Home » Advertising » Page 16

Category: Advertising

You are in the Job of Persuasion

Your job is simple – to persuade.

Persuade the best people to work for you.
Persuade those people to do more for you than they thought possible.
Persuade your vendors to give you good terms for the best products.
Persuade your customers to visit you in droves.
Persuade them to part with their hard-earned dollars.
Persuade them to bring their friends back.
Persuade your banker to give you a loan.
Persuade your local media to give you a plug.
Persuade your city council to pass laws and ordinances in your favor.

My friend, and one of the most amazingly persuasive writers I know, Jeff Sexton, posted this video that he got from another friend, Tim Miles (who you all know coined the term Shareworthy and is the smartest man I’ve ever met when it comes to Customer Service.)

This will be 11 minutes and 50 seconds you will start and stop often to take notes and watch over and over again. You’ll probably be using this at your next sales staff meeting (I am).

A couple million of your friends, colleagues and competitors have already seen it. You should, too.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS See if you can tell me which of the 6 techniques I attempted to use to persuade you to watch the above video. Yes, this applies to Sales & Customer Service. It also applies to Marketing & Advertising. It also applies to Hiring & Training. It also applies to Word of Mouth. You’re always persuading. You might as well get good at it.

The Best Ways to Grow Your Facebook Reach

Everyone is buzzing about the Facebook Fraud.

Real or not, paying for FB to “promote” your page is not a smart way to grow your business.

You need FANS not “Likes”. You want people who will engage and share. You want people who want to hear from you. You want people who want to see you succeed. You want people who will be your evangelists, bringing others to see you.

You cannot buy those people on Facebook. You have to earn them one at a time.

How?

Post Relevant Stuff: Tell them interesting information that is important in their lives. If you are a running shoe store, post information about training tips, upcoming events, injury prevention, etc. If you are a baby store, talk about safe sleeping, car seat installation, and potty-training. If you are an electronics store, post about innovations and upgrades and whether or not they are of value.

Post Shareworthy Stuff: Post things that no one else knows. Post things so cute and funny (while also relevant) that your current fans want others to see it. Post things that just beg to be shared. Share things to your page. If you found it Shareworthy, your fans will, too.

Post Engaging Stuff: Ask for opinions (and act on the results). Ask for thoughts and ideas. Naming contests, polls, and guessing games are engaging and fun.

Post Emotional Stuff: Speak to the heart of your customer. What is her desire in relation to your products? Sell toys? Speak to the growth and success of her child. Sell jewelry? Speak to the reaction on her face when she opens the box. Sell mattresses? Speak to the feelings of finally getting a good night’s sleep.

Nostalgia is a strong emotion for businesses that have been around the block a few decades. Post stories and pics about the olden days (if you think FB is only for the younger crowd, post a pic from the 60’s and get ready to be amazed).

Facebook, to truly be effective for your store, is not a numbers game. It is a message game. Win the message and you’ll have all the numbers you want.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The big question is, “How often should I post?” To be most effective you should post at least once a day, but only when you have the right message and something new to say.

It’s the Super Bowl! Don’t be Boring!!

Tonight is the Super Bowl. Half of the talk will be about the game. Half of the talk will be about the advertising.

Everyone who spent the $4 million for a commercial to air tonight is hoping for one thing – Talk.

Good or bad.

Just talk about the ad. Please.

We will be talking about the best and the worst ads, which gets those companies what they really want – extra print and air time for their $4 million. Even the really bad ads, unless they are horribly offensive, will generate business for the companies who aired them, thanks to all the extra talk.

The worst thing any of the advertisers can do tonight is be boring, be plain, be somewhere in between the best and worst ads. $4 million and no talk. Sad.

The lesson here is simple. If you want people to talk about you, you cannot be boring, middle-of-the-road, play-it-safe. You have to get out there and do something that will get people to talk.

Watch the game (and ads) tonight. Watch the talk tomorrow. The ads most talked about will be the most emotional ones and the most surprising ones.

Can you be more emotional and more surprising in your business? It will get people talking.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The emotional ads that resonate with your Core Values always get the best response. Always.

Give Your Business a Physical – Track These Numbers, Too

There are many different metrics you need to measure to determine the health of your business. Two of the biggest are Profits and Cash Flow. If both of those are good, your business is probably doing well.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t look at other numbers, too. That would be the equivalent of a doctor checking your temp and blood pressure and determining you are completely healthy without looking at anything else.

Here are some other numbers you should track to keep a check on the pulse of your business.

Traffic – Number of transactions you had this year compared to last year. Did that number go up or down? If it went down, why? 
  • Did your location get worse? 
  • Was there a change in the types and numbers of stores around you? 
  • Was there a drop in population? 
  • Did you cut back your offerings and categories significantly?
If your traffic was down, but none of these other factors were negative, you have a hole in your Customer Service (repeat and referral business) and/or Advertising (first-timer business). You need to find that leak and fix it fast.

Average Transaction – Take your total sales and divide by # of transactions. Compare to last year. If this number went down, why? 
  • Did you carry fewer high-ticket items? 
  • Did you add more low-ticket impulse items that people might run in and grab? 
  • Did you do anything to attract more youth? 
If none of those factors were in play but your average ticket went down, you have a hole in your staff’s ability to sell. You need to fix that fast.

Market Share – This is a little harder to calculate, but an incredibly valuable piece of information that can pinpoint problems – even if you had a great year on paper!
  1. Find the national sales figure for your industry. 
  2. Divide that by the population of the United States to determine sales per person. 
  3. Multiply that times the population of your trade area to determine the market potential for your area.
  4. Divide your total sales by that market potential to find your percentage or share of the market.
  5. Compare it to last year’s number.
You can have an awesome year with solid sales growth and decent profits and cash flow, but still be in potential trouble if your market share is slipping. If all your growth was fueled by huge growth in your market, but you aren’t holding onto your share of that market, then you are ripe for being picked off by a better competitor entering your market. You need to figure out why your share is decreasing and fix that problem now.

You can also have a lousy year with declining sales and profits, but mostly fueled by a change in the market. Maybe your industry is in decline (smaller sales per person). Maybe your trade area is shrinking. But if your market share is growing, then your big issue is determining whether to cut expenses and inventory and hope the market comes back or move to a new market.

Make sure your Profit and Cash Flow are good. Those are immediate life threatening problems for your business. If those are good, it buys you time to check/fix the other problems.

Give your business a full physical. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

-Phil Wrzesinski
PS Be honest in your evaluations. Even if there are circumstances beyond your control, there are always circumstances you can control and improve while you ride out the storm.

Redefining the Terms

You don’t sell products. You sell feelings.

The jeweler doesn’t sell diamond rings. The jeweler sells the look on her face when he opens the box and asks, “Will you marry me?”

The shoe salesman doesn’t sell shoes. The shoe salesman sells the bounce in your step and the self-confidence you have when your feet feel good.

The toy store doesn’t sell toys. The toy store sells play value and imagination and creativity.

You and I get this. Our customers don’t.

Not because they can’t, but because the big chains won’t let them. Especially the discounters. They are trying to commoditize everything you sell. Make it all about the price. It isn’t about which toys you buy, but how many. The big chains know you can outperform them on getting the right items. They want to make sure the customers don’t even think about that. They’re winning, too, because we allow them to control the conversation.

They talk about the products. We talk about the products. We’re speaking their language. We need to instead talk about the feelings.

We need to talk less about the products we sell and more about how our products make the customer feel. We need to talk about the emotions behind the products, the emotions behind the purchases, the feelings we create.

We need to bring the importance of the purchase, the reason for the purchase back to the forefront.

When you write your ad copy, whether for print, broadcast or social media, ask yourself two questions.

  1. Is this copy about the product or the feeling?
  2. How can I make it more about the feeling?

The more you do that, the more you change the conversation back to one you will win.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For example, here are two radio ads I have run this fall to change the conversation. These are the left-brained, logical ads. The more emotional ads run next month.

We Sell Play Value
Over the next couple months a bunch of stores will start advertising to you about toys. They’re talking about the wrong thing. You don’t buy toys. You buy Play Value. You don’t buy toys; you buy creativity and imagination. You don’t buy toys, you buy engagement and fun. You can forgive them for not knowing this. They only sell toys part time. We sell Play Value all year long. That’s why you shop at Toy House and Baby Too in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.

Made Up Lists
Fortunately, you guys are smart. You know all those Hot Toy Lists are fake, phony, decided in some backroom meeting months ago. Designed to get you to buy what they want to sell. As if your kids were sheep and only happy if they got one of the “hot” toys.  That’s not you. That’s not us. We aren’t going to hype you into buying what we want to sell. We’re going to help you find what works best for you. Over twice the selection of the big chains, ten times the play value, and none of the hype. Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.

Buying Word-of-Mouth

I bought Word-of-Mouth advertising.

Paid just over $400 for it.

There are four different ways you can consistently get people to talk about you.

  • Over-the-Top Design
  • Over-the-Top Service
  • Over-the-Top Generosity
  • Sharing Secrets

Roy H. Williams taught me the first three. The fourth I figured out on my own.

Yesterday during our Fourth Friday Game Night we decided to play Charades. It was an easy decision. We needed a game to christen our brand new stage.

Why would we take valuable retail space and build a stage?

  • Puppet Shows
  • Story Times
  • Guest Performers
  • Charades
  • Dress-up Clothes
  • Staged Productions
  • General Play (who doesn’t love getting up on a stage just for fun?)
  • Word-of-Mouth
  • Because it is consistent with our Core Value of Having Fun

I spent $75 on the wood for the platforms, another $128 for the carpet, $25 for the poles, and $190 for the curtains. Total cost = $418.

People will talk.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS We still have a few details to finish such as a header above the curtain and the backdrop. Every time someone takes a photo of their precious one “performing”, the Toy House name and logo will be visible.

We used 2″ x 8″ boards and 3/4″ plywood to build the platform in 3 sections.

The carpet is simply stapled down using a carpet stapling gun generously loaned to us by Christoff’s Carpet & Floor Covering.
The curtains are held up with 1″ PVC pipe anchored to 2 walls. The section to the right is a “backstage” area designed for when we do performances.

Storytelling 101

“Tell more stories!” they shouted at you. “Stories sell!” they exclaimed. “It’s the best way to market yourself!” they bellowed. After the ringing in your ears faded, you said, “Okay, I have stories to tell.” You start telling them. But deep in the back of your mind, where you let few people enter, you’re wondering. Are my stories interesting? Are people even listening?

Seth Godin said it best today when he wrote, “Here’s how to know if you’re on the right track: if you stop a story in the middle, the audience will insist you finish it.”

Yes, your stories are interesting, but you might not be telling them right. How do you become a storyteller that has people on the edge of their seat waiting for the next line?

Jeff Sexton knows. He writes the best blogs about storytelling in an advertising sense that I’ve ever found. You could spend a day or two reading his past posts and learn more than you ever would on a college campus.

Roy H. Williams, is the master, well, um, the Wizard. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Ads and it stuck because it is true. His Wizard of Ads trilogy of books is to this day the most fascinating series of books I’ve ever read.

Here are some basics I’ve learned from these masters.

Start with something interesting. You need to hook the listener right away. You can fill in the background later (if at all).
Choose what to leave out. Details slow down the delivery and distract from the story. Cut out all the descriptions that aren’t absolutely necessary (which is like 95% of them).
Leave in the verbs. Stories need action. Action is excitement. Action makes people want to see what happens next.
Surprise me. If I already know how the story ends before I get to the second line, I’m outta here!
Tie the ending to the beginning. People want resolution to their stories. If you hooked me with an interesting opening, I want to know why that is important at the end.

Your writing is influenced by your reading. Read great books by great storytellers. Look for these clues in their writing. Mimic it in your own. Write. Write some more. Test it on your friends. Stop in mid-story and see what happens. Test again with new openings and new verbs. Write some more. Tell some more.

Soon your audience will be demanding you finish.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Some of my most powerful ads have been stories like these…

She almost fell out of the pew.  Her pastor actually called Toy House the Promised Land for kids.  Right there in front of a packed church.  The lady on her left leaned over and said, “You work there, don’t you?”  She nodded.  The lady leaned in again, “I love that place.” She couldn’t help but smile.  “Me too,” she whispered back.  It’s the promised land for kids and adults.  Just ask the lady sitting on your left.  Toy House and Baby Too is an impact partner of Home.fm.  We love to see you smile.

What is your earliest Christmas memory?  Mine was grandma and grandpa sitting on a bench handing my sister and me our gifts.  I was only three, but I tore open that package with the speed of a six-year-old.  A towel, a white, Raggedy Ann towel.  I smiled a big smile, unfolded my towel and plopped down.  I couldn’t figure out why my sister was crying.  After all, she got Raggedy Andy and he’s way cooler.  Merry Christmas from the Toy House in downtown Jackson.  We’re here to make you smile

Christmas Eve, nineteen sixty-five.  He didn’t know if he would make it.  Nine months of active duty, he missed his family.  And he was an uncle now.  His sister had a baby girl, a precious little child for which a stuffed animal from an airport gift shop just wouldn’t do.  When his dad picked him up in the family sedan, he asked, “We got time to stop by the Toy House?”  “Of course, son.  Welcome home.”  Merry Christmas from the Toy House in downtown Jackson, an impact partner of Home.fm. We love to see you smile.

What Do You Sell?

I don’t sell toys. I sell Play Value.

I don’t sell baby products. I sell Peace of Mind, Safety, and Love.

I don’t sell books. I sell Imagination, Travel, and Dreams.

I don’t sell hobby products. I sell Creation.

So why would I be advertising toys, baby products, books and hobbies when I should be selling Play Value, Peace of Mind, Imagination, Creation and Dreams?

Not everyone who sells toys sells Play Value. Not everyone who sells baby products sells Peace of Mind, Safety, and Love. Not everyone who sells books sells Imagination and Dreams. Not everyone who sells hobby products sells Creation.

But almost everyone who buys toys, baby products, books or hobby products wants Play Value, Peace of Mind, Imagination, Creation or Dreams.

It isn’t products that they want. It is feelings. Sell the feelings. Sell your customers what they truly want.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS This is called flipping the conversation. Flip the conversation you have about your store from the tools you sell to the projects those tools create. Don’t talk about the hammer, talk about their dream tree house that hammer will build. Don’t talk about the shoes, talk about how they will feel when they finally run that race. Don’t talk about gift ideas, talk about the smile on the recipient’s face and the hugs shared. That is how you speak to the heart of your customers.

PPS The smarter of you already figured this out. I’m not just talking about your marketing. I’m talking about your customer service, too. Align your services and approach to customers around their feelings and you will feel it, too. At the cash register.

Marketing is Sharing

My wife likes sharing. Put her in a room full of other women and it isn’t a gabfest. It’s a sharefest. Right now, with two teenage boys, it is all about college and college prep. Every uncovered secret gets spread. At last Friday’s football game, while she and the ladies around us shared, I would nudge her when it was time to cheer the kids on the field.

She’s the word-of-mouth marketing machine businesses dream of.

Last Saturday I attended a workshop on The Business of Creativity hosted by Jane Robinson. Jane is an artist. Not the starving kind. Jane is that class of people now called “artepreneurs” or “createpreneurs”. She is taking what she has learned and helping create a new breed of entrepreneurs in Jackson.

She said to a room full of artists, “Marketing isn’t scary, folks. Marketing is simply sharing.”

Marketing is sharing.

Marketing is telling people the secrets you know.
Marketing is getting together with your network and sharing what you’ve learned.
Marketing is taking news from others and spreading it as far as you can.
Marketing is giving people around you ideas and thoughts and information.
Marketing is giving people something to talk about.
Marketing is telling your friends and fans and asking them to tell their friends and fans.

The cool thing about thinking this way is that people want to share. Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are not big because of how easy it is to post something, but because of how easy it is to share what has been posted with others. Most of my Twitter feed is re-tweets.

Your marketing job is simply to give people something Shareworthy.

Your hours and location just aren’t that shareworthy. Your stories and secrets are. Your length of time in business isn’t shareworthy. Your philosophies and reasons for being in business are. The way you change people’s lives is big time shareworthy.

You tell my wife something that will help get the boys into (and out of) college, I promise you, she will share it. You tell your customers how something you know/do will impact their lives, they will share it.

Marketing isn’t scary. Marketing is sharing.  Thanks, Jane!

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For more on what is Shareworthy, download my FREE eBook Generating Word-of-Mouth. There is stuff in there that you can use to start getting WOM tomorrow.

Don’t Be the Little Piggy

We all know about the little piggy. He went wee, wee, wee all the way home.

As you craft your message for your potential customers this fall, don’t be the little piggy. Take all the “we” statements out of your marketing and change them to “you” statements.

We’ve been in business since 1949.
You want a company that will be there with you for the long run.

We have great customer service.
You will never wait more than 30 seconds on hold to talk to an agent.

We are licensed.
You want a provider who not only stays current with licensing, but takes extra classes to stay ahead of the changes in your system to make sure you are never down.

We offer the best products.
You will find award-winning products like the…

We have time-saving services.
You can get your products giftwrapped for free in less time than it takes to walk in from the parking lot.

We started our business because we…
You want a business that understands your needs, who thinks like you…

The most powerfully seductive word in the English language has only three letters and none of them are an x.

Y – O – U

Make your customer the star of your web copy. Make the customer the star of your print copy. Make the customer the star of your radio copy. Make the customer the the star of your social media, your email marketing, your in-store signage.

You’re already making the customer the star of your business. Now make her the star of your marketing.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS When you talk about your customers, remember to do these three things.

  1. Tell them specifics. Specifics are more believable and lend credibility.
  2. Tell them why. People like to know why you do what you do.
  3. Speak to the heart. Emotional connections are strong. The mind will use logic to justify what the heart has already decided.
Go back and read the You statements above to see what I mean.