| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Marketing Lessons I Learned in Chicago this Week...
I was in the fine city of Chicago this week to speak at a marketing conference. And I learned some interesting things: 1 - Traffic in Chicago is much worse than the allegedly bad traffic in Atlanta where I live. We left the hotel downtown at 3 p.m. and were parked on the "highway" a few minutes later. The Lesson Learned: I am thankful - as I know many of you are - that I don't have to leave home and fight through this terrible traffic on a daily basis. Life's too short to 2 - Despite the traffic, I arrived at the airport early enough to rebook my ticket (by paying the $25 fee) on a flight leaving 90 minutes earlier than my original schedule. That was the good news. The bad news turned out to be that this flight would leave 45 minutes late so I didn't gain very much for my $25. Obviously, I can afford the $25, but that's not the point. The Lesson Learned: It's not about the money. It's about the perception of value received for the money. When I made the deal with the airline to book the earlier flight, I did so with the specific understanding that I was investing $25 to buy 90 minutes. But, I ended up only getting 1/2 that time - 45 minutes. So, I felt like I'd gotten screwed in the deal. People - like us and our customers - invest money with us based on the perception of the value they'll receive in exchange. If you don't deliver on your promise, then the customer is not going to be happy with the deal. If you deliver more, the customer should be ecstatic. That's why you'll usually find extra - unadvertised - bonuses when you purchase my products. It doesn't matter that I probably would have spent the $25 to get the 45 minutes anyway - that's not the deal I bought. 3 - When I booked my hotel reservation, the website promoted the fine history of the property. When I was standing in the lobby, they had an interesting wall display listing the famous people and many presidents who had stayed there years ago. And they specifically mentioned how they had upgraded the hotel with the latest in electrical, plumbing, etc. I'm not sure how long ago someone wrote this fiction, but it must be at least 30 years ago - maybe longer. Perhaps the reference to Diamond Jim Brady should have clued me in. I won't bore you with the sordid details about the sagging mattress and matted down carpet, but it was depressing to enter my room. Especially when I opened the curtains so I could look 15 feet across the air shaft at other rooms. The Lesson Learned: Next time I'm booking a reservation in a "historical" hotel, I need to be certain to ask if they've stayed true to their history or entered the new millennium. Of course, for $39 a night, I might have expected something like I got. But, when I'm paying $120 for the discounted conference special rate, I'm not seeing the value in the deal. For many products and services - like hotel rooms - we have an understanding of what we think we should get for the money we spend. It doesn't matter whether our preconceived notion is correct - we've got it in our heads already. As marketers, we have to deal with the public that has these preconceived ideas. When we're not going to fit with them (like charging way too much for a crummy room), we should be fair and make that clear. But we'll obviously want to do this in a fashion that will show why this is a still a fair, if not great, value proposition. 4 - But this story gets even more interesting... I was chatting with Paul Hartunian (the PR expert who once sold the Brooklyn Bridge - legitimately) and mentioned that I was not happy with my room. He remarked that other people had also voiced similar opinions, but he loved his room. Turns out he had asked the hotel about upgrade options and, for $20 more, you could get a completely updated room with a wonderful view of the city and Lake Michigan. Of course, no one volunteers this when you call to make reservations. And it's not mentioned at all on their website. But I'll bet the people that work in this hotel are wondering why more people don't choose the upgrade option. The Lesson Learned: Don't hide your light under a bushel basket! Think about this...the hotel could have turned many unhappy people into raving fans simply by mentioning the $20 option. Plus, they could have been grabbing an extra $20 a night from dozens of people for doing absolutely nothing. Sure, we're sitting here in judgment thinking how stupid this is. But...unfortunately, we occasionally make the same kind of silly mistakes and don't make the really fine benefits of our product or service crystal clear. To sum up: 1 - Don't play in traffic. It's hazardous to your health. 2 - Explain the value in your offers and deliver what you promise (preferably more). 3 - Don't hide your best benefits and offers. Put them right out front so your prospects will become happy customers. Yours in success, Shawn Casey P.S. If you missed the incredible Jeff Paul teleseminar this week - or just want to review it and take some more notes (Jeff talks fast and delivers a lot of info), you can hear the recorded version here: http://www.ShawnsNews.net/JeffPaulRecording.html (Scroll down a little when you get there) Internet Millionaire Shawn Casey's "Mining Gold On the Internet" is one of the best selling Internet books with over 85,000 copies sold. In "Mining Gold", Shawn reveals the same step-by-step strategies he uses to create millions in Internet sales => http://www.ipcgold.com/ad/100/CD3839 Benefit from Shawn's 7 years of Internet experience and learn from someone who has actually made millions online.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Secrets of High Money Classified Ads When used effectively, classified ads can be one of the quickest and most inexpensive ways to increase your sales. A well written classified ad can generate thousands in sales, yet could cost you pennies to write and run. Electronic Reader Board Electronic reader boards are the most efficient way to convey the information. Therefore these nowadays are widely accepted all over the world. LED Score Boards LED scoreboards can be utilized in most of the sporting event for eye-catching effects replace traditional scoreboards. This high- tech lighting system is both energy - efficient and able to produce a very bright light. 100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing 100 Excellent Words Absolutely. Amazing. 5 Reasons Why Headlines Are Crucial To Your Website's Success Without a powerful headline, your message stands little chance of being noticed in an increasingly competitive marketplace. If your headline doesn't capture attention and pull prospects into your sales copy, than your marketing effort is a total waste of energy and resources. Offline Advertising Secrets: Using Offline Advertising to Get the Most from Your Name Squeeze Page Many people online are not using one of the best advertising methods around. I'm talking about offline print advertising. Mobile Detailers; Customer Window Displays Mobile detailers have all types of customers, many of whom are self-employed. We know that these customers love their automobiles as most Americans and therefore love the services we provide. Not Another Calendar! - Choose Advertising Specialties That Sell As I was searching through a kitchen drawer the other day, I found dozens of pens, pencils, letter openers, sticky-note pads, oversized paper clips, rulers, dental floss, calendars, magnets, whatsits and thing-a-ma-bobs, each with the name of a business on the front. In looking through my "collection" I discovered some things I love and use and others that I can't imagine why I picked them up. Attention-Grabbing Fixes that Make Your Yellow Page Ad Leap Off the Page Stand Out in Ways that Matter to Directory UsersA Yellow Page directory presents a difficult challenge foradvertisers. All the competitors are packed together, withinthe space of a few pages. Diamonds Are For Evil The task of executing successful advertising campaigns for products made exclusively for women is understatedly tempestuous. Any Average Joe consumer would relay the message that feminine product commercials put him under a great deal of stress and discomfort. Online Advertising: 10 High Impact Psychological Triggers To Super-Charge Your Ad If you knew these 10 high impact insider's hidden psychological triggers and plug them into your Ad and website content,you can empower them and ignite a tornado of sales at your website.Read, understand and use them and burst open the floodgate of sales. How To Use Pictures To Immediately Start Increasing The Response Rates Of Your Marketing There should only be one, over-riding reason why you're doing anything in your marketing.Know what that reason is?Of course! To increase the response rates of your sales promotions!Because that leads to. 6 Must-Have Elements of a Powerful Brochure Most brochures that businesses put out today end up doing little to impact the sales of that business. By applying the 6 must-have elements listed below you will transform you brochure from trash can lining into a powerful sales tool. Is Your Yellow Pages Ad Putting Cash in Your Pocket... or Sucking Cash Out? Any idea? It's a question that more than a few Yellow Page advertisers ponder. If you are currently spending money every month to run an ad in your local directory, you don't want to wrestle with that question. Radio Advertising - Is it for Your Business? - More Small Business Power Tools If you're a typical small business, you've probably been approached by at least several different radio station sales representatives. In most cases, he or she comes armed with all the latest rating information demonstrating, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that his or her station is number one among just the kind of people who would buy your products or services. Advertise Where Its Forbidden To The most common way to drive people to your business site is advertising. You cannot succeed without advertising, this is a fact. How Can All the Radio Stations Be #1? Are you confused by all the information you receive from various radio stations? Do they all tell you they are #1 and you don't know who to believe? Most of them probably are #1 so believe it or not, they aren't lying to you. The question is, "What are they #1 in and is it a group of ears you want to reach?"Quite often a radio "Account Manager" or "Account Executive" which are pseudonyms for radio sales person, receives a call from someone who states they are gathering information for someone else, the real decision maker, someone who is looking at radio as a possible advertising medium. Dont Put All Your Eggs in The Same Basket Solution: You can protect yourself by partnering with other lead sources because it is unlikely that they will all have a problem or technical issue at the same time.Other alternative: It doesn't hurt either to use a few marketing tools to generate leads for your business. Advertising In The Local Press There are three main reasons why I would hesitate when deciding to advertise in the local press:? Everyone else is doing it? Nobody buys a paper for the adverts? The odds are it won't workJust because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean it's a good thing, or more importantly - that it actually works! However it seems the natural thing to do - you need to raise your profile, make the local community aware of your company, so you why not advertise in the local paper? Well, because?Nobody buys a paper for the adverts. In fact, do most people buy a local paper these days? As many local papers are free, their only income is through selling advertising space. Seven Ways to Waste Your Money on Yellow Pages Advertising Each year there is a Yellow Pages arms race where competitors in each category are encouraged to out spend each other. There is only one winner in this arms race, and it is not you! Too many advertisers waste their money on Yellow Pages advertising without first considering their marketing strategy.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
