“Out of Focus” Ads Can Cost You Customers

Written by Karon Thackston


Continued from page 1

Next, I’d want to see a tell-all tag line (USP – unique selling position). Something that sets this realtor apart from others. Something that tells me - as a prospect - that I need *this* guy to sell my house… not any ofrepparttar other 6,000 realtors in my area.

Lastly, I’d work inrepparttar 108151 smaller photo, andrepparttar 108152 name ofrepparttar 108153 realty company. Both are needed, but they don’t need to be as large as they were.

When you create any piece of advertising, you have to keeprepparttar 108154 end results in mind. What do you want to happen once a prospect sees your ad? In this case,repparttar 108155 realtor wanted people to call him. Therefore,repparttar 108156 contact information simply has to be prominent.

People driving past a billboard *may* have a total of 3 seconds of viewing time. Since this billboard was near a stoplight (great choice of location byrepparttar 108157 way), those who were stopped had a few more seconds, maybe even a minute, of viewing time, IF they noticedrepparttar 108158 billboard. (They may have been looking inrepparttar 108159 rearview mirror and yelling at their kids!) That meansrepparttar 108160 focus has to be crystal clear.

When you create advertising pieces, be sure to keep your focus in mind. What do you want to accomplish with this ad? If every aspect does not lend itself in some way to gettingrepparttar 108161 prospects to respondrepparttar 108162 way you need them to, consider reworking your ad.

Whether it’s billboards, postcards, Web sites, newspapers, magazines, or brochures — keep your focus in check. Making it easy forrepparttar 108163 customer to buy will bring you maximum results.



Copy not getting results? Let Karon write targeted, persuasive copy for you. Visit her site at http://www.ktamarketing.com, or learn to write your own copy at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to Karon’s free ezine at http://www.ktamarketing.com/ezine.html.




Make Your Website Sell

Written by Chris Mole


Continued from page 1

That’s not to say your site shouldn’t look professional. It’s your store front - a reflection of your business andrepparttar quality of your product – so it has to conveyrepparttar 108150 image you want to present torepparttar 108151 world. But a clean, simple site can do that. Some of world’s biggest “e-tailers” like Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, have very simple logos.

So let’s get back torepparttar 108152 key to a successful website –repparttar 108153 words. If you want to writerepparttar 108154 copy yourself, think carefully aboutrepparttar 108155 purpose ofrepparttar 108156 text. You are writing sales copy. Andrepparttar 108157 secret of all successful sales copy is to think like your customer.

To quote Ken Evoy again: “Web selling is about selling one customer at a time … one-to-one selling … you andrepparttar 108158 customer talking together about their needs and wants.”

Most people makerepparttar 108159 mistake of writing their websites for themselves. They tell how wonderful their company is, how long it’s been in business and technical details aboutrepparttar 108160 products they offer. Butrepparttar 108161 customer doesn’t want to know about you and your company. The customer is interested in one thing … “what’s in it for me?”

So focus onrepparttar 108162 benefits of your product or service. After every sentence you write, see yourself as your customer and askrepparttar 108163 question: “so what?”.

For example, let’s imagine you are selling a new email filter that keeps spam out of people’s mailboxes. Don’t bore your potential customer withrepparttar 108164 technical details. Focus onrepparttar 108165 benefits of having such a filter. For example, you might say something like: “Do you waste valuable time dealing with junk email every day? Ban-It Mail Filter isrepparttar 108166 answer to your problem. Ban-it isrepparttar 108167 most effective filter available to keep spam out of your mailbox and put back more time into your day.”

You are selling benefits – not features. Even experienced copywriters sometimes getrepparttar 108168 two mixed up.

You need to have a clear picture in your mind ofrepparttar 108169 customer you are writing for. Write as if you were sitting in a chair opposite them and talking face to face. And tell them what your product or service can do for them.

That in a nutshell isrepparttar 108170 secret of writing copy forrepparttar 108171 Web.

If you can do this,repparttar 108172 potential of web selling is enormous. It outranks Gutenburg’s printing press, Marconi’s wireless and Bell’s telephone all rolled together.

So don’t wasterepparttar 108173 fantastic opportunity presented by cyber-marketing. Make sure your website copy is doingrepparttar 108174 job you want it to. If you don’t feel competent to write it yourself, hire a professional copywriter. The investment will repay itself many times over.

ENDS



Chris Mole is a freelance writer/editor based in Ashburton. His company, Plain Words, specialises in writing and editing for print and web media. Chris has more than 20 years' experience writing for newspapers, magazines, radio and electronic media and as an editor of books and magazines, in New Zealand and the UK. Visit the author's website at www.plainwords.co.nz


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use