Bright Ideas # 92 - Learning from Other's Advertising Mistakes

Just the other day, I was reading a copy of Costco magazine (that's the mag put out by the discount warehouse of the same name). In it, they have a section called "Ask David Horowitz", and I was stunned by one of the questions featured in this issue.

Normally, David answers questions about things like what to do if your TV repairman broke your TV. Or, what to do when your insurance won't cover some of your medical bills.

But this month the question was one near and dear to my marketing heart...

A reader wrote, "I placed an ad for my small business in an education publication. After one month, I haven't received any response. I haven't paid the $2610 bill yet, but it's due.
The ad rep told me they have a subscriber base of 100,000, but I have doubts about the circulation. What can I do?"

Mr. Horowitz states that circulation numbers are usually noted in the front, and it's important to verify these before placing an ad. If the reader can prove the circulation was misrepresented she has grounds to not pay the ad bill.

Although this is sound advice, I really think this wasn't a question for David H.

Because I suspect the reason why she didn't get any response has little, if anything, to do with the educational magazine's circulation numbers. After all, if her ad was effective, it'd get response whether circulation was 1000 or 100,000.

If you've read my last two newsletters, you already know that a good bit of thought and planning needs to go into an ad if you want it to generate response. Though I'll be the first to admit I haven't seen this woman's ad, my guess is that the problem lies in one of three places: the ad itself, the product she is selling, or how she communicates with the market she is targeting.

So this week I thought I'd offer you a few more tips on advertising so you don't end up in the same boat--$2610 in the hole with nothing to show for it.

------
Don't Make These Costly Marketing Mistakes
------

1) The first mistake this woman made was to put all her advertising eggs in one very expensive basket. It's always better to place many small ads as opposed to one big one.

After all, research shows that, on average, you have to see an ad seven times before you even notice it. Then up to seven more times before you take action on it. And that assumes you are in the target market and this is something you are looking for.

One ad placed for one month isn't going to cut the mustard.

Keep in mind that with most marketing and advertising, a 1-2% response rate is considered good. So if a magazine's circulation is 100,000, you can reasonably expect 1000 responses...Assuming the magazine's readers are in your target market and want what you are selling.

2) This leads to my next point. All too often, entrepreneurs create products they know people need. But, they don't know whether people WANT them enough to buy. And you can't sell people what they don't want--no matter how badly they might need it.

That's where testing comes in. It's important to get your product out in a limited fashion and test response before blowing thousands on advertising.

Testing helps you target the right market. It lets you see which benefits your market finds most compelling. And, you can even use it to determine how much they might pay.

3) Speaking of target markets...In order to sell effectively, you have to understand your target market and what matters most to them. Because you need to show them how your product or service is going to benefit them.

If you don't know anything about what your target market's wants, problems or goals, you can't show them how you can help.

4) Finally, you also need to know how to write killer ad copy that gets the right people's attention and makes them want to buy now. That means including a compelling headline, plenty of benefits, a juicy offer, a call to action and an incentive to take action now.

If this woman wrote her ad herself, I'd bet she doesn't even realize copywriting is a specialty people pay thousands of dollars for. So it's likely her ad copy missed the boat completely. It could even be nothing more than a branding ad--which isn't designed to pull a ton of response.

The bottom line? If you want to place an ad that drives tons of response, there are more critical things you must consider than just a publication's circulation numbers.

After all, if this woman's ad was effective, even 1000 in circulation would generate 10 responses.

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

Was this info useful?
=======================
If so, feel fr*ee to share it with your own list, post it on your site, post it on your blog, or add it to your auto responder. Just make sure you leave it intact and do not alter it in any way. All links must remain in the article.
And, you must include this at the end of the article:

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Please notify me at stacy@success-stream.com when my article is used, whether online or off. Thanks!