitive.
Rapid advancements in communications and computing technology are making vertical integration unnecessary, thereby toppling barriers to business entry.
The trend is toward smaller, nimbler, horizontally-integrated businesses.
Where in the past, transactional fiction meant a company sought to control as many of the elements of production and distribution as it possibly could … centralizing command … standardizing products … concentrating resources … and gobbling up capital to acquire other companies in an eternal quest for “economies of scale” … these things are in many cases no longer an advantage.
Now a guy in his basement can create a virtual corporation based almost entirely on outsourcing, often with little or no outside funding.
Invariably these small, horizontally-integrated businesses find it much easier to stay focused on what really matters — finding and keeping customers. While the large, vertically-integrated dinosaurs worry about such things as shareholder value, mergers and acquisitions, and frantically struggle to rescue the bottom line.
Is it just me, or have you noticed the flagrant disregard for customers displayed by these old guard companies lately?
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Posted by:
Troy White
June 27, 2008
Issue #447
In this issue:
- The easiest way to win over your prospects and convince them to buy from you for the first time …
- Small Business Mastery readers speak out …
- Templates and samples to use for creating your own sales system …
- And Much More!
Fellow Business Builder,
Thank you for your excellent response to my article “How to Write Lead Generation Display Ads”. Some of your comments hit a note with me and I first wanted to address these before moving on to the actual templates for creating your display ads.
Steve had said “I never even thought of doing non-traditional small display ads. I feel like a fool.”
My thoughts to you Steve are – don’t feel like a fool – feel like an awakening! Most people look at display ads in a certain way, and it can be difficult to see new ways of looking at them. Which is the problem. After seeing hundreds of display ads in a day or week, all following the same useless format, it’s no wonder we have a tough time seeing the alternatives. This approach works really well for small businesses. It is simple to implement. And it gets you solid results. Try it out and please let us know how it goes.
Olan said “Great article Troy. One question: Where is the Ad for the house painter that you wrote? I don't see it in this article.”
Hi Olan. As Mr. Burns (from the Simpsons) would say – eeeeexxxxxcellent! My house painter advertisement was so deceptive you didn’t even notice it was an ad! The point to running this type of ad in the Yellow Pages is to make it look like an article or warning notice. In the middle of all those same-old-same-old type of ads – yours will be the one and only that looks like something useful to those in need.
Carolyn said “I just finished writing a space ad for a company using this approach. I suggested they offer five free special reports, thinking that at least one of the five would hit a hot button and get the phones ringing. You can tell me if you think that was too much.”
Hi Carolyn. My personal thoughts are for you to space out all the reports and send them individually. Rather than receive all five at once (which chances are they won’t read them all) – send them 7-10 days apart. The overwhelm factor may kick in with too many at once, so this gives you multiple opportunities for follow up. But, this is something you need to test. With 100 of the leads – test sending each separately. With the next 100 send two at a time. The next 100 – all at once. See which version works best. (You must track everything you do to ensure the winner.)
Great questions and comments – thank you!
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Posted by:
Troy White
June 20, 2008
Issue #442
In this issue:
- The Small Business ATM Machine - or the curse of the advertising sales rep?
- Silliness 101 and why most small businesses are fed up with their marketing and Yellow Pages efforts
- The 3 proven rules for writing a money churning display ad for any business
- And Much More!
Fellow business builder,
Over the past 5 years, I have noticed a very scary thing with small business owners. They tend to believe the people who are selling them advertising space! Considering that most advertising sales reps know very little about direct response (or even how to spell it), and that they are paid on the space they sell - not the results their clients get … there couldn’t be a worse place to get advertising advice.
Yet, a decent Yellow Pages ad or small display ad can bring in a constant stream of paying clients.
Today I want to discuss how effective display ads can be used for the average house painter, massage therapist, Laundromat, restaurant, printing company, etc.
These are not the type of ads that Clayton would be writing - these are much easier for the typical small business owner to write, and run themselves.
Small display ads …
You see them everywhere!
They are plastered all over the local newspapers.
They are in the phone book.
They are on the Internet.
They are used as brochures.
They are used in e-mail promotions.
They are used on eBay listings.
They are used on web pages.
They are used as handouts.
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Posted by:
Troy White
April 8, 2008
Issue #391
In this issue:
-
The color-blind artist success secret …
-
Selling lobsters at 3X the price you can get them anywhere else …
-
10 KEY ways to double, triple, even quadruple your price …
-
And Much More!
Fellow Business Builder,
I just returned from a week long trip to Nashville for Dan Kennedy’s Superconference.
With over 1,200 people there, it was quite the mad house – but an incredible learning experience. One of the biggest things I was reminded of here was the power of price, and how your positioning can impact the price that you get.
With all the hullabaloo in the press about a recession — some are calling it stagflation — many people are stressing out and worried about the business environment they will be living in over the next 6 to 12 months.
Some people there are cutting their prices, but a significant number of people are doing the opposite – raising their prices. I am going through this again myself – everything from my products, my seminars and my copy services are going up.
So how do you determine if your price is in line
or if it needs a little bump up
to position yourself differently?
Let me start with a little story.
Last year, I hosted a small business summit in Calgary and under-priced it. I had a good turnout, but many of the people there had no clue on the immense value they received.
One lady from last year actually e-mailed me recently to ask about this year’s event – the price is double last year’s – and she thinks it is too high. In thinking through my response – and what she got last year for the price, I realized that it wasn’t her fault for thinking this – it was my fault for pricing it too low and giving the wrong impression of what they got for that price.
Many of you here will know the name Ted Nicholas – one of the grand daddies of direct response advertising and a living legend in the copywriting world. I flew Ted and his wife Bethany all the way from Switzerland to speak at the event last year … the first time he had been back to Canada in many years. He usually only speaks at $3,000 - $5,000 seminars – mine was a fraction of that price.
So it was completely my own doing that the perceived value wasn’t high enough in the eyes of many of those in attendance. That said, there were quite a few who realized what they received for the price they paid – usually people who had been to an event like that before.
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Posted by:
Troy White
April 1, 2008
Issue #386
In this issue:
-
The F*@!#N dinner campaign that broke all kind of sales records …
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Getting a 50% response rate to a one time mailer …
-
How to leverage “the diaper mailer” …
-
And Much More!
Fellow Business Builder,
A Direct Mail Information Service survey found that 78 percent actually want to get mailings from you. Combine that with your own highly targeted campaigns — ones that make full use of your customer data — and you’ve got a winning combination.
Just to add fuel to the fire:
- 70% of Generation Y have stated that they respond to print direct mail (vs. 68% Generation X and 61% Boomers) – 2007 Veritas Customer Focus.
- 90% will open their mail if it looks interesting or intriguing (vs. 84% will open it if it has their name on it) – NOTE: people are more likely to open it if it looks interesting than if it has their name on it – Consumer Attitudes Towards Direct Mail Study.
- 163% are more likely to buy from a website if they see a printed direct mail piece than if they saw digital e-mail only – 2007 Multichannel Direct Mail Study, comScore Inc.
- 73% prefer print direct mail for offers and information – only 18% said they prefer e-mail.
- Those who received a promotional product in a dimensional package responded at a rate that was 57% higher than those who received the same promotional product in an envelope - Baylor University.
- Response rates for the dimensional package recipients were 75% higher than for the group who received only a sales letter - Baylor University.
People WANT to be intrigued by your mailing piece
– Is regular print cutting it?
Take Knorr’s new launch of a frozen food line.
First, they know exactly what people typically think of frozen meals – ugh. Blah. Not very tasty. So they used that as part of their campaign.
Second, they pushed the edge a little – especially when you consider they are quite a traditional company – not exactly ones to push it that far.
They wanted to target a younger audience than they were used to (those less likely to want to spend their time in the kitchen cooking a gourmet dinner).
But they also wanted to target a 25-35 year old professional women, one who enjoys a glass of wine over dinner.
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