Warning: Long but informative post ahead! Society is so saturated with advertising, brands and logos that most don't get noticed any more. One must wonder - "is my standing out or getting tuned out?" Dr. Janet James PhD reported that research showed that we are receiving more than 400 times more information in a given day than Renaissance man yet we still have the same sized brain. Needless to say this is a large reason why our attention spans today are shorter. This is one reason why your expensive ad didn't generate the sales you hoped for - people tuned it out due to sensory overload. "Sixty percent of the newspaper space may be filled with advertising, but that advertising does not command sixty percent of the average reader's attention. We are inured to most of these advertisements and commercials... We often do not stop to even read or watch the ads at all, and when we do, they rarely penetrate or connect with our consciousness, let alone transform our identity." - Rodney A. Smolla If your advertising goes unnoticed, nothing else matters. Sadly, however, advertising is necessary in business, especially home-based ones: "Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does." - Stuart Henderson Britt So how do you get noticed? Write a good ad! The key is in the writing and how you present the materials. As legendary ad-man Bill Bernbach stated: ???The truth isn??™t the truth until people believe you, and they can??™t believe you if they don??™t know what you??™re saying, and they can??™t know what you??™re saying if they don??™t listen to you, and they won??™t listen to you if you??™re not interesting, and you won??™t be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally and freshly.??? We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast... Mike.
Nice post! That is why PPC advertising is booming compared to other media, atleast you have the viewers complete attention
Quoting: burnabymike"Sixty percent of the newspaper space may be filled with advertising, but that advertising does not command sixty percent of the average reader's attention. We are inured to most of these advertisements and commercials... We often do not stop to even read or watch the ads at all, and when we do, they rarely penetrate or connect with our consciousness, let alone transform our identity." - Rodney A. Smolla Well spoken and so true Mike
Good stuff. No matter how you slice it, you must advertise somehow in order to get the word out about your business! And it doesn't have to always be expensive advertising, but it must be focused (and creative) as you mentioned! In the "work at home" market it's getting more difficult to stand out from the bunch, especially with so many opportunities available now. So don't be afraid to be different and "go against the flow" if I may.
Real great stuff Mike, I also agree with Chaz, we should advertise or else no one will ever no about your business or you wont make any MONEY
That's what i like about PPC. The traffic is targeted and interested in what you have to offer. It is a better value for your dollar especially if you are targeting a specific niche.
I'm just going to be starting with PPC--hope it works! I've been doing the free ads and haven't had much luck.
Hi Shelby, That's a hard lesson I've learned also with free ads. They just didn't do it for me. The problem with running free classifieds is that it's just a bunch of other marketers trying to sell stuff to each other. Anyhow, I've had great success with PPC, Google adwords in particular. It was a little intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it it's like riding a bike...assuming you can ride a bike Just be aware that in can get pretty pricey if you're not quite sure what you're doing. So make sure you study up before you completely take the plunge. Best!
Thanks for the advise Chaz. Glad to hear you have had success with ppc. I'm talking to my director about it and also reading up on it to learn more before I spend $$$$$. Hope to take the plunge this weeeknd. BTW--yes I can ride a bike, so hopefully I'll be coasting along real soon! Shelby
Great post Mike. I also believe in today's competitive market you should give people something Free that has great value. Once you do that you can build trust in them and they will often buy from your suggestions because they did remember you gave them something of value... Brad Growing and Learning Everyday!
