What To Do When Your Radio Advertising Sucks

by Steven Weisenburger

Nothing is more stressful for an entrepreneur than to be tied into a long term advertising contract and have the ads fall flat on their face. It creates a desperate situation. And radio advertising can be one of the most draining marketing expenses when it your spots aren't working.

But it doesn't have to be that way

Radio advertising is like a tornado – when control, it’s like this giant invisible power vac sweeping across the marketing landscape rending listening prospects powerless to resist, and sucking all the cash out of their pockets and filling yours.

However, if you don’t know how to control it, it will viciously turn on you and you’ll end up like the cow the tornado has sucked off the ground, legs flailing, bellowing fearfully, and puzzled as to the source of havoc being wreaked upon your life.

Gina, the owner of a greenhouse and nursery, was beside herself because of her radio advertising – the radio station had her on a full “rotational” campaign, running spots throughout the day and night. You know the “branding” campaign – if customers hear your name enough times they will eventually choose you over your competitor when the time comes to buy.

Have you ever felt this pain before

Well, her intense discomfort came from the fact that, for each of the past 9 months she had been shelling out $4,000 and the effort was simply not delivering a return-on-investment (R.O.I.). She didn’t plan on renewing her contract ever again.

Since there were three months left on the contract she wanted to know if there was anything she could do to salvage the disaster. How could she fix her radios spots?

How would you feel if you were in Gina’s position?

Her radio spots were appalling 15 and 30-second “funny” quips about her store -- about half of them mentioned a product but none offered a reason to come in buy something right now... you know like a sale, bonus, discount, some sort of compelling offer.

Fixing this problem is easy and quick

Listen up. There are lots of ways of fixing her problem -- here’s the quick fix approach I recommended in this situation.

There were two critical marketing steps I had her take immediately.

1^st – I had her think in terms of giving prospective customers a reason why they should come into the store right now. Have your commercials make some sort of offer.

2^nd – I had her switch from 30 sec spots to 60’s and throw out the funny drivel and use the “live radio show host call-in” format strategy. These are commercials where you call in your spot to the radio show host and he/she gets to grill you about what’s going on down at your store. And even if it’s not really a live spot, you call in and record it with the host as if it were.

It might go something like this...

Radio Host: We have the owner of Gina’s Greenhouse and Nursery on the line. Tell us Gina what’s going on down there today?

Gina: Well Dick right now we’re unloading a semi truck full of Royal Empress Trees, the fastest growing tree in the country.

Radio Host: The fastest growing tree Gina? Just how fast do they grow?

Gina: The Royal Empress grows 10 to 15 feet a year and are 40 to 50 feet tall within three years. Plus, it has the most fragrant and gorgeous purple bloom.

Radio Host: So Gina you said you had a truckload of them?

Gina: Yes, Dick we are unloading 200 of them right now. I bought them from a nursery up North that was going out of business. And best of all Dick I got them at an unbelievable low price -- 70% off, and I’m passing the savings on to all of your listeners that come in this weekend... Yada yada yada...

Anyway you get the idea.

Did it work?

Well, I’m happy to report that Gina renewed her advertising contract with the radio station for another year!

The Second Most Widely Committed Sin In Advertising

by Steven Weisenburger

Failure to "sell the benefits" is the second most widely committed sin in advertising. Almost everyone focuses on the features of their product or service, rather than the benefits. And it’s the benefit that give your prospect the reason to buy.

What's the difference? Simple. Features are what you like about your product. Benefits are what your customer likes about your product.

Another way to say this is that a feature is “attached” to your product. It exists as part of or an attribute of the product, regardless of whether the product is ever sold, or used by a customer. Example, “The car is red”.

A benefit, on the other hand, is “attached” to the customer. It is not inherent in the product, it is inherent in people. It is the result of the product’s use by somebody. A benefit doesn’t “happen,” then, until somebody takes the product or service home and uses it. Example, “I look sexy, in my new red car.”

Can you tell the difference between a feature & benefit? Here's a quiz.

• "push-button controls," is a… ______________.

• "ease of use," is a… ______________.

• "21 Investment strategies," is a… ______________.

• "get rich 21 ways," is a… ______________.

• " wool suit coat," is a ... ______________.

• " the suit is warm," is a... ______________.

WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)

That’s what benefits are all about. Customers always want to know “What’s in it for me?” Why should I do business with you?” “What do I get out of this deal?” A feature simply does not answer this question for your customer.

So as you develop your advertising, you should always be thinking, “What’s in it for you, dear prospect?”

People buy to satisfy their needs. They may not always be cognizant of their needs, but needs motivate their buying behaviors just the same. Their need may be pleasure-based (I want that) or pain-based (I want to avoid that). Either way their needs drive their buying choices.

Ultimately, you’ve got to be able to trace your advertising statements back through the advertising motivation to the need it fulfills. Even though the prospect may not be able to do this, you must. That’s because you must understand what it is about your advertising or marketing copy that will compel your prospect to buy.

If you don’t understand these things, your marketing efforts will always be hit and miss. That’s okay when you’re testing everything, but it makes the testing process longer and more expensive. When you understand the buyer’s motivations and can write copy that appeals to those motivations, you can come up with the right combinations more quickly and you are more likely to hit winners faster.

The five basic needs are...

1. Survival -- We have a basic need to survive. We need food, shelter, clothing, transportation and a job. Once these things are covered, our need to survive takes a back seat to the other needs. But it is, none the less, always there. We may be motivated by security issues that are related to survival. And, of course, if ever our life or health is threatened, by either outside forces or illness, our need to survive quickly rises back to the top of the list.
2. To love and to be loved -- Not a lot of explanation needed on this one. As you know, both men and women have attempted to move heaven and earth; they have done things they would never have considered doing, if not for the motivation to love and be loved. Love is perhaps the strongest of all human needs, and it can have an incredible impact on our buying decisions.
3. To feel important -- Akin to our need for love is our need to feel important. Why do you think golfers try to get better at the game. (No, it’s not just to save money on lost golf balls.) It’s because they want the admiration of their golfing buddies, or at least they want to avoid being joked about by their golfing buddies. This need to feel important is close in weight to the need to be loved for most people. Indeed, many people value respect above love. This is a huge human need that demands fulfillment and motivates many buying decisions.
4. Variety -- True, we are creatures of habit, but we don’t like thinking of ourselves that way, or having others think of us that way. That’s why “variety is the spice of life.” It really is. It is reflected in our tastes and our choices, the clothes we wear, the things we do, our likes and dislikes. Our need to be different motivates our buying decisions.
5. The LAZ Factor -- We all want our lives to be easier. We don’t want hassle, trouble or even inconvenience. Especially given the fast pace of today’s society, we’re all looking for ways to simplify our lives. This isn’t bad. We may be lazy, but the LAZ Factor is responsible for every technological advance ever invented. And while not all of them worked out the way originally envisioned, making life easier is the aim. It is particularly important in the fast-paced lives we live today. Make life easier or more simple for your prospects, and they’ll buy what you have to offer.

Benefits can be stated in either Pleasure or Pain contexts.

• "Take strokes off your game"(2 &/or 3)

• "Never again be the target of everybody's golf humor" (2 or 3)

Don’t hesitate to use the pain context in your feature/benefit statements. Many times people will act more quickly to avoid a negative than to acquire a positive.

Features are statements of product attributes. They may be seen as desirable only if they are connected to a benefit, either by the ad or the customer himself.

• "This car has a 2.3 liter engine" (Pure feature.)
• "This car's 2.3 liter engine is the most powerful in its class" (This is a typical attempt to put a feature in benefit language.)
• "Feel the exhilaration of acceleration behind the class's most powerful 2.3 liter engine"(Appeals first to the need (4) then backs the promise up with the feature.)
• "Feel like the 'King of the Road' behind a 2.3 liter powerhouse that leads the class" (Appeals to more than one need --3 &4, maybe even 1 & 2.)

Benefits vs. Compelling Benefits;
Features vs. Compelling Features

There are all kinds of features and benefits. But the ones that count are the compelling features and benefits -- the ones that make people want to buy.

Not all benefits will motivate the prospect to make a decision now. Not that all benefits don’t contribute to that decision, but in most cases, there is one, or several key benefits that touch the primary buying motivation, and several others that may act to “seal the deal.”

Features work the same way. Some are “big deal” features. Others may be nice “icing on the cake” things that people like and that help them take the final steps toward deciding to buy.

Your job is to determine which are the compelling features and benefits and focus your attention on them, without ignoring the less compelling features and benefits.

Remember, people buy with their hearts, they buy with their guts -- those are the benefits. But once they make the emotional decision, they need the features to justify the decision with their heads.

Develop a list of all the features of your product or service, then develop a list of all the benefits.

As you develop your feature and benefit lists, you will find that you can immediately think of a few of each. Those are the easy ones, but they may not be the most compelling. Once you get past the easy list, begin to dig. Look at the details. Really search for what’s important about your product or service. This is worth the time investment because it will enable you to write more powerful advertising and marketing materials.

Be exhaustive with these lists. Think of all the features and benefits you can.

There are three ways to generate your feature and benefits lists.

1. Simply brainstorm all the features and benefits you can think of
2. Think of a single feature and then think of all the benefits it might generate
3. Think of a single benefit and then think of all the features that cause that result

Combine your features and benefits into powerful advertising statements

Once you have a comprehensive list of features and benefits. (And every feature should be linked with at least one benefit.) The next step is to combine features and benefits into advertising statements.

Your tendency will probably be to write the feature and then tell what the feature does for the prospect… the benefit. That’s fine for your first draft. But then take many of those feature/benefit statements and reverse them, so the benefit leads off, followed by the feature that delivers it.

Examples:

• This Dyson Vacuum steers with ball technology, so you can easily maneuver around furniture.
• You’ll maneuver easily around furniture and up close to baseboards, with this vacuum's ball technology steering feature.
• This course contains over 101 ways to promote your website for free, so you’ll always
  have a fresh link-building strategy to choose from.
• You’ll never have to worry about coming up with a new link building strategies, since this course has 101 of them ready to go, for you to instantly choose from.

Finally, list your advertising statements in as compelling language as possible. It’s one thing to talk about ease of use, but it’s far more compelling to say “turns on a dime with no loss of suction!”

When Your Website Ain't Generating Sales

I have a friend that is new to the Internet Marketing world and has a genuine desire to serve others with the products he sales.

He got his site up and started running traffic to it using pay per click (PPC) ads. He really did an excellent job writing his PPC ad -- he was driving 50+ people to his site per day. However, he has a big problem... no one is staying and buying.

So being a smart guy he started changing the site up. As I watched each new version I was impressed with all the work he was doing. After he went through six or seven revisions he emailed me and asked for some input.

I immediately was interested in the information that his analytics was giving him. You can imagine my shock when he said he was not using any - not even Google Analytics which is free.

Listen, this is such a common mistake for so many Internet Marketing newbies that I decided to write about it here, even though when I Google "analytics mistakes" there are 1.5 million references.

I believe the biggest reason new Internet Marketers don't use analytics is because they are also new to the direct response world -- which relys on testing and tracking as the only road to real success.

So my friend had taken his site through 7 revisions based only on his gut feeling of what he should change and had never once done an a/b test.

Are we on the same page?

Just so we are all on the same page, let me explain an a/b test. Let's say you wanted to test one headline against another to see which one kept your traffic on the page instead of bouncing off. What you do is create two web pages exactly the same with the exception of the headline. Then you rotate the traffic that's coming in to every other site and measure the response to both. You will quickly discover which headline has the "sticking" power. One headline will always be better than the other -- fewer visitors will leave.

Now you do that same a/b test with each component of your page, graphics, type fonts, colors, layout, etc.

The Eternal Marketing Task

After each test you will gradually increase the performace of your site and you'll wind up with your "control". Then once you have a "control" you try and knock it off with even better performance. Thus, you are forever trying to increase your response and sales -- this is a marketing task that has no end. Sure, you may reduce the frequency of the tests because you have the desired results but you'll always want to see if you can knock off the control.

This is actually the fun part of Internet Marketing, at least for me. I like because it gives me the power to scientifically create success -- I'm able to make changes based on what the customer tells me they like -- and it means each time I discover something that works better I make more money! Not a bad deal at all.

I'll leave you with this final thought...

Test and track for ever increasing success.

Put Your Prospects In The Mood To Buy

by Steven Weisenburger

Direct response marketer, and living legend, Joe Sugarman recently address a small group of elite Internet marketers and I was lucky enough to be in the room.

Just in case you don't know who Joe Sugarman is, let me remind you of the BluBlocker Sunglasses fame. He took a product someone was going to give up on and took it to Marketing Hall of Fame mega monster hit. First infomercials, then on to the home shopping networks and eventually world wide markets.

His topic was How to Put Your Prospect in the Mood To Buy. And as it turns out his presentation was live example of how it work. At the end of presentation everybody in the room bought something from Joe and I have three of his books to prove it.

To think that I could even come close to capturing the physiological selling journey Joe took us through that day would be folly on my part. There simply is no way -- plain and simple, you had to be there. So if you ever get a chance to hear him speak do whatever it takes to get there... and don't forget your wallet.

Here are my notes from the meeting:

Selling Trigger #1: Objection Raising and Objection Resolution

When a consumer looks at a product, there's always skeptisim or some point about the product that isn’t quite settled in his/her mind.

Maybe it needs installation or they aren't sure if it will fit in their pocket. If you sense an objection, you MUST raise that objection in your copy. Then you have to overcome the objection and explain why it isn't that significant.

Joe did this in his classic ad about the 'ugly' thermostat. In fact, he beat up the product so badly before he ever started to sell it, people kept reading the copy just to find out why he hated the thing so much. It sold like crazy.

Selling Trigger #2: Storytelling

Another powerful selling trigger is storytelling. Everybody loves a good story. It's a great way to get into a product.

Here's how Joe opened his long copy ad for BluBlocker Sunglasses.

"I am about to tell you a true story, if you believe me, you will be well rewarded. If you don't believe me, I'll make it worth your while to change your mind..."

That story launched a company that, 20 million pairs of sunglasses later, is still going strong!

Selling Trigger #3: Honesty

The strongest selling trigger is honesty. If you are honest in all that you do and you express that honesty, customers will trust you.

How do you do this in an ad? It's simple, share a flaw. Tell them a few bad things about the product. It sounds crazy, but admitting a few flaws will actually increase your sales.

Selling Trigger #4: Satisfaction Conviction

Joe has doubled or tripled response by upping the satisfaction conviction. What is satisfaction conviction? It's more than a trial period. It's more than a 30-day guarantee. It's saying,

"Hey, buy these sunglasses and if you aren't happy a year from now, then send them back and we'll give you a new pair."

Your guarantee has to be so strong that your reader thinks, "Boy if this product isn't good, these people are going to get ripped off."

Selling Trigger #5: Simplicity

One of the hardest triggers for marketers to remember is simplicity.

If you are selling a single product, don't offer different versions of that product. Don't give people too many options in a print ad, it creates confusion. Don't complicate the approach.

One of the big problems on the Internet is people offer too much. If you force your prospect to choose between A, B, and C, -- it makes your client pause in his buy process – he freezes up... and you've lost the sale.

All good tips and I can say I've used them all with success.

Joe Sugarman is one of the direct response marketing greats. Studying and modeling his success will help you in achieving your success.

Marketing Guys Aren't Programers - Doh!

OK, I admit it. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer with it comes to tech stuff. And most of the time I'd rather face the hounds of hell than figure out a tech problem. But I'm a lucky  guy, because I have a tech buddy, his name is Steve Oliphant, and he's a tech wizard. Whenever I come across the Dark Magic Powers of tech issues he takes care of it for me.

However, as a direct response marketing guy I do confess I envy those who know how to use html code. If I knew how to code myself I'd be putting up sales offers all day long. (I'd be testing and tracking them of course.)

The other day my buddy Steve taught me a simple html code that I could use to embed a url address into text or images -- thus creating a link. Wow, I can program html! Yipee and Yahoo!

Now I want to empower you all with this handy little marketing tool. Heres the code and how to use it....
So there it and this is how simple it is to use.

All you have to do to create a clickable link out of text is copy the url address you want to embed. Now notice the two quotation marks in the code above... go ahead take a look and find them... I'll wait for you. There you go, not so hard was it -- even marketing guys know what quotation marks look like. (We often use quotation marks on headlines to draw attention to them, even when the headline isn't a real quote.) Opps, sorry, I digress.

Once you have the url copied you simply use your mouse to carefully position the curser in between the quotation marks and paste it! Yeeeehaaawww! Hold on, don't get too excited, you're only half way home.

So now, I want you to find the the two greater and lesser than symbols that are nosed together... they look like this ><.... did you find them? Go ahead, take your time... I'll wait. 

Found them didn't you? I know, that's was a harder problem to solve for us marketing guys. So now take your mouse and position the curser in between the two greater and lesser than signs, and type the text you want to turn into a link.

That's it! You're done! 

Braggin' time! Now you can tell your friends, business associates, family members, strangers in a bar... whoever will listen!

Now, just incase my written instructions don't do the trick for you "special needs" entrepreneurs, I'm going to follow this post up with a video my friend Steve did to demonstrate step-by-step how to employee this fantastic little sales and marketing tool, so don't miss the next installment. 

Until then, go tell someone you care about that you love them -- they may already know it but it's always good to hear it.