Category: Advertising

May 13, 2015

I Want Your Business in My New Book

Have you downloaded the free eBook Making Your Ads Memorable? Getting people to listen/read/see and remember you is the first step in advertising. Getting them to take action is the second step. Most people fail on the first step and then wonder why the second step never happened.

The guide is fairly straightforward and simple with a couple of examples. The price is pretty good, too. Free.

Those of you who have downloaded it have asked for more. More explanation of the techniques. More examples of those techniques in action.

Just for you, I am working on a new, expanded book that will jump into the deep end of each technique including how and why they work. I plan to include many examples of each technique.

I could easily just make stuff up for fictitious companies and call it good. But I believe it will be a better read if I use real companies and real people trying to meet real needs with their advertising.

I want your business in my new book.

All you need to do is send me an email (phil@philsforum.com) with the following stuff…

A quick description of your business (include contact info, taglines, etc)
What you hope to accomplish with your advertising (draw traffic? sell a particular product? get into the top of a customer’s mind?)
Three unrelated words (English and recognizable and suitable for the FCC, please)

I will take your info and, using the techniques I describe, write a 30-second piece of ad copy around your advertising goal incorporating the three words.

Why the three words? Two reasons:

To show you how you can be more creative than you originally thought
Because using interesting words in unique combinations gets attention

If you send in a submission you will get…

First right of refusal. You can tell me yay or nay if you don’t want what I’ve written to be in the book.
Freedom to use the copy for your own purposes. Yes, I give you the copyright of the copy I write for you. No charge.
A free copy of the book once published.
Publicity from being in the book.

I think that’s a fair exchange. Don’t you?

I already have a handful of submissions. I need about twenty more to tip this project. Will you be one of the tippers?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You don’t have to be a retailer to send in your submission. In fact, I’ve already received submissions from life coaches, writers, and teachers. This will be a fun book to read that will help a lot of small businesses get better, including yours. Take three and a half minutes and send me an email. The only tricky part will be coming up with three words.

April 3, 2015

I Need Your Help for my Next Book

(Update 5/3/17: The book is almost finished. But I need your help to get it off the ground. Please go to my indiegogo campaign and make a donation and I’ll send you a signed copy the day I pick up the books from the printer.)

It is time to write a new book. Something fun. Something helpful. Something about marketing and messages and creativity.

I know exactly what I want to write, but I need your help.

But first, the inspiration behind this book… A couple years ago, during an online discussion, a friend gave me a crazy suggestion for advertising Toy House. His exact words were…

“Hey, Phil, according to this data, your next advertising campaign should use kittens. Or kittens and bacon. Or even better, kittens and bacon and Kim Kardashian, though I fail to see how can THAT be done in a way that’s appropriate for a toy store.”

I immediately came back with…

“Would Kim Kardashian feed her kitten bacon? Would you even care? Would you care what toys she bought? We wouldn’t. Celebrity endorsements do not make toys fun. Play value makes toys fun. Toys that engage your mind and involve you in the creation of play are fun. Celebrity endorsements make things sell faster. They don’t make them better. We’ll focus on the better toys and leave the Kardashian endorsements to the other stores. By the way, Kim’s kitten doesn’t eat bacon – but ours does! Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.”

Another friend added…

“Okay: rap music, slow dancing, high fructose corn syrup — go!”

I quickly countered with…

“Would you slow dance to rap music? It’s kinda like high fructose corn syrup. A shortcut that works, but just doesn’t feel right. Unfortunately many toys are made the same way, with shortcuts such as tying into a popular movie or TV show just to get sales. It works, but it doesn’t mean the toy is good for you. We won’t sell high fructose corn syrup type toys. Licensing means nothing if the toy doesn’t also have play value. That’s how we cut the rug. Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.”

We decided that if you take a message a business is trying to share, plus three unrelated words, with a little creativity you can craft that into a message that gets attention, is memorable, and still makes your point clearly. The result is often more interesting than the usual boring messages we ignore.

Sometimes, to unlock your inner creativity, you just need a few examples to get you started. This will be your book.

Here is where I need your help.

GET IN THE BOOK

I need at least 100 solid submissions of 150 words or less.

Each submission needs three things in those 150 words:

A quick description of your business (include contact info, taglines, etc)
The message you’re trying to share or point you’re trying to make
Three unrelated words (English and recognizable and suitable for the FCC, please)

Your submission will be on one side of the page. My response will be on the other.

Send your submission to phil@philsforum.com with the phrase “Creative Message Book” in the subject line. (Don’t forget your contact info)

If you get picked for the book, you will get three things:

An email back showing you what I created (and a final chance to decide whether you want to be in the book or not)
Freedom to use the creative I created for you in your own business free from copyright infringement
A free copy of the book once it is published

Please send in your submissions and share this with your fellow business friends. It’s time to write a new book.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I considered a kickstarter campaign for this endeavor to help offset costs and get a little more publicity. For now I’m backing this myself (you know me and freebies). I still might do a kickstarter if I don’t feel this post gets enough worthy submissions. If you submit before I launch a kickstarter, you’ll get all the benefits without paying a penny.

PPS I do not guarantee that the messages I write will be a cure-all for your business or should become the sole basis of your advertising campaign. The goal of this book is simply to give you ideas on how to write more creatively. I will share some of the reasons behind the choices I make to give you pointers for crafting your own message. You may choose to use your message or create something new. Either choice will be fine by me.

PPPS You must have the authority to authorize your company’s info to be included in the book. If you are not that person, make sure you have their approval before you submit.

PPPPS Whew, that is enough disclaimers for now.

December 6, 2014

Getting Around the Facebook Algorithms

Everyone is lamenting the death of free posts for your company on Facebook. For the third time in the last year or so, even Facebook has said that if you want to play, you better be prepared to pay.

Maybe you have already seen your organic reach plummet and are already calculating your budget for boosting those posts.

I haven’t paid a penny to boost a post in the last three years, yet four of my posts in the last three weeks have reached more people than I have fans for my page. What am I doing differently? After extensive testing, I have learned the following…

What the Facebook Algorithm Doesn’t Like

Posts with exclamation points
Posts with LOTS OF CAPS
Posts with words like Sale, Event, Deal or Free
Posts with hours or days of the week

What Your Fans Don’t Like

Posts that look like an advertisement
Posts that yell or scream at them
Posts that are all about you (the company) not “you” (the customer)
Posts that tell, not show
Posts that tell, not ask
Posts that are boring, expected, or blah
Posts that take the obvious approach instead of a different angle
Posts with no meat on the bones

What the Facebook Algorithm Likes (Allows through)

Interaction – lots of likes, comments and shares, especially shares
Question marks and periods

What Your Fans Like

Stories, good emotional stories that tug at the heart strings
Pictures, especially pictures that tell a story
Interesting facts, insider-information type facts
Links to stories that reinforce their world views
Posts that take different, unexpected angles and approaches to the subject

Here is a breakdown of a post I did yesterday that has already reached 50% more people than I have fans. It started with this picture…

The copy for the post says…

This is a roll of our giftwrap. It is 24 inches wide, 833 feet long and weighs 28 pounds.

Every year we go through at least twenty four of those big heavy rolls of paper. Plus we go through another forty of the 18 inch wide version. And last year we added a smaller 12 inch width (and used another thirty-plus rolls of those).

All told, that’s almost 15 miles of giftwrap to cover your gifts.

Why? Because we can. Because we like to wrap. Because after fifteen miles a year, we’re pretty fast and efficient.

Because it makes you smile. That’s the best reason of all.

I could have simply said, “Don’t forget, we offer Free Giftwrapping!” and walked away with my 368 people reached. But within 24 hours this post had reached well over 5,000 people (even though we only had 3580 fans at the moment I posted).

Why?

I told a story. I used interesting, specific facts. I gave out insider information. I avoided the words that might flag the FB algorithms. I stayed consistent with our Core Value of Nostalgia.

The reality is that most of my fans already know we offer free giftwrapping. We’ve been doing it for 65 years. The goal of the post was to touch an emotional nerve that gets those same people to Like, Comment and Share. Those Likes, Comments and Shares help spread the post to their friends and family who might not know that we offer free giftwrapping. Plus, every time someone Likes, Comments, or Shares, it reinforces our brand in their mind.

Don’t fear the new FB algorithms. Fear lousy copy-writing, a lack of storytelling, and ignorance of a few handy tricks. That will bring your reach down faster than anything FB does.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS What to do if you have a promotion you really want to share? Put all the promotion info into a jpeg on top of a really cool picture. Then share the picture with some catchy saying. For instance, we did a Disney Princess event with Elsa & Anna from Frozen. I made up a poster for the event and shared the poster with the simple statement, “Do you wanna build a snowman?” Yes, the Frozen angle helped. Most importantly, we reached over 11,000 people and had over a hundred shares without spending a penny.

October 24, 2014

Anatomy of a Promotion That Pays

What if I told you that you could market your business to 6,000 customers and instead of costing you a penny, you would actually get paid $328 to do it?

What if I told you that you would also get valuable market data from that promotion?

What if I told you that you would be praised mightily for the campaign?

Here is what we did… (shout out to Bob Negen of Whizbang Training for this idea)

I contacted the local public school district and asked permission to send each of their 6,000 students a $5.00 Gift Certificate. They said yes and sent us a breakdown of how many students in each school. I mocked up the gift certificates as postcards and had them printed locally for $278.

When we got the GC’s from the printer we bundled them in bundles of 30 and made a bag for each school. I delivered them a week ago Wednesday to the main offices. They distributed the GC’s to the schools the following day.

The GC’s had only this disclaimer: “For Student Use Only. One Per Student. Expires 11/15/14”

Here is where it pays…

We are expecting a 10% return on the gift certificates. That’s 600 GC’s we expect to be used between now and 11/15. In the first couple days alone we already had 60 returned and not all the schools had distributed them! The average ticket so far has exceeded $12.00.

So let’s do the math…

600 x $12.00 = $7,200.00 in sales

Minus Cost of the GC’s (600 x $5 = $3,000.00)
Minus Cost of the Products ($3,600.00 – 50% of the retail price)
Minus the Cost of the Printing ($278)

7200 – 3000 = 4200
4200 – 3600 = 600
600 – 278 = $322

Here is the bonus…

Not only did we get the word out to 6,000 students (and their parents) about Toy House, but we will get 600 of them (and their parents) into the store right before the prime part of the holiday season where we will entice them with product displays, events, and wish lists for them to fill out and get them back for Christmas shopping.

Not only did we get the word out to 6,000 students, but we also will get 600 purchases to tell us what kinds of impulse items are popular with today’s kids.

Not only did we get the word out to 6,000 students, but I have received tons of praise from parents and teachers for our generosity.

Not only did we get the word out to 6,000 students but I have had friends and customers ask me what is going on that has kept our parking lot so full the last few days.

Here is the kicker…

There are some people who will tell me that I have the math all wrong, that I sold $7200 worth of stuff and only made $322 dollars. Those people are looking at the gift certificate as the be-all, end-all of the promotion. The customer came in once, spent a little money, and left. Promo done. They missed the whole purpose of the campaign, which is to earn top-of-mind awareness by getting them in the store right before the time we really want them in the store. I am banking on my staff’s incredible customer relations skills to earn their repeat business whether they spent $1.62 (our smallest transaction with the GC to date) or $58.02 (our largest).

Frankly, the $7200 in sales, while nice, is just a drop in the bucket. The real value is in getting the word out, getting them in to look around, getting them to buy into our generosity, and getting an idea of what is attracting their attention once they are in the store. The fact that I get paid $322 to get all of that is the icing on the cake.

Do you have any promotions planned that pay you to do them?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you sell stuff for adults, is there a major employer or three that you could contact about giving away gift certificates to their staff? Colleges, hospitals and city governments employ a lot more people than you might imagine.

October 21, 2014

Tell Your Customers What You Stand Against

It is easier to rally a crowd against something than for something. Just ask any political campaign manager what really moves the needle.

The same works in business advertising, too. Tell the people what you are against and watch a flock of like-minded people come see you. Tell the world why you don’t agree with your competitor’s world view and everyone who feels the same way will pay attention. Compare and contrast. Tell them what you won’t do.

Peter Reynolds, VP of Sales of Janod Toys did a presentation for my staff last night and put up this graphic.

It is a perfect contrast of Mass Market stores versus Specialty Stores.

MASS SPECIALTY
More for Less Less is More
Promote Low Prices Promote Benefits and Features
Emphasize Quantity Emphasize Quality
Create Wants Fulfill Needs
Good Toys are Hot/Licensed Good Toys are Basic
Toys are Possessions Toys are Tools
Toys are Consumables Toys are Investments
Toys Entertain & Distract Toys Involve & Empower
Toys Promote Imitation Toys Promote Creativity
Toys Promote Conformity Toys Promote Uniqueness
The Toy Directs the Play The Child Directs the Play

There is a whole year of what-we-stand-against advertisement messages in that above list. Do you see it?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS When people talk about what they stand for, it is usually in generalities – world peace, strong economy, health. When people talk about what they stand against, it is more often specifics – low pay for… discrimination against… injustice for… The power is in the details.

October 18, 2014

9 Ways to Draw Traffic With Only $400 a Month

A fellow store owner was contemplating an advertising deal offered to her from Yelp that was going to cost about $400 per month. That got me thinking about what different things you could do to draw traffic with $400/month.

You could rent a bouncy house and run it in your parking lot every Saturday.
You could run a customer survey poll in your store and donate that money to the charity your customers vote on every month.
You could give away eighty $5 gift certificates to people who have never been in your store.
You could buy an espresso machine and give away free espressos every day.
You could have your customers help you invest it in the stock market and track each investment on a big board in the store with proceeds going to a local charity.
You could use it to send eight $50 gift baskets to your top customers each month.
You could use it to hire a valet parking service for your busy days.
You could use it to host classes and meetings at your store.
You could use it to pay top-level local entertainers to perform at your store.

Don’t be limited by your media choices for getting the word out. There are far more options than just online, broadcast, print and billboard. There are as many ways to draw a crowd as your mind can conceive when you let it get creative.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS My favorite is #2. Just imagine all the charities sending their people in to your store to stack the vote each month.

October 8, 2014

Think Big to Draw Traffic

I was visiting a jewelry store in a sleepy northern Michigan town. The store used to be known for having a $32,000 diamond ring. Now those of you in a big city might think no big deal, but to this community, it would take the entire population pitching in $6 each to buy that ring.

People used to flock to the store to try it on.

After about ten years on display someone finally bought the ring a few years ago.

You would think that was a good thing. The store owner thought so at the time. But on the day I visited, she was lamenting how her business was down. Traffic wasn’t what it used to be. I asked her when it started. You all can probably guess – right after she sold the ring.

No ring, no draw.

Sometimes you have to take a little bit of your ad budget and put it toward buying something completely outrageous that you don’t expect to sell (but people will want to see.)

We do that all the time. Nothing better than hearing a customer say to someone shopping with her, “Oh you have to come over and see this!” You know she and her friend are going to be talking about it to others, too.

Some might look at a $32,000 diamond ring and say, “That’s pretty expensive advertising.” Unless you consider she got ten years of advertising from it, and then had someone refund the money back to her by buying it.

When you are looking to generate Word-of-Mouth advertising, you gotta give them something to talk about. A 32,000 piece puzzle that is almost eighteen feet long and over six feet wide and comes with its own hand cart is gonna make people talk.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I suggested she needed to buy another $32,000 ring or bigger. That was an investment in advertising that paid off big the first time and will pay off big again. There are a few tried and true ways to Generate Word of Mouth (click that hyperlink to download my FREE eBook on the topic). Over-the-top design including over-the-top products is one of those ways.

PPS I guess 32,000 is my lucky number today.

September 16, 2014

Two Strategies for Independent Retailers

I’m reading a fascinating book called The Man Who Wore Mismatched Socks about an indie brewing company in England fighting against the big corporate brewery who is trying to buy out and destroy all the competition.

Sound familiar?

In the book, the current head of the indie brewery says something profound…

“As you get bigger, you get more average.” -Archibald Gack

How many times have we seen that the biggest company in our industry is really making quite average products? (Put your shoes back on. You don’t need to count them all.)

Contrast that statement with this one said by a customer in an indie retailer.

“They must be the best because you see them everywhere.” -unknown customer

Customer perception is since a product is everywhere it must be the best. The reality is more often than not, the products sold everywhere are really quite average. There is better stuff out there.

This begs two questions…

Do you differentiate yourself by not carrying the most popular item in the category, thus flying in the face of customer perception?
Do you carry the popular items to draw the traffic and then try to upsell to the better items?

Both strategies can work, but they each work with a different crowd.

Use the first if you only want to go after the innovators and early adopters, the people who only want the best. They are a small market, but they pay top dollar to be first or to have the best. You can make a lot of money off of them as long as you stay at the top of the market and as long as you continually advertise your cutting edge expertise.

Use the second if you want to go for the early and late majority. They are a much larger crowd, but they have more options to find what they want. And usually what they want has been commoditized so your margins on the everywhere items will be smaller and your profit will be based on your ability to upsell.

The markets are different for each of these strategies. Know which one you’re in so that you’ll know who you’re trying to attract.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You can trying being in both categories. Unfortunately, the message usually gets lost in advertising. When you advertise the popular items, you lose the innovator crowd. When you advertise the innovative items, you lose the popular crowd. That’s why it is better to pick one and do it better than anyone else.

September 3, 2014

It’s All About the Story

One final thought from my trip to Walt Disney World…

I took two teenage boys to the land of pink princesses, Frozen queens, and fairy tales come true. I took two roller coaster freaks who think Cedar Point (a mere 2.2 hour drive from us) is the Mecca of amusement parks to the land of talking mice, mermaids, and musicals. I took two teenage boys on rides that one would expect them to find more boring than the 21 hour drive we took down I-75.

My older son summed up his experience in two words, “My Childhood!”

My younger son only needed one word, “Epic!”

Walt Disney World delighted an entire family including two boys who on the surface wouldn’t seem to fit their demographic. But Walt knew what he was doing. It’s right here in this quote I took from an area under construction…

“It is my wish to delight all members of the family, young and old, parent and child.” -Walt Disney

How did he accomplish that? It’s all about the story.

We didn’t go on a roller coaster. We took a limo across town to get to the Aerosmith concert.
We didn’t go on an up-and-down thrill ride. We visited a haunted hotel in the Twilight Zone.
We didn’t go on a water ride. We were told the story of Br’er Rabbit.
We didn’t go on a G-Force simulator ride. We flew a spacecraft to Mars.

From the moment you got in line, the story was being told. Costumes, decorations, and activities while you waited were all designed to tell you the story. No detail was spared.

Were the rides as thrilling as Millenium Force? No. But they were every bit as fun. Even DINOSAUR, which my son likened to “driving on Michigan roads”, was fun enough to do it twice.

The lesson here is that the story sells it. The story makes it far more exciting, memorable, and likable than it is on its own. The story wins the heart. Most importantly, when you include the customer in the story, when you make her story your story, you’ll win her heart and all the members of the family, just like Walt.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS It isn’t as hard as you might think to come up with stories that include the customer. Just get the customer to start her story and then add your store and product stories to the narrative.