Wayne's Small Biz Tech Blog

Techniques For Better 60-Second Commercials

Okay class, it is now September and school is in session. Your first assignment; write a 60-second advertisement for your business.

 

Take your time … I’ll wait.  When you are done go ahead and continue reading. [Take a few extra minutes and write it down on paper. I’ll still wait …]

 

Great! If what you wrote takes a minute or less to say, then you pass! About a year ago I wrote about how important it is to be able to say what you do for a living in about a minute.  Today lets go deeper and see if we can improve on our 60-second advertisement.

 

Almost all Ads can be categorized into one of four basic approaches. Let’s review each of these four techniques and while we do, evaluate your own 60-second promo and see which category yours falls under.

 

ASSERTION
The most common, easiest to create, is called the Assertion technique. This style of promo uses an enthusiastically presented statement of how good a product or service is. Nearly 90% of the “60-seconds” I hear from various business groups I’ve visited fall into this category. These are the typical "great price, great service, best produc"” variety of commercials.

 

If your 60-second commercial sounds like this style, be aware that it is the most difficult to get your audience to listen to. Because it is used so often, much of your audience is immune to it. People do not like to be marketed to and become cynical when they recognize the technique. To get your message through using the Assertion style, you have to be specific and provide material backing up your claims.

Far too often assertive commercials, while energetic, simply present grand claims as fact to be accepted without question. The listener needs to decide whether it is worth coaxing further details about the claims or simply ignore the message. Listeners are generally lazy and opt for the later.

 

If your commercial is relying on the assertive technique, it must include supporting backup evidence. Instead of saying "We at Company ABC provide better service and have a higher satisfaction rating than everyone else!!", this company would be better off saying "Why do we at Company ABC say we provide better service? Because our customers tell us we do. Call me or visit my website for references!!!"

 

PLAIN FOLKS

This style is common on TV ads and in politics. For a few examples of use in politics, remember George Bush Sr. hating broccoli and Bill Clinton stopping at McDonalds during a jog? The intent was to make them appear as just Regular Joes like the rest of us. On TV, these are the "Girl or Boy Next Door" commercials selling everything from cars to hemorrhoid creams. At its worst, the "Plain Folks" technique is used to portray a company, product, service, or politician as something it's not. At its best, this technique is used to show a business or person really does care.

 

For a 60-second promo, this technique can be very effective for businesses that rely on high-trust selling. These would be your CPAs, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, and those in any form of the health-care sector. Using examples of specific cases where a company's services helped someone out of a bad situation, or especially how the speaker assisted in helping is the key.

 

BANDWAGON
Ah, one of my favorites. We used to call this the "because all the cool kids are doing it" method. The bandwagon technique is very useful for marketing to younger audiences or to a very specific audience. If you can get the latest cultural icon to deliver the message, that's even better. My daughter will want just about anything pushed by "Hanna Montana". The Bandwagon approach is useful for businesses that are selling to a very narrow or specific market.

 

The basic approach here is to convince your audience that everyone else is doing it so don't get left behind. The really good ad writers make it seem like everyone in the targeted audience is buying it, and those that don't, well, don't matter and aren't welcome on the wagon.

 

The danger in this technique is if less of the targeted audience rushes to the "bandwagon" than the speaker led them to believe. In this case regaining the trust of the target audience may not be possible.

 

Types of small businesses that could use this method would be work out centers, spas, cosmetic sales, and other businesses with a clearly defined customer base. To be a truly effective the business needs to already have some momentum working for it. For example, a woman-only gym that is already experiencing phenomenal growth.

 

FEAR
Okay, I saved the most effective for last. If you tap into a Fear, and have a solution to alleviate that fear, you have a 60-second commercial that is almost guaranteed to work!

 

A 1991 study by Pratkanis and Aronson showed that "All other things being equal, the more frightened a person is by a communication, the more likely he or she is to take positive preventative action."  The study also showed that Fear based commercials are less likely to be effective if the audience feels powerless to change the situation and more effective if given specific steps for reducing the threat.

 

What does this mean for our 60-second? If we are going to create a fear based appeal for generating business, don't make the fear too big to overcome and provide specifics for helping your audience overcome the threat.

 

This technique works well for talking about my computer services. For example, many big box store computer repair services usually look at the problem for a very short time before they simply wipe the hard drive clean and hand back a working computer that no longer has any of the customer's documents, photos, and other important files. I've had customers come to me after going to these stores asking if there is anything I can do to get the files back. Sometimes I can, but many times the files are beyond recovery.

 

One story I use in my 60-second is about the woman who lost her entire library of family digital photos because she brought her laptop back to the big box store for repairs. Her drive was wiped clean and the files were unsalvageable. The solution so this doesn't happen to you? First, back up all your important data. Second, bring your laptop or computer that needs repair to someone who cares about your data.

 

Need help with either of these? Call me.

 

These are just the basic advertisement techniques. New methods are always evolving. But for now, evaluate your 60-second commercial and see if it can be improved. If you used one technique, try writing another spot using one of the other techniques.

 

Class dismissed.

Work on That Bio for Your Next Speech

When you attend lectures, seminars, and guest speaker events, do you listen to the speaker's short bio normally read prior to the speech?

 

If you are like me, you probably can't remember any of them. Most likely though, you were listening and it made an impression on you. What I found our recently is that the short bio presentation is more important than I ever knew.

 

I belong to a local BNI group (Business Network International) that meets each week to help members grow their business. Each week one member of the group is given the opportunity to do a ten-minute presentation to educate the other members about what they do. If you want to be a better public speaker, join a BNI group!

 

Before the 10-Minute Presentation, a member of the leadership team introduces the speaker and then reads that member's bio. The content of the bio is the responsibility of the speaker. Unfortunately, it is often neglected, just something written up quickly, or once in a while simply skipped. What a mistake. Let me explain why...

 

Some readers may remember the articles I wrote about Herd Theory and Herding As A Survival Technique about how individuals in a group act based on the actions of others in the group. In other words, input from the "herd" strongly influences the way we see the world around us.

 

I recently came across a study originally done in 1950 by H.H. Kelley and duplicated numerous times with and without variations by other researchers ever since. In this study, how a group of students perceived the speaker was greatly influenced by the bio handed out to the students prior to the speech!

 

One half of the students were given a bio before the presentation that described the lecturer as "a rather cold person, industrious, critical, practical, and determined." The other half was given an identical bio except it described him as "a rather warm person, industrious, critical, practical, and determined". Each group sat in on the same speech together and then rated the speaker. The students given the "cold" bio rated him distant, self-centered, and humorless. The students told he was "warm" rated the speaker as approachable, friendly, and funny. Remember, each group was sitting in on the same speech together as the speaker was giving the presentation. Later studies showed that the same set of introductions even affected the group’s feelings on the intelligence of the speaker.

 

The conclusion of the study was that people form their first impressions based more on socially provided input (like a short bio presented by someone they know) than external fact (what they actually heard and saw). 

Okay, I'm going to go really work on the bio for my next presentation now.

Email at Night, Email In The Morning?

Okay, you just sent out your first email campaign to lots an lots of Email addresses. You followed all the latest suggestions from the Email Marketing Company you just signed up with. So, now all there is to do wait for the cash to come rolling in, right?

Well, probably not. As I've already blogged about (Would It Hurt To Call Once In While), to Email market correctly you need to follow up with at least one other method of communication. Preferably two or more other methods. Sales is all about building relationships. Email does not build relationships! You need to also use mail, the phone, and/or a personal visit to be truly effective.

One of the bigger "Email Marketing Solution Providers" gave a couple of seminars in my area recently. I know because I got told the same recommendation by several people this week. "It is very important that marketing emails get sent during the day", they told me, "because people delete Emails they receive over night." Each person admitted they were told this at the seminar and felt that it was great advice. Of course this "Email Marketing Solution" let their customers send Emails during the day! Well, in my humble opinion, what a load of crap.

Let's take a look at why they emphasis sending Emails during the day at their seminar...

Simply put, they are an Email-Only solution. If their studies show that you can get a few more people to open your Email if it is not sent overnight, great ... so be it. Here's the problem I have with what they are telling their potential customers. They are teaching them how to knowingly do the wrong thing, just better. Let's face it, if you are trying to get people you don't know to open Emails from you that they don't want, even during the day, you are a spammer!

Of course with Email-Only solutions, you are most likely sending your marketing messages to people you haven't established a relationship with. Many people using their service, although giving assurances otherwise, aren't really sending their Emails to true opt-in Email lists. Of course their emails get deleted when sent at night. Most get deleted when sent during the day, too. Maybe a few less, but is this seminar really teaching good business practices.

Harvesting true opt-in lists of people wanting your Newsletters, Special Offers, and Emails is hard work.

Just because they were once a customer doesn't mean they are anxiously waiting to receive Emails. Harvesting names through simple methods is just outright wrong, and could even be costly. You must be using your website, point-of-sale, and other marketing methods to get people to willingly give you their email address and know they will be seeing Email from you from time to time. You need an effective way to database these clients easily, or it won't get done.

People who give out their Email address expect to receive something of value from time to time. They have to consistently get Emails and something that interests them in the postal mail once in a while. And would it hurt to call them once in awhile? Even if they do opt-out, isn't that a good reason to call and find out why?

For full disclosure purposes I have to say that the system I helped design, MyEzCRM, can send out Emails at night or during the day. Newsletters and individual campaigns can be sent whenever the user wishes them to go out. I believe it is important that "when" Emails are sent isn't important. Because if it is, then there is a problem with the company's marketing strategy. MyEzCRM automated messages do go out at night, intentionally. All Emails go out with the senders name, a way to opt-out, and a way to report abuse. If the people that are receiving these Emails know the sender, the message will get read. Would you delete an Email from your friend just because they emailed after midnight? Probably not.

To market successfully, more companies should spend more effort on establishing and building their business relationships and retention marketing instead of expending all that energy on finding the most effective ways to get a few more people to open up their spam.

Search Engine Placement and Google AdWords

Two of the questions I'm asked the most concern search engines.

The first question is "How do I get better placement in search engines?" The second is "Should I use something like Google AdWords to get better exposure online?" Since Google is at the top of the search engine food chain, I'm going to answer them both as Google specific questions.

Search Engine Placement

All search engines use a variety of mathematical techniques to decide which sites get listed and in what order. For some it is as simple as who pays them the most for placement. For others it may be Alexa ranking related. Some still use keywords and number of sites linking to a specific site. In almost all cases its a complex scheme each search engine uses and the items that affect page rankings changes often.

Although Google also changes their techniques and priority items frequently, they remain true to their foundation. Google became the search engine leader through relevance. What Google did that others didn't do as well was put the websites that were most relevant to a user's search first. Google users would find what they were looking for within the first few pages of results. In most cases on the first page of the results.

Although it can be done, it is difficult to trick Google's ranking methods for long. The key to great placement, at least on Google, is to make your site relevant to what your customers are looking for. One of the core methods used by Google is to track how many times your website gets selected when it does come up. The more people who click through, the better your placement becomes. One simple method for better plavement is to make sure the text Google displays is appropriate to the what your target audience is looking for. This means spending the extra time on your website development and creating coherant META tags. This alone will get you more click throughs.

Working with your referral partners and business associates to swap links helps also. Although the emphasis has lessened some recently, the number of sites linking to yours does affect search engine placement, even on Google.

This blog isn't intended to be a full discourse on search engine optimization. Instead it is intended to get you thinking about the initial things you can do to improve your placement. With Google it is to make sure your site is relevant to those who find it.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is a great way to get exposure for your website. According to Google, around 75% of local customers use the Internet to research before selecting a merchant. Done correctly, Google AdWords can get your website displayed on the first page of the results you think your customers are looking for.

Simply put, Google AdWords are a way for you to get good placement on Google by paying for it. The cost can be fairly inexpensive, but for others it can be very expensive. Lets look at why.

As mentioned, Google has based it's whole corporate identity on relevance. They incorporated this into AdWords as well. In a nutshell, it is good for Google to have good ads that are relevant (there's that word again) to the search on their results pages. It is bad for Google to have ads that make no sense. The more "bad" ads that appear, the less likely their users will click on them. This means less revenue for Google since "good" advertisers will leave if they aren't getting expected results. Google doesn't like frustrated users either. Google users expect relevant results!

How Google designed AdWords is brilliant, once you look at what they are doing. It rewards "good" advertisers while it punishes "bad" advertisers. And what is great for Google is that they make money off of both!

Here's the scoop. The more relevant your Google AdWord advertisement is, the less it will cost you. The less relevant, the more it will cost you. If you are an advertiser who thinks paying for placement on result pages for people searching "free porn" will bring in a lot of customers for your landscaping company because your ad will come up so much, you are wrong. Your landscaping ad is not relevant. Few will click on your ad. Google will keep raising your price per click through. Soon you will have the choice to pay a lot for each click through or stop the ad. Since your ad is not relevant, you will not be getting much business from it anyway. You will eventually go away (good for Google) after paying too much for click throughs (good for Google).

Now if you pay for search terms like "landscaping" and "spring cleanups" and target your specific region (Yes, Google AdWord DO work for local merchants, another question I get a lot!) you are now relevant to what your customers are searching for. Google will accept less and less as you get more click throughs (less than 10 cents a click is very common). You are now getting great exposure for very little cost. And, you can set your budget to keep from overspending.

Google AdWords take some time and management to get the fullest benefit. You can hire a Google AdWords Reseller (like me) to manage it for you or do it yourself. Just make sure you write your ad specific and to the point. And make sure your keywords and ads are relevant!

Would It Hurt To Call Once In A While ...

Email has greatly affected how we all do business. It is an easy way to communicate with our clients, business partners, and even family. Email is also a very inexpensive way to advertise and market to our prospects and customers.  Email has even changed the way we communicate with each other within our own offices.

Including the ill effects of spam and other Internet related workplace abuses, most of us will admit that Email has been more of a benefit to our companies through better communication and cheaper marketing costs. Thats why we all use it so much!

I'm sure many of us realize Email has also changed the way many of do business unfavorably. For this blog we are going to ignore the wasted time spam causes us, the lost hours securing our computers from email viruses, and other time wasting evils Email has brought into our businesses. Instead we're going to take a look at the bad habits Email has created in far too many of us otherwise good business people.

DO YOU HIDE BEHIND EMAIL?

Email can be used for so many things that used to be far more difficult. Have a problem with a supplier? Send an email. Problem customer? Send an email. Have a problem with a co-worker? Send a scathing email and CC the boss! And what does a customer do when they have a problem with you?  Probably send a nasty Email or two (or three, or four ...). The easy way to handle it? Send a nasty Email back!

Okay, we don't ALL do business this way, but in reality far too many of us do. The problem is that the office worker, salesperson, business owner, and customer can HIDE behind Email, say things they otherwise wouldn't in person, and avoid confrontation. Unfortunately, very few issues ever get resolved through Email, in fact it often just makes things worse. The end result often ends up with loss of a customer, employee, job, networking partner, or dignity.

many of us use Email for our marketing. Why? Because marketing through Email can be very cost effective. By cost effective, I mean a large number of individuals can be sent a marketing piece for very little money. For a legitimate company, you need to get your message out to a specific group of people who want to receive your marketing. Otherwise you are contributing to spam and your message will be either ignored, deleted, or reported. None of those bring in sales. Violating CANN-SPAM regulations can actually cost you a LOT of money.

THE SOLUTION

The solution to using Email marketing successfully is actually a simple one. Don't make Email your only communications tool. That's it. That's all there is to it. Well, that and pick up the phone and send a letter once in a while.

There are a lot of Email-Only solutions out there that will send your Email messages out to any number of recipients. They "require" your email lists to be "Opt-In", meaning you didn't buy the list or harvest them through any other means than getting their permission. Unfortunately these Email bulk mailing solutions do little to help harvest legitimate lists or do anything else except design and send Emails to a large number of recipients.

What businesses need to do is develop a marketing strategy that includes Email, but does not solely rely on it. Every study I have seen indicates that Email marketing is most effective by far when used in concert with mailing campaigns and/or personal communications like the telephone or >gasp<, an actual face to face visit. In other words, just like your Momma used to say, "Pick up the phone once in awhile."

The best system seems to be a simultaneous email and mail campaign followed by a phone call and/or, where possible, a pre-scheduled meeting. Of course a great reason to call is to schedule a meeting! The point here is, don't forget the "Pre-Email Days" ways of communicating with those important to your business.

The same is true for communications with family and co-workers. Pick-up the phone or go visit the individual once in a while in place of just Emailing. You will be surprised just how effective using all three means of communication can be.

Yes, But ...

My mentor when I first got into "Sales" was Chris Bair. Although he was just a few years older than me, Chris was the National Sales Manager for the software development company where I got my first programming job. When I started this company was small in both sales and in employees. So small, in fact, that it was the reason I got into sales. Chris was a salesman who also wrote software. I became a software programmer that also sold software. I did a cartoon strip called Clowns and Dweebs. Dweebs wrote software, Clowns sold it. Chris and I were Cleebs.

Within a few years this company became the sales leader worldwide in its industry. Much of that can be attributed to Chris Bair. He built a distribution channel and personally contributed to the bottom line with direct sales anywhere he was needed in the country.

Chris's sales philosophy was simple. The answer to any sales question was "Yes, but ..." . The caveat however was, you never follow the "yes, but ..." with a lie. Watching Chris work and applying his techniques myself, I was truly amazed. Where a "No" answer would have killed the sale, a "Yes, but [insert your truth here]" almost always closed the sale!

Here are some actual examples of what I call the Yezzbut Sales approach:

• Question: If I buy your software, will I be able to charge more and triple my profits? Situation: It was obvious the company wasn't paying its help well and didn't have a dedicated, or highly educated employee base. Yezzbut Answer: "Yes, but you would need to hire me because no software could help you". Result: Chris actually said this one and closed the sale after the owner broke into laughter.
• Question: I'll buy your software if you prove it works for my actual application. Can you prove it at the demo? Situation: The customer was a very high end customer who did extremely complicated work. Yezzbut Answer: "Yes, but the demo will take a week and you will have to pay list price for the software plus one week travel expenses on the last day if I meet your requirements. Result: I did, and he kept his end of the bargain.
• Question: "Can your software handle this? Situation: No, it couldn't. Yezzbut Answer: "Yes, but not for another two or three versions". Result: A sale and often a great new feature. One of the really big advantages to being a programmer/salesperson was that either Chris or I could go back and actually program the software do what the customer needed.

The important point here is not specifically in the "Yes, but..." but to be positive in sales. As my wife points out, many people like her were raised that "Yes, but" can be considered rude. It can be interpreted as a "civil way to be disrespectful". While this can be true I found that when used correctly, its more a "civil way to be truthful" and an honest way to close a difficult sale.

Are You Relevant?

Watching American Idol last week, Simon Cowell said something very critical to several of the contestants. His criticism? "You aren't relevant" he told them. He went on to explain that while they sang okay, they didn't show him anything that would make him want to sign them to a record deal. In other-words, they provided nothing that would make him want to do business with him.

As a web developer, I am often asked to come in and consult with small businesses who don't feel they are getting much, if anything, from their marketing, especially their Internet marketing. Like Simon, I find myself telling them, in much nicer words usually, that their marketing is not relevant.

Let's talk about Internet marketing. One sure sign that a small business does not "get" web based marketing is having an email that ends in any of the major providers like "comcast.net", "verizon.net", "netzero.com", "gmail.com", "netscape.net", or "aol.com". This immediately tells any customer emailing you that you do not have your own domain. Not having a domain really gives the perception that the business may not be a full time business.

If you don't have a website, you are already becoming less relevant in your industry. More people research on-line before making a purchase, both for goods and services, than ever before. This trend is not going away anytime soon. On-line shopping and on-line pre-sales research is no longer the wave of the future. It has already arrived.

For those that do have your own website, you have to ask yourself two questions. First, "does it make my visitors want to do business with me?" The second is "does it make it easy for customers to do business with me?" These are two separate questions and both have to be answered on their own merits.

On the Internet, if a website visitor can't find what they are looking for in 15 seconds or less they have already left the site. This is just a reality we businesses have to deal with. Those animated mailboxes, flashing letters, and long-winded texts that say how wonderful we are may look nice but each drives visitors away. The website MUST be relevant to what the visitor came for, be it information, your phone number, how to get to your place of business, or what you offer. If they can't find it easily, just hope your competitor has a worse website, because your potential customer will have already moved on and now are looking for them.

Getting the information the visitor is looking for to them is only the first hurdle. The next is to get the potential customer to act, to do business with you. There are many ways to do this. Each client I work with has different needs. For example, a printer we designed a site for has an on-line quoting feature that lets visitors request quotes on-line AND upload images right from the website that would otherwise be difficult to provide due to size limitations of some email providers or the difficulties some have creating Cd's. Another client simply has a link to Barnes and Noble from his website so customers can easily buy his books. Whatever it is you are selling, make it easy for visitors to complete the transaction!

On American Idol, if the contestant isn't relevant, they go home. Most likely without a record deal. If you aren't relevant by avoiding web marketing, you lose business and income.

Word of Mouth Advertising

A question that all small businesses have to ask themselves is "What is the most effective way to get my marketing message across?". According to a 1999 survey by New York "Brand Advocates" DiMassimo Brand Advertising (now DiMassimoGoldstein or DIGO), it's Word of Mouth.

The results of this survey, while now over 7 years old, is interesting reading none the less. The study was done by having 1500 subject's friends and family in the study tell untruths about current events and advertisements. A week later they were surveyed to see how the misinformation affected them. They also used a control group to measure the effects.

The conclusion? "Consumers were more likely to believe a friend's or neighbor's sacred word than traditional, and often expensive, media sources." In effect, the word of a friend, neighbor, or family member carries more weight and can undo the desired results of an expensive marketing campaign.

Simply because a friend or trusted source said so ...

• 27% now thought "Just Do It" was the slogan for Ex-Lax (58% of the control group correctly identified Nike, none responded with the laxative).
• 45% now thought the Taco Bell Chihuahua was the spokesdog for Microsoft.
• 23% remembered that Amazon.com was a fashion website for portly women.
• 27% now believed that milk was "the other white meat" (instead of pork).
• 22% believed the milk mustache advertising campaign was advertising napkins.

It even went beyond product and brand marketing. Remember, this was 1999 when Hillary Clinton was running for the New York Senate and George W. Bush was running for President.

• 28% now recalled that Monica Lewinsky was running against Hillary for the US Senate
• 36% were led to believe that George W. was running as a Democrat
• 39% now said the Olympics are a yearly event.
• 42% now thought that Jerry Springer was taking over Matt Lauer's spot on Today.

What this all boils down to is that word of mouth advertising and referral networks are effective. If you can get your current customers or referral network members to tell their friends, clients, and family members about you, and recommend you, you are far ahead of your competition.