As Claude Hopkins presented in his Scientific Advertising many
decades ago, there are scientific ways of tracking your Marketing and
Advertising and determining clearly and unequivocally what works and
what does not. Without knowing the facts about what is effectively
increasing your leads, and subsequently your sales success, you might
as well be throwing money out the windowliterally.

All you have to do is reflect on your own Marketing to realize the truth in
the old statement: 90% of Advertising does not work, problem being,
which 90%? If you could identify and harness the 10% that does work,
you would truly have power in your hands. Well, the fact is that you can.

Below are examples of Marketing that you can track. But don’t stop after
implementing! If results are not analyzed on an ongoing basis, and
consequently, what works is not repeated, you will be back in that 90%
void.

A powerful ad

A good ad must follow these guidelines in order to reach its maximum
potential and yield beyond your expectations:

1. Don’t make it look like an ad! The more it resembles the publication
itself, the better results you will see. That is why an advertorialan ad
that looks like news or an editorialis such a powerful device.

2. Make use of a strong headline. This requires a great deal of time and
effort. As Hopkins himself stated, he would spend the most time on the
headline, discarding many along the way. Only after having a
bulletproof headline, would he continue with the rest.

4. Tell a story. Give readers a story that reels them in, with which they
can really connect.

5. Make it newsworthy. You wouldn’t read the paper or your favorite
magazine if the content were not newsworthy, right? Same goes for an
ad. Make it substantial and important.

6. Include an offer. This is your chance to make them do something!
Offer something they cannot resist and which will make them take
action now. If you don’t offer anything, you greatly minimize the
chances of making the sale. Think of this: what are the odds that they
will be ready to purchase from you that instant that they came across
your ad? Answer: extremely low!

7. Make it easy for people to contact you. 24/7 is ideal, but otherwise,
make your phone or email or other type of access extremely
straightforward and be responsive. Never intimidate your audience in
any way when interfacing with them, so that they always feel
comfortable and taken care of.

8. Have a tracking mechanism in place. And this is the final key element.
You must track your success! That is how you can be scientific in your
approach, and what will ultimately reveal if your tactic is indeed
successful or not.

You can track via a telephone extension, by denoting a Department in
your address, or via a URL. Tracking activity on a URL (Web address) is
extremely easy these days, and extremely powerful.

Lead generation and follow-up on the Web

Lead generation is how you collect prospectives as time goes on,
making up the audience you will stay in front over timein other words,
you future customers. The Web, if used properly, can generate
tremendously for you. And through automation, follow-up on those leads
becomes both easy and a surefire way to win buyers over.

The important thing is to lure them on every page of your site via an offer
that prompts them to submit their email address. Don’t let them go
without doing so! Just like an ad, visitors are usually passing by, and will
not likely return. Give them an article or other useful piece of information
that will then give you permission to stay in touch.

Once visitors have opted in, you store their email addresses for future
(and frequent) communications. Staying in communication can look like
this:

* A monthly newsletter that you send out. This does not have to be hard
work! You can have a short feature that you or someone on your team
writes monthly. You can then supplement with a wealth of free content
that is available on the Internet.

* An article of interest. This brings a topic of interest to you audience and
educates them. You are not selling what you do, but talking about it, or
your industry, or some area that is intriguing to your readers. You
position yourself as their perfect choice, but without the in-your-face
selling tactic!

* A recommendation. Very powerful, as you are sharing information
freely, creating trust and strengthening your bond. Recommendations
can include a good book (on investment, good business practice, well-
being), a piece of software, or performance improvement tool.

* A link to an informative area of your site. You can also point them to a
new area of your siteinformative, of course, never bragging about
what you do or who you are (think about what a turn-off that is to you as
a consumer). By bringing them to a page or area that is of use to your
visitor, you are sharing and educating. Should they choose to navigate
and learn more about you and your product or serviceswell, that is
always their choice.

In this manner, you remain in front of your prospectives, and you do so
with useful materials. They will appreciate it, and in constantly giving
them information that benefits them, you stand out as the expert and
trusted source. Meaning the odds are in your favor of getting the sale in
the long run.

Build your money-making machine with powerful tactics such as these,
and watch your company grow in leaps and bounds. Best of luck!

Josh Barinstein is President of Red Frog, Inc., the Portland, Oregon ad
agency that provides worry-free experiences and powerful results in the
areas of Marketing, Print design, Web/CD-ROM development, and
Video production.

Learn more at http://www.RedFrogInc.com or by calling 888-955-0550.

You have permission to distribute this article as long as all of the text
contained herein remains intact.

Tags: advertising, Inc., Josh Barinstein, marketing, money making, Red Frog, results, solid marketingadvertising, Inc., Josh Barinstein, marketing, money making, Red Frog, results, solid marketing

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Often important government agencies have a very tough time doing public relations and they get little respect from the public for all they do in a much needed service in our society and civilization. Lets take the Department of Weights and Measures, what kinds of Public Relations or community goodwill programs could you possibly do for the Department of Weights and Measures?

Well believe it or not there are many things you could do for instance you could have them join a neighborhood mobile watch patrol and become the eyes and ears for the local police departments as they drive around all day in their normal course of activities. Let us look at this scenario for a moment shall we?

DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: These people do every thing from going to gas stations to measure that the pump does not cheat you, to visiting grocery stores and making sure that your produce scales work properly. Therefore they tend to be around the town on a non-consistent, non-scheduled, surprise visit basis. Making it unpredictable when and where they will be. Thus helping the nature of finding violators and keeping people honest.

Can you begin to see how you can take a not so popular government agency and make it news worthy? Such a program in this case study costs nothing to participate and yet provide goodwill and positive community relations. Please consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Tag: Public Relations for the Department of Weights and MeasuresPublic Relations for the Department of Weights and Measures

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As someone with expertise in media relations, I’ve been asked if media coverage and publicity can build an online business. The real question is whether what happens offline really matters online. And the answer is unquestionably, “Yes!”

Here are ten reasons why media coverage can help your online business grow:

1. Every one of us, even if we spend four to eight hours a day in front of a computer screen in our underwear, still lives in the real world. Our opinions, desires, priorities, and decisions are heavily influenced by television, radio, books, magazines, and newspapers. Every business, online or offline, can benefit from positive media exposure.

2. Almost no business can afford to be absent from the Internet these days; even a local real estate agent gains a competitive edge from having a web site. By the same token, an online business gains a strong advantage by having an offline presence. Online and offline marketing of all types support each other.

3. Search engines won’t bring most web site owners business. I just did a Google search for “books”, and found about 85.2 million entries. Ninety-five percent of searchers will likely click on the first two (Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com), most of the others will never get to the second page of the searches. This means that 85,199,990 web site book sellers cannot rely on search engines. How about searching for the word bookstore? Still almost seven million entries, and guess who the top two are?

4. You can’t cheat the search engines. Try a search for books and carpentry. The odds are much better, with only 106,000 entries. That still means 105,990 web site book sellers will rarely be found. How about books and promotion? Almost two million entries. If a million carpentry book sellers are reading this article, five are smiling. The rest will only smile with an offline presence, such as a great article in their local newspaper or a call-in show on a radio station half way across the world.

5. The media can create interest in your product or service if they feature you as part of an interesting story. Online or offline, that’s what media coverage does. A good story is gold.

6. The media is just starting now to wake up to the exciting things happening online. Timing is everything and this is the time.

7. The media are now working increasingly online. The online and offline worlds are converging more than ever before. Articles that appear in local papers, industry magazines and even commentary on radio broadcasts find themselves on the Internet. That can often mean powerful links to your web site. Publicity offline means promotion online.

8. If you are running a contest, placing a new interactive program on your site, winning an award, taking donations for a charity or doing anything noteworthy online, it is of interest in the offline world. The media can act as a funnel for people who spend less time than you and I do in front of a computer screen.

9. In the mainstream media, you are trustworthy. If they see it on TV or in the newspaper, people believe it. (Funny, they SAY they don’t trust the media, but their actions speak louder.) Since web marketing is about relationships and trust (That is your strategy, right?), you can build that relationship with people who are only now getting online or who may not even be online for another couple years. By the time they are ready to buy from you, the relationship has already begun because they have carried your offline credibility (that’s the biggest value of media coverage) with them onto the Internet.

10. In the mainstream media, you are real. I know many people who still don’t buy anything online. They simply do not trust someone they cannot see. Sure, you might be honest, but how do they know? You could disappear into the ether tomorrow. While bricks-and-mortar stores can close just as fast, there is an impression that they are more real and more permanent. You can increase your realness and permanence through a media presence, and thereby increase your customer base.

Media relations is not always easy and not everyone can make it. You have to have something interesting to tell and have a creative way to make it newsworthy. But it is a low-cost way to drive traffic to your web site. And you may not need to get onto the front page of USA Today to succeed. You may simply want a mention in a few niche magazines where your targeted traffic can be found.

So if you don’t like the idea of being a million entries down on a web search, or even 60 entries down, consider a low-cost, effective alternative - the media. With the right angle, media relations and publicity can expand your engine faster than search engines.

About The Author

After a decade and a half as one of Canada’s top consumer advocates, often conducting over 600 media interviews each year, David Leonhardt is sharing his knowledge with others. Pick up a copy of his special report “Get In The News!” at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/publicity-self-promotion-report.html

amabaie@phastnet.com

Tags: advertising, free publicity, marketing, media, publicityadvertising, free publicity, marketing, media, publicity

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