Avoiding Advertising Mistakes

According to Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, there are 25 things that people do that result in disastrous or weak returns when it comes to advertising.

These tips are INVALUABLE — so I pass them onto you as is, so you can avoid these very costly advertising mistakes. (Please see my Top Ten Success Tips underneath.)

1. Premature abandonment
2. Silly positioning
3. Failure to follow through
4. Starting without a plan
5. Wrong media for the right audience
6. Right media for the wrong audience
7. Unclear to prospects
8. Not understanding clients
9. Not understanding self
10. Exaggerating that undermines truth
11. Not keeping up with change
12. Unrealistic expectations
13. Over- or under-spending
14. Saving money in the wrong places
15. Inattention to tiny but nuclear details
16. Missing the point about profitability
17. Thinking it can be done without hard work
18. Unimpressive first impressions
19. Too many committees or layers of management
20. Not using media to support efforts
21. Not supporting advertising with other marketing
22. Starting out in the wrong direction
23. Allowing success to begat lethargy
24. Judging future by the past
25. Boring advertising

Pattie’s Top Ten Tips for Winning Ad Campaigns

I’ll start with this freebie: Your mother, friends and assorted acquaintances’ opinions don’t count. If you follow through on the other ten, you will reap much better returns!

1. Get a professional graphic designer to create a winning brand.
2. Use the same graphic designer to produce all your ads & collateral materials, reflecting your strong (& very unique) brand.
3. Work with a professional marketing copywriter, who can create polished, perfect prose to engage the specific market(s) you are seeking to reach.
4. MAKE AN OFFER – ads with offers work. I don’t care what the demographic market is – everyone loves a deal.
5. Have a deadline. 60 Days works best — it’s been tested and proven a gagillion times, so don’t question this, just do it.
6. Test, test and test again! Great campaigns evolve as a result of research, risk-taking & tweaking. Till someone comes up with a crystal ball – this is part and parcel of nailing big wins.
7. Get advice from a media placement specialist – deals are out there on traditional print and radio that you might not be aware of.
8. BE DARINGLY DIFFERENT. Lots of really creative ideas get shot down everyday. Dare to be advised by your creative team.
9. Guard your brand and style guidelines with all your might. ‘Nuff said.
10. Diversifying is not just for stock portfolios. Winning ad campaigns get the word out in various mediums, including PR, train station platform advertising (one of my personal favorites), direct mail and various web-based platforms, including regular e/mail, branded e-newsletters, e-ads, crosslinking, blogging, YouTube, podcasting, etc.

Getting Your Business Started with UMPH!

Let’s say you are like most entrepreneurs. You have an idea. You think it’s brilliant. Your friends think it’s gonna make you a billionaire, and you are ready to do what you need to, to make this dream a reality. Before you quit your job and run headlong into this new adventure, stop. Get the following in order so you can give yourself a fighting chance.

• Put together a real business plan, wearing the CEO, COO and CFO hats. The plan should outline all the basics surrounding the cost of your operations, for at least one year. This includes, but is not limited to, purchasing office equipment (desk, filing cabinets, bookcases, phones, fax, printer, scanner, PC, cell phone and a laptop + the relevant operational and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software); rent, insurance, internet and phone services, marketing (we’ll cover this in more detail shortly), sales initiatives, gas, tolls, miscellaneous niche consultants, air and other travel expenses, entertaining, cost of producing your goods or delivering your service, admin help, IT person, lawyer, bookkeeper, accountant, and business filing fees, trade and other membership fees, printing and mailing charges.

• Assess the yearly & monthly costs of these. Add 25% – 50%.

• Create a separate marketing plan. Businesses that don’t take into account the cost and the time involved with getting the cash register ringing (read marketing, advertising and the process of selling) are planning to fail. A realistic marketing plan includes the cost of the following: figuring out your geographic footprint (local, regional, national, or global); best target markets – how and where you will engage them; developing a strong brand and the tools, a website and a suite of collateral materials that “speak” to your target market(s) – i.e. a business card, letterhead, brochure, website, oversized postcard(s), print ad, web ad, etc.; attending networking functions, sponsoring a local high school team, taking ads in industry or Chamber journals, sponsorships, internet marketing, direct mail campaigns, PR, attending trade shows and business expos, etc. The team you need to help you accomplish all these tasks should include: admin/sales help, marketing consultant, business consultant, graphic designer, webmaster, printer, and a marketing communications copywriter (SPECIAL NOTE about Copywriting: Getting an “A” in creative writing in college does not qualify you for this job! Being a staff reporter is not the right credential either. See “Making Sales with Authentic Copywriting” for more details).

• It’s a lot of hard work. Forget visions of lying on a beach somewhere in Hawaii. Newbie business owners who succeed live and breathe their business 24/7, and working incredibly long days for years! Fact is no matter how many people you know, creating trust (and generating sales) takes an organized, respectful process & time, lots of it.

• You don’t know everything. Smart entrepreneurs take the time to get educated as to all the hats (and their specific job functions) they have to manage, as well as the functions they need to outsource in the course of getting their business up and running quickly. I’ve interviewed scores of millionaires who admit that they would have made it to that “millionaire mark” sooner had they focused on what they did know how to do, versus leaving it up to chance, or worse, trying to juggle everything themselves long term. The ones that make it BIG all say the same thing — they hired or worked with an assortment of professionals who were specialists in a range of important areas — operations, systems, organization, marketing . . . and a marketing communications copywriter. Bottom line: most business owners who try to do everything over the long haul to “save money” usually end up treading water instead of sailing ahead.

(Special Note about Copywriting: Getting an “A” in creative writing in college does not qualify you for this job! Being a staff reporter is not the right credential either. Marketing copywriting is serious work, and a blend of art & science. See “Making Sales with Great Copywriting” for more details).

Ringing In the New Year with Gusto!

Greetings Fellow Success Enthusiasts!

From all that I’ve heard and seen at various networking functions, client meetings, training sessions and net spots, it’s been one heck of a year! Despite the wizardry of an increasing amount of “time-saving” techno-gadgets, almost everyone is still breathless at the end of the day…

Kinda ironic, don’t you think?

While I like most of the the “new-fangled” stuff, and begrudglingly admit that many of these widgets serve a purpose – it’s becoming a full-time job to keep up with it all! The lingo, the “Terms of Agreement,” the instruction manuals. . .

My suggestion to all – take a deep breath in 2006.

Get down to the nitty-gritty of what makes your business hum. It’s the people, the relationships, the shared glances of comraderie between peers when some goofball at a gathering acts out of place, the shoulder you offer when a client vents his or her frustration in a phone meeting … these moments are what are important. Your attention to these details are what make you stand apart from the competition.

Not the gadgets.
Not the gizmos.

They can actually hinder you (but that’s fodder for another post!) So – make it a Top Priority for 2006 to sweep away all the clutter, and boil your business down to the essense – start with turning your attention to three things:

-Determine what makes you valuable to your clients
-Haul away the garbage and do what you need to, to improve your performance and hence, your VALUE to your clients and prospects
-Take measured steps to insure that your employees help you achieve your goals

Set some simple, ACHIEVABLE goals within a sensible timeline; like “I’ll read more about what other industries are doing,once a week” or “I’ll get to one new networking thing a month,” or most importantly, “I’ll make the time to refresh, and encourage my employees to do the same.” You’ve heard it all before, but it’s worth repeating: some of my best ideas come to me when I’m NOT at my desk!

Like many, I’ve taken a lot on this past year, and will be doing what I can to trim and refine my initiatives, while balancing more “stuff to do” – like posting to this Blog, interacting with and producing new educational tools with more of my peers, publishing my first book, doing more radio & TV “Success Segments”. YIKES! It DOES sound like a lot, and I will post my progress (and setbacks) in smaller chunks in the New Year.

I’m wishing you all great success in the New Year, with more balance (I will NEVER give up my quest for that!!) and of course, personal and professional growth that helps you drive more business to your door!

Here’s to a Joyous Holiday Season,
Pattie