Guerilla Marketing Lesson 2: Why Do People Call Me?By Barrett Niehus http://www.realtysoftware.org
Before we begin, I want you to think about how many times you actually sought out an advertisement. How did you know where to look for it? Why did you choose that one? Whether you know it or not,
number of times you were exposed to message has a huge impact on you. Also, message and how it made you feel had a large influence on your response.
On other side of table, how do you know how well people are responding to your advertisement? If you are spending your hard earned cash advertising, you should be able to tell exactly what type of response you are getting and be able to track performance of your ads.
The above are two separate but related topics that need to be evaluated when developing an advertising campaign. And as with all marketing programs, it begins with demographics and your expected return on investment.
Step One: Know your audience. Once again, what is your target audience? For a real estate investor, what type of property and owner situation are you looking for? What are your customer’s hot buttons? Back to initial question in this article, if you responded to a print ad, you responded to one that stuck you emotionally and fills a need.
Step Two: Speak to your customer’s needs. Think about this, if you are facing a foreclosure and need to sell your home yesterday, to which ad would you personally respond:
“I buy ugly houses. Fast Closing, Call our 24 hour recording (800) 668-6688”
Or
“Need To Sell Your Home For Cash? Let me help you. If I can’t buy your house I will find someone who will. Foreclosure? Not a problem. Call me right now (949) 858-1877”
If I were in dire straights, I would choose a real person over a 24 hour recording and a local number over an 800 number. Also, I would be more likely to respond to advertisement that is offering an action (to help) instead of just stating what they do. Finally, I would probably be more likely to respond to ad that has a call to action “Call me right now” simply because it told me to do so.
What is moral of this story? Make sure your ads speak to your prospect’s emotions. Always have a call to action in ad, and always be available to receive call. If a prospect takes steps to call you, they are in mood to deal right then. If you don’t answer phone, they may or may not leave a message before moving on to next advertisement.
Step Three: Periodicity: One of first questions that I asked in this article was how would you know where to look for an ad? The answer is periodicity. If an ad has been run continuously, prospects will know where to look for it when they need it. Rarely will a prospect take action when they are first exposed to your message. However, if it is in front of them on a weekly basis and they need your services, they will immediately know where to look for your info. Run your ads continually. If your placement is correct, you should be making a return on investment from your advertising so keep your message out there.
